BACHELOR of CHILD and YOUTH CARE

DEGREE

The Bachelor of Child and Youth Care is a four-year degree offered full time on campus at MacEwan.

While your studies focus on professional specialization in child and youth care throughout the four years, required and elective courses in other disciplines, such as the humanities and social sciences, broaden your awareness and understanding of human behaviour and interdisciplinary perspectives.

Already Have a Child and Youth Care Diploma?

MacEwan University may be able to transfer portions of a diploma from another post-secondary institution, helping you complete your degree faster than you think.

Degree or Diploma – Your Choice

Students entering the Bachelor of Child and Youth Care program can choose from a four-year degree or a two-year diploma.

Diploma Exit

What to expect

In years one and two, foundational courses teach you how to form helping relationships with youth and families through effective communication, understanding of adolescent and lifespan development, family dynamics and activity programming. Personal and professional development are central themes throughout your course work.

In years three and four, child and youth care courses prepare you for advanced practice in intensive programs for youth and families with multiple and more complex challenges. Research and statistical analysis courses are introduced and related to the field of child and youth care. Arts and science courses broaden and complete your degree education.

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Courses & Requirements
Check the academic calendar to find the courses you need to take and the requirements you must fulfill to complete your program.
Academic Calendar

Learning outcomes

Graduates of MacEwan’s BCYC will be able to:

  1. Engage in professional conduct across contexts
    • Make decisions ethically
    • Engage in self-reflection to appraise one’s own attitudes, skills and knowledge
    • Develop and articulate a child and youth care professional identity
  2. Critique, integrate and apply theoretical frameworks
  3. Utilize effective communication across contexts
    • Employ verbal, non-verbal and written communication in professional contexts
    • Employ therapeutic communication skills with children, youth and families
  4. Plan, facilitate and evaluate therapeutic interventions with children, youth, families and communities
    • Use relational and developmental approaches
    • Engage purposefully within the lifespace
    • Intentionally employ activity-based interventions
  5. Assess and respond to contexts that shape professional practice, such as but not limited to law, legislation and regulations, addictions, mental health, abuse and neglect, and sustainability
  6. Evaluate research from child and youth care and other related disciplines
    • Employ foundational research skills
    • Integrate research into professional practice
    • Contribute to emerging child and youth care scholarship
  7. Engage in professional practice that preserves, promotes and advocates for social and economic justice
    • Respond critically to forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination
    • Examine self in an intersectional framework