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Education Placement

Module description

This module is focused on experiencing and reflecting on educational practices. The module involves two parts: a series of lectures and seminars focusing on critical reflection, experiential learning and professional development within education, and an education placement. The module will provide you with the tools to reflect critically upon your experience, and to consider how this relates to the wider issues, processes, practices, policies and theoretical ideas that you have explored in your academic study.  This module thus strongly supports you in connecting theory and practice.

The placement may be based on curated digital online activities, take place physically in a place of education, or occur in a virtual place of education. You will have the opportunity to search for your own physical/virtual experience, and support in this process may be available from the faculty Employability and Placement Advisor. Alternatively, you may undertake a peer-teaching placement in the School of Education.  A further option is the digital placement, in which you would engage with a wealth of resources selected by module tutors to allow you to experience a variety of educational settings, and build on this independently to develop your own particular focus. A small number of competitive placement opportunities may also be available directly from partners of the university. It is not expected that experiences will take place in formal school settings. You are encouraged to think about the variety of settings where education might occur and to consider experiences which will challenge your existing assumptions, perspectives and skill sets.

There are no pre-requisites to this module. To access some placement options, you may require Disclosure and Barring Service clearance, which will incur a cost. Note that the administrative process for this can take several months. Please see information on DBS here: https://www.exeter.ac.uk/dbs/request/. 

Module aims - intentions of the module

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Gather relevant practical data and critically analyse it for purposes of reflection;
• 2. Demonstrate ethical professional practices;
• 3. Critically reflect on your experience and observations and develop a comprehensive and sophisticated argument about what you learnt in relation to theory and policy
• 4. Demonstrate detailed knowledge and understanding of: key themes in education practice; areas of interest to you; and their enactment

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Construct organised, structured, critically reflective and analytic writing;
• 6. Critically engage with relevant sources of literature and current debates in education;
• 7. Reflect on and problematise theory, practice and/or policy with regards to experiences of educational practices.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Demonstrate independent learning, self-management and organisation;
• 9. Critically reflect on your experiences of educational practices and discuss the implications for future practice;
• 10. Demonstrate ability to communicate effectively, and communicate information and ideas clearly and critically.

Syllabus plan

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Bassot, B. (2015) The Reflective Practice Guide. Routledge.
• Bolton, G. (2018). Reflective practice: writing and professional development. Sage.
• Brookfield, S. (1994) Tales from the dark side: a phenomenology of adult critical reflection, International Journal of Lifelong Education, 13 (3) pp.203-216. 
• Crebert, G., Bates, M., Bell, B., Patrick, C.J. and Cragnolini, V., (2004). Developing generic skills at university, during work placement and in employment: Graduates' perceptions. Higher Education Research & Development, 23(2), pp.147-165.
• Hébert, C. (2015) Knowing and/or experiencing: A critical examination of the reflective models of John Dewey and Donald Schön, Reflective Practice, 16 (3), pp. 361-371.
• Kolb, D. (1984). Experiential Learning: Experience as a Source of Learning and Development., Pearson. .
• Larrivee, B. (2000). Transforming Teaching Practice: Becoming the critically reflective teacher, Reflective Practice, 1 (3), pp. 293-307.
• Moon, J., (2006). Learning Journals: A Handbook for Reflective Practice and Professional Development. Routledge. 
• Owen, S.M. and Stupans, I., (2009). Experiential placements and scaffolding for reflection. Learning in Health and Social Care, 8 (4), pp.272-281.
• Schon, D.A. (1991). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action, Ashgate

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