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;
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 prepare appropriate professional experience and networking opportunities for SOC 6044 Professional Portfolio. 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, helping to define the nature and purpose of SOC 6044 Professional Portfolio.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The module includes a programme preparing students for the volunteering version of the placement: Introduction to Professional Development Planning and Placements at Level 5; Interview with Placement Tutor; Placement with suitable organisation(s), spread out over 2 semesters, but normally equivalent to a six weeks in total. Completion of Portfolio and Report (including Career Research project). There are workshop sessions to guide and support the students through the process of choosing and applying for appropriate placements. These will normally include discussion of and lectures on wider theoretical and practical reading on work, and presentations from staff in the Partnerships and Placement Office 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 Partnerships and Placement Office procedures, skills and preparation for attachment/assessment.

Workshops
Hours: 10
Intended Group size: 80

Guided independent study
Hours: 190

Further details relating to assessment
Students must pass both the placement portfolio and volunteering elements. In addition, students must adhere to the University's Professional Conduct Code.
The porfolio assement comprises a CV and a report on an personalised careers research project. The report is a scholarly evaluation of the placement in the context of wider secondary reading. Students will present their careers research project in class, send in a reflective diary to their placement tutor, and will participate in a poster day, all as formative assessment for informal peer and tutor feedback.

Assessment:

002 Portfolio; 1,500 words equiv; Semester One 30%
003 Report; 3,000 words; End of Semester Two 70%
004 Placement; 6 week; Pass/Fail; End of Semester Two 0%

Fact File

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

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