To obtain the MSc you will complete four 30-credit modules and a 60-credit dissertation.

• Part-time students will take 2 modules in years 1 and 2 and the dissertation module in year 3.
• Full-time students will take 4 modules in year one and complete the dissertation component in year 2.

Law, Policy and Inter-agency Working (30 credits)

Year one, semester one part-time and full-time students

Child protection work necessarily takes place within a defined but often contested, and indeed ever-changing, legal and policy context. Understanding this context is essential if we are to a) understand how child protection services are organised and delivered, and b) ensure that the delivery of these services is ethical, humane and, ultimately, lawful. This module aims to equip you with the necessary up-to-date legal and policy knowledge in order to effectively critique service delivery at all levels within the ‘child protection system’.

International Child Protection (30 Credits) – for international child protection pathway

Year one, semester one part-time and full-time students

The module aims to develop and advance students’ knowledge of practice and policy in protecting children in an international context. The module explores global perspectives on childhood and focuses on (1) international frameworks for child protection, (2) the individual work of multidisciplinary practitioners, (3) organisational, social, cultural, economic, political, and geopolitical contexts, and (4) contemporary challenges in child protection, including children in complex emergencies, separated children, and migration and displacement.

The module will consider and critique the evidence base in the face of the ever-changing contexts involved in international safeguarding work.

Risk, Analysis and Decision Making (30 credits)

Year one semester 2 part-time and full-time students

Everyone involved with safeguarding or child protection work, be they practitioners, managers, and policymakers will be concerned with the analysis of risk and the decision-making that stems from this. This module therefore develops your ability to critically analyse the current processes, methods, and frameworks utilised in contemporary child protection practice, while critically reflecting on your practice and the practice within the systems that you work in.

Help, Support and Direct Work (30 credits)

Year two semester 1, part-time students. Year one semester 1, full-time students

Good child protection practice results in children being safe and well cared for. Achieving this, however, is far from straightforward; and everyone involved in child protection work needs to be able to identify, support, and promote practice that keeps children safe while adhering to ethical standards of practice. This module explores the evidence and practice base of, and for, direct practice so that you can develop greater knowledge about how to engage, motivate, and assist (when necessary) people to change, to ensure that children and young people are kept safe.

Organisations, Systems and Leadership (30 credits)

Year two semester 2, part-time students. Year one semester 2, full-time students.

Child protection practice operates within and across a range of complex organisations and systems. However, we continue to see very similar failures in quality and safety within a range of professional cultures. This module takes a systems view of the child protection field to critically consider the assumptions that underlie many of these policy responses which provide the foundation for contemporary child protection practice. It will critically interrogate how these systems have been designed, and look at how we might design safer systems around a more sophisticated understanding of the relational dynamics within and between different professional groups.

Dissertation (60 credits)

Year three semester 1, part-time students. Year two semester 1, full-time students

The dissertation module is a key component of the programme which aims to facilitate the development of higher-level critical analysis and to develop your capacities for knowledge-informed practice and more original thinking in relation to the complex issues that arise in the field of child protection.

All the modules are compulsory and are for students starting in 2024.

Teaching and assessment

Our modules are structured to provide easily accessible learning resources, tasks, and assessments that engage you in flexible and streamlined learning. Support is provided throughout the programme directly by the tutor in group and individual sessions. Furthermore, some activities are organised to encourage peer support and develop peer learning within the cohort to enhance the learning experience. A variety of learning and teaching methods are used throughout, including:

• Online learning: our online learning environment is powerful, reliable and refreshingly easy to use, enabling you to access all information and materials at any time on any device.
• Video lectures: experts in the field provide short videos on specific topics to develop analytical and critical thinking.
• Interactive learning tasks: learning is organised and integrated into the teaching topic, actively engaging you in the learning exercises.
• Work-centred learning: learning is integrated into real-time child protection practice to complement and tailor your workplace and personal interests in specialist areas.
• Social interaction: online and face-to-face interaction is provided through discussion forums, learning sets and one-to-one tutorials, ensuring you feel connected and supported.

Assessment Methods

Module 1: Law, Policy and Inter-Agency Working

• A 2-hour timed assessment

• A process observation*

• A proposal to improve some aspects of inter-agency working/policy

*A process observation requires the observer to observe and reflect on the general atmosphere and the social environment of the situation being observed, and to attend to the nature of the emotional relationships between the different participants or groups involved.

Module 2: International Child Protection (international child protection pathway)

• A short literature review

• A process observation*

• A proposal to improve some aspect of service delivery related to the investigation or assessment of some aspect of child protection

Module 3: Risk, Analysis and Decision Making

• A short literature review

• A process observation*

• A proposal to improve some aspect of service delivery related to the investigation or assessment of some aspect of child protection

Module 4: Help, Support and Direct Work

• A short literature review

• A process observation*

• A proposal to improve some aspect of service delivery related to help, assistance or direct work

Module 5: Organisations, Systems and Leadership

• A short literature review

• A process observation*

• A proposal to improve some aspect of service delivery related to service design or service delivery

Module 6: Dissertation

A 10,000 word dissertation

The course particularly offers successful candidates the potential to:

• Enhance their careers by developing an expert or specialist child protection role in the workplace
• Develop a research or development role within child protection or safeguarding organisations
• Further develop their academic studies in the field of child protection, safeguarding and child welfare

Please note that the programme does not lead to a professional qualification. By this, we mean that it does not lead to a qualification in social work, teaching, nursing etc, nor enable you to register with a professional body associated with a profession. Rather it is an academic qualification in child protection from the University of Birmingham.

Duration

• Part-time - PGCert one year
• PGDip two years
• MSc 30 months. Full time - MSc 18 months