LL30
Full Time. The first year is full time with an option of part time is subsequent years.
September
£5,760 for Foundation Year, then £8250 per year for Foundation Degree
Trips may incur some cost.
University Way Campus
Face-to-face via lectures, seminars and tutorials
FdA Criminology & Criminal Justice (HTQ) with Foundation Year
University of Lancashire
Are you interested in studying criminology, but lack the formal qualifications to apply for a degree? Looking to return to education?
The Criminology and Criminal Justice Foundation degree with foundation year is a great option to get you on the pathway to degree study. The foundation year will support you to develop the academic, research and presentation skills needed to continue onto our FdA in Criminology and Criminal Justice.
Along the way, you will gain exciting insights into key areas of criminology including; explaining criminality, human trafficking, understanding morality and crime, and exploring causation. You will also benefit from small group sessions and one to one support from a skilled teaching team. The criminology community at UCO is thriving and offers students an excellent opportunity to attend varied trips during their study.
Our FdA has been aligned with job roles in Youth Offending Services within Local Authorities. This is course is a Higher Technical Qualification which is approved by IFATE which means you will develop skills and knowledge needed for working with children who have offended or who are at risk of offending.
Year 0
Academic skills (20 credits)
Develop a range of core literacy skills to support the skill of extended writing so that you can study independently at Level 4 and beyond.
Verbal skills and debating (20 credits)
This module will help you develop effective verbal skills and build verbal confidence by participating in the planning and presentation of individual and group tasks. As well as debates on contemporary human rights/social justice issues.
Introduction to criminology and sociology (20 credits)
Consider the influence and impact of ideas about socially constructed identities, inequalities, and crime in the context of the media’s representation of marginalised groups in society.
Introduction to psychology (20 credits)
In this module, you will study cognition, development, social behaviour, and individual differences. You will attend workshops on the methods of psychology, design and analysis, memory, and testing.
Issues in sociology (20 credits)
This module will introduce and explain some selected sociological theories, which you will apply to a case study evaluation of the relationship between health, the body, and disability.
Issues in criminology (20 credits)
Explore a range of criminological issues arising from the workings of the criminal justice system to enable a broad understanding to evolve, of how criminology as a discipline frame issues relating to crime, criminality, and victimhood.
Year 1
Looking beyond crime and criminology (20 Credits)
This module begins by exploring the realities of crime in our society, looking at how crime is defined, measured and represented. We then move on to explore alternative conceptions of ‘crime’ through the social harm approach, investigating how the idea of ‘social harm’, affects our perceptions of crime, the criminal, and criminalisation and with what effect.
Skills, research, and employability (20 Credits)
This module supports students to develop a range of transferrable skills which will underpin future research and assessments, alongside facilitating independent learning and reflective practice.
The history of criminal justice (20 Credits)
This module outlines the history of punishment and criminal justice in the UK and shows how systems of criminal justice are, and have been, influenced by the social, political, religious, cultural, and theoretical trends and themes. Within this module we explore the importance of these contexts to the development of criminal justice and acknowledge that such development cannot be understood outside that context.
Crime and morality (20 Credits)
This module is designed to introduce students to the wider and often controversial issues in criminology alongside exploration of the theoretical context in which enquiry about crime is located. The module examines several political, moral and legal concepts such as obligation to obey the law, disobedience, criminalisation, policing, human rights and justifications of punishment.
Key approaches in criminology (20 Credits)
The module is designed to stimulate, challenge and provoke thought and debate and to introduce students to the key theorists and ideas within criminology, so they can engage critically with the framework ideas, theories and practices that inform their respective approaches.
Criminal justice in action (20 Credits)
This module introduces the major stages, processes, procedures and personnel comprising the Criminal Justice system in England and Wales. The module includes guest lectures from practitioners within the CJS and a visit to the Crown Court.
Year 2
Mandatory modules
Research methods and theory 1 (20 credits)
This module will support your development and understanding of methodological topics and theories within criminology. Learn how to utilise this to inform a historical understanding of the development of criminology as a colonial enterprise, and current debates around decolonising research at universities.
Research methods and theory 2 (20 credits)
Develop and extend your understanding of current debates in theory and research. To support the application of strategies and decisions in relation to research practice and planning.
Understanding policing and security (20 credits)
Explore developments in policing history and the sociology of policing and security. Apply explanations and frameworks critically to current issues in policing and security.
Youth justice (20 credits)
Explore critical explanations of how the state responds to young people breaking, or at risk of breaking, the law or acting in an antisocial way.
Punishment and the penal system (20 credits)
This module aims to introduce you to key issues and debates relating to the justification and use of punishment following a conviction for a criminal offence.
Optional modules*
Violence against women and girls (20 credits)
Explore domestic and international policy, and theoretical debates, relating to violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Drugs, crime and society (20 credits)
In this module, you'll explore the use of recreational drugs within an historical context to reflect on the construction of the distinction legal/illegal drugs use. As well as evaluate the effectiveness of policies designed to control drug use from a comparative perspective.
Work placement (20 credits)
Develop informed insights into career progression and translate this knowledge into practice. While increasing your understanding of how policy is operationalised in workplace settings.
*Depending on the number of students it is not always possible to deliver all the optional modules.
The course is assessed using a range of methods including essays, examinations, course work and presentations.
Employability skills are embedded throughout the course, alongside regular guest speakers and conference events. Students have the option of undertaking a work placement module in year 3 of their study.
Students have the option of undertaking a work placement module in year 2 of their study.
Transition to the FdA Criminology and Criminal Justice will rely on a PASS and guidance will be offered to each student to ensure transition to a course is available that meets each student needs and aspirations.
Graduates may wish to progress to the BA (Hons) Criminology and Criminal Justice top up where you will further apply your criminological understanding to key issues such as crimes of the powerful, human trafficking, as well as developing a dissertation project of your choosing.
Graduates can pursue careers in areas such as Youth Offending Services within Local Authorities, the police, the probation service, prisons and branches of the Home Office such as the Border Agency and the Criminal Justice Social Work. Students might also consider community development work, youth offending teams, educational institutions and adult guidance work with ex-offenders. Paid employment in the voluntary sector is an increasingly important area with positions in victim support and women’s refuges.
32 UCAS points.
Attend interview as required.
Non-standard applicants may be considered for entry without meeting all the admissions requirements and must demonstrate during interview that they have sufficient general academic skills to be able to undertake the course with relevant experience.
The preparatory year is also a time to achieve Level 2 Maths and English qualifications if either or both have not yet been achieved.
Transition to the FdA (HTQ) Criminology & Criminal Justice will rely on a PASS of the foundation year and guidance will be offered to each student to ensure transition to a course is available that meets each student's needs and aspirations.