If you're someone who finds joy in making a difference in the lives of others, your career path options are abundant. Whether it's improving someone's health, emotional well-being, or even their quality of life, a career focused on helping people is incredibly fulfilling. From healthcare to education, social work to psychology, many professions allow you to leave a positive impact on the world every single day.
Explore some rewarding career paths designed for those who thrive on helping others, that you can study for here at BCU.
Social Work
If you want to have a positive impact on people’s lives by providing solution-focused support for social and interpersonal difficulties as well as promoting human rights and wellbeing, then social work could be the career for you. One of your key roles as a social worker will be in safeguarding vulnerable children and adults, working directly with people to support choice and independence.
There are many different paths you can take within social work once you have obtained your degree. You could find yourself working at a hospital, within law courts or visiting service users in their home environments.
Our course and facilities set you up to get practical experience, so you can be confident that you are adequately prepared once you graduate. Our home learning environment is set up like a real flat, and your practical sessions will involve working with service users in this environment through realistic scenarios.
To study and become a social worker you will need to be understanding, patient and adaptable to different situations. In terms of skills, you will need to use active listening, have knowledge of legal and ethical rights, be able to set boundaries and also advocate for your service workers.
Nursing
Nursing may be one of the more obvious career paths to take if you are naturally caring and want to make a difference to people’s lives. Nursing is challenging and requires a lot of commitment, but ultimately, you could be helping to save lives.
This degree will provide you with the clinical skills and experience you need to be a professional nurse. You will spend time on placement in different hospital and clinical settings within the Birmingham and Solihull area, as well as learning from our experts. This course is also accredited by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) and you will be able to apply for Registered Nurse Sstatus on completion.
There are many benefits to becoming a nurse. Not only is it a rewarding job, but you could be eligible for extra funding if you choose to study at BCU. We also offer a range of opportunities, including studying abroad, and paid roles with the University whilst you study, so you can earn while you learn.
We offer a range of other Nursing career paths at BCU, including adult, child and learning disability, as well as dual awards in each of these paths.
Nursing requires a blend of technical expertise and strong interpersonal skills to provide effective, compassionate care. As a particularly emotive and caring role, you will need to be able to display empathy but also be emotionally stable enough to manage your personal emotions and stress. Your crisis management, attention to detail and critical thinking skills also need to be on point, as no two days will be the same.
Education
Education is central to the development of our society, and to study education is to study the way that society develops. From early years education all the way up to helping families, BCU offers a range of routes.
Our Working with Children, Young People, and Families is a course with social justice and equality at its heart. It is an exciting, contemporary degree which will equip you with the knowledge, skills, and competencies to work effectively with children, young people and families in a range of professional settings.
The Education Studies course covers more theoretical and practical aspects of education across the lifespan (from birth to lifelong learning), and from a variety of perspectives. It focuses on education career paths that don’t require a PGCE.
Early Childhood Studies with Graduate Practitioner Competencies is a course designed to support you to develop the skills, knowledge, and experience to work effectively in meeting the needs of babies and young children from 0 – 8 years old, and their families.
We also have both undergraduate and postgraduate (PGCE) options for achieving Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in both Primary and Secondary education.
Working in an Education based role means you will need strong, adaptable communication skills to be able to speak with a range of people, from children to parents. You will also need to be a problem solver and find creative solutions to learning challenges. In terms of personality traits, you will need a passion for learning and patience around providing support and encouragement.
Psychology
Are you interested in the inner workings of the human brain, and why we do and think certain things? A career in Psychology may be for you.
Make sense of the real world through gaining a deep understanding of how the core and specialised areas in psychology contribute to our understanding of contemporary issues, as well as looking at the role of brain function across multiple psychological perspectives.
You’ll apply scientific reasoning and evaluate patterns of behaviour, gaining key transferable skills in communication, teamwork and problem-solving. This versatile course provides the opportunity for you to embark on a Psychology career or bring those skills to wide variety of other career paths.
In terms of helping people, you can use your Psychology degree to become a therapist or psychologist, listening to people’s problems and teaching them methods of coping with them. If you go down the research route, you can also contribute towards leading ideologies that may shape the way we see and think about the human brain.
In a psychology-based role, you’ll have sharp active listening and communication skills in order to understand your clients’ needs and perspectives. As well as this, you will need a good grasp on confidentiality and ethical guidelines, as you will often be dealing with sensitive issues and information. As a person, you’ll need to remain non-judgemental and unbiased, allowing you to professionally support your clients.
Speech and Language Therapy
Speech and Language Therapy is a highly rewarding career path to take. You could help those who have had a stroke or have a medical condition learn to communicate again, or support transgender people with voice coaching – there’s more to this career than you may have thought.
If you want a client-centred, evidence-based education in the field of speech and language therapy, this degree is the right choice for you. Our course, which is approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), uses a variety of innovative activities and placements.
Speech and language therapists support people of all ages who have communication and/or swallowing difficulties. This course is designed to prepare you to achieve excellence and professional autonomy in clinical practice.
You will learn through a variety of formats, including workshops, interactive lectures, and simulation sessions, with state-of-the-art facilities at our City South Campus. You will also benefit from the Virtual Case Creator (VCC), which enables us to simulate clinical scenarios in a virtual environment.
As a speech and language therapist, you will need strong analysis skills, allowing you to confidently and professionally assess your clients problems in order to create treatment plans. You will also need patience and adaptability; no two clients will be the same, so trying different techniques and tailoring sessions will be crucial. As well as this, you will need to be an empath; understanding the emotional impact of communication challenges is a crucial part of the role; not just creating solutions, but building a relationship with your clients.