Developmental and Therapeutic Play, MA / PGDip / PGCert

Course Overview

Our MA Developmental and Therapeutic Play course explores how play shapes children's development, learning, and emotional wellbeing. Delivered by the Department for Education and Childhood Studies, this course blends academic insight with reflective practice to help you become a specialist in the power and process of play.

Whether you're from education, social care, psychology, or playwork, our programme is designed to deepen your understanding of play’s developmental and therapeutic value across a variety of settings. While it doesn’t train you to become a therapist, it equips you to apply play expertise in health, education, social care, and community contexts.

Why Developmental and Therapeutic Play at Swansea?

Our MA Developmental and Therapeutic Play programme is shaped by a strong commitment to inclusive, rights‑respecting and ethically grounded learning. You will study in an environment where non‑directive play principles, Universal Design for Learning and active anti‑racist practice are embedded throughout, ensuring you feel welcomed, supported and able to engage fully with the course.

A key strength of our programme is its adaptability. With teaching rooted in non‑directive play, you will find that your learning transfers easily across a wide range of play‑based settings. Whether you work in education, early years, childcare, playwork, preschool or therapeutic practice, you will be able to meaningfully apply theory to your own professional and cultural context. This flexibility also makes the programme ideal for both UK‑based and international students.

The programme is underpinned by a children’s rights framework, drawing on UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which recognises every child’s right to play, rest and leisure. This rights‑based ethos shapes both the content you study and the way you learn. Your teaching team models rights‑respecting practice by creating learning environments that value agency, voice and participation, mirroring the non‑directive play approaches used in professional settings.

If you are a Welsh speaker, you will be fully supported to study through the medium of Welsh. You can submit assignments or your dissertation in Welsh, receive personal tutor support from a Welsh‑speaking member of staff and, where possible, be supervised in Welsh. You’re also encouraged to undertake voluntary placement hours in Welsh‑medium settings such as Mudiad Meithrin. You may also be eligible for Academi Hywel Teifi scholarships.

Your Developmental and Therapeutic Play experience

On our MA Childhood Studies programme, you will be welcomed into a vibrant, inclusive and supportive learning community. From the very start, you will study in an environment that values collaboration, diversity and mutual respect. During Welcome Week, you will take part in a team‑building afternoon, giving you the chance to connect informally with your peers and begin building a strong sense of belonging.

Inclusive learning is built into the programme. You can choose to study on a single day each week, which is particularly helpful if you are managing caring responsibilities, employment or placement demands. You can also choose to study full time over one year, or part time over two or three years, giving you the flexibility to balance academic study with the wider commitments in your life.

Teaching throughout the programme is participatory and grounded in your lived, cultural and professional experiences of play. You will be encouraged to share insights, challenge singular or Eurocentric narratives, and take part in inclusive discussions. Some sessions use a flipped approach, where you engage with short materials before class so that taught sessions can focus on discussion, reflection and applied activities. A significant proportion of contact time is interactive, helping you test ideas, build critical thinking skills and make meaningful links between theory and practice.

As you progress, you will explore inclusive play practices, the importance of self‑directed play, and the ways in which environments and relationships support play across different settings. You will consider when specialist intervention may, or may not, be needed and how to work sensitively and ethically with children and young people. The programme blends theory with real‑life application, allowing you to develop non‑directive play practice in contexts such as schools, early years environments, day care, out‑of‑school clubs, holiday play schemes and specialist provision for atypical children and young people.

By the end of your degree, you will be able to evaluate and synthesise theories and research on play, communicate complex ideas clearly to specialist and non‑specialist audiences, and analyse how diversity, difference and context shape childhood and therapeutic play. You will develop a reflective understanding of the adult role in supporting play and explore how physical, social, cultural and institutional environments influence development, wellbeing and professional practice.

Developmental and Therapeutic Play Careers

Our MA Developmental and Therapeutic Play prepares you for a wide range of meaningful careers working with children, families and communities. Whether you want to progress in your current role or move into a new area of practice, the programme equips you with the knowledge, confidence and practical insight to take the next step in your career.

Graduates have gone on to roles in schools, hospitals, early years settings, domestic violence teams, prisons, local authorities, international aid organisations and higher education. Many students secure employment while completing the course, often through links developed during voluntary placements or professional partnerships. Recent examples include students gaining roles within NHS mental health services, hospital play teams, Women’s Aid, the prison service and a range of voluntary and statutory organisations.

Your qualification can also support progression into specialist training pathways. Many graduates use the MA as a stepping‑stone into play therapy, counselling, clinical psychology or doctoral research. Others have published academic work, presented at conferences or moved into roles involving training, consultancy or service development.

Employability is embedded throughout your learning. The programme develops your ability to articulate the value of developmental, therapeutic and non‑directive play to employers, organisations and policy makers. Through practice‑based learning, reflective assessment and professional communication, you will build confidence in applying play theory to real‑world challenges and demonstrating your professional impact.

You will also benefit from strong engagement with alumni. Graduates regularly return as guest contributors to share their career journeys and experiences across health, education, social care, community play provision, research and higher education. Their involvement gives you authentic insight into employment pathways and helps you reflect on your own strengths and aspirations. These contributions also offer opportunities to practise key skills such as presenting, facilitating discussions and engaging with current debates in the field.

Collectively, these opportunities ensure that you leave the programme as a confident, reflective and employable practitioner, ready to contribute to professional innovation, advocacy and socially responsible practice.