MSc in Children's Rights
Queen's University Belfast - Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Key Information
Campus location
Belfast, United Kingdom
Languages
English
Study format
On-Campus
Duration
1 - 3 year
Pace
Full time, Part time
Tuition fees
GBP 19,100 / per year *
Application deadline
Request info
Earliest start date
Jul 2024
* Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland: £6,980 | England, Scotland or Wales: £8,360 | EU Other and International: £19,100
Introduction
This programme meets the increasing demand for a postgraduate qualification in Children's Rights, explicitly focused on interdisciplinary research and child rights-based research methods.
The programme aims to provide high-level knowledge and skills in children's rights law and practice of value to those working with and for children, including public officials and NGOs as well as educators, social workers and health care providers.
The programme will develop your expertise in two distinct but interconnected areas:
Children's Rights - using the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and other relevant international standards to evaluate the laws, policies and practices which affect children.
Research with Children - evaluating the best methods of conducting research into children's lives with a particular focus on approaches which involve children actively in the research process.
The course will provide you with a thorough grounding in these two areas and the opportunity to explore a range of contexts in which these perspectives can be used to better understand children’s lives and secure improved outcomes for children.
Closing date for applications: Friday 29 July 2022 at 4 pm.
Industry Links
We have extensive links with local and international NGOs and can provide some opportunities for students to undertake relevant research. This may be of particular interest if you want to gain experience in the children’s sector, perhaps to secure a job or to change position.
Internationally Renowned Experts
This programme is linked to the Centre for Children's Rights (CCR), which has an international reputation in the area of children's rights with a focus on the implementation of children's rights, child participation, education, social care and the children with disabilities. The CCR has a vibrant community of PhD students undertaking research on a range of issues in several countries.
The programme features input from leading international Children's Rights scholars at Queen's and from around the world. Students become a member of the globally renowned Centre for Children’s Rights with access to activities such as reading groups, seminars by internal and visiting speakers and social events.
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Admissions
Curriculum
Hosted by the internationally renowned Centre for Children’s Rights, this MSc builds on existing specialisms across children’s rights law, policy and practice. A blended learning approach has been adopted, which includes a mixture of face-to-face and online learning, traditional lectures, workshops, condensed modules, online discussion forums and guest speakers.
The MSc is awarded to students who successfully complete 120 CATS points from the taught modules and a 12,000-15,000 word dissertation (60 CATS points).
Exit qualifications are available: students may exit with a Postgraduate Diploma by successfully completing 120 CATS points from taught modules or a Postgraduate Certificate by successfully completing 60 CATS points from taught modules.
Modules 20 CATS modules generally involve 20 contact hours per semester, and 10 CATS modules generally involve ten contact hours per semester. Contact hours often include a blend of face-to-face lectures/ workshops and online sessions.
Core Modules
Foundations of Children’s Rights - 20 CATS
This module will introduce students to international children's rights laws affecting children, with a particular focus on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It will locate children’s rights within the broader framework of human rights law and introduce the core provisions of international children's rights, emphasising the research skills used to identify and understand major human rights treaties and secondary documentation. It will explain the fundamental principles of children's rights and their implementation and introduce the theory and ongoing debates in the field, such as the limits of children's autonomy and the potential tensions between children’s rights and parents’ rights.
Children’s Rights and Participation – 20 CATS
The module will introduce students to children’s right to participation as enshrined in Article 12 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It will locate this right within the broader critical and theoretical discourse on children’s participation and the perceived extent and limits of children’s autonomy. The module will contextualise the right by drawing on children’s right to participate in decision-making processes in relation to, for example, policymaking, medical decisions, and research processes. It will also explore how effective the right to participation is for different groups of children such as young children and children with disabilities.
An Introduction to Research Methods - 20 CATS
The aim of the module is to provide a general research overview and contextualise the broad range of approaches and debates that are evident within contemporary educational research. The module aims to provide students with an understanding of the theory and an appreciation of the differing perspectives that underpin quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Students will be introduced to the ethical issues relating to educational research as well as a range of methodological approaches, within which the key theoretical and practical issues will be addressed.
Childhood and Youth Research in Practice - 10 CATS
This is an introductory module that brings together students and academic staff from a range of areas to showcase research, highlighting different issues and looking at a variety of projects using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The module will conclude with a workshop on research ethics and governance.
Perspectives on Childhood and Youth - 10 CATS
This is an introductory module that brings together students and academic staff from a range of areas to familiarise students with diverse disciplinary perspectives on children and young people. Indicative content includes the sociology of childhood, youth studies; psychobiological approaches; children’s rights; health approaches and interventions.
Dissertation – 60 CATS (15,000 words max.)
Students choose to work on a topic of interest under the supervision of an academic member of staff. Students have the opportunity to undertake research for external organisations to submit as part of their dissertation.
Optional Modules
A range of optional modules enables you to choose further research methods modules and a range of substantive children’s rights modules, including issues such as social work, disability, education and philosophical perspectives. For example, students can take modules on:
Youth and Social Justice - 20 CATS
This module introduces students to key concepts, theories and debates in youth studies. It provides an understanding of the ways in which major social science disciplines have conceptualised and studied young people, alongside some of the contemporary issues that affect their lives. The module explores the framing, conceptualisation and theorisation of youth across time, considering the academic and political interests in their lives. It examines the relationship between young people, social change and social policy and encourages students to apply theory to contemporary youth issues and to critically consider institutional and policy responses. Indicative content includes representations of youth; youth cultures and subcultures; adolescent development; education, employment and unemployment; regulation and criminalisation; youth identities.
Youth Justice: Theory, Law and Practice – 20 CATS
The module covers key areas in youth justice, including theories on causes of offending. The emergence of a separate response over time to young people who come into conflict with the law is critically explored. The current system and practice orientations such as prevention and early intervention are explored, as are interventions for young people who are processed through the youth justice system. Here students will learn about different philosophies, orientations and legal frameworks toward youth justice in local and international contexts. Students will be encouraged to critically reflect upon the merits and demerits of the panoply of different approaches towards youth and justice from restoration to responsibilisation, towards risk orientation and welfarism.
Childhood Disability and Rights - 20 CATS
Disabled children and young people have only recently begun to be recognised as rights-holders. This module aims to provide students with a rich and considered understanding of children’s rights discourse as it applies to disabled children and young people’s lives. Students will be introduced to key theoretical perspectives and understandings of disability, and their criticisms, before examining the ways in which international human rights law has addressed the particular experiences of disabled children and young people. Students will gain an understanding of the complexities and diversities of disabled children and young people’s lives with respect to education, health and social care, poverty, and transitions. By locating these thematic areas within the context of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006), students will also be able to outline how rights discourse specific to disabled children and young people have changed over time. The module will also draw on contemporary research and highlight childhood disability research methods. As such, it is designed to help students consider the relationship between ‘rights talk’ and ‘rights in practice’.
Qualitative Research in Childhood and Youth - 10 CATS
This module introduces students to some of the key qualitative approaches to carrying out research with children and young people and the realities and practicalities of doing so. The module begins by introducing the main issues and dilemmas in qualitative research with children and young people and moves on to critically interrogate the notion of participatory research. The adaption of ‘traditional methods’ of data collection is discussed alongside methods specifically designed to ‘engage’ children and young people in the research process. The strengths and weaknesses of various methods are discussed, and each is illustrated through research examples. Practical tips in designing and ‘doing’ qualitative research are built into the sessions.
Youth Justice & Desistance - 20 CATS
Improving institutions of justice and reintegration are core goals of sustainable development (see SDG 15 – Peace, justice and strong institutions). This course will approach the subject of desistance from crime among young people from a developmental perspective. A particular emphasis will be placed on the impact of the youth justice system on pathways into and out of criminal engagement among young people. The module will cover theories of age and crime and the invention of “maturational reform” as a criminological concept, then move on to a review of contemporary research and theory on desistance from crime, including differences by demographic group and national context and youth work practices that can support and sustain desistance (as well as those that exacerbate patterns of offending).
Economic Impact of Childhood Interventions - 10 CATS
This module will provide the student with the opportunity to gain knowledge and understanding of the economic impact of child health, psychological, educational and social care interventions on wellbeing within the constraints of finite resources.
In addition, you may choose modules from the School of Social Sciences, Education and Social Work.
Rankings
Our educational research has been ranked 4th within the UK in relation to research intensity, with 87% assessed as ‘internationally excellent or world leading’ (REF, 2014).
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
There is increasing demand for high-level skills in interdisciplinary research, participatory research methods and knowledge of children's rights. Professionals within children/human rights-focused NGOs, public officials, educators, social workers and health professionals who work with children should find this degree beneficial. The MSc is a good foundation for students wishing to pursue their own research through doctoral study.
Queen's postgraduates reap exceptional benefits. Unique initiatives, such as Degree Plus and Researcher Plus bolster our commitment to employability, while innovative leadership and executive programmes help our students gain key leadership positions both nationally and internationally.
Previous graduates have been successful in gaining jobs with international and national children’s rights NGOs, while others have gone on to pursue doctoral studies. Many of our graduates have also undertaken the course as a form of professional development within their existing careers in areas such as law, medicine, education, social work and policy development.
Additional Awards Gained
Students who choose to conduct dissertation research in Northern Ireland involving participants under the age of 18 or vulnerable adults will be required to undergo an Enhanced Disclosure Check with Access NI, costing £33. This cost will be incurred in Year 1 for full time students and in Year 3 for part-time students.
Prizes and Awards
Teachers working on classroom-based dissertation projects may apply for the Northern Ireland Centre for Educational Research (NICER) award.
Degree plus award for extra-curricular skills
In addition to your degree programme, at Queen's, you can have the opportunity to gain wider life, academic and employability skills. For example, placements, voluntary work, clubs, societies, sports and lots more. So not only do you graduate with a degree recognised from a world-leading university, you'll have practical national and international experience plus a wider exposure to life overall. We call this Degree Plus. It's what makes studying at Queen's University Belfast special.