Keele Badge

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

For academic year: 2025/26 Last Updated: 04 December 2025

MAN-30068 - Placement Year
Coordinator: Aikaterini Koskina Room: DW1.08 Tel: +44 1782 7 33428
Lecture Time: See Timetable...
Level: Level 6
Credits: 0
Study Hours: 704
School Office: 01782 733094

Programme/Approved Electives for 2025/26

None

Available as a Free Standing Elective

No

Co-requisites

None

Prerequisites

Please see C9

Barred Combinations

None

Description for 2025/26

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.

Aims
The aim of this module is to provide students with the opportunity to carry out a long-term work-based learning experience within an industry of their choice between Years 2 and 3 (Levels 5 and 6) of their degree programme. The module will be underpinned by reflective assessment, action planning and support from the Placements Manager and Academic Placements Lead.

Intended Learning Outcomes

Evaluate own employability skills (via a SWOT Analysis) in the context of the placement and Continuing Professional Development: 1
Reflect on the broader personal and professional development throughout the placement experience: 2
Self-evaluate areas for professional development, including knowledge, skills, and professional behaviours required for a specific
career or sector: 2
Communicate knowledge, skills and professional behaviours demonstrated and developed through engagement in the
placement: 2

Study hours

The placement year is the equivalent of 120 credits. The majority of hours will be dedicated to participating in the placement with the expectation of ongoing independent study and scheduled sessions. Typically, placement related activity hours will vary due to variations between provider expectations. The Work Placement Year mandates a minimum of 24 weeks in duration, ideally on a full-time basis, but no less than 21 hours per week, equating to 504 placement hours, but this may be higher (students who require a visa to study in the UK may be able to add in a work placement depending upon the programme, and may have to undertake a placement of a longer duration of at least 30 weeks to meet UKVI and monitoring regulations). The placement can continue for up to 12 months, provided that the necessary assessments are submitted and passed for progression into final year (FHEQ Level 6).
Active learning (20 hours):
•Placement Preparation Session
•Approval processes
•Assessment information session
•Pastoral meetings
•Placement support (pre, on, and post)
•Any other learning needed
Independent study (180 hours):
•Preparation of the assessments on the module

School Rules

To undertake the Work Placement Year, it is normally required that students must have achieved an average of 50% across all modules in Semester 1 at Level 5. Places on the WorkPlacement Year are then conditional on achieving an average mark of 50% across all Level 5
modules.
Students with up to 15 credits of re-assessment who meet the 50% requirement may progress to the Work Placement Year.
Where no Semester 1 marks have been awarded performance in 1st year marks and ongoing 2nd year assessments are taken into account.

Description of Module Assessment

1: Portfolio weighted 30%
Initial Placement Portfolio
The Initial Placement Portfolio will be submitted at the beginning of the placement. It will comprise of a personal SWOT analysis and Action Plan. Students will use their initial placement experience to reflect on their employability skills and consider their own strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) in terms of their assessment of sector skill demands. The SWOT analysis will be used to create an Action Plan of Intended Placement Outcomes and planned activities aimed at strengthening the student's employability skills during the remainder of their placement and in the context of Continuing Professional Development. The action plan will be agreed by the student, placement lead and employer.

2: Portfolio weighted 70%
Final Placement Portfolio
The Final Placement Portfolio (2,500 words) comprises three elements. 1. A reflective evaluation of your placement experience at the end of the placement. 2. A reflective overview that shows what you think you have learned and how well you can analyse the learning process you have been through. 3. As part of your reflection, you need to produce a short video of between 1 and 3 mins demonstrating what you have gained from the placement year, and how it will impact your future career. 4. Sections 1, 2 and 3 should be supported by a reflective diary on your placement experience, documenting key activities and reflecting on skills gained from those activities and how they contributed to the work-based learning experience, development of employability skills and reflection on prior learning. The reflective diary should be included in the appendices.

The University undertakes a continuous review of its teaching and research provision to ensure programmes are of a high quality and changes may be made to modules where it is necessary and reasonable to do so. Please be aware that minor changes to modules, such as a change to an individual assessment, can occur up until enrolment, although we endeavour to give you as much notice as possible of any changes. Details about the circumstance in which changes are made to programmes can be found in the Student Agreement, available at: https://www.keele.ac.uk/legalgovernancecompliance/governance/actcharterstatutesordinancesandregulations/studenttermsconditions/

Last Updated: 04 December 2025