Health and Social Care with Professional Practice with Foundation Year

Health and social care is a field concerned with how societies support the wellbeing of individuals and communities, particularly those who are vulnerable, ill, or disadvantaged. It brings together knowledge from social policy, sociology, psychology, public health, and law to examine how services are organised, funded, and delivered, and how people experience care across their lives. The professional practice dimension of this programme at Birkbeck College means the curriculum is oriented not only toward understanding these systems but toward equipping you to work within and improve them.

Birkbeck is distinctive as a university that serves students who work during the day, with much of its teaching delivered in the evenings. This programme includes a foundation year and runs over four years full-time, welcoming students who need additional academic preparation before the main degree. The foundation year develops the skills in academic reading, writing, and critical thinking that are essential for success in higher education, before the degree proper introduces you to the policy, law, sociology, and psychology relevant to health and social care.

You will study safeguarding, equality and diversity, mental health, service user involvement, and the professional and ethical frameworks within which practitioners work. The professional practice element ensures that theory is consistently connected to the realities of working in care settings.

Graduates from this programme pursue careers across the health and social care sector, including roles in social work, community care, mental health services, NHS management, disability services, housing support, and the voluntary sector. For many students, the degree consolidates and formalises knowledge gained through working in care, and it opens pathways to more senior or specialist roles. Postgraduate options include qualified social worker training, nursing and allied health programmes, public health, and social policy, and the programme provides a strong foundation for any of these routes.