This level 6 major project module will take students on a transformative journey that will enhance their critical thinking, analytical abilities, and academic writing.  Students will learn about the philosophical foundations of social research and will be able to reflect on their own philosophical and methodological standpoint. Research design, ethical issues and methodological tensions will be covered throughout the first two terms of this module. A practical focus on quantitative and qualitative data analysis will aid students to become career ready for the research sector. Teaching will be face to face in small groups,  where students will work with peers to consider the staged process of research design and apply what they have learnt to real world research phenomena. Once students have developed their knowledge and understanding of research methods and data analysis techniques, they will embark on their own piece of research under the guidance of an academic supervisor. By writing a substantial piece of independent research students will gain essential skills in research methodology, data analysis, and academic writing that will serve them throughout their academic and professional career.

This module brings together the three strands of counselling skills: skills practice, theory, and personal development, developing students understanding of how the three elements come together and how they might be applied in the context of future careers. Students are taught advanced counselling concepts, demonstrating how they are applied in context, and are given the opportunity to practise the concepts themselves. Students are given the opportunity to reflect the process and their future careers.

This module introduces students to the sociology of consumption and encourages critical consideration of the rise and continued predominance of consumer culture in our everyday lives, and its implications. The module situates mass consumption historically, tracing expansion of the consumer society in Western capitalist economies during the twentieth century, and exploring the impacts of subsequent developments, such as globalisation, neoliberalism and technological advancements. It introduces students to various theoretical approaches within the sociology of consumer culture and encourages students to critically engage with theories and debates surrounding key topics, including advertising, consumer sites and spaces, brands, identity, social exclusion, debt, and sustainable consumption. Throughout, students are encouraged to critically consider the wider implications of the prominence of consumer culture, globally, environmentally, socially and individually, and to apply their own critical reflections, observations and experiences in their evaluation of each of the topics and theories covered.

This module on International Political Economy is concerned with the (re)production of power and wealth within the contemporary world order. The module explores complex questions and global challenges that are rooted in an understanding of power, international relations and economy. Students are asked to think critically about how the politics of the international economy is governed and through an evaluation of power and inequality. Such questions include: Why and how does the politics and economics of the world take its current form? In what ways do the structural features of the world economy shape power and visa versa, and with what consequences? In what ways does the international political economy create uneven consequences and shape interactions in the international community?  Case studies will be drawn from across the world and, in particular, from Latin America. Indicative content includes:

• Theoretical Approaches of IPE: Orthodox, Critical and Radical theories.
• The Subject of International Political Economy and its Methods
• The Evolution of the IPE: Empires and mercantilism; economic liberalism; the liberal economic order; Pax Britannica, industrial capitalism and imperialism; Power, Contemporary capitalism and global governance – who does the governing?; contemporary imperialism.
• Bretton Woods Institutions; the Washington Consensus, Post-Washington Consensus and Critique; Dismantling Embedded Liberalism; States, Markets and Institutions.
• Key issues, global challenges and responses in the IPE: Globalization and its discontents; North-South Relationships; International Trade, Finance and Development; Transnational Production; Global Division of Labour; Sustainable Development; International Security, Conflict and Migration; Culture, Indigeneity and IPE; Resistance to the Global norms; Climate change and energy security; the IPE of ideas and knowledge production

The aims of this module are four-fold:

• To provide an in-depth understanding of the historical development of the IPE.
• To provide a critical analysis of the main institutional and structural contours of the global political economy and the effects of these.
• To offer perspectives and insights that engage with, stand in contrast to and challenge dominant paradigms about power dynamics within the global political economy.
• To provide a sophisticated understanding of global issues and challenges through mainstream, critical and radical theories of IPE.

Education has long been established as a means of achieving greater equality for all, with educational policy positioned as egalitarian. This module critically explores education’s identity within contemporary contexts of neoliberalism, capitalism and postmodernity. It includes an exploration of the possibilities and barriers to emancipatory education, including globalisation, technological advancements, and contemporary educational improvement agendas.  

The module invites students to consider how their personal biographies relate to both contemporary and legacy educational policy agendas. The module utilises critical social theory to debate the impact of educational reform, and the social and structural forces that drive it. The module also considers the social conditions required for education to deliver greater equality, and the impact that curriculum design has upon social mobility.

This module develops students’ critical understanding of the wider social, political and cultural issues which both challenge and inform the helping relationship. This increased understanding enables students to consider the implications for the helping relationship, leading to a greater awareness of the issues which inform and shape the lives of the helper and helpee.

This module explores a range of organisations where counselling skills are used, and considers how the dynamics and culture within these organisations effects the use of those counselling skills. Students are introduced to a range of careers within the field of counselling and perform a critical examination of those roles within their specific context.