Child, Family & Community Studies / Léann Leanaí, Teaghlach agus Pobal

Applicants must normally hold a second class honours bachelor degree, higher division (2.1) or higher in the area of social care, early education, social sciences, psychology, sociology, youth and community studies or cognate discipline.

Applicants who do not meet the minimum academic requirements, but who have significant professional or vocational experience in child, family and community services shall also be considered. In addition to an application form, this latter category of applicants may also be asked to present for interview. The Programme Committee will work to ensure a balance of recent graduates and professionals among the student intake.

If English is not your first language you will need to provide evidence of your English language proficiency as detailed on our website. Applicants for this course should have a minimum IELTS (Academic Version) English Proficiency of 6 overall (or equivalent) with nothing less than 6 in each component.

Note: Due to the considerable competition for our postgraduate courses satisfying the minimum entry requirement is not a guarantee of a place. Depending on the course of study, applications will be assessed based on your academic grades and may also take into account your work/life experience. Applicants may also be required to attend for interview for specific courses.

This programme will be of interest to graduates of early education, social care, psychology, sociology, community studies and related disciplines, as well as professionals in the broad social services delivery area (example, social work, youth work, teaching, community work, early education, family support work).

The overall aim of the Masters is to examine how human capacity can be enhanced across the lifespan in the socio-educational sector. It will provide participants with a critical understanding of concepts and approaches to enabling individuals and groups to realise their potential as human persons and participative communities. The course aims to educate students to high levels of contemporary theoretical awareness in fields central to social services provision and to create an atmosphere of rigorous academic enquiry and writing.

Brochure: View Child, Family and Community Studies course brochure

Many participants on the MA in Child, Family and Community Studies already have practice experience and use the MA to develop their careers in different directions or to move in to management roles. Graduates have gone on to work in a variety of sectors including development and policy work in social care, early childhood education and the voluntary care sector. It is not necessary to have prior professional experience, however, to find the programme beneficial for career development.

Students shall take core modules in:

• Perspective on Child, Family and Community
• Equality, diversity and intercultural practice 
• Transitions across the Lifespan
• Introduction to Management Issues in Child, Family and Community Services
• Research Methods and Dissertation

In addition, students shall select two from the following optional modules*

• Interventions in child and adolescent mental health
• Contemporary issues in the early years
• Youth Offending and Youth Justice Perspectives
• Risk, Vulnerability and the protection of children and vulnerable adults
• Masculinities, Care and Equality
• Social entrepreneurship 

*subject to numbers and staffing

Full-time students attend college two evenings a week (generally Tuesday and Thursday evenings between 4.00 and 8pm) for two semesters and submit their dissertation the following semester.

The programme will be a taught modularised programme, delivered in semesters of 15 weeks duration (12 weeks teaching, 1 review week and 2 weeks assessment). Students may take the taught programme on a full-time basis over two semesters and complete a dissertation in the third semester. 

Applications for this course are now closed.

Applications for the programme will close when the programme reaches capacity. Please note due to the high demand, applications are assessed as received and dealt with promptly. Therefore, it is advisable to make early applications. If you do not yet have your final degree results this will not hinder your application as we are happy to issue conditional offer letters in such circumstances.