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School of Applied Social Sciences

MA/PG Dip/PG Cert Managing Community Practice

Available as a part-time or full-time programme.


This programme is designed for those who have already gained a professional qualification and wish to develop their career further. This may include those working in fields of community development, community enterprise social housing, community health, youth justice and community arts . It is also equally relevant to professionals in a range of statutory,voluntary and private sector posts that include an element of community involvement and engagement - for example, economic development, planning, policing, transport, and voluntary sector development.

For more information about the Community and Youth Work field, see the related links to the right.

Programme Structure

How long does the programme last?

The programme commences in October of each year. The full-time programme lasts 12 months, and part time normally lasts 24 months. Individual modules are also available as short courses, which can be combined into the larger qualification above.

What will I study?

The modules use a range of teaching methods, including independent study and research, lectures, group discussion, seminars. Taught sessions for short courses/modules are typically a series of 2 hour sessions undertaken over consecutive weeks, on either a Monday or a Tuesday during the daytime. The programme is comprised of compulsory and optional modules, as follows:

Postgraduate Certificate Managing Community Practice

(60 credits)

Community Policy and Practice

(15 credits)
  • Critical analysis of communities
  • Origins, history, and theoretical approaches to community development
  • Contemporary forms of community development practice
  • Community and public policy

Management in Community Settings

(30 credits)
  • Critical analysis of a range of perspectives which have informed the management of organisations in community settings, including those relating to:
  • Development of understanding in effectively managing and developing these organisations in the current context to increase their effectiveness in achieving their aims in ways that are consistent with professional values
    • Personnel management
    • Physical resource management
    • Financial management
    • Strategic management
    • Change management

Optional Module

(15 credits)

Postgraduate Diploma Managing Community Practice
(120 Credits)

Includes all modules for PG Certificate (shown above) PLUS the following:

Professional and Personal Development

(30 credits)
  • Theoretical perspectives informing current practice in community and youth work, including:
  • Critical examination of the professional relationship and the paradigm of the reflective practitioner in community and youth work practice
  • Reflection on:
  • Developing understanding and skills in one-to-one communication and groupwork
    • Occupational standards
    • Professionalism and professional ethics
    • Personal experience of practice
    • Professional and personal values
    • Knowledge and competencies
    • Professional and personal development needs;

Practitioner Research

(15 credits)
  • Complexities and challenges of practitioner research
  • Uses of research in community policy and practice
  • Approaches to social research and ethical issues in research
  • Literature reviewing, sampling, data collection and analysis methods

Optional Module

(15 credits)

MA Managing Community Practice
(180 credits)

Includes all modules for PG Certificate and PG Diploma (shown above) PLUS the following:

Dissertation

(60 credits)
  • 15,000 word dissertation based on research relating to practice

Optional Modules

(30 credits)

Optional Modules (for PG Cert / PG Dip / MA)

Supervision in Community Settings

(15 credits)
  • Examine different approaches and styles of supervision
  • Develop knowledge and understanding of the principles of supervision in a professional context
  • Develop skills in supervision
  • Equal opportunity issues and anti-discriminatory practice in supervision

Youth Policy and Practice

(15 credits)
  • Youth policy in the UK
  • Origins, development, and theoretical underpinnings of youth work
  • Critical overview of contemporary youth work practice
  • Key forms of intervention

Policy-Related and Evaluation Research

(15 credits)
  • Relationship between theory and empirical research in evaluation
  • Defining and measuring outcomes
  • Case study analysis
  • Poster presentation and participatory evaluation

Any other approved module

Another module approved by the programme director may be taken. These could include modules in ‘Safeguarding and Promoting the Well-Being of Children and Young People,’ or ‘Multi-Agency Working’ offered by Social Work staff, which can also be taken as short courses. Modules can also be chosen from those offered by other departments. For example, those with an interest in Christian faith-based Community and Youth Work may be able to take module(s) in theology and ministry offered by the Department of Theology and Religion, where these fit within the programme timetable.

Methods of Assessment

Academic learning is assessed through 3,000 word essays, fieldwork reports, self-assessment, oral presentation and research reports. There are no examinations. To gain a full qualification, you must accumulate the number of credits by passing the assignments linked to each module (pass mark 50%).

Entry Requirements

As the full programmes are taught at postgraduate level, a degree level qualification or equivalent (e.g. another approved professional qualification) is normally required. Where applicants have substantial experience, lower qualifications may be accepted, subject to submission of a written assignment to give evidence of their ability to study at this level. Alternatively, we may suggest you register for an individual module as a short course in the first instance, and use any assignment submitted for that short course to assess your ability to proceed onto a full programme.

How to Apply

For more information on the application process, visit the How to Apply page.

Contact Community & Youth Work

Community & Youth Work
Elvet Riverside 2
New Elvet
Durham
DH1 3JT
Tel: 0191 334 1505
sass.pgadmissions
@durham.ac.uk