Careers in childhood studies
When it comes to choosing a career, our students will often have the best of both worlds: the degree can be 'vocational' if you so wish; but it is also a 'non-vocational' degree, if you want to compete for the range of vacancies that still require a graduate with no specification as to subject.
Graduate profiles
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Jo
"I absolutely loved the course and really feel like it has added so much to my life. The Therapeutic Work with Children and Adolescents unit that I took at Bristol really led me to pick the course I am on now."
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Nicole
"The teaching units allowed me to learn more about the development, the needs, the rights and the laws around children. The course also provided some wonderful opportunities to work and volunteer in the areas which I was interested in."
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Rose
"My role as an Inter-country Caseworker at Children and Families Across Borders (CFAB) involves a number of different aspects but primarily I manage the social work cases of children who have been referred to us by a UK local authority."
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Fiona
"Since September I have been working as a teaching assistant with a child in Year Three with ADHD and emotional behavioural difficulties in an inner London primary school."
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Hillary
"Since graduating I have completed the first year of the Teach First Leadership Development Programme, working as a Year 6 Class Teacher in a challenging school in West London alongside gaining my PGCE."
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Catherine
"Since leaving Bristol I spent several months in Sri Lanka working in child development centres and mental health institutes and co-ordinating volunteers out there. After that I started working with Barnardo’s in a project called CEDARS which is a 'pre-departure accommodation' for families who are being removed from the UK."
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Niamh
"The childhood studies course at Bristol offered a unique and broad perspective of child development, provisions for children in the UK, education and many more different aspects of childhood. The course is incredibly interesting and looking at such a wide range of disciplines enables a wide range of career options."
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Kate
"During the first year since graduation, I applied for the NOMS Graduate Programme for the prison service; I had to do a situational judgement test, JSACs, an interview and an exam before I was finally offered a place for October 2014."
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Issy
"I have just finished my first year of an MSc Social Work course. Childhood Studies has greatly complemented my postgraduate studies."
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Nina (Intercalated degree in BSc Childhood Studies)
"I have SO enjoyed this year! I chose Childhood Studies as my intercalated degree because I have always been interested in working with children in the future and find the childhood stage of development fascinating."
Childhood Studies
A Childhood Studies BSc provides an academic foundation for a career in a range of fields, such as:
- education
- childhood research and children's services
- psychology
- social work
- social planning,
- law
- management
- administration
The Children Act 1989 and other national initiatives have created a strong demand for people with expertise in childhood studies who are able to work across traditional disciplinary and professional boundaries.