About this course
This course is a degree apprenticeship giving an opportunity to people already working in organisations in a range of sectors such as education, criminal justice, youth work, healthcare, social care, or voluntary organisations that work with young people aged 11-19 (or up to 24 with disabilities), to upskill and become professionally recognised youth workers.
Through this course, our students will develop skills to engage with young people individually or within groups, and explore the most significant social, cultural and economic changes that affect the lives of young people today, including contemporary debates that explain and theorise young people’s lives.
Key themes that this apprenticeship will focus on include youth culture, education, transition, youth crime and risk taking, health and wellbeing, citizenship and social mobility.
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Our course team is made up of multidisciplinary practitioners, including JNC-qualified lecturers. -
The course is accredited by the National Youth Agency, and is a JNC-recognised qualification. -
NTU's Professional Practitioner Network offers strong links to organisations and professionals in the sector, which enables us to identify and share good practice and focus on contemporary issues and challenges. -
NTU is rated the top-rated University provider of higher and degree apprenticeships in the UK (RateMyApprenticeship, 2024)
What you’ll study
You'll study the following modules:
Core modules
Working with Young People
How do you engage, empathise with and communicate with young people? Here you'll develop essential 1-2-1 skills to work with young people. You'll explore the rights and responsibilities of young people and how these are upheld in practice. You'll understand how these rights and youth voice may be constrained within society, and you'll learn how to empower young people or advocate on their behalf.
Youth Work Values and Principles
Youth work has a set of core principles, values and ethical positions that underpin professional practice. You will explore your own position in relation to these, learn how to uphold these in practice and consider how to deal with any ethical dilemmas.
Youth Development and Identity
Is personality shaped by nature or nurture? What are the key influences on a young person's development? Why is identity important and how is this formed? Explore the theoretical underpinning which helps us understand how a young person’s upbringing and background may contribute to the formation of their identity and presenting behaviours. You'll consider the key transitions in a young person's life and the support they may need to manage these.
Youth and Social Inclusion
What are the wider, societal issues that can impact upon the life course of a young person? You'll learn about the underlying factors behind the social exclusion of young people. You will explore contemporary social divisions in our society, the processes by which these develop into patterns of social exclusion and the policies which have attempted to promote social inclusion.
Reflective Practices and Values, Ethics and Skills Development
This module evidences your capabilities in professional practice with young people, with a specific focus on one to one work. You'll reflect on your learning journey throughout year one, consider how you have effectively applied your learning in the workplace and demonstrate your skills development.
Core modules
Working with Groups and Communities
Building on your one to one skills, this module explores working in groups and facilitating group work. Learn how to support young people to plan, deliver and evaluate their own group activities. You will develop an understanding of the purpose of informal education and youth and community work, gaining insights into the relevance of different models of practice.
Youth Work Impact and Outcomes
What is the impact of youth work and how do we measure this? Why is this important and who to? How can research enhance your understanding of ‘youth’ and how youth work practice is evaluated. You will explore the ways in which researchers have applied research approaches and methods to the study of youth work and learn how to design and carry out such research in this area.
Global Youth Activism
Explore the concepts of ‘participation’ and ‘activism’ from a range of disciplinary perspectives – sociological, psychological and political. What kind of citizens are young people encouraged to be? What contemporary global issues are important to them? Working with international colleagues you'll collaborate to identify, design and create a campaign for youth activism.
Social Policy and Practice
How are the lives of children, young people and families affected by social policy? What are the purposes and functions of the British welfare state? What are the key contemporary debates in the welfare of young people? You will explore a policy cycle that begins with understanding a social problem that you are interested in. You'll apply social values, understand political processes, and evaluate sustainable social outcomes related to UN global sustainability goals.
Reflective Practice and Facilitating Learning in Groups
This module give you the opportunity to further develop and reflect on your skills for practice with groups and communities. Building on your learning in the 'Working with Groups and Communities' module, you will utilise your work placement to collect evidence demonstrating how you meet the required standards for Youth Work. Consider how you uphold anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice and appropriately challenge inequalities, oppressive attitudes, behaviours and situations.
Core modules
Working with Key Professionals
Who are the key partner organisations and stakeholders within the youth sector? Here there is a focus on roles, responsibilities, multi-agency working, understanding professional boundaries and the role of youth workers as advocates for young people.
Change Makers and Leaders
Sustain your future employability through developing effective leadership skills and identifying opportunities for enterprise. Understand operational responses to working with young people and approaches for change management within differing organisational cultures.
Understanding Assessment and Intervention
Whilst Youth Work does not traditionally take an interventionist approach, we are increasingly working with young people with complex needs. You'll explore a range of assessments and interventions that other practitioners such as YOT workers or Social Workers use in their practice, and consider how you may be able to contribute to these to support young people. You'll learn the relevant statutory and legal requirements of assessments and reports and the practicalities of these, including information sharing and confidentiality.
Reflective Practice and Professional Development Planning
You will appraise your learning journey using the ‘Novice to Expert - Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition’ Framework. The evaluation of your experiential learning throughout the course will culminate in the creation of a comprehensive portfolio of evidence. Through this you will continue to consider and evaluate the needed requirements in becoming a professional practitioner and plan your future professional development.
Gateway
Gateway is the period of time between the end of the off-the-job training (practical period) and the beginning of the assessment period when EPA will take place.
At Gateway, the apprentice, employer and training provider will review the apprentice’s knowledge, skills and behaviours to determine whether they are ready to take their EPA. This is normally done at a Gateway review meeting which takes place near the end of the apprenticeship. At this meeting, all three parties will check that the mandatory aspects of the apprenticeship have been completed and that the apprentice is ready to take their final assessment(s).
Apprentices must meet the Gateway requirement set out in the assessment plan before taking their EPA.
End-Point Assessment
This apprenticeship is integrated. This means that the end-point assessment is administered by Nottingham Trent University and is usually linked to the academic award that apprentices study whilst in their off-the-job training period. The assessments are conducted by Independent End-Point Assessors who have been selected to assess apprentices against industry-specific competences.
Details of the assessment elements can be found in the assessment plan.
There are three elements to this end-point assessment:
- Observation of practice with questions.
- Professional Discussion underpinned by a portfolio of evidence.
- Presentation and questioning.
Achievement of the EPA enables apprentices to apply for keyworker status and Level 6 profession Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth and Community Workers endorsed professional status.
We regularly review and update our course content based on student and employer feedback, ensuring that all of our courses remain current and relevant. This may result in changes to module content or module availability in future years.
Learn more about this apprenticeship
How you're taught
Upon joining, all students will have a full induction to NTU, youth work and the apprenticeship, and the support NTU has to offer as a university for social, emotional and academic success.
Study skills are incorporated into each module; modules are delivered sequentially, on a bi-weekly basis to give time for ongoing self study, application of learning to practice and reflection on learning; assessments are authentic and reflect the skills required for practice. Alongside this, within the department there is St3pUp available for students to help with academic attainment and study skills.
All students are assigned a personal tutor, and the course team maintains an open-door policy to ensure support is always accessible, without the need for formal office hours. Additionally, students can rely on a dedicated apprenticeship support advisor who understands the unique challenges of balancing work and study.
How you're assessed
All modules include formative and summative assessments. Assessments are authentic to mirror skills required in practice. Detailed assessment briefings and assignment workshops are included in the delivery plan. Students receive formative feedback to enable them to develop their summative work. Modules are delivered sequentially to give students the opportunity to focus on one assignment at a time. All feedback includes specific guidance on how to improve the work (feed-forward) and well as identifying areas that students have done well.
Upon completing all modules within the course, you will take part in the End Point Assessment (EPA) which assesses your knowledge, skills and behaviours that are required to complete the course.
To enable you to practise the required expectations for the End Point Assessment (EPA), as well as the above mentioned formative assessments, a range of formative tasks and activities will be embedded in the teaching delivery approach. This will enable each element to be developed and mastered to the required standard.
Contact hours
As an apprentice, you will already be working in the youth sector. Requirements are that 800 hours in practice have to be completed by the end of the course, of which at least 50% must be directly working with young people. There are modules each year in which apprentices reflect on their learning in practice, skills development and competencies against the National Occupational Standards for Youth Work.
You will be expected to attend university one day every two weeks.
Careers and employability
Upon completing the course, you will achieve keyworker status and Level 6 professional recognition through the 'Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth and Community Workers' (JNC). This qualification is classified as a highly skilled graduate role.
As a result of being classified as highly skilled, the apprenticeship will allow you to pursue a higher level of education in the future. NTU offers an MA Youth Work, Leadership and Practice.
Career opportunities include:
- Youth Worker
- Youth Work Manager
- Youth Justice Practitioner
- Education or Health based Youth Worker
- Community Development Worker
- Sport Development Worker
- Advocate.
You will also develop skills that are highly transferable to a range of roles working with people and in leadership and management. If you decide to continue your studies, you will be well placed to apply for a Masters course, or apply for training in other professions such as teacher training or social work.
Campus and facilities
As an apprentice you'll spend the majority of your time at your place of work. However, during your in-university time, you will be based at our City Campus.
NTU’s City Campus has everything you’ll need to keep occupied between lectures. As well as the Boots Library and its beautiful roof garden, there’s our superb Students’ Union building that includes a two-storey, 100-station gym; a whole host of cafés, bars, restaurants and food outlets catering to every taste; our much-loved Global Lounge; performance and rehearsal spaces for musicians; and much, much more!
If that’s not enough, just take a few steps off campus, and you’ll find yourself in the beating heart of Nottingham — one of Britain’s top 10 student cities. Enjoy lush green spaces and vintage shopping by day, and an acclaimed food, drink, and social scene by night.
Entry requirements
UK students
To prepare for study at degree level, you may have completed an access course, A Levels, BTECs, T Levels, or other Level 3 qualifications. If you have completed the Level 3 Youth Support Worker qualification, this is an ideal progression route but it is not essential.
Typically, you will have GCSE Maths and English at grade 4 / C or above, or an equivalent qualification. If you do not have these qualifications, you will be supported to achieve these while completing the degree apprenticeship.
Applications for this apprenticeship must be made through your sponsoring employer. You will need to be employed in a relevant role in a sector that supports young people aged 11-19 years, or aged up to 25 years for those with additional needs.
Additional requirements for UK students
Relevant settings that you may work in could include, but are not limited to:
- youth projects
- educational settings
- health environments
- the faith sector.
The settings may be informal such as youth clubs, activity-based or social action projects, or more formal such as local authority children's services, residential homes, hospitals, schools, colleges, alternative education providers, or youth custody.
Other requirements
- There are no upper age restrictions, although all apprentices must be at least 18 years of age.
- Completion of a satisfactory enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check is an essential requirement.
Other qualifications and experience
NTU welcomes applications from students with non-standard qualifications and learning backgrounds, either for year one entry or for advanced standing beyond the start of a course into year 2 or beyond.
We consider study and/or credit achieved from a similar course at another institution (otherwise known as credit transfer), vocational and professional qualifications, and broader work or life experience.
Our Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfer Policy outlines the process and options available for this route. If you wish to apply via Recognition of Prior Learning, please contact the central Admissions and Enquiries Team who will be able to support you through the process.
Getting in touch
If you need more help or information, get in touch through our enquiry form.
International students
We will review your identity documents / immigration status to verify your residency eligibility in line with the apprenticeship funding rules, at the application stage.
Additional requirements for international students
There are no additional requirements for this course.
Policies
We strive to make our admissions procedures as fair and clear as possible. To find out more about how we make offers, visit our admissions policies page.
