This course provides an overview of interdisciplinary research and theories on young people’s sense of self. The course explores complex understandings of youth identities and interdependencies and how these relate to working with young people. 

You will explore key concepts and approaches to understanding young people’s self-understandings. You will then deploy these ideas to explore and analyse the complex relationships and entanglements between young people’s sense of self and families, peers and intimate partners, understandings and experiences of generations, cultures and contexts. You will also have opportunities to draw on and learn from your relevant lived experiences. 

You will critically engage with these diverse accounts of young people’s sense of self and consider how youth identities and subjectivities are shaped, enabled and constrained by contexts and circumstances. You will reflect on and evaluate the potential beneficial contributions you can make to supporting and strengthening young peoples’ understanding of themselves in meaningful, hopeful, and positive ways.