Graduate Diploma in Residential Work (Children's)
Why choose this course?
Do you want to boost your skills and confidence in working with children in residential care and similar settings? This course provides a unique hands-on learning experience to equip you with the knowledge and practical skills to excel in your career.
The course is aimed at those working in a residential setting with children at all levels, from first-time practitioners to aspiring managers. It enables you to deepen your understanding of children's needs, critically reflect, and develop your practice using social pedagogy.
By applying the learning to your day-to-day work, you will enhance your practice while furthering your career with an advanced qualification.
The course has been co-designed with Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust, a charity that creates children's homes where children can thrive.
This pioneering course draws on the latest best practice and research evidence for children in care, and uses advanced technology for you to practise and develop your skills.
You will cover the mandatory Level 3 Residential Childcare Diploma requirements that all children's home practitioners need (so you won't need to do that separately). The course also offers an optional manager pathway, covering the Level 5 Diploma requirements.
This course is gaining endorsement by the Social Pedagogy Professional Association so you will achieve the title Social Pedagogy Practitioner upon successful completion of the course.
| Mode | Duration | Attendance | Start date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full time | 18 months | Full-time work-based distance learning | September 2025 |
| Main Location | Kingston Hill and online learning |
Reasons to choose Kingston University
- Boost your career with this higher-level qualification.
- Qualify as a practitioner or manager in a children's home, and gain social pedagogy practitioner status, all within a single qualification.
- Flexible study through distance learning using enhanced technology.
What you will study
You will study three core modules exploring the history of residential care, abuse and trauma, and how to work therapeutically taking a social pedagogy approach. For your fourth module, you can choose between consolidating your understanding of children's rights and your role as an advocate for young people in care and similar settings, or qualifying as a Registered Manager so you can lead a home to get the best for the children and your team.
Modules
Core modules
The Big Picture
30 credits
This module explores the history, context, and current challenges of Residential Care and similar settings. You will critically reflect on what has brought you into the work, what your motivations and experiences are in the sector, and how these play out in your practice in the home, both with the children, your team, and other professionals. Together you will explore what brought you into this work and what it means for you collectively to be working as part of a team supporting children in a children's home (or similar setting).
The module explores 'care versus control' narratives in the social care sector and in the institutions and systems that contextualise children's lives in a children's home (or similar setting), and introduces social pedagogy as a value base for your work. Knowledge of what has brought the children to the home, and of the wider systems and structures of care, allows you to critique practice and to develop professional confidence and assertiveness in advocating for children and young people.
The Hard Stuff
30 credits
This module provides you with the breadth and depth of knowledge of abuse, neglect and trauma that you need for working with children in Residential Care and similar settings. You will gain knowledge of different kinds of abuse and their impacts on children and young people, focusing on harm inside and outside the home, such as sexual exploitation and county lines activity. You will build on your introduction to social pedagogy in The Big Picture to consider how as a holistic approach to wellbeing it can be used to understand children and families' experiences of abuse, neglect, and trauma.
You will explore environmental and social factors within which harms occur, and the relationship between these contextual factors, the harms, their impacts and professional responses. You will apply your learning from The Big Picture when considering the social context in which harm is caused to young people. The module will teach you safeguarding and support remits, roles and responsibilities, and you will critically reflect and apply your knowledge from this module to your learning and skills development across the other modules.
The Healing Stuff
30 credits
This module equips you with Social Pedagogy theories, approaches and tools for working with children and young people in Residential Care and similar settings. The module develops knowledge and applied skill in trauma-informed approach and relationship-based practice, including tools such as Motivational Interviewing Techniques. The module gives you the knowledge, skills and confidence to work therapeutically with children and young people as a Social Pedagogy Practitioner (qualifying at Level 6). You will apply knowledge from The Big Picture to critically consider the context in which you are working therapeutically with children who have experienced trauma, and will practise your skills in these therapeutic methods both individually and with your peers on the course.
You will also apply your understanding from The Hard Stuff to your skills practice on this module, demonstrating how your contextualised knowledge of abuse, neglect and developmental trauma, factor into therapeutic decisions about how best to approach healing opportunities for children in residential care and similar settings. You will develop your ability to ‘reflect-in-action' in order to hone skills in adapting therapeutic techniques in response to children's needs.
Final module (choose one)
The Important Stuff
30 credits
This module provides you with knowledge of children's laws, rights, regulations and policies, and the skill and professional confidence to apply this for the benefit of young people you work with in residential care and similar settings. You will develop a working knowledge of children's health, education and social care rights, with the assertive acumen to advocate for them within the systems that you, they, and the home (or similar setting) find yourselves. You will apply knowledge gained from The Big Picture to critically analyse children and young people's experiences within the policy and legal context of Residential Care and similar settings, practising your advocacy role within this system.
Social Pedagogy values and approaches will form the ethical basis of this knowledge application, and you will practise your skills in speaking up for yourself, your profession, your organisation, and most importantly – the children and young people you're charged with looking after and advocating for. You will use knowledge and skill from the other modules to explore how to put your professional expertise into practice in professional networks as a Social Pedagogy Practitioner.
The Head of the Household
30 credits
This module will give you skills, knowledge and confidence to lead a children's home or similar setting, grounded in understanding of what it is to be a leader. You will explore different leadership styles, approaches and theories to find your own voice as a leader and registered manager. Using social pedagogy approaches and ethos, you will develop professional leadership in order to guide the home, your team, and positive outcomes for the children, young people, and young adults you work with.
You will develop a working knowledge of all the regulatory requirements and responsibilities of a registered manager, with a strong focus on exercising these with relational leadership skill and critical awareness of the wider context of your work within residential care or similar settings.
Knowing your own drivers and what led you to this work, understanding your team's motivations, and empathising with young people's lived experiences will allow you to lead with skill and professional confidence. This module will equip you with professional confidence to lead as a Social Pedagogy Practitioner.
Entry requirements
Teaching and assessment
Who teaches this course?
Every member of the teaching staff has substantial practice experience in social work. In addition, many are actively involved in social work research, presenting regularly at conferences and publishing in books and journals. In addition, our course teams draw on the wealth of experience provided by our professional contacts and service users and carers who feed into the design of our courses and provide teaching and supervision to enrich your learning.
We have strong links with the NHS, education and healthcare providers and social services, and we also offer classic postgraduate programmes alongside research and continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities.
Course fees and funding
Here you can find more details about fees for this course, as well as any funding opportunities available to you for this course. Please note that fees relate to the academic year in question and will increase in future years.
Additional costs
Depending on the programme of study, there may be extra costs that are not covered by tuition fees which students will need to consider when planning their studies. Tuition fees cover the cost of your teaching, assessment and operating University facilities such as the library, access to shared IT equipment and other support services. Accommodation and living costs are not included in our fees.
Where a course has additional expenses, we make every effort to highlight them. These may include optional field trips, materials (for example, art, design, engineering), security checks such as DBS, uniforms, specialist clothing or professional memberships.
Facilities
You will have access to your own augmented and virtual reality space where you can practice your skills. Where possible, this space will be created from footage of your own residential setting where you work.
Social Work Skills Lab
The skills lab is a purpose-built facility where social work students have the opportunity to learn and to practise key social work skills.
Social workers undertaking continuing professional development courses develop their assessment and intervention skills and other skills such as mentoring, teaching and providing reflective supervision.
What's available?
The skills lab is divided into several sections including:
- a seminar/case conference room for a maximum of 20 people;
- a simulated living-room and front door to assist in developing skills relating to home visits;
- five interview rooms simulating work environments;
- a control room with two-way mirror and viewing monitors; and
- all rooms have fitted cameras and microphones so that activities can be recorded.
A flexible, creative space
The skills lab has been designed to be a multi-functional space which allows flexible use. The furniture is all portable and can be changed according to the simulated activities required.
The small rooms can be used for practising communication skills and simulating supervision sessions.
The large room can be used as a teaching or seminar room and can be set up as a simulated case conference room or duty desk.
Participants have the opportunity to engage in creative skills development activities and benefit from live supervision and feedback from the recorded material.
After you graduate
This course is gaining endorsement by the Social Pedagogy Professional Association so you will achieve the title Social Pedagogy Practitioner upon successful completion of the course.
Suitable job roles include:
- Residential staff in a children's home
- Registered manager of a children's home
- Social pedagogy practitioner – Level 6
- Support worker for young people
Links with business and industry
The course has been co-designed in collaboration with Lighthouse Pedagogy Trust – a charity that creates children's homes where children can thrive. The design process involved consultations with several children's home organisations to ensure the course is suitable for a diverse range of residential settings. This included input across a broad spectrum of roles – from directors and registered managers to practitioners who are currently pursuing qualifications. Additionally, we engaged with broader stakeholder groups, including local authorities, commissioning groups, government representatives, and those involved in children's social care.
Research areas
Kingston University is leading research for the National Institute for Health and Social Care Research in Children in Children's Homes. The aim of this study is to produce new knowledge about what works well for children in children's homes and use this evidence to set out a needs-led approach to commissioning and provision.
Many of our staff are research active, often in partnership with NHS Trusts. This ensures they are in touch with the latest thinking and bring best practice to your studies.
Social work research activity focuses around several key areas:
- risk and child abuse
- children's rights
- learning processes and partnership approaches in professional education
- management of child protection systems
- safeguarding adults
- mental capacity
- effectiveness of community-based responses to crime.
We conduct much of our social care research and consultancy either in partnership with or on behalf of the social service, voluntary sector and probation agencies.
Course changes and regulations
The information on this page reflects the currently intended course structure and module details. To improve your student experience and the quality of your degree, we may review and change the material information of this course. Course changes explained.
Programme Specifications for the course are published ahead of each academic year.
Regulations governing this course can be found on our website.
