Childhood & Youth and Drama

Combining childhood and youth studies with drama brings together two disciplines that share a deep interest in how people understand themselves and the world around them. Childhood and youth studies is a genuinely multidisciplinary field, drawing on sociology, history, social policy, psychology, and cultural studies to examine the diverse experiences of children and young people, the social structures that shape those experiences, and the policies designed to support or protect them. Drama, meanwhile, is concerned with how human experience is expressed, interpreted, and communicated through performance, and it offers distinctive methods for exploring social realities and giving voice to experiences that other disciplines might not easily reach.

At Liverpool Hope this three-year full-time programme includes a sandwich year, a year abroad, and a work placement, giving you an unusually broad range of experiences during your studies. You will explore the issues and challenges facing children and young people in the UK and globally, examining questions of rights, welfare, education, identity, and social inclusion alongside the political and policy frameworks within which childhood is constructed and contested. The drama component develops your understanding of performance, theatre history, and the relationship between drama and social change, with a particular emphasis on the ways that applied theatre and drama education are used to work with young people.

The combination is especially coherent for students interested in youth work, education, social care, or arts and community practice.

Graduates of this combination find careers in education and youth work, social care, community arts, drama therapy, teaching, policy analysis, and charitable organisations working with children and families. The professional experience built through the placement and sandwich year is a significant advantage when entering these fields, where demonstrated competence with young people matters alongside qualifications. Many graduates go on to postgraduate study in education, social work, drama therapy, applied theatre, or youth and community development.