Bachelor of Youth Work and Youth Studies

The Bachelor of Youth Work and Youth Studies develops rich interdisciplinary theoretical understandings to inform professional practice across the Youth Sector and Policy contexts.

Across the years of your study, you will engage in four main streams of learning.“Becoming a Human Services Professional” prepares you to work in client facing industries through deepening understandings of your shifting identity from individual to ethical carer, counsellor, advocate and champion of others in sometimes challenging landscapes.

“Youth Work” situates you in the professional and practice field, offering you opportunities to understand and work across the sector, as you develop your area of passion and interest for your future employment.

“Youth Studies” enables you to develop a critical and interdisciplinary insight to the research and representations of young people, that influences perceptions of communities and decisions and shaping of policy.

“Breadth and context studies” provides you with opportunities to specialise in an area of your choice, through disciplinary clustered courses (eg Criminal Justice, International Development, Languages), or to explore electives drawn from across the University.In the Bachelor of Youth Work and Youth Studies you will have varied learning experiences.

During your studies, you will engage in experiences across sites, whether online, at one of our campuses or in an industry or policy setting.

Some of your courses may be run as intensives and include specialised skill sets, building your expertise in particular areas for your future employment.

Through a critical and socio-political perspective, you will engage in inquiries focussed on powerful concepts and issues in relation to the representations of youth.

Some of these big ideas consider youth in relation to space, digital worlds, culture, religion, families, the law and the global context more broadly.

Through problematised learning approaches you will explore issues that affect young people such as homelessness, radicalisation, poverty and mental health.

You will be able to also extend or deepen your knowledge and skills by choosing a minor in a field you are interested in or wish to target for employment.Throughout your studies in the Bachelor of Youth Work and Youth Studies, you will curate evidence of your learning ready, poised upon graduation to demonstrate your potential contribution to the field, profession, workplace or further study.

In your final year, you will undertake two parallel capstone experiences.

The first specifically supports you to articulate to industry how you are ready for life and work, drawing upon the representations of your learning, research and critical reflections of what it means to engage in Youth Work.

The second capstone experience is an independent research inquiry into a wicked problem and its implications for youth futures.

Across these two capstones, you will demonstrate the praxis or interconnectedness of your rich theoretical knowledge against your command of skills and professional applications that matter most for the stakeholders for and with whom you will work.As a graduate of the Bachelor of Youth Work and Youth Studies, you will have many options of which path to next take.You may want to work straight in the area of the industry you have been most curious throughout your study and selected as a minor or choose other options.

Our graduates work across all spectrums of the Youth Work profession, ranging from Drug and Alcohol Programs, Youth Justice environments, Policy contexts to Local Government settings.

Our graduates also embark on journeys in Policy and Research contexts.

Increasingly, our graduates are continuing on to further study, either through Honours Programs in their area of Youth Studies interest or to Masters Programs which open other options, such as Social Work, International Development, Psychology, Public Policy and Justice and Criminology

Year One of Program

Complete the following Eight (8) Courses:

AND

Year Two of Program

Complete the following Six (6) Courses:

Select and Complete Two (2) Courses from any:

Select and Complete Two (2) Courses from a chosen Minor. Please refer to the list of Minors at the end of the Program Structure.

AND

Year Three of Program

Complete the following Six (6) Courses:

Select and Complete Two (2) Courses from any:

Select and Complete Two (2) Courses from the same Minor chosen in Year Two. Please refer to the list of Minors at the end of this Program Structure.

AND

List of Minors

Justice and Criminology Minor

International Studies and Development Minor

Indigenous Studies Minor

Community Services Minor

You must have successfully completed an Australian Year 12 (or equivalent senior secondary school) qualification.

For equivalents to Australian academic entry requirements, see the Country Equivalency web page on the RMIT website.

Prerequisites Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) units 3 and 4 – a study score of at least 30 in English (EAL) or at least 25 in any other English.

International English language requirement

A minimum of IELTS (Academic module) overall score of 6.5, with no band less than 6.0, or equivalent.

For equivalents to English entry requirements, see the English requirements web page.

Note: You are required to complete a Working with Children Check and Police Check before going on placement.

As a graduate, you will develop the following program learning outcomes:

• Apply interdisciplinary bodies of theoretical knowledge and practical wisdom and skills to the scholarship of Youth Studies, praxis of Youth Work and orientation to professional human services.
• Engage responsibly and ethically in professional relationships, whilst attending to the wide range of complex issues regarding young people and other key stakeholders, in the execution of your duty of care.
• Critically analyse, synthesise and reflect upon the factors, agencies and influences that shape the life-worlds, experiences and aspirations of young people to consider enabling models of practice and interventions.
• Apply logic, creativity and criticality to conceptualise the agency of young people in navigating their social, cultural, political, economic, spatial and temporal dimensions of citizenship.
• Design and conduct professional and scholarly research projects relating to Youth Work, Youth Studies and the contexts of young people thoughtfully, ethically, respectfully and inclusively.
• Communicate effectively and professionally using a range of appropriate modalities and genres suitable to broad stakeholders across the Youth Sector, including young people, statutory agencies, families, government and other professionals.