MAN-30068 - Module Specification
Keele Business School
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

Programme/Approved Electives for 2020/21

Available as a Free Standing Elective

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

None

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2020/21

In an increasingly competitive job market, employers are looking to recruit employees who have high-level knowledge, skills and workplace experience. This module supports students in taking a placement year to enable students to experience first-hand how a professional environment functions. This allows students to reflect upon, apply and test their learning from Level 4 and 5 in creative and complex environments. This will help students to produce a more nuanced and sophisticated understanding of both academic knowledge and how to function in a professional environment.
This module provides the foundation for the placement year together with a structure to ensure that the potential learning experiences from the year are maximised. During the module, students will undertake a long-term (minimum of 30 weeks, full-time) placement with a company or organisation, where they are required to contribute to organisationally defined goals and objectives. Students will be required to reflect upon their previous learning and to explore their own strengths and weakness in the workplace context with a focus upon the development of new skills and abilities for employability. There are 2 pieces of assessment, both need to be completed successfully, in conjunction with the work placement, to pass the placement year.

Students will also gain a much greater understanding of professional practice within their chosen sector and be able to use their placement experiences to develop their CVs, better understand the place of academic theory and knowledge in real-world situations and ultimately improve their employability upon graduation.

The aim of this module is to provide students with the opportunity to carry out a long-term placement based learning experience (minimum 30 weeks equivalent of full-time work) between Years 2 and 3 (Levels 5 and 6) of their degree programme.
The module will be underpinned by employability skills training (as part of their preparation during year 2), reflective assessment, employer and tutor evaluation and support from academic tutors.

Intended Learning Outcomes

evaluate their own employability skills (via a SWOT Analysis) together with an analysis of sector skill demands to create Intended Placement Outcomes in order to develop the skill areas which they have identified as being weak or needing further enhancement: 1
develop, through practice on placement, the employment-related skills identified through their SWOT analysis and Intended Learning Outcomes: 1
reflect on and apply academic themes, concepts and theory as explored at Level 4 and Level 5 to complex real situations on work placement: 2
reflect on and critically evaluate their learning from the work placement and previous learning: 2
explain how their chosen professional or placement sector operates and what skills are needed to develop their career: 2

Study hours

The placement year is the equivalent of 120 credits and the student will be expected to be on placement for a MINIMUM of 30 weeks equivalent of full-time work (this is roughly equivalent to a standard university teaching period), therefore a minimum of 1050 hours should be spent on placement. The placements can continue for up to 12 months, providing the necessary assessments are submitted and passed for progression into the final year (FHEQ Level 6).
10 hours are given for scheduled learning and teaching activities - these are workshops which will cover: internship preparation including CVs, covering letters and how to find a placement; identifying skills gaps through skills audits and SWOT analysis; creating intended learning outcomes; and a Pre-departure workshop to complete necessary paperwork. 140 hours are intended for guided independent study.

School Rules

Students must be in good academic standing, have a good University attendance and engagement record and must have passed all Level 4 modules with an overall average of equal to or greater than 60% to be eligible for the Placement Year module. Alternatively, students may be accepted with lower grades on the discretion of the Placement team following interview between the placement officer and the student.
Students are encouraged to have taken at least one of the following:
MAN-10026 MNE Business Perspectives
MAN-20090 Professional Development
HRM-20019 Developing Professional Knowledge and Practice in HRM

Description of Module Assessment