Module CSSS3986: Faculty of Social Sciences and Health Placement Year

Department: Placement Year

CSSS3986: Faculty of Social Sciences and Health Placement Year

Prerequisites

• Students must successfully complete Level 2 of their existing programme so as to be eligible to progress to Level 3 of that programme. They must have secured an approved placement year opportunity equivalent to 40 weeks full time work experience. This 40-week placement requirement can be met by completing up to a limit of 3 part-placements, subject to none being less than 16 full weeks, and always strictly subject to prior approval by the Faculty Placement Manager and department Placement Tutor. Students must have attended a pre-placement briefing or meeting with a member of the Faculty Placement team prior to beginning their placement.

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• The aim of this module is to enable students to develop transferable and subject level skills in the workplace, which will contribute to broader practical and applied knowledge of their subject and career planning. Students will be responsible for securing an approved placement year opportunity subject to the above requirements.
• The module aims to:
• Enable students to gain experience and skills in researching, applying for and successfully obtaining a suitable placement opportunity;
• Enable students to gain a sustained period of work experience which supports their practical and applied knowledge of their subject and future career aspirations;
• Support students to make more informed decisions with regards to their own career planning;
• Enhance students understanding of how their academic knowledge, skills and learning can be applied in the workplace;
• Ensure students can reflect on their actions and develop a sense of agency when working with others; and
• Develop a range of transferable skills which can be utilised in an academic context as well as in the workplace.

Content

• Students will complete an approved placement year opportunity equivalent to a total of 40 weeks of full- time work experience full-time being considered as 30 – 35 hours per week, with a total of 1400 hours required to complete the placement year.

Learning Outcomes

• By the end of the module, students will be able to:
• Prepare and effectively apply to a job opportunity, demonstrating an effective CV and/or application relevant to the placement experience;
• Understand a work environment, how it functions and their contribution to it;
• Reflect on key skills by undertaking a skills audit at the beginning and on completion of the placement and create identifiable objectives to help develop them;
• Gain an understanding of how their placement experience will help support career planning;
• Communicate with a range of audiences and be able to outline their placement experience to a non-specialist audience;
• Create a Poster or Vlog that conveys their placement experience (including key benefits and outcomes) to a non-specialist audience;
• Demonstrate their ability to use their knowledge, skills and learning from academic work in a work-based learning environment; and
• Produce an evidence-based account of the acquisition of key professional skills and competencies attained during the professional year.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The placement year module is designed to provide a work-based learning opportunity where students will gain a range of transferable personal and professional skills which will support both their academic learning and employability.
• The focus of the module is the professional level work experience which students undertake as an additional year between Level 2 and Level 3 of their degree programme.
• Students will receive support prior to, during, and after their placement.
• Pre-placement workshops will focus upon the identification of skills, the creation of CVs and applications, developing an online presence and securing a placement.
• Online resources will be available to support students with the reflective assignments and poster presentations.
• A pre-placement briefing will be provided.
• During placement, all students will receive correspondence from their Placement Tutor via email or by telephone. A mid-placement visit will also be conducted to create a dialogue between the student, Placement supervisor and Placement Tutor and to allow feedback. This can be conducted either in-person or online, at the Placement Tutor’s discretion.
• Across the placement, students will critically reflect on their experience and create two reflective assignments as part of their summative assessment. Each will be themed to ensure students achieve the module learning objectives.
• To support their reflection, students will be asked to complete a skills audit at the beginning of their placement. This will be reviewed mid-point and undertaken again at the end of the placement.
• When students return to Durham they will be invited to attend events for returning placement year students, either by Careers & Enterprise, or their departments, or both. Some may be asked to present posters at departmental events.
• The placement will not be credit-bearing and will not contribute to the classification of the degree. The summative assessment components will be marked on a pass/fail basis and students must pass each of the summative assessme, progress to the next level of this programme and have the placement recognised in their degree title.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

The completion of a skills audit before and after the placement. At the start of the placement, the outcome of the audit will be shared by the student with their work-based Placement Supervisor and they will jointly create a set of objectives to focus their development areas.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University