This BSc (Hons) degree in Applied Social Policy enables you to critically engage with the world and make a difference. The degree will equip you with the skills to question, understand, and address key issues in society such as food poverty, homelessness, injustice, and access to healthcare. You will focus on both theoretical frameworks and the values that underpin our contemporary society, as well as mechanisms to shape and change it.
This degree is 'applied' meaning that it combines academic investigation with practical application of social policy issues. This means you will explore ideas such as equality, social justice and fairness - the core values underpinning social policy. You will also learn about how we can scrutinise change, and campaign for change.
You will train in media skills, as well as undertaking a placement within a social policy environment. With these skills, you will develop a critical approach to social policy and the world around you, as well as an understanding of how campaign can create change.
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Year One/Level 4
What is the welfare state?: This module will enable students to develop an understanding of the role and evolution of the welfare state. It will look at issues of equality, fairness, and social justice and explore the link between individual and community wellbeing and the impact of policy.
What is politics?: This module will introduce students to key political thinkers, approaches, and institutions in a UK and devolved context. Students will look at how political decisions are made, how policy is made, and how these decisions impact on day to day life.
Working with Service Users and Communities: In this module, students will gain an understanding of approaches that can be used when working with diverse groups. This will focus on how to involve and empower individuals and communities through the provision of support services.
Constructing Social Issues: The aim of this module is for students to understand how 'social problems' are defined and by whom. Students will look at the relationship between different social inequalities and how they are experienced by communities, families, and individuals over time.
Professional Practice Skills: This module underpins the other modules in this year. It focusses on developing study skills and planning professional development as well as considering the concept of 'belonging' as a student, citizen, and member of a range of communities.
Global Context: This module will introduce students to a range of theories and debates on globalization. Students will examine the roles of international charities and Non-Governmental Organisations in the development of social policy and welfare services. The assessment for this module will be a group project which develops a case study of a particular NGOs’ work.
Year Two/Level 5
Campaigning and Community Engagement: This module focusses on the role of campaigning and community engagement in creating and contesting policy responses to social issues. Students will look at issues around participation in campaigning, and the role of the media in the portrayal of social issues. The assessment for this module is a project in conjunction with external stakeholders such as policy professionals and communities.
Understanding Inequalities: This module challenges students to understand issues of inequality. It looks at the concepts of poverty and multiple disadvantage and the impact of these on communities. Students will analyse the issue of structural inequality and how partnerships between organisations can be used to address the impact of this.
Regeneration and Sustainability: This module aims to develop knowledge and understanding of the physical, social and economic dimensions of community regeneration. Students will look at the challenges of delivering sustainable communities in both an environmental and social sense. The impact of the built environment on individuals and communities will also be considered.
Social Policy across the Lifecourse: This module aims focusses on how international human rights duties, legislation, and policy impact on the lives of individuals and communities. It will focus on the interrelationship between individuals' needs, the rights they hold, and the commitments from governments to meet these needs. For their assessment, students will use a case study to develop an argument around how distinct needs are or are not met in a national context.
Building the Evidence Base: This module will enable students to start developing as social researchers. They will build skills around critically evaluating data, planning methodological approaches, and collecting data as well as understanding the role of evidence in policy-making. Students will be asked to develop their own research project as the assessment for this module.
International Approaches to Welfare: Building on the level 4 module Global Social Policy, this module will enable students to analyse different models of welfare and how they are delivered in international contexts. The assessment for this module will be a presentation of an example of an international approach to welfare.
Year Three/Level 6
Social Enterprise and Project Management: Students will create a business plan for their own social enterprise in this module. Drawing on the role of social businesses in addressing social issues, students will develop skills around project management, teamwork, and market research.
Homelessness: In this module students will consider homelessness as a form of social inequality which impacts on individual and social wellbeing. Interdisciplinary and normative approaches to homelessness theory will be presented, and students will critically engage with homelessness in a global setting.
Global Justice and Human Rights: In this module students will explore what our duties and obligations are to individuals and communities in an international context. The module will look at key theoretical frameworks such as cosmopolitanism, liberalism, and approaches to human rights and will use these to discuss how justice and rights discourse can be used to address issues of poverty and social inequality on a global scale.
Dissertation: This module provides the opportunity for students to develop their knowledge and critical understanding in an area of policy of their choice. It asks students to draw on knowledge and understanding gained throughout the programme, and in particular to develop and apply research skills.
Placement: This module provides a work-based learning opportunity, within a relevant and appropriate policy and practice environment. This enables students to apply knowledge in a professional setting, enhance employability skills, and develop the graduate attributes and competencies of the Cardiff Met EDGE.
Graduates have the opportunity to work across a range of sectors and organisations to apply their knowledge and skills and make a difference to the lives of people, places and communities.
OSHC: 624 ($) GBP per year
