📖Program Curriculum
The MA in Safeguarding Adults: Law Policy and Practice aims to develop a practical and theoretical understanding of the research law policies and practices relating to safeguarding adults enabling you to identify and evaluate potential legal issues justifying any recommendations or decisions given.
The programme is purposefully structured in such a way that allows you to maintain full-time employment whilst studying particularly important for students seeking continuing professional development or looking to switch careers.
Starting in October it can be studied one year full-time over two years part-time or up to five years if you choose to study on a modular basis. Teaching is delivered in short intense blocks of typically three to four days’ duration.
To qualify for the MA you will complete 180 credits which comprises four 30-credit taught modules and a 60-credit dissertation which is studied over the course of a year on a topic of your choice. Two compulsory core taught modules set the scene for the programme introducing you to the emergence of adult safeguarding as a discipline and the legal landscape that surrounds it. You’ll also develop the research skills and critical analysis necessary to successfully complete a master’s programme with particular emphasis on interdisciplinary socio-legal research methods.
You then study two further taught modules which can be tailored according to your academic personal or professional interests. You can choose the two recommended optional modules focused on Mental Capacity and Safeguarding and Carers or select one or both from a wide selection of optional modules available within the Law School.
The information below outlines a one-year full-time study schedule. When taken part-time the four modules are taught in the first year with the dissertation completed in the second year. Alternatively you can choose to study one or more taught modules for a period of up to four years followed by the dissertation in your final year. Module 1 includes an induction to the programme and must normally be completed before modules 2 3 and 4.
Core modules
LAW-40033 The Emergence of Adult Safeguarding (30 credits Semester 1)
This module provides the background and context to the advanced critique and investigation of adult safeguarding. It includes an examination of the emergence of adult safeguarding and recognition of abuse; consideration of demographic changes ageing and diversity; discussion of key concepts such as autonomy protection and vulnerability from legal and ethical perspectives; as well as considering particular forms of abuse that have emerged as concerns in their own right in recent years.
LAW-40032 Safeguarding Adults: Interventions (30 credits Semester 1)
What remedies are available in law and practice to protect and prevent adults from abuse? Are they used and are they effective? Or would alternative or improved methods better protect people from harm? These are the questions that this module focuses on through a consideration of a range of legal and other interventions and responses to the abuse of adults.
LAW-40030 Dissertation (60 credits Semester 3)
The production of a 15000 to 20000-word dissertation provides an exciting opportunity to work under the supervision of an expert in your chosen field of interest demonstrating a level of knowledge and understanding far beyond what you have learned in class. You’ll be supported to develop the research skills needed to conduct an extended piece of work on a topic of your choice analysing existing relevant research. Some students start the course with a clear idea about what they want to write about but others find and develop particular interests as the course progresses. Examples of recent dissertation topics by students which reflect the breadth of the subject include the following:
Domestic Homicide Reviews: Understanding why some victims are not identified as being at risk before their deaths.
Drug and Alcohol’s role in domestic abuse: Is it a contributory cause or an excuse?
Mental Capacity and Deprivation of Liberty: What impact will the proposed legislative changes have on the NHS?
The Impact of the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards on Policy and Practice in Adult Social Care: A Systematic Review of Local Government Ombudsman Decisions.
Exploring the ethical implications of discharging people experiencing multiple exclusion and homelessness back on to the streets.
To what extent do the police health and social care providers in England and Wales adequately address the safeguarding needs of same sex domestic abuse survivors/victims?
Exploring relational autonomy: A study on its potential to better protect autonomy in the sexual lives of people with intellectual disabilities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.
What can an analysis of Safeguarding Adults Reviews tell us about the use of the Mental Health Act 1983 in adult safeguarding?
Optional Modules
To complete the MA you will study additional modules to the value of 60 credits. You can choose the selected elective modules recommended for the course in Mental Capacity and Safeguarding and Carers or substitute one of these two for alternative module/s offered by the Law School. The availability of modules will depend on timetabling but a selection of those offered in 2021/22 is included below as a guide.
LAW-40029 Mental Capacity (30 credits Semester 2)
Mental capacity is a complex and contested concept – clinically ethically and legally. The extent to which an adult has capacity to make decisions is often a key consideration in adult safeguarding cases. This module introduces you to the legal framework ethical and practice dilemmas concerning adults whose mental capacity may be impaired and for whom there are safeguarding concerns. You will analyse the Mental Capacity Act 2005 associated case law and guidance in depth including key concepts such as what it means to have or lose mental capacity best interests and autonomy. You will also consider avenues for substitute decision-making the role of the Court of Protection and the Independent Mental Capacity Advocate and specific aspects of capacity such as decisions regarding adult relationships advance decisions and the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards.
LAW-40031 Safeguarding and Carers (30 credits Semester 2)
This module will enable students to develop their understanding of the role of carers in relation to adult safeguarding their legal status and the policy developments which have resulted in a substantial number of carers in the community. Specific topics may include institutional abuse; ethical perspectives on caring; legal definitions and roles of carers; the regulation of caring and whistleblowing protections.
LAW-40001 Foundations and Principles of Childcare Law and Practice (30 credits)
This module introduces you to the foundations to childcare law and practice covering childhood children’s rights law social policy and families. Topics may include by way of example: welfare; international legal perspectives on children’s rights; social policy and society; children and family crisis; the Human Rights Act and the child; Private Child Law; support versus risk; and child protection (social work perspectives).
Law-40002 Contemporary Issues in Childcare Law and Practice (30 credits)
This module aims to integrate a detailed examination of the legal framework and current child protection practice with an examination of some of the understandings and explanatory models which underpin existing and developing knowledge about child maltreatment. It seeks to locate such knowledge within a social cultural and political context and will focus in particular on current emerging and often controversial child protection themes and dilemmas. You will cover a range of topical issues such as youth justice international perspectives on exploited children forced marriage asylum and ‘modern slavery’ or child trafficking.
LAW-40003 Looked After Children (30 credits)
Children looked after by the local authority who are unable to be cared for by their own parents may experience a range of different placements. Through the lens of social policy social work practice and theory this module focuses on the legal framework the public private crossover and special guardianship fostering and removal at birth. It is informed by policy including the Quality Protects initiative and new law in the form of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 and associated regulations and guidance. Specific issues addressed include: openness in placements; who can adopt; fostering; residential care; and leaving care. The experience of looked after children in education and the criminal justice system are surveyed in conjunction with life chances and social outcomes.
Law-40004 Children and Medicine (30 credits)
This module investigates the legal implications of ethical problems relating to medical aspects of reproduction birth and childhood (up to 18 years). It examines a diverse range of issues from pregnancy childbirth and negligence to medical experimentation and children and children and mental health law. Topics may include: reproductive freedom and reproductive technology; abortion and protection of the foetus (men's and women's rights); medical treatment of the foetus; liability for in utero injuries; wrongful birth and wrongful life; treatment of seriously disabled new-borns; consent or refusal of medical treatment; and confidentiality.
