Working with Children and Young People for Social Justice

Course overview

Despite growing global recognition of children and young people’s participation rights and agency, significant challenges remain in achieving social justice with children and young people across diverse contexts. 

Practitioners, researchers and policymakers must navigate competing understandings of rights, citizenship, voice, activism and participation, while recognising how dominant approaches can be shaped by Eurocentric assumptions that may not reflect the realities of different cultural, social and political settings.

To begin to address these challenges, this course: 

• introduces practitioners to several social justice approaches to working with children and young people that are practised in both majority and minority world countries
• critically explores how Eurocentric assumptions and practices can underpin these approaches
• explores how citizenship, democracy, rights, agency, voice and activism are understood and practised differently in majority and minority world contexts 
• challenges and supports practitioners to decolonise their own praxis and propose more contextualised social justice approaches for working with children and young people in different settings across the globe.

Who this course is for

This course will be of interest if you:

• work with children and young people (for example, as an early years practitioner, youth worker, teacher, community practitioner or researcher)
• are interested in advancing children and young people’s participation rights and political agency
• Wish to understand how citizenship, rights, agency, voice and activism are understood across different cultural and political contexts
• want to co-design services and shape policy with children and young people 
• would like to embed decolonial approaches to working with children and young people in your own practice and organisation 

This course is delivered at Masters level (SCQF level 11) and is open to professional learning participants as well as matriculated Masters students.

Please note: Professional learning participants do not receive credits for this course. If they successfully complete the required assessment (see below), they will receive a certificate of completion which can be used to evidence professional learning.

Requirements

To enrol in the course, you must:

• have voluntary or professional experience of working with children and young people 
• be willing to engage with academic concepts, texts and research to reflect critically on real-world practice issues, problems and debates
• have access to a device for online learning (i.e. mobile phone, laptop)
• be comfortable learning online and willing to develop your digital literacy and skills using the guides and support available through the University.

NB Students whose first language is not English must demonstrate some evidence of their English language competence.

Course delivery

The course will be delivered online over 11 weeks.

The course consists of:

• pre-recorded lectures which are posted online each week so that everyone can engage at times that are most convenient to them
• optional live tutorials
• weekly reading tasks
• asynchronous discussion forums and digital activities. 

The course is designed with the principle of asynchronous participation. Optional live tutorials are recorded for anyone unable to attend, but do provide a great opportunity to connect with tutors and other students.

The course is delivered through a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) called Learn Ultra. Students will access recorded lectures and other online materials. They will also engage in online discussion forum tasks.

In joining this course, you can expect to become part of a vibrant and global online community of practice made up of both professional learning participants and masters students. This community offers structured yet flexible academic support to engage in and critically reflect on your work with children and young people to achieve social justice goals. 

Time commitment

This is an intensive 11-week course. Participants should allow:

• at least 2 hours per week for engaging with course readings
• at least 2 hours per week for engaging with taught inputs
• at least 2 hours per week for engaging with asynchronous discussion forum activities
• adequate time to prepare and submit the presentation task to gain their certificate of completion. 

Apart from optional live tutorials, weekly course materials can be accessed at any time.

Assessment

Participants are required to complete a group or individual presentation (10 minutes in length).

Students will choose a social justice approach to working with children and young people covered in this course and evaluate how it has been applied by practitioners, policymakers and/or researchers in a majority and/or minority world context. The presentation will then offer recommendations to practitioners, policymakers and/or researchers based on this evaluation.

Those who successfully complete the assignments receive a certificate of course completion. They do not receive credits for the course.

Organiser

The course will be coordinated and taught by Dr Andie Reynolds.

Dates

The next course starts on 11 January 2027.

Fee and discounts

The cost of the course is £735.

There is a 20% discount offered to University of Edinburgh employees, and a 10% discount offered to University of Edinburgh alumni.

Unfortunately, professional learning students are not eligible for grants from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for this course and there are currently no bursaries available.

Book now

If you are interested in applying please fill in our form:

More information

For more information, please contact the professional learning team.

Email the professional learning team