Social Care & Social Justice - Sligo

Through this course students are required to reflectively interrogate their own identities and positioning, developing practical skills for advocacy, lobbying and activism allowing them to lead and initiate change within a given area. Students will be provided with the skills to facilitate representation at the personal, organisational and political levels of society; promote the concept of relationality in all aspects of social care to promote social inclusion, social justice and equality; practice the values of recognition and respect in all social care domains and in society generally; critique redistributive and social justice; critically redress unequal relations; develop the capacity to access care for oneself and undertake care for others.

Key Course Information
This exciting, interesting and thought provoking programme gives you the opportunity to examine the fields of social care and social justice as a collaborative and complementary subject area.

We would encourage international applications to avail of this online programme.

As an online learning programme, it provides a flexibility that is not always possible within Masters awards.

Attendance requirements – 18 hours online and 18 hours online workshop learning per subject. Students will begin the course with an induction into the university followed by weekly online lectures.

Each module will involve 18 hours online classes and 18 hours online workshops/ online residentials per subject during each semester.

Study Hours: It is very important that you allocate enough study time to your online course to stay focused, reduce stress and achieve your goals. It is very important that you allocate enough study time to your online course to stay focused, reduce stress and achieve your goals. For part-time online programmes, required hours will be reflective of your experience and will require additional focus around exam time.

Live Lectures: For the Postgraduate Diploma / Master in Social Care and Social Justice (Online) it typically involves 2 x 10 credit modules per semester. Our online courses have about 3 hours of live lectures per week (but this can vary per programme) which normally take place between 6pm and 10pm, Monday to Thursday but this may vary depending on the availability of specific lecturers. If the Live Classroom scheduled times for the live online lectures do not suit you, recordings will be made available through Moodle.The rest of your study time consists of independent learning, communicating with your lecturers and classmates and carrying out assignments.

Note: The MA in Social Care and Social Justice is an academic programme, not a vocational/training programme, and graduation from this course does not entitle a person to register for CORU.

Semester 1
Title Credits
Introduction to Social Justice: Theory and Practice 10
Social Transformation 10

Semester 2
Title Credits
Care Work and Social Justice 10
Human Rights Policy and Law 10

Semester 3
Title Credits
Social Locations 10
Management 05
Research Design and Development 05

Semester 4
Title Credits
Social Inclusion and Diversity 10
Final Research Project 20

All applicants will be considered through a selection process.

English Proficiency:

As all lectures, tutorials and practical work are delivered through English, it is vitally important all students (who are not English native speakers) have the required standard on entry to ensure they gain maximum value from their time at ATU Sligo. The required minimum proficiency score in English required for entry to ATU Sligo to an MA Programme is IELTS 6.0 or equivalent. Further information on English proficiency requirements can be found here. Where this is relevant to an applicant's submissions Certified Evidence must be submitted during the application process

Key requirements at a minimum include:

2.2 Honours Degree in Social Care or a cognate discipline
Desirable:

Two years of professional practice experience in a relevant field.
Students who do not meet the above criteria can apply to be considered through the process of RPL/RPE.
Access

An entry selection process will include entry requirements above, and submission of a sample of written work.

Students will first commence on the Postgraduate (PG) Diploma in Social Care and Social Justice, if successful they can transfer to the MA programme

Students are required to obtain a 50% average across the Postgraduate (PG) Diploma in Social Care and Social Justice to transfer to the MA programme.

Please include in your application a brief essay of 500 words on "The value of social justice in the social care professions". The written submission should be typed on white A4 paper using 1.5-inch spacing, with Times New Roman Font, size 12. Please use an MS Word document, not a PDF

Applications for online programmes are accepted on the atu sligo website.

All programmes advertised will run subject to sufficient student numbers.

ATU sligo online has two intakes per year, the main one being in September with a smaller listing of programmes for January. For confirmation on start dates check www.itsligo.ie/online

For September, applications open from 1st February each year. Closing date for receipt of applications is 31st august.

For January, applications open from 1st November each year. Closing date for applications is mid-January.

The online application form requires personal details, previous qualifications, professional accreditations, employment history and a personal statement. We recommend collating all the necessary paperwork i.e. Transcripts of previous qualifications, academic certificates before you submit an application.

Once submitted, our admissions team will contact you to confirm eligibility and request copies of any previous qualifications.

Academic staff review every application and approve eligible candidates for the programme.

Admissions team will notify you if you are accepted onto the course and will request deposit to confirm your place.

Places are limited, so please apply early.

Postgraduate Diploma 18 months (3 semesters) and Masters 2 years (4 semesters)

Delivery: Blended, online, with Online residentials/ workshops each semester.

Part-time blended online and with possible on-campus learning. Students also avail of online residentials during the semester in addition to a weekly online lecture.

Career Opportunities

This programme provides graduates with expert knowledge in the social care and social justice fields and therefore graduates are expected to progress up their personal career ladders in areas such as policy, research, management and leadership within specific organisations.

Students who have completed this programme have gone on to work in, for example:

• Homeless services
• Acquired Brain Injury support services
• Disability services
• Home School Liaison
• Community activists
• Prison services
• Traveller Organisations
• Speech therapy
• Social Work
• Drama
• Teaching
• Social Care professionals
• Access Officers in Third level organisations
• Community Development
• Health Professions
• Retail
• Early Years Education

Further Study
Doctoral Studies in Social Care or Social Justice Discipline, Research, Policy, can be explored. Other opportunities exist, depending on your personal goals.