Module Code - Title:
SO6022
-
PRACTITIONER-LED SEMINARS: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE SOCIOLOGY OF YOUTH, COMMUNITY AND SOCIAL REGENERATION
Year Last Offered:
2025/6
Hours Per Week:
Grading Type:
Prerequisite Modules:
Rationale and Purpose of the Module:
The aim of the mini- module is to provide students with a conceptual and operational understanding of the roles and functions of a diverse range of youth and community workers, organisers and stakeholders. Speakers will be drawn from local and national organisations in order to share their experience and expertise in working with young people and communities; in negotiating and implementing aspects of relevant social policy; in working with/alongside the processes/agencies of social regeneration; and to inform students of the need for and type of sociological research that can best inform the field.
The module will provide the opportunity for students to critically engage in targeted discussion and analysis of key areas of contemporary interest for youth, community and social regeneration work, through presentations and discussions delivered and directed by practitioners. The module will be supported by an assessment in the form of presentation reviews.
Syllabus:
This module will provide students with a critical insight into the practical work carried out by practitioners working with young people, and communities in the context of social regeneration in Ireland. The seminars will inform them of the diversity of roles and functions performed across a range of community based organisations and groups. Speakers will be invited to cover targeted topics; including the positive and negative impacts of key policy decisions affecting the field; the central role of sociological research in influencing policy and informing understandings about the needs of diverse groups; community responses to and input into the processes of social regeneration; key issues affecting youth and community practitioners and their workplace; group and organisational success stories; and the integration of youth and community services with key state structures of education, employment, health, juvenile and adult justice, the media, leisure and recreation.
Learning Outcomes:
Cognitive (Knowledge, Understanding, Application, Analysis, Evaluation, Synthesis)
On successful completion of this module, students will:
Be aware of the different roles and functions of workers, organisers and stakeholders in the field of youth and community and social regeneration.
Have developed both critical and practical insight into the key public, private and voluntary bodies and agencies involved in undertaking youth, community and social regeneration work.
Have developed both the critical and practical awareness and understanding needed to apply a well-rounded sociological perspective to contemporary media and public debates on the purpose, focus, function and funding of youth and community groups in the context of ongoing social regeneration.
Affective (Attitudes and Values)
Students will have developed:
A critically informed awareness of the work of practitioners in the field. This will be in support of the theoretical sociological knowledge gained across other modules.
A critically informed understanding of the role and impact of community and group organisations in the lives of the public.
An awareness of the central role played by sociological research in the creation and direction of policy in the field of youth, community and social regeneration.
Psychomotor (Physical Skills)
N/A
How the Module will be Taught and what will be the Learning Experiences of the Students:
Research Findings Incorporated in to the Syllabus (If Relevant):
Prime Texts:
Bissett, J. (2009)
Regeneration: Public Good or Private Profit?
, Dublin: TASC / New Ireland.
Lupton, R. and Tunstall, R. (2008)
Neighbourhood Regeneration Through Mixed Communities: A Social Justice Dilemma?
, Journal of Education Policy, 23(2), pp. 105-117.
Forde, C., Kiely, E. and Meade, R. (2009)
Youth and Community Work in Ireland: Critical Perspectives.
, Dublin: Gill and MacMillan.
Lalor, K., DeRoiste, A., and Devlin, M. (2007)
Young People in Contemporary Ireland.
, Dublin: Gill and MacMillan.
Other Relevant Texts:
()
Texts/Presentations will be provided by invited speakers
,
Programme(s) in which this Module is Offered:
Semester(s) Module is Offered:
Module Leader:
martin.j.power@ul.ie