As part of the Children, Youth & Family Ministry track students spend time working at a placement alongside their studies. We call this ‘Professional Practice’ and the placement is a ‘Practice Agency’.

Practice Agencies can be a church, or group of churches, or a Christian organisation or charity. Some students may apply with a Practice Agency already in mind, others do not and we will help them find a suitable agency.

Over the course of the Certificate students will complete a minimum of 300 hours in their main practice agency, which works out at around 12 hours per week during term time, at least 50% of which should be face to face children, youth and family ministry, depending on the area the student wishes to specialise in.

If students wish to continue with their studies after completing the Certificate to gain a Diploma or BA Degree they can do so. They can continue to work at their placement as a Placement Based Theology Student, using Children, Youth and Family ministry as the context for their studies.

All students will be assigned a Practice Tutor (PT) who will hold an appropriate professional qualification (Level 4 or above, JNC or playwork) or have equivalent professional experience. The Practice Tutor will help the student to reflect on their practice and put together their professional practice portfolio submission. Students will meet with their Practice Tutor for one-hour tutorials eight times over the length of their course.

All of these aspects form an integral part of the Children, Youth & Family Ministry track within the Certificate, along with the academic modules.

If you represent a church or organisation that may be interested in providing a placement for a student you can download an information pack here which gives more detail on exactly what is involved. Please do get in touch with us as well, we’d love to talk things through with you.

(You can also read the College’s Safeguarding policy here.)