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Both in workshops and through independent study, you will explore a wide range of short-form writing, including a variety of modes: international strict form poetry (e.g., sonnet, rondeau, terza rima, ghazal, villanelle, sestina), free verse, flash fiction, and historical flash fiction. Ethical questions about combining fact and fiction are addressed in an introduction to historical fiction. You may also explore review writing in real-world contexts and digital short-form writing on social media platforms, enhancing your transferable employability skills.

The focus on short-form writing across various genres enables you to develop clarity of expression and conciseness while practising redrafting and editing, building your confidence as a writer. A range of exercises will generate new writing. You will give one another formative feedback, and evaluate the responses your work receives, providing structured opportunities to consolidate writing skills for your final submissions.

Assessment: Collaborative Writing (20%) and Short Form Portfolio (80%)

This module focuses on journeys and places, offering the chance to explore key concepts underpinning your studies. You will take a post-disciplinary approach, using techniques from diverse areas to address questions related to journeys and places.

Interactive lectures with students from across the School of Humanities and Performing Arts provide opportunities to apply these concepts in subject-specific workshops and assessments.

Themes may include journeys, spaces, and the concept of welcome; (im)mobilities and journeys through time and space; representation and imaginative geographies; gender and placemaking; belonging and place attachment; and sustainability and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Assessment: Subject-specific Coursework 1 (30%) and Coursework 2 (70%)

This module introduces key contemporary debates in Childhood Studies. It explores the construction of childhood, inequalities surrounding it, and what it means to be a child in the UK today. Drawing on sociological and political theories, you will critically evaluate issues impacting childhood and how they are reflected, sustained, or challenged by society. You will also contest and interrogate your own thinking about childhood and society.

Assessment: Academic Poster (40%) and Report (60%)

This year-long module develops your writing practice, focusing on your existing creative projects. You’ll plan, research, and develop these projects effectively, learning the importance of constructive feedback. Key activities include workshopping, character development, and place writing techniques.

Assessment: Feedback Report (20%) and Creative Work & Reflective Commentary (80%)

This module explores how identity is negotiated in writing, both in the creation of fictional characters and in your own identity as a writer and creative thinker.
You will engage with a variety of fictional, biographical, autobiographical, poetic, and theoretical material. You will explore how memory, observation, experience, and imagination contribute to producing poetry, fiction, and essays. You may also explore writing about your own experiences of identity, including selfhood, memory, and personality, while considering the fictional aspects of written identity. You will engage in critical, ethical, and moral debates around identity in the 21st century.

You will also consider the responsibility of writers to represent individuals and groups with care, particularly in relation to equality, diversity, and inclusivity (EDI). Discussions will focus on issues such as race, gender, class, and place, including postcolonial identities and the role of intersectionality.

Assessment: Writing Identity Portfolio (100%)

This module prepares you for post-degree pathways by focusing on the skills, capabilities, and knowledge needed to thrive in professional environments. Emphasis is placed on core attributes and transferable skills while developing familiarity with the world of work.

You will critically engage with themes such as race, gender, identity, and geopolitical issues in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, conceptualizing a more equitable and sustainable society.

Through workshops, lectures, seminars, and independent learning, you will explore work environments connected to creative writing and related fields. Activities may include responding to real-world briefs, placements, community projects, and creating project proposals.

Assessment: Written Portfolio or Recorded Presentation (100%)

Optional module

This module explores social and emotional development, examining how these areas are interlinked with cognitive growth. You will study psychological and socio-political theories to better understand student wellbeing and how the education system supports children’s development.

Assessment: Essay (100%)

Optional module

This module examines how technology has impacted education and learning, focusing on media literacy, e-learning, and the digital divide. You will explore how technology creates opportunities for inclusive education and empowers students through platforms like gaming and podcasting.

Assessment: e-Portfolio (100%)

This module is based on the principles that everyone can be a musician and that teachers can offer high-quality musical experiences. Practical musical activities will be explored, with no prior music expertise required.

Assessment: Brochure (100%)

This year-long module builds upon skills developed in previous modules, focusing on how word, image, and sound intersect in creative writing. You will explore a range of writing forms, including ekphrastic poetry, poetry films, podcasting, screenplays, and more, culminating in a creative project.

Assessment: Journal (30%) and Creative Work & Letter (70%)

The theme of this module is writing for screens and with screens. You’ll develop skills in writing for various screen genres and platforms, focusing on optimising your writing for the 21st-century context. Genres may include podcasts, poetry films, TV or film scripts, web novels, and social media flash fiction. Collaborative work, such as creating a TV sitcom episode or web novel, is also included.

Assessment: Screentime Reflection (30%) and Screentime Project (70%)

This module provides professional skills and industry knowledge relevant to creative writing. Topics may include international publishing trends, copyright, digital marketing, and self-publishing. You’ll also hear from industry professionals and explore global developments in writing and publishing.

Assessment: Marketing Plan (30%) and Publication Project (70%)

This module introduces curriculum design and improvement, offering practical skills in creating and critiquing curricula. You will respond to a real-world brief, building collaboration and communication skills.

Assessment: Coursework 1 (40%) and Coursework 2 (60%)

This module promotes critical reflection on teaching and learning processes. You will undertake a placement in a learning environment and reflect on your experiences, preparing for diverse professional settings.

Assessment: Presentation (40%) and Portfolio (60%)

This module examines debates around gender in education, exploring the historically disadvantaged position of females and the construction of gender. Recent debates on gender and achievement, including the "problem of boys," will also be covered.

Assessment: Coursework (40%) and Project (60%)

The final-year dissertation provides an opportunity to work on a single form or genre of your choice. You’ll produce a professional creative work, accompanied by a critical reflective essay. This module focuses on redrafting, receiving feedback, and managing a professional writing project from conception to completion.

Assessment: Concept Testing (20%) and Dissertation (80%)