4B016E - Skills for Communication, Counselling, Engagement, and Transitions 01 Sep 2026 - 31 Aug 2032 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: 4B016E
Module Title: Skills for Communication, Counselling, Engagement, and Transitions
Faculty: Faculty of Life Sciences and Education
Faculty Group: Education
Faculty Sub Group: Education
Module Leader: Kelly McCarthy
Module Team: Lise Jacobsen, Mark Iggulden, Louise Simpson, Alun Prosser
First Intended Intake: SEP 2026 Final Year of Intake: 2031
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 30 Credit Level: 4
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100455 - childhood and youth studies
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 01 Sep 2026
Valid To 31 Aug 2032

Module Aims

  1. To develop understanding and knowledge of communication, counselling and creative therapeutic skills, through examination of concepts and theories, towards person-centred interventions, positive mental health, and enhanced wellbeing.  

 

  1. To explore the role of engagement in early lifespan transitions, including the challenges, barriers, and opportunities, presented within educational and social contexts. 

Content Summary

Skills for Engagement, Communication, Counselling, and Supporting Transitions 

 

Make a real difference by embracing the skills needed to work effectively with children and families. This module explores how lives can be transformed by using the right skills at the right time, by completing 16 hours of practice learning, gaining valuable hands-on experience that connects your studies to professional practice in relevant and related settings. 

 

You will develop the skills and confidence to work collaboratively with children, families, and professionals across sectors, promoting inclusion, fairness, and positive change. Balancing key theories with real-world practice, you’ll learn how adopting a person-centred, strengths-based approach, can enhance lives, wellbeing and flourishing within communities.  

 

Grounded in the Social Pedagogy Standards and Charter (SPPA, 2022), this module encourages you to think about what it means to be an autonomous, reflective, and compassionate practitioner who has a lasting impact. 

 

By the end, you will have created a developing skillset for future work with children and families by studying this module.  

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Seminar 49
Tutorials 7
Summative Assessment 60
Formative Assessment 5
Guided Study 65
Placement 16
Practical Class/Workshops 98
Total Hours Selected 300

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Students will be able to apply their knowledge of communication, counselling and creative therapeutic skills, to support person-centred interventions and enhance wellbeing.
LO2 Students will be able to demonstrate reflectively on the knowledge that the role of engagement in early lifespan transitions, including the challenges, barriers, and opportunities, presented within educational and social contexts.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Self-reflective Assessment A 600-word reflective journal entry based on 16 hours of professional placement – forms part of PSRB requirements (of 420 hours overall) for ‘Social Pedagogy Practitioner’ status. This assessment meets both module learning outcomes, as students base this reflection on their application of knowledge around communication, counselling, creative therapeutic skills, and the role played by engagement, in educational and social contexts. 0 600 25 No 40
Synchronous Onsite Practical Assessment Observation (Synchronous) Plan and deliver an individual (15 min) or small group session (30 min) based on module content, demonstrating engagement and communication skills suitable for supporting transitions 15 N/A 75 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Self-reflective Assessment
Observation (Synchronous)

Reading List

Communication, Counselling and Therapeutic Skills (SD1S101) | University of South Wales 

 

Child development from birth to 8 years: an interdisciplinary approach, Amanda Thomas; Alyson Lewis, 2023 

Communicating and engaging with children and young people: making a difference / Michelle Lefevre, Michelle Lefevre 

 

Communication and interviewing skills for practice in social work, counselling and the health professions, P. E. Higham, 2020 

  

Conversations that make a difference for children and young people: relationship-focused practice from the frontline, Lisa Cherry, 2021 

  

Counselling skills and theory, Margaret Hough, 2021 

  

From birth to sixteen: children's health, social, emotional, and linguistic development, Helen Cowie, 2019 

  

  

Health & wellbeing in childhood, edited Susanne Garvis; Donna Pendergast, 2024 

  

Improving the psychological wellbeing of children and young people: effective prevention and early intervention across health, education and social care, edited Julia Faulconbridge; Katie Hunt; Amanda Laffan, 2019 

   

Lifespan development, Denise Roberts Boyd; Helen L. Bee, 2019 

  

Nurturing natures: attachment and children's emotional, sociocultural and brain development, Graham Music, 2024 

  

Promoting child and parent wellbeing: how to use evidence- and strengths-based strategies in practice, Carole Sutton, 2016 

 

A short introduction to attachment and attachment disorder, Colby Pearce, 2017 

 

Creative pedagogies: a systematic review - in Research Papers in Education, Teresa Cremin; Kerry Chappell, 2021 

Creativity and Wellbeing in the Early Years: Practical Ideas and Activities for Young Children - in Education 3-13, Komala Komala; Solehun Solehun; Nuri Annisa, 2023-08-13 

  

Creative learning environments in education—A systematic literature review - in Thinking Skills and Creativity, Dan Davies; Divya Jindal-Snape; Chris Collier; Rebecca Digby; Penny Hay; Alan Howe, 2013-04 

Collective creativity and wellbeing dispositions: Children's perceptions of learning through drama - in Thinking Skills and Creativity, Lisa Stephenson, 2023 

Can educational engagement prevent Early School Leaving? Unpacking the school’s effect on educational success - in Educational Studies, Aina Tarabini; Marta Curran; Alejandro Montes; Lluís Parcerisa, 2019 

  

Problem and project-based learning through an investigation lesson: Significant gains in creative thinking behaviour within the Australian foundation (preparatory) classroom - in Thinking Skills and Creativity, Sharifah Balkish Albar; Jane Elizabeth Southcott, 2021-09 

  

Creating passionate learners: engaging today's students for tomorrow's world, Kim M. Brown; Tony Frontier; Donald Viegut, 2016 

 Is children’s wellbeing different from adults’ wellbeing? - in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Andrée-Anne Cormier; Mauro Rossi, 2019