BA Child and Youth Studies - future career options?

[TheOtherMaryPoppinsDiets]

I'm contemplating applying for the BA Child & Youth Studies, all the gumph in the prospectus I have is all geared towards you going on to primary teaching, but what other career optiosn could there be?

Sorry, no answers, but I'm interested in this course as well (with the OU) and wonder the same. There is a special student website that gives you all the information like that (sorry can't remember it now), but it doesn't seem to say much about this course, except lots of mention about post graduate training.

maybe it was this

www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Options_with_your_subject/Your_degree_in_c hildhoodstudies/Yourskills/p!ebfakkl

Interesting site pumpkinsoup, thank you. Looks like all geared towards social work or teaching then. I have wanted to be a primary teacher for so long, as long as I can remember really, but after spending the day on the TES forums yesterday, I am feeling very despondent about ever finding a teaching job, 3 yrs of this degree then another year PGDE and at the end of it not securing a job, so sensibly exploring other career options.

What do you have in mind down the line?

You could do EYPS instead of QTS

You could go onto play therapy/SALT

You could be a childhood FE lecturer

You could specialise in Youth Work and go on to do something teenage parents

Primary is INCREDIBLY competitive. I'm having second thoughts about my PGCE because it just looks impossible to find a job

I'm looking into the different roles within social work on the internet atm.

FP I understand, I'm thinking the same so much for a long held dream. I'd love to know if the situation is really that bad or if it's disgruntled and demoralised teachers' opinions.

If you look at the amount of primary graduates against the number of vacancies each year from people retiring/leaving the progession then statistically it is that bad.

Am considering EYPS but I don't know exactly what it gets you really. It's supposed to be equivalent to QTS but I bet it isn't really.

well, I really enjoy working with families to get the best for thier children, so my ideas include...

-community nursery nurse,
-teenage pregnancy co-ordinator (I've recently trained as a crisis pregnancy advisor, hoping to later work with teenage pregnancies and families)
-emigrating and 'topping-up' my qualifications to become an Early Years Teacher and earn a decent wage
-staying as a nursery nurse but climbing the stress career ladder, doing the EYPS.

Really not sure though.....

EYPS is equivalent to QTS, but it doesn't qualify you to teach. Schools still prefer QTS even when EYPS is more relevant. The pay rise for EYPS is negligible especially when you remember that EYPS means your child ratio changes from 1:8 to 1:13(?) As far as I can tell the EYPS isn't internationally recognised as it is only a 'kitemark'. EYPs are reporting the EYPS as not even helping them get supervisory jobs in many cases. NOT looking promising is it.

oops, forgot to namechange back... sorry

childrens centres etc....are also something you could go into....

did consider this degree, but in the end Occupational Therapy won and I have no regretts....because afterwards I can specialise to work with children, if I wanted too....and the course is NHS Bursaried, etc...so...not going to end up with a massive studentloan

yes, that is another promising one.

the course or my "job description"...

coursewise, compared to my friend who does a foundation degree in early childhood study's with going on to ba in....well, mine is easy...far far less asignments all over

Childhood and Youth Studies degrees are good spring board degree for any career working with children and young people but they do not provide you with a professional qualification. Depending on your interest you would need to go on to do a PGCE, Masters in Social Work etc . The range of careers is much broader than you think. We have students going on to work in policing, specialist housing support for vulnerable parents, youth work all sorts of things. What this kind of degree gives you is the capability to work at degree level, understand and critically analyse data and research, the ability to present and write information , a grounding in social policy that is relevant to children and young people and the chance to identify the areas of work that interest you most. Generally OU degrees are of a good quality and use excellent teaching materials. Degrees at other Universities give you more chance to interact with peers and lecturers and can be taken on a part-time as well as full time basis. If you are the sort of person who can focus and keep self-motivated then OU will probably suit you but if you are the sort of person that needs others to help keep you motivated then may be a more traditional route would suit you. ( Its the difference between people who can work well from home and those that prefer to go out to work) I teach on a Childhood and Youth Studies course and many of our students are parents of small children. I'd always recommend going to a university open day to get a feel of what studying at an institution might be like. Whatever you decide good luck!!