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Postgraduate

PG Cert Writing for Change

Round table discussion
Round table discussion © John Sturrock
College
Central Saint Martins
Start date
September 2023
Course length
15 weeks
Online

Enhance your writing skills and learn how to make a positive social impact through the power of the word with this online course.

Applications suspended 2024/25

Recruitment to this course has been suspended for 2024/25.

Applying for more than 1 course

You can apply for more than 1 postgraduate course at UAL but we recommend that you apply for no more than 3. Find out more in the Apply Now section.

Why choose this course at UAL?

  • Change-making and understanding audiences: You’ll be encouraged to challenge notions of audience in relation to change-making and tackle key themes including race, climate, ethics, equity and inclusion.
  • Interdisciplinary expertise and contemporary practice: Drawing on a range of disciplinary expertise and experiences, this course will train you to balance your own writing practice needs with the processes of change for people, organisations and systems that are affected.
  • Flexible learning: Live and pre-recorded sessions enable you to learn at your own pace, allowing time for exploration, experimentation and self-reflection.
  • A global community: As a member of a global community, you’ll be exposed to diverse cultures, opinions and traditions. This experience will deepen your understanding of change-making practice and help you develop a flexible writing style.
  • Writing in the context of a creative arts institution: This course will help you situate your writing practice within a creative arts context. This specialist knowledge will unlock opportunities to work in some of the most competitive and highly sought-after creative industries.

Course overview

Writing for Change seeks to place social justice and social change at the heart of creative practice. The course proposes writing as a powerful tool for making change in your community, your professional field, and within broader social contexts. Writing is multiple; it is a form of collaboration and cooperation, and means to engage with, critique and challenge power.

At Central Saint Martins, we see writing practice as a driver for change in relation to society’s challenges: climate crisis, racism, inequity, political extremism, and data-driven information systems, to name a few. We see writing as part of our mission to tie creativity into social purpose, and this course engages with a diverse community who are engaged with this collective effort. Situated in an art and design environment, Writing for Change is about creating and encouraging interactions with different disciplines, localities, contexts, beliefs, and audiences.

The course is fully online and builds on the idea that you are situated in your own geographies, communities, disciplinary fields, and social identities. Delivered by expert tutors who draw on different art and design backgrounds, ranging from art and performance, communication and spatial practices to design, the course encourages you to refer to and situate your writing practice within your own context and build knowledge and creativity through learning with others.

Through engaging with writing practice, you will develop your understanding of what it means to be engaged in social change. You will be introduced to different modes and approaches to writing and contexts for writing, building skills that lead to group publication of work.

Course units

Writing for Change: Stories of Evidence

This online course provides a framework for students to design their own writing practice in a time of challenging and intense change. The course has been developed with the belief that communication is a fundamental human right, and we all deserve to be heard and communicated to in a manner that is appropriate to us. We see writing as a creative practice in its own right and one which offers us the opportunities to respond to global challenges and issues that might manifest in our local communities and contexts, no matter where we are located in the world.

The course is taught by writers, artists, designers, publishers and editors whose practice is anchored in social change. It is delivered through peer-led writing workshops (writing circles) and offers opportunities that are support you in developing your own writing practice through experimentation, self-reflection and engagement with local context.

You will be introduced to a range of writing practices from storytelling to autoethnographic writing, free writing/journaling and asked to explore how to inspire, position and engage through writing. You will be introduced to the various modes by which writing can be disseminated, and different ways of gathering and addressing audiences. You will engage in exercises that help you test and measure how writing practices can influence and impact change as you consider values of commons, publics and audiences.

We see research and practice as actively linked to each other and will support you in developing skills and knowledge in these areas. The end of the unit results in a publication, and you will be asked to work with fellow writers and designers, to design, and publish your work collectively in a format that is appropriate to your audience.

Mode of study

The course is delivered over 15 weeks through distance learning with online intensive workshops. The teaching and learning engagement takes place through online platforms.

The course supports a dispersed community of students that may be based at distance and across geographies. The online mode works successfully by managing student groups (as local studios or writing circles) in relation to time zones and by developing records and documentation from teaching and co-operative learning. Carefully timed synchronous sessions are supported with asynchronous activities and resources. Focused periods of online workshops are staged at regular points for community building and consolidating learning.

Whilst the course is taught and assessed in English, we understand that language is a tool of colonisation. We are interested in diversity of communication and expression and will cultivate an ethos of listening and promote tolerance around difference. 

The digital platforms and applications used for teaching on the course are best supported by a cable connection. Our platforms have been selected to suit medium bandwidth.

Credit and award requirements

On successfully completing the course, students will gain a Postgraduate Certificate.

Learning and teaching methods

The learning and teaching methods devised for this course include: 

  • Online socials
  • Group on-line ‘orientation’ exercises
  • Synchronous and asynchronous workshops
  • Briefings and introductions
  • Writing Circles
  • Collective and collaborative development of reading and viewing resource lists
  • Self and peer critical evaluation
  • Individual and Group Projects
  • Reflective journals
  • Experience Based learning
  • Guest speakers with Q&As
  • Personal and peer tutorials

Staff

Fees and funding

Home fee

£3,560

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

International fee

£7,620

This fee is correct for 2024/25 entry and is subject to change for 2025/26 entry.

Tuition fees may increase in future years for new and continuing students on courses lasting more than one year. For this course, you can pay tuition fees in instalments.

Home fees are currently charged to UK nationals and UK residents who meet the rules. However, the rules are complex. Find out more about our tuition fees and determining your fee status.

Scholarship search

Entry requirements

Applicants should demonstrate a commitment and passion for writing and interest in social change together with a clear sense of intention to engage with broadening their practice.

The standard entry requirements for this course are as follows:

An undergraduate degree

Or an equivalent EU/international qualification.

  • Prior experiential learning, the outcome of which can be demonstrated to be equivalent to formal qualifications otherwise required;
  • IELTS 7.0

Or a combination of formal qualifications and experiential learning which, taken together, can be demonstrated to be equivalent to formal qualifications otherwise required.

The course team will consider each application on the basis of their evidence demonstrating strengths, competencies and achievement. Evidence might, for example, be demonstrated by:

Related academic or work experience

A portfolio of creative practice or other experience

A portfolio of short course completions

The quality of the personal statement

A strong academic or other professional reference

 

Or a combination of these factors.

Selection criteria

We select applicants according to potential and current ability in the following areas:

  • Prior experience and achievement with a genuine interest and passion for writing practice
  • Creative practice evident through documentation in a portfolio
  • Capacity for independence in learning
  • Awareness of cultural and social contexts of relevance to the candidate and their practice.
  • Appropriate communication skills and a preparedness to support others in the learning community.
  • Experience of working with digital software for writing, image-making, and communication.

As this unit is delivered online, applicants will need to have access to:

  • A recent computer with an IT system and web browser.
  • A reliable broadband connection (slow internet connection can affect the learner experience, especially during a live session in a virtual classroom. A cable connection is the most reliable).
  • Webcam, microphone, and headphones
  • Connectivity between students will be further supported by postal exchange and low bandwidth web-based platforms.

Apply now

Applications suspended 2024/25

Recruitment to this course has been suspended for 2024/25.

You should apply by clicking on the link to the direct form below. The application form can be saved as you fill it out, so you do not need to complete it all at once. You will also have the chance to review all the information and make any necessary amendments before you submit the application form.

Deferred entry

Central Saint Martins does not accept applications for deferred entry. You should therefore apply in the year you wish to study.

Before you apply, please take time to read the guidance below. You will be asked to provide the following information when completing the online application form:

General information

  • Personal details (including legal full name, preferred name, date of birth, nationality, addresses)
  • Current English language level
  • Current and/or previous education and qualification details
  • Employment history

Personal statement

Your personal statement should reflect on:

  • your readiness to engage with self-directed learning
  • what and how you are able to learn from experiences (trial and error)
  • your motivation to learn from others
  • what you hope to gain from the course.

CV

You should provide a full and detailed CV or résumé which demonstrates how you meet the selection criteria.

We cannot consider your application if you do not provide all the information above.

Application deadline

Communicating with you

After you have successfully submitted your application, you will receive an email confirming we have successfully received your application and providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal.  We will request any additional information from you, including inviting you to upload documents / portfolio / book an interview, through the portal.  You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.

Application deadline

19 December 2022 and 3 April 2023

Our equal consideration deadlines have now passed. This course will remain open to applications for 2023 entry until places have been filled. Please be aware that courses can close without notice.

We recommend you submit your application as early as possible to allow the Admissions team to resolve any initial queries about your application as quickly as possible.

When you'll hear from us

If this course requires a digital portfolio as part of the application process, you will be invited to submit this through UAL’s online submission tool, PebblePad. We will request this separately after initial processing of your application is complete. Once we request your portfolio, you will have 7 days to submit it.

Once you’ve sent in your application, this will be sent through to our course teams for review. Find out more about what happens after you apply.

Applications suspended 2024/25

Recruitment to this course has been suspended for 2024/25.

There are two ways international students can apply:

You can only apply to the same course once per year.

If you are applying directly you click on the link to the direct form below. The application form can be saved as you fill it out, so you do not need to complete it all at once. You will also have the chance to review all the information and make any necessary amendments before you submit the application form.

Deferred entry

Central Saint Martins does not accept applications for deferred entry. You should therefore apply in the year you wish to study.

Before you apply, please take time to read the guidance below. You will be asked to provide the following information when completing the online application form:

General information

  • Personal details (including legal full name, preferred name, date of birth, nationality, addresses)
  • Current English language level
  • Current and/or previous education and qualification details
  • Employment history

Personal statement

Your personal statement should reflect on:

  • your readiness to engage with self-directed learning
  • what and how you are able to learn from experiences (trial and error)
  • your motivation to learn from others
  • what you hope to gain from the course.

CV

You should provide a full and detailed CV or résumé which demonstrates how you meet the selection criteria.

Application deadline

Communicating with you

After you have successfully submitted your application, you will receive an email confirming we have successfully received your application and providing you with your login details for the UAL Portal.  We will request any additional information from you, including inviting you to upload documents / portfolio / book an interview, through the portal.  You should check your UAL Portal regularly for any important updates and requests.

Application deadline

19 December 2022 and 3 April 2023

Our equal consideration deadlines have now passed. This course will remain open to applications for 2023 entry until places have been filled. Please be aware that courses can close without notice.

We recommend you submit your application as early as possible to allow the Admissions team to resolve any initial queries about your application as quickly as possible.

When you'll hear from us

Once you’ve sent in your application, this will be sent through to our course teams for review. Find out more about what happens after you apply.

After you apply

What happens next

Initial application check

We check your application to see if you meet the standard entry requirements for the course.  If you do, you will be invited to submit a portfolio through the UAL Portal.

Digital Portfolio

You will be required to submit a digital portfolio containing up to 25 pages of your work which should contain selected images/documentation of your work/research evidencing your current creative practice, demonstrating how you meet the selection criteria.

For more portfolio advice please visit our portfolio advice page.

How we notify you of the outcome of your application

You will receive the outcome of your application through the UAL Portal.

Feedback

This course receives a high number of applications, and unfortunately we cannot provide feedback to everyone who is unsuccessful. We can only provide feedback after you have had an interview.

If you would like to request feedback, please contact us via your portal.

Each and every application is carefully considered by a member(s) of our academic team. With so many strong applicants to choose from, it is often a very difficult decision to make. If you are unsuccessful, you are welcome to apply to us again in the future.

Deferring your place

This course accepts requests from offer holders to defer their place for one academic year. Deferral requests are granted on a first-come, first served basis until all deferral places are filled, or a deadline has been reached, whichever is sooner.

Careers

This course will help you situate your writing practice within a creative arts context. This specialist knowledge will unlock opportunities to work in some of the most competitive and highly sought-after creative industries.