SOC5222 - Professional Development and Placement

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;

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 follows on from SOC 4222 Professional Placement 1 and enables students to prepare appropriate professional experience and networking opportunities for SOC 6044 Professional Research Project. Across these modules students are expected to develop insights into potential career avenues and to identify productive ways of interrelating academic learning with relevant professional practice. Career evaluation and planning is expected to continue across all three modules and a career-action plan, identifying key skills and work-experience needs, should be continued across the placement reports.

The module aims to prepare students for the placement including seminars on: Introduction to Professional Development Planning and Placements at Level 5; Interview with Placement Tutor; Placement with suitable organisation(s), normally six weeks in total. Completion of Portfolio and Report (including Career Research project).

The workshop sessions guide and support the students through the process of choosing and applying for appropriate placements. There will be a series of sessions preparing the students for the placement. These will normally include discussion of and lectures on wider theoretical and practical reading on work, and presentations from staff in the Employer and Partnership Office (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, and skills and preparation for attachment/assessment.

Learning and Teaching Information:

Learning and teaching takes place through tutor-led discussion amongst placement tutees, and through a one day conference and workshop sessions, covering (as may be applicable to specific placement plans): oral presentations, poster presentations, email reporting, briefings, discussions, practical activities (role play, drafting, writing), and matters relating to the requirements of the preparatory portfolio and report. Individual tutorials with Placement Tutor/Development Tutor are provided before the placement starts. Student briefing and information documentation will be provided by the Module Coordinator and Employer Partnership Manager in the induction meeting.

Workshops
Hours: 10
Intended Group size: 80

Guided independent study
Hours: 190

Further details relating to assessment
The porfolio assessment comprises a CV and a report on a personalised career plan. This personalised careers report should derive from the reflective diaries created for SOC 4222 Professional Placement and should include plans for continuing the professional learning journey through SOC 6044 Professional Research Project and to the student's prospective career path. The report should also include a scholarly evaluation of the placement in the context of wider secondary reading.

The report will be a composition of reflective diaries, examining the progress made on the student's placement, but also evaluating what training/development needs the student may require, and how they are going to accomplish these.

Other relevant matters
Workshops will consist of student discussion of preparatory reading, framed and guided by tutor presentations and presentations from EPO and Careers. Students may undertake a placement abroad, provided it is approved by the EPO (the University cannot pay for travel abroad).

Assessment:

001 Portfolio; 1,500 words equivalent; End of Semester Two 30%
002 Placement; 6 Weeks. 0%
003 Report; 3,000 words 70%

Fact File

Module Coordinator -
Level - 5
Credit Value - 20
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 5S2

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