module specification

This module is based on a self-managed work experience within an organisation or agency
related to the field of criminal justice/criminology. The student spends a period of 15 days with his or her chosen employer, and produces an evidence-based account of his or her experience. In carrying out the work placement, students develop new skills and enhance their generic learning experience.

Students must find their own work placement.  Each student is allocated an individual supervisor whom they may contact for support during the experience.

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 are three workshop sessions, which students must attend.  Students arrange their own work placements but guidance is given in relation to health and safety by the module leader and appropriate documentation must be completed.

The duration of the placement in the chosen agency or organisation is 15 days. The student is allocated an individual supervisor from whom they may seek advice and support during the placement.  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.

The placement may be undertaken in a private, statutory or voluntary organisation. The most relevant work placements are undertaken in agencies that are part of, or related to, the criminal justice sector.
 

• Three workshops (one and a half hour duration each)
• Student engagement in workplace (of 15 days’ duration in total)
• Contact with supervisor as required on an individual tutorial basis.

Pre-placement induction sessions introduce students to the requirements and demands of the work placement, 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:

• task(s) involved in the placement;
• capabilities to be developed and demonstrated, together with the associated assessment criteria;
• learning opportunities for the development of the expected outcomes;
• evidence required to demonstrate attainment of the outcomes.

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

1. Operate effectively, both independently and with others, in a structured and routinely supervised work environment
2. Communicate appropriately with colleagues and superiors
3. Take a rational and organised approach, applying previously known or new techniques and/or methodologies, to task(s) set
4. Describe and evaluate the structure, major activities and responsibilities of an organisation
5. Evaluate critically his or her performance and abilities.

The module is assessed by two pieces of coursework, which consist of:

• Reflective learning log (learning outcomes 1-5)
• Written Report (learning outcomes 1-4)

The purpose of the Learning Log is to help students develop the skill of self-reflection, i.e. accurate self-analysis and action planning. These constitute the requisites for ‘Lifelong Learning’. The log will help students evidence the development of capabilities, and is also a record of experience gained during a work placement. As well as being assessed in its own right, it can be drawn upon when writing the placement report. Students are provided with 'Learning Log forms', which are designed to assist and standardise the recording of self-reflection.

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.

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
• www.work-experience.org
• www.prospects.ac.uk