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This module will enable students to explore the principles and practices found in a range of Chaplaincy contexts. Students will enhance and analyse their own pastoral care skills and knowledge needed to be an effective Chaplain. Critically reflecting on their own values, faith and work context, students will examine the skills needed in the areas of chaplaincy and pastoral care and critique and articulate their own faith tradition in response to this.
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The module will enable students to gain a critical understanding of the concepts of spirituality and faith development in contemporary society. A range of models of spirituality will be covered, which will be drawn from the experience of the students and the rich traditions within the faith communities. There will be the opportunity to analyse important theories of the faith development, and to consider some of the issues and trends in faith and spirituality which may particularly affect people today.
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The module will enable students to analyse and critique the links between theory and context through experiential learning and supervised practice. They will develop and sustain an attitude of reflective attentiveness to self, the world, and their professional practice.
Paediatric and Maternity Chaplaincy PG Cert
Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate, September 2025
Key Details
- Years
- TBC Typical UCAS Tariff
Newman University in partnership with the Centre for Paediatric Spiritual Care delivers the only Postgraduate Certificate in Paediatric and Maternity Chaplaincy available in the UK.
This programme is run alongside Birmingham Newman University’s highly regarded own Postgraduate Certificate in Chaplaincy and follows the same 3x 20 credit modules although this course is run over 2 years on a rolling programme:
The course offers a professional development qualification for those wishing to gain further grounding in both the theological and pastoral aspects of their Chaplaincy role.
In your role as a Chaplain it is essential to develop your skills and understanding to provide high quality pastoral and spiritual care in the setting in which you work. These part time, multi-disciplinary, work-based courses are primarily aimed at those working (paid or voluntary) across the diverse range of Chaplaincy contexts, including, schools, hospitals, universities, prisons, military and the growing area of urban and workplace chaplaincy.
Birmingham Newman University offers professional development qualifications which are part time, multi-disciplinary for those wishing to gain further grounding in both the theological and pastoral aspects of their Chaplaincy role. You can choose to study alongside others learning from a range of contexts, while focusing on your own by undertaking either the Postgraduate Certificate in Chaplaincy (1 year) or Masters in Chaplaincy (3 years). We also offer a specialised route for those in Paediatric and Maternity Chaplaincy. In partnership with the Centre for Paediatric Spiritual Care we offer a Postgraduate Certificate in Paediatric and Maternity Chaplaincy (2 years) or you can do it as part of the full Masters in Chaplaincy (4 years).
- The Courses are designed around you as the Chaplain/Chaplaincy worker, enabling you to develop your own skills, knowledge and research base suited to your own context.
- As applied courses they enable you to reflexively draw on your experience in tandem with the academic learning
- The programmes are inter-disciplinary drawing on a number of academic fields such as theology, sociology, psychology, and philosophy
- The Assessments will help develop your reflective and research practice and encourage you to hone and focus your Chaplaincy.
- Delivery of the courses is in person, once a year at Birmingham Newman Campus and the other sessions are held at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. You will be expected to attend a number of weekends a year in Birmingham. This is supported by tutorials and online learning embedded into the Virtual Learning Environment to enable you to incorporate it into your busy work and personal life.
The programme consists of three modules over a 2 year period
- Year A Semester 1: Chaplaincy: Principles and Practice (20 credits)
- Year B Semester 1: Understanding Spirituality (20 credits)
- Year A and B Semester 2: Reflective practice (20 credits)
The core module of Chaplaincy: Principles and Practice explores an understanding of your role in institutional settings basing your practice as a Chaplain on a secure grasp of your own values, faith and work context as well as exploring models of pastoral care.
The module Understanding Spirituality will enable you to understand the concepts of spiritualties and faith formation in contemporary society. The module will also develop an understanding of what issues and trends in faith and spirituality may particularly affect people today.
The reflective practice module is an essential element of our integrated model and meets the expected professional standards. With initial taught input by Birmingham Newman staff. The emphasis is on experiential learning and reflective practice in your chaplaincy context.
Please Note 2024/2025 starts with Year B
You will be assessed using a variety of methods, some of these include tutorials, delivering a seminar to peers, poster presentation, and a reflective portfolio.
All of these assessments will include links to your experience as a Chaplain as well as to your academic reading and development.
Graduates have continued in their Chaplaincy Practice, often moving into leadership roles, or from voluntary to paid positions.
There are five Saturdays over the year (10 in total for the programme) Saturday 10am- 4pm. The first day of each of the academic years will be taught on site at Birmingham Newman University to introduce you to the campus and key staff. The other 4 days a year are delivered at Birmingham Children’s Hospital in Birmingham city centre. This programme is supported by online resources and content and video tutorials.
Our first teaching session will be
- 12th October (Saturday 10am – 4:00pm) @ Birmingham Newman University
and the dates for the further teaching sessions are:
- 2nd November 10am – 4:00pm @ Birmingham Children’s Hospital
- 30th November 10am – 4:00pm @ Birmingham Children’s Hospital
- 1st March 10am – 4:00pm @ Birmingham Children’s Hospital
- 12th April OR 10th May 10am – 4:00pm @ Birmingham Children’s Hospital
Entry Requirements
Entry requirements for 2025 entry TBC
Course Fees
The fee for 2025 / 2026 is £2,950.
Modules
Please be aware that, as with any course, there may be changes to the modules delivered, for information view our Changes to Programmes or Module Changes page.
Timetables: find out when information is available to students
Additional Information
Catholic Lay Chaplain’s Training Bursary Fund
To be eligible to receive funding you will need to be a non-ordained Roman Catholic student on one of the Postgraduate courses in Chaplaincy at Birmingham Newman University.
Funding is available for
• study costs, eg books, subscriptions,
• IT provision, eg hardware, software or wifi
• travel costs, associated with attending or fulfilling the course requirements
• accommodation costs associated with attending or fulfilling the course requirements
The maximum amount available per applicant is £200 per academic year.