Work Placement

Module title	Work Placement
Module code	LAW2042C
Academic year	2025/6
Credits	15
Module staff	Dr Caroline Keenan (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks	11	11	6

Number students taking module (anticipated)	60

Module description

No prior knowledge skills or experience is required to take this module and it is suitable for specialist and non-specialist students.

For this module you will undertake a professional placement for a minimum of 35 hours. This placement may be with any external organisation, or internally within the University, where you are able to use and reflect on your legal thinking and skills.

The aim of this module is for you to gain employment experience, skills for finding and securing the perfect job, and to see how your academic learning translates into a post-university environment. It will allow you to develop an understanding of how the skills and knowledge acquired on your law modules and your undergraduate legal studies are applicable to the workplace and to extend relevant work-based skills and knowledge in a reflective way.

Consequently your assessment will be a report detailed below, which enables the practical application of your academic knowledge.

We will have a series of workshop sessions to help you with the skills required for finding/securing your work placement, including CV writing and practical sessions talking about day-to-day issues within your placements.

You will arrange your placements yourselves using the assistance of the Employability resources on campus and may undertake your placement at any point up until the end of April. This will allow you to undertake work experience in the other parts of the UK/world if you so choose.

This module may be undertaken as part of the LLB and BBL degrees. It also makes up one of the available optional 15 credits in law offered through modularity to students on the Cornwall Campus, University of Exeter. Students passing at least 60 credits in optional Law modules over the course of their degree have ‘with proficiency in Law /with proficiency in Environmental Law ’ added to their degree title.

Module aims - intentions of the module

Held jointly with POC2047 and HUC2001. This module will help you to gain experience in a graduate level working environment building contacts, skills and knowledge to help you start out on your career post university, or to try out a field that you think you might be interested in but need to understand more.

From workshops through to assessment, the module encourages you to think critically about the work that you are doing, considering your personal learning journey over the course of your studies. You will develop your personal management skills and experience, practicing specific skills for employment.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

1. Demonstrate an understanding of what your placement organisation does, how it is managed, the culture within the organisation and what influences this;
2. Demonstrate an awareness of the experiential learning process and some ability to reflect on and evaluate learning from the workplace;

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

3. Develop your knowledge and understanding of a career path relevant to your degree and career aspirations;
4. Identify what relevant, subject specific skills you already have, along with identifying those that you can develop during the rest of your degree to enhance your employability in careers of interest to you;

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

5. Identify the skills needed in relation to particular job/career opportunities, and with reference to the work placement in particular
6. Analyse your own personal management skills, identifying ways to improve through personal development planning;
7. Present yourself effectively in CVs, applications, oral presentations and interviews; and
8. Demonstrate a capacity for independent working.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:

• Introduction to the module and placements

• CV advice

• Researching your placement

• Developing your skills

• Evidencing your skills

• Researching your placement provider

• Work Placements in practice and experiential learning.

• Applying academic learning to the workplace.

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

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
13	102	35

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled Learning and Teaching activities	13	4 x 1.5 two-hour workshops and 7 x 1-hour seminars (held together with POC2047 and HUC2001 in term 1)
Work placement	35	35 hours work placement
Guided independent study	102	Independent study including preparation for placements and workshops

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
CV writing, interview experience, applications, approaching organisations, and letter-writing and demonstrating professional behaviours	Workshops	1, 4-5	Verbal

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Reflective Placement Report	100	1,500 words	1-8	Written comments on review

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

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Reflective Placement Report (1,500 words)	Reflective Placement Report (1,500 words) (100%)	1-8	Referral/deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Alternative assessment notes

If you are unable for whatever reason to obtain a placement you will be offered an alternative assessment. You will have to demonstrate commercial awareness/research into the legal work and skills used by an organisation and/or sector, identify skills you want to work on during your degree that are relevant to the placement/career you are addressing, and use the STAR technique to talk about other relevant skills you have been developing.

In the alternative assessment, you should choose a law-related role to shape your report around, to allow you to write a law-related report on your career/graduate role.

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 40%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 40%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Turnock, C. & Mulholland, J. Learning in the Workplace. A toolkit for placement tutors, supervisors, mentors and facilitators Kingsham Press, 2007.
Cottrell, S. (2015), 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.
Neugebauer J (2009), Making the Most of Your Placement (Sage Study Skills Series).Floyd, T. W., & Kerew, K. L. (2017). Marking the path from law student to lawyer: using field placement courses to facilitate the deliberate exploration of professional identity and purpose. Mercer Law Review, 68(3), 767-832.

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Other resources:

Preparatory materials provided as part of the workshops, including guidance on writing a CV, application letters and an occupational profile. Facilities are available in the Career Zone in the Exchange Building at the Penryn Campus. Discipline-based supervisors will provide bibliographical guidance.

Key words search

Law, short placement, law-environment pathway

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	5
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	25/06/2024
Last revision date	21/07/2025