module specification

The module aims to:

1. Provide the opportunity for the student to gain experience of a working environment
2. Enhance and extend their learning experience by applying and building on their academic skills and capabilities by identifying and / or tackling real life problems in the workplace
3. Provide the opportunity to reflect upon the culture and structure of a working environment and their activity within it
4. Develop new capabilities and skills in the context of a work environment.

There will be 8 workshop sessions that students must attend over the autumn and spring semester. These will be built into the calendar for the UG project / dissertation module although convened by a different member of staff. Workshop sessions will involve the following:

Autumn Semester - LO1, LO2, LO3
Introduction to the Module
Searching for Employment
CV and application writing
Interview and Presentation skills
Review of Progress in looking for employment

Spring Semester LO4, LO5
Work Experience Review
Applying knowledge to the world of work
Assessment: The Final Report

Students will be assisted to search for work experience and guidance will be given in relation to health and safety by the module leader and appropriate documentation must be completed.

Students keep a reflective log specifying the tasks they are set and their effectiveness in undertaking these as well as noting key characteristics of the organisation and its procedures. |This will help inform their final report.

The work experience may be undertaken in a private, statutory or voluntary organisation and the placement can be organised to commence at any point from the end of the second year of the relevant degree programme. The most relevant work experience is undertaken in agencies that are part of, or related to, the criminal justice sector. Students will discuss and agree whether the placement meets the module requirements with the module convenor. 

Students who undertake special constable work as part of the BSc Police Studies, Procedures and Investigations, and complete this during the second year of the course, will be required to attend session 1 in the autumn semester and the spring semester assessment sessions as well as pass the assessment tasks to pass this module. They will not be expected to undertake a further period of work experience in the third year in order to pass this module.

• Eight workshops (two hours duration each)
• Student engagement in workplace (15 days’ duration in total)
• Contact with supervisor as required on an individual tutorial basis.
• Pre-work experience sessions introduce students to the requirements and demands of the work experience, assist them in the diagnosis of their abilities, help them make decisions about suitable work areas, and ensure that they produce a suitable CV for placement applications.
• At the start of the placement the student, employer, and University staff agree a learning and assessment contract identifying and specifying the:
o task(s) involved in the placement
o capabilities to be developed and demonstrated, together with the associated assessment criteria
o learning opportunities for the development of the expected outcomes;
o evidence required to demonstrate attainment of the outcomes.

On successful completion of this module the student will be able to:

LO1 Operate effectively, both independently and with others, in a structured and routinely supervised work environment
LO2 Communicate appropriately with colleagues and superiors
LO3 Describe and evaluate the structure, major activities and responsibilities of an organisation
LO5 Evaluate critically his or her performance and abilities.

The module is assessed by one piece of coursework and official confirmation of work experience completion, which consist of:

• Time Sheets and placement summary or similar official recognition signed off by a supervisor (learning outcomes 1-3)
• Written Report (learning outcomes 1-4)

The report must be appropriate to the workplace, and will take into account the ‘learning and assessment contract’. The report will be no longer than 3,500 words and include a background to the organisation, details of the role the student fulfilled within the organisation, how the placement links to criminology, and the students reflections on what they have learnt and how they have developed during the work experience

Association of Graduate Recruiters (1995) Skills for Graduates in the 21st Century,
Cambridge: AGR

Brennan J and Little J (1996) A Review of Work-Based Learning, DfEE/QSC

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (2001) Career Tracking 2001: Graduate Workplace Attitudes

DfEE (1998) The Learning Age: A Renaissance for a New Britain, London: DfEE

Jupp V, Davies P, and Francis P (2000) Doing Criminological Research, London: Sage
King R and Wincup E (eds) (2001) Doing Research on Crime and Justice Oxford University Press

Raelin JA (2000) Work-Based Learning: The new frontier of management development, NewJersey: Prentice-Hall

Scott D (1998) 'Fieldwork placement and the social policy curriculum' in Alcock P, Erskine A and May M (eds) The Student's Companion to Social Policy, Oxford: Blackwell

Indicative websites

Prospects
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/work-experience-and-internships

Students will also be required to generate their own learning materials for their chosen topics.