Undergraduate Module Descriptor

SSI3020: Employment Experience (UK and Abroad)

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

1. To increase your employability skills in an increasingly competitive  market through

  • seeking and successfully gaining a work placement
  • being in a workplace for a significant period and reflecting on that experience

2. To develop your intercultural awareness and competence through reflection on the experience of employment.

3. To enhance your capacity for self-assessment through structured reflection on your experience

4. Where employment is abroad  to enhance your awareness of the process of foreign-language learning and to develop strategies for more effective language learning

5. Enhance key transferable skills through the managing of your  learning in an independent context. i.e. working with others; problem solving; communication, building resilience; leadership skills

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. produce job applications that represent the students' strengths and target specific employers in an appropriate manner;
2. demonstrate knowledge and application of the attitudes and qualities that are required to function well in a work environment;
3. demonstrate an ability to communicate (in writing and in speech) in a manner appropriate to the particular workplace context;
4. where study has been outside of the UK, demonstrate an in-depth knowledge of the host country and a sensitivity to its culture so as to function as an integrated member of its society.
Discipline-Specific Skills5. demonstrate skills in the research, selection and evaluation of specific jobs and the structural context of those jobs;
6. demonstrate a critical understanding of the social, cultural and political considerations that influence employment settings, using appropriate discipline-specific theoretical perspectives to analyse those settings.
Personal and Key Skills7. develop or enhance practical work-based skills and experience;
8. negotiate the different types of working relationships with staff within the workplace and others relevant to the placement;
9. demonstrate the ability to identify and reflect on personal challenges and to learn from their resolution;
10. demonstrate the ability to use a range of technologies and applications relevant to most work places.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

Cottrell, S. (2003), Skills for Success: The Personal Development Planning Handbook. Palgrave Study Guides. London

Fanthorne, C. (2004), Work Placements – A Survival Guide for Students. Palgrave Study Guides. Macmillan, London.

Kolb, D. (1984), ‘Experiential Learning: Experience as a source of Learning and Development.’ PHI, New Jersey.

Longson, S. (1999), Making Work Experience Count. How to Books.

Moon, J. (1999), Learning Journals: A handbook for academics, students and professional development . Kogan Page, London.

Turnock, C. & Mulholland, J. (2007), Learning in the Workplace. A toolkit for placement tutors, supervisors, mentors and facilitators. Kingsham Press.

Williams, Woolliams, and Spiro. (2012). Reflective writing. Palgrave Macmillan.