An essay of length 3000 words weighted at 100% which will assess all LO's

Additional Assessment Details (include formative feedback / assessment):
For formative feedback, students will be expected to submit a detailed assignment plan before final completion of their assignment

This module will examine the social and political context of advice work, and the social problems that drive the need for advice. It will focus on current UK social policy set in the context of the historical development of advice work as a response to social problems, and reflection on future social and political developments likely to impact on advice provision and practice. The social context will include consideration of:
- the construction of social problems
- structural inequalities and discrimination in relation to individual characteristics such as age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability and social class, and how these impact both on life chances and experience, and on the need for and access to advice
- other aspects of social disadvantage and barriers to advice, for example aspects of geography, community, and `legal capability' and how the law is framed in terms of a solution to everyday life problems experienced by individuals
- theories and policies related to poverty and social exclusion (including in relation to welfare reform, access to food, fuel poverty); housing policies and homelessness; theories and policies around work and worklessness; health and social care; families, households and relationships; communities and neighbourhoods (including community relations)
The module will consider how these policies, and the social problems they are designed to address, interact with attitudes towards advice provision and the funding of such provision by central and local government and within the community.

PC and internet access
Access to Blackboard VLE

This is a distance learning award delivered via the Blackboard VLE

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities: (3 hours)
1 hour - Telephone tutorials with the tutor
2 hours - Scheduled discussion forums

Guided Independent Study Hours: (147 hours) This will be made up of:
Preparation for tasks and online discussions; wider reading including exploring additional sources of information, (particularly web based), updating their knowledge in line with developments and changes
Reading study materials, asynchronous online seminars, interactive tasks
Preparation for and completing the assignment

Alcock, P. et al (2012)(4th ed) The Student¿s Companion to Social Policy, John Wiley and Son
Dean, H. (2012)(2nd ed) Social Policy, Polity Press
Spicker, P. (2008)(2nd ed) Social Policy: Themes and Approaches, Policy Press

This module will examine the social and political context of advice work, and the social problems that drive the need for advice. It will focus on current UK social policy set in the context of the historical development of advice work as a response to social problems, and reflection on future social and political developments likely to impact on advice provision and practice. The module will consider how these policies, and the social problems they are designed to address, interact with attitudes towards advice provision and the funding of such provision by central and local government and within the community.