Bachelor of Arts with Children’s Studies AWC

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Course Overview
Key Facts
Course Outline
Further Education
Why Choose This Course?
Course Fees
Find Out More

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Entry Points (2022)

367

Course Overview

Arts with Children’s Studies (GY110 – AWC) is the only degree in Ireland and Europe that enables students to combine an Arts degree with a specialism in Children’s Studies. It enables students to take two traditional arts subjects alongside Children’s Studies to Degree Level. The expertise acquired through a BA with Children’s Studies will assist students in identifying the career path that best suits their particular talents and ambitions.

It is the perfect platform from which to pursue careers in social care work, advocacy, the creative arts, education, and community development. It provides an excellent basis for post-graduate study in social work, play therapy, speech and language therapy, and primary and/or post-primary teaching, and our graduates are very successful in gaining entry to these competitive programmes.

Recent graduates are currently working in speech and language therapy, play therapy, social work, and public policy, as well as in teaching and educational support in Ireland and abroad. A unique feature that sets it apart from the other GY110 streams (ACS and APP) is that it allows students to study two teachable secondary school subjects, in addition to studying childhood, ideally positioning them to apply to the PME in post-primary school teaching.

Applications and Selections

Who Teaches this Course

Requirements and Assessment

Key Facts

Entry Requirements

Minimum Grade H5 in two subjects and passes in four other subjects at O6/H7 level in the Leaving Certificate including Irish, English, another language, and three other subjects recognised for entry purposes.

Additional Requirements

Students must satisfy the Garda/Police vetting requirements.

Duration

4 years

Next start date

September 2023

A Level Grades (2022)

universityofgalway.ie/alevels

Average intake

QQI/FET FETAC Entry Routes

21 (More Info)

Closing Date

NFQ level

Mode of study

ECTS weighting

Award

CAO

GY110 AWC

Course code

Course Outline

Year One:

Children’s Literature
Children in Social Contexts
Children and Health
Irish Childhoods

Year Two:

Child Law
Developmental Psychology
European Educational Approaches

Year Three:

Connecting Research, Policy and Practice in Children’s Services
Children’s Rights
Theatre for Children and Young People
Children and Transition
Twenty-First Century Young Adult Literature
Work Placement and/or Study Abroad

Year Four:

Completion of studies in your two core degree subjects.

Modules offered may change from year to year, depending on availability.

We recommend that students of Children's Studies include a modern language among their other subjects so they can significantly broaden employment options (students interested in Primary School teaching should take Gaeilge).

Curriculum Information

Curriculum information relates to the current academic year (in most cases).
Course and module offerings and details may be subject to change.

Glossary of Terms

Credits: You must earn a defined number of credits (aka ECTS) to complete each year of your course. You do this by taking all of its required modules as well as the correct number of optional modules to obtain that year's total number of credits.
Module: An examinable portion of a subject or course, for which you attend lectures and/or tutorials and carry out assignments. E.g. Algebra and Calculus could be modules within the subject Mathematics. Each module has a unique module code eg. MA140.
Subject: Some courses allow you to choose subjects, where related modules are grouped together. Subjects have their own required number of credits, so you must take all that subject's required modules and may also need to obtain the remainder of the subject's total credits by choosing from its available optional modules.
Optional: A module you may choose to study.
Required: A module that you must study if you choose this course (or subject).
Required Core Subject: A subject you must study because it's integral to that course.
Semester: Most courses have 2 semesters (aka terms) per year, so a three-year course will have six semesters in total. For clarity, this page will refer to the first semester of year 2 as 'Semester 3'.

Year 1 (60 Credits)

Year 2 (60 Credits)

Year 3 (60 Credits)

Year 4 (60 Credits)

Further Education

Graduates of this programme will be eligible for entry into postgraduate professional qualifications in primary and secondary teaching, social work, research in children, health promotion, advertising and public relations; advocacy and community development both nationally and internationally.

Why Choose This Course?

Career Opportunities

Students graduating with a BA with Children's Studies, in addition to haveing a regular Arts Degree, will have a rounded understanding of the socio-cultural context of childhood and in particular of how the current legal, social and educational systems shape and influence the lives of children and adolescents. This training will assist in pursuing careers in the social care, child and family support, advocacy, the creative arts, education, health care and community development. The particular options open to graduates vary enormously depending on the two subjects that they take with their specialism.

Who’s Suited to This Course

Learning Outcomes

Transferable Skills Employers Value

Work Placement

In the second semester of Year 3, students may have the opportunitiy to undertake a work placement locally (Cope or Babaró for example) or abroad where they gain practical experience in their specialist area of Children's Studies. Students who are studying a foreign language with Children's Studies may undertake their placement in the county of the language they are studying or, in some cases, undertake a period of study in the specialism of Children's Studies at a Europen University. Students who are not studying a foreign language also have the opportunity to study at the University of York in Canada for one semester.

Study Abroad

Related Student Organisations

Course Fees

Fees: EU

€5,738 p.a. 2023/24

Fees: Tuition

€2,598 p.a. 2023/24

Fees: Student Contribution

€3,000 p.a. 2023/24

Fees: Student levy

€140 p.a. 2023/24

Fees: Non EU

€17,360 p.a. 2023/24

EU Fees are comprised of Tuition + Student Contribution Charge + Student Levy** €140. **Payable by all students and is not covered by SUSI. Further detail here.

Find out More

Dr. Kate Harvey

Programme Director

College of Arts, Social Sciences, and Celtic Studies

E kate.harvey@universityofgalway.ie

What Our Students Say

Molly Sullivan | BA Connect with Children's Studies

"The Bachelor of Arts with Children's Studies programme has exposed me to different types of teaching methods and career paths available to me in my desire to work with children. I thoroughly enjoyed the hands on experience I got from completing my placement in third year. It gave me a great taste of what working in the field with children is like. It has given me a strong foundation to build on as I prepare to begin my career. I am in the process of becoming a Play Therapist, which the BA with Children's Studies course has given me great confidence to do",