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Child Development - MSc

Mode of study: Full time, Part time
Start date: September 2021
Duration of Study: 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time

Subject Area: Natural Sciences, Psychology, Science
FEES (2021/22 academic year): UK - FT £9,000 / PT £4,950; International - £16,500

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Programme specifications

Course Overview

The MSc in Child Development is designed to prepare psychology graduates for the next stage of their career in research or applied areas of psychology.

Dan Middleton, MSc in Child Development alumnus

"The child development course has been an incredible experience for me for many reasons beyond the course content. " - read more about Dan Middleton, MSc in Child Development alumnus

Jess Hill, MSc in Child Development alumna

"I joined the Child Development MSc course as an aspiring Educational Psychologist. Studying part-time allowed me to continue working as Teaching Assistant while completing the course over two years." - read more about Jess Hill, MSc in Child Development alumna

Gemma Haywood, MSc Child Development alumna

""I very much enjoyed my Master’s in Child Development. It has enhanced my passion for research and has equipped me with many transferable skills."" - read more about Gemma Haywood, MSc Child Development alumna

About the course

Overview

The MSc in Child Development is designed to prepare psychology graduates for the next stage of their career in research or applied areas of developmental psychology.

Keele has a vibrant, well-established and ever-expanding community of researchers in child development. Students will benefit from their expertise across a wide range of areas including child social development (e.g. bullying and peer relationships), child cognitive development (e.g. theory of mind, attention in autism and ADHD), education (e.g. girls and science and enhancing collaborative learning in the classroom) and religion and supernatural beliefs.

MSc students are made to feel part of this research culture both through the formal modules and through involvement in research seminars and meetings. Students also become members of the Children and Young People’s Research Network.

Key features of your MSc programme in Psychology will include:

Strong focus on your personal skills development throughout the course to help you pursue your career goals
Opportunities to pursue your personal interests in Child Development with support from experts in Child Development
A broad range of research methods training to maximise your employability skills
Small group specialist teaching Child Development from research-active tutors
A large cohort of MSc students sharing the core Psychology modules provides a lively and supportive peer community

The programme provides taught content and research training in a range of areas in Child Development, building on areas of staff research expertise.

We have well-established links with local schools and have created research partnerships where students come to the university to experience learning in a university setting as well as allowing our students to gain valuable experience working and collecting data in a school setting. We work with local primary, secondary, SEN and other youth groups such as with looked after children.

The overall aims of all our MSc Psychology programmes are as follows:

To equip you to formulate and conduct psychological research projects;
To develop your knowledge of different theoretical perspectives, philosophical traditions and methodological approaches to psychology;
To enable you to understand the strengths and weaknesses of different research methods and different forms of data, and to evaluate their appropriateness for different research problems;
To enable you to define and formulate research questions and testable hypotheses, and to design appropriate research to answer these questions using relevant methods of data collection, consistent with British Psychological Society principles of ethics and research governance;
To provide you with knowledge of quantitative and qualitative approaches to research and data analysis techniques;
To provide you with a range of opportunities to engage with advanced research in substantive areas relevant to their own research topic and to the discipline of psychology;
To provide you with opportunities to enhance and develop your written and communication skills, independent learning skills, and critical reflection and evaluation skills.

You will develop these skills in Child Development under the guidance of a faculty member with expertise this area.

Course structure

How the course is taught

Our MSc Psychology programmes are designed to foster a vibrant and collaborative peer culture amongst our MSc students. We know it’s vital that you develop the advanced specialised skills you will need to pursue careers in your chosen fields. Throughout your MSc degree you are supported and encouraged to focus your work to help you conduct in-depth explorations of Child Development and your personal interests.

Teaching and Assessment

Each module has different prescribed learning activities, including formal lectures and seminars, discussions and consultation with staff. You should expect some lively debates and interesting discussions. Please be aware that you will be expected to contribute to the programme, in the form of advance reading (of which there is a substantial amount), preparing presentations and contributing to discussions in seminars, and bringing your own ideas to bear on the teaching material.

The programme is assessed through a range of formats including:

Blog portfolios
Personal skills audits
Research Critiques
Lab Reports
Unseen exams and class tests
Verbal presentations
Independent research written up as a dissertation.

Taught modules

Over the course of the MSc, students will complete 120 credits across 7 modules (see below for more info). Of these 180 credits, 120 credits are focused on specialist Child Development content. The remaining 60 credits develop students’ general Psychological skills and knowledge.

Specialist Child Development Modules

Advanced Study in MSc Child Development	45 credits	You will undertake this triple weighted module that spans both semesters of the programme. On the Advanced Study module you get to choose the topic to focus on for the Critique. Previous topics have included: the influence of siblings; the intergenerational transmission of violence; whether attachment in childhood is fixed; the implications of a ‘growth mind-set’; Theory of Mind and Autism; the interplay between child temperament and parenting. For the group report, you work together in small groups to devise an intervention to bring about behavioural change. This year’s projects include: a schools-based mental health intervention, a domestic abuse prevention education programme for primary-age children; and an App for children at risk of exclusion to help manage their emotions. The module aims to deepen students’ knowledge and understanding of key concepts, theories and research evidence on child development and to develop their critical awareness of current issues and new insights in this area of psychological research. There is a key focus on the ethical and practical issues associated with conducting research with children and young people. Topics can include: children’s humour, children and face perception, children and advertising, bullying in schools.
Dissertation Module	60 credits	Research is a key emphasis in our programmes and you will be supported by a specialist tutor in your chosen field to undertake original research as part of the Dissertation module. Our expert staff and specialist facilities can support a range of projects across the field.
Research Apprenticeship in Psychology	15 credits	Every year we run apprenticeships in which students join staff working on real research projects across a broad range of areas of psychology. Students are allocated to an apprenticeship based on the self-development goals you each identify in your personal skills audit. This ensures the apprenticeship provides you with experiences and opportunities that will support your future career ambitions and encourage you to learn new skills.

Core Psychology Modules

Contemporary Research in Psychology	15 credits	This is a breadth module that enables you to engage with psychological research across a range of topics and sub-disciplines at the cutting edge of contemporary research in psychology. You will attend research seminars given by experts within and outside Keele and reflect on and critically evaluate the theoretical, methodological and ethical issues associated with a wide range of contemporary topics and issues in psychological research.
Advanced Research Skills and Design	15 credits	This innovative module gives you a broad range of advanced research skills and familiarity with a range of cutting edge research designs in psychology, the help you progress through the rest of the programme being able to set your work in wider context. It introduces new techniques not typically covered at undergraduate level as well as equipping students with the advanced research skills or critical literature reviewing, generating a suitable research question, identifying a suitable method, ethical issues in research, and managing time and research relationships. You will complete a detailed skills audit and engage in some complex reflections of your own abilities and how you can progress through the course - an innovative assessment praised by our external examiners for encouraging engagement and thinking about personal development.
Advanced Quantitative Data Analysis	15 credits	The topics covered in this module are: extensions of the regression model, analysis of variance, logistic regression, and multivariate data reduction techniques such as factor analysis, together with a few more specialist methods, which you can select between based on your interests. The material is taught using SPSS, and although the module encourages a sound understanding of statistical principles, the primary emphasis is on practical data analysis.

Research Methods Training

All students can tailor their research methods training to suit their needs and interests by choosing one of the following optional modules and complete a project in an area of Child Development:

Qualitative Research Methods	15 credits	This module will give you an appreciation of different approaches to qualitative data collection and analysis. We encourage you to try out data collection and analytic methods you haven't used before. During the module you will design, conduct, analyse and reflect on a qualitative research study based on a topic you are interested in. Students often choose to explore something that complements or extends their dissertation research.
Advanced Cognitive Neuroscience Research Methods	15 credits	This module develops your knowledge and practical skills with contemporary methods in cognitive psychology and cognitive neurosceince such as electroencephalography (EEG), eyetracking, and other contemporary methods. It prepares you to design, conduct, and critically appraise research using these methods. Lectures cover the theoretical background of the methods and, for several months, you will gain hands-on experience with data collection, data analysis, and use of specialist software and equipment. This module will emphasise a framework which will allow you to understand existing methods and follow the development of new methods going forward.