The BA in Community and Youth Work is a fully integrated programme of education and training in both community and youth work. Community work is concerned with the development and empowerment of communities through facilitating the active participation of people in addressing issues that affect them collectively.

Community Development organisations in Ireland aim to achieve social change, equality and social justice. Community development workers have been presented with a number of opportunities and challenges over the recent years by the rapidly changing social context of Ireland including work with new communities, migrant workers and refugees, combating racism and challenging the persistence of other social and economic inequalities.

Community development seeks to empower communities and works across a range of services including information and advice, counselling, advocacy and support and targets an equally diverse range of people and areas of interest.

This course will equip learners with the tools and expertise needed to thrive in community driven environments. Throughout this course, you will delve into various modules that form the backbone of community development. Each module is designed to provide a comprehensive understanding of fostering community growth and resilience. By exploring these modules, you'll gain practical skills in conflict resolution, effective team collaboration and a deep comprehension of psychological aspects crucial in community dynamics.

The course promotes principles of inclusion, equality and social justice. This programme emphasises hands-on experience, encouraging students to apply learned theories to real-world scenarios, ensuring a well-rounded and practical skillset upon completion.

Our mission is to educate and train future community development and youth workers to work in a range of settings in Ireland and internationally so that they can become active citizens and agents of change.

The course promotes principles of inclusion, human rights, equality and social justice, working towards sustainable development, and tackling issues such as inequality, climate change, poverty and disadvantage.

The aim of this one year full time course is to enable the learner to develop the knowledge, skills and competence to work under supervision in a range of community health service settings or to progress to further and/or higher education and training.

The one year Level 5 award enables the learner to acquire the knowledge, skills and competence to work under supervision in a variety of healthcare settings. This enables them to enhance their role in provision to service users or to progress to further and or higher education and training.

This programme may be delivered through a blended (hybrid) learning model where learners will be required to attend on-site and online classes.

This course is aimed at learners who wish to gain an initial qualification in one of the many areas of social studies. On completion of the courses learners will have gained the following skills:

• Social skills - teamwork, negotiation skills, initiative, ability to deal with people, conflict management
• Information gathering – literature searches, report writing, interviewing, designing surveys
• Analysis and synthesis skills – editing and synthesising information from a variety of sources, reading critically
• Project planning – identifying steps, resources, solving problems, dependability, initiative and being able to work on several tasks at once, time management
• Knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of people – cognitive, perceptual, physical, emotional, social, development, personality
• Numerical, IT, statistical and inferential skills, analysis and presentation
• Oral and written communication skills, listening, speaking etc.

The youth work course supports the development of youth work practitioners as professionals, with an enhanced understanding of societal impacts on young people. Emphasis on human rights, social justice and equality are central themes within the modules.

Combined with the development of desired skill sets such as IT, programme development, and understanding of sociology, psychology and relationships, this course aims to educate youth workers with critical, essential skills for the youth work setting.