This established course opens the door for you to step straight into youth work. Only one other provider in London offers a postgraduate JNC qualification as part of a master’s course.

With 600 mandatory hours of practice learning to add to UEL-based learning, it is a demanding, but rewarding, commitment.

You will develop the ability to build confidence and trust in others, to deal with challenging behaviour and to engage, support and mentor young people in London – a dynamic environment for youth and community work.

Our former students often supervise our current students in a professional capacity and you will be taught by experienced people who share your passion. The UEL tutors are locally based. They have strong links with and are active within the sector.

Tracie Trimmer-Platman has just set up a new community youth project in Hackney Wick in a voluntary capacity, while Paul Adams is a member of the youth committee of Y Care International, a relief and development agency which works in partnership with YMCAs worldwide.

There are four core modules on the course. Two are the placement-based Fieldwork Practice modules 1 and 2.

In the university-based sessions, you will learn the principles of group work, theory, management and supervision as well as gaining insight into youth work policy.

You will then apply this knowledge in the field. You could be organising workshops in schools, putting on informally structured learning activities, developing young people’s inter-personal skills or working with partner organisations, such as the Youth Offending Service, housing associations, community organisations or schools.

The dissertation element of the course can have a tangible impact in the real world. For example, a current student is writing her dissertation on the effectiveness of anti-radicalisation programmes for Muslim youth run by a local foundation.

She is looking at the effectiveness of the foundation’s approach and has interviewed staff, volunteers and young people to gather opinions and come up with future recommendations. Her dissertation will double as a report for the foundation.

The traditional model of youth work, where you work in and later manage a youth club as the focal point of the community, is becoming less common.

The range of roles open to you now is as rewarding as it is wide. You could move into the Third Sector, a social enterprise, a housing association, a voluntary organisation or even a college.
For example, a local college has employed graduates of this course as student enrichment officers – in effect working in informal education on a college site.

Other graduates are working as youth workers, in pupil referral units and youth offending teams. You could specialise in more targeted work, whether it is around learning support, diversion from crime or working with people already in the justice system.

As your career progresses and you gain both experience and credibility in the field, you can move into more senior roles, perhaps shaping policy, working in national charities such as Barnardo’s or The Children’s Society or taking a sideways step into a non-governmental organisation (NGO).

You could also develop an international, as well as a national and local, focus to your career – for instance, taking young people abroad, supervising and supporting them to broaden their horizons on a community project overseas.