SOC5252 - Professional Placement 2 (Volunteering)

Objectives:

On successful completion of the module, students will be able to:
Demonstrate the ability to apply, in the workplace, knowledge and skills gained from the academic study of Criminology or Sociology;
Further develop employability skills and reflect on and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses across a range of key employability skills;
Apply employability skills, including a level of enterprise and initiative, in the workplace and perform to a satisfactory standard;
Produce written evaluations of professional and academic employability experience as part of a team.

Content:

This module is a direct equivalent of SOC 5222 Professional Placement 2, but it allows students to spread out their placement activity across the 2 semesters, rather than taking it within a 6-week block. It follows on from SOC 4222 Professional Placement and enables students to develop appropriate professional experience and networking. Across these modules, students are expected to develop insights into potential career avenues, further employability skills, and to identify productive ways of relating academic learning with relevant professional practice. Career evaluation and planning is expected to continue across these modules and a career-action plan, identifying key skills and work-experience needs, should be developed through the career placement reports.

Students must complete a minimum of 60 hours of volunteering throughout an extended period of time (12-20 weeks).

Learning and Teaching Information:

The module will include a short programme preparing students for their volunteering placement. Indiciative content of this programme would be: Introduction to Professional Development Planning and Placements at Level 5; Interview with Placement Tutor; Placement with suitable organisation(s), spread out over 2 semesters and will culminate with the completion of the placement portfolio.

There will be workshop sessions to guide and support the students through the process of choosing and applying for appropriate placements. These will normally include presentations from staff in EPO and Careers. Topics include job satisfaction, relevant fields of employment, definitions of employment, professionalism, higher-order graduate skills, team work, careers planning, employability skills, briefings on EPO procedures, skills and preparation for attachment/assessment.

Lectures x 8
Hours: 16
Intended Group size: Cohort

Workshops
Hours: 20
Intended Group size: Up to 25

Individual Meetings with personal tutor as required
Hours: 1

Volunteering
Hours: 60

Guided independent study
Hours: 103

Further details relating to assessment
The portfolio normally includes a Learning Diary, Career Path Reflection and an employability skills section.

Students must adhere to the University's Professional Conduct Code.

Assessment:

001 Volunteering; pass/fail; throughout semester 1 & 2 %
002 Portfolio; 3,000 words; end of semester 2 100%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - David Temple
Level - 5
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5YL

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