Advanced Professional Practice
| Module title | Advanced Professional Practice |
|---|---|
| Module code | BEF2106DA |
| Academic year | 2025/6 |
| Credits | 45 |
| Module staff | Dr Lindsay Badger (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 48 weeks over the year |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 48 |
|---|
Module description
This module provides you with the opportunity to connect the concepts, approaches and theories which you have learnt throughout the degree apprenticeship and combine this with application in your workplace to enable you to advance your professional practice and facilitate your career development. Drawing upon academic guidance, professional development coaching and workplace mentoring you have a wealth of inspiration and advice to guide and support your own professional practice.
Exploring the advanced requirements of professional practice, you will develop and refine the skills you have built up over the course of the degree and consider your behaviours in relation to working as a Financial Services Professional. Based within professional codes of conduct and organisational policies and processes, you will develop your personal leadership approach to excellence in your role, identifying and building upon personal values, behaviours, skills, strengths and experience.
This module is a part of the formal process of portfolio building which contains work-based evidence that has been built up progressively through the apprenticeship and will illustrate the application of knowledge, skills and behaviours set out in the level 6, degree apprenticeship standards for the Financial Services Professional. The personal and professional development that you undertake and the activities, assignments and reflections that you produce, all offer material for your final EPA professional portfolio and panel interview.
Module aims - intentions of the module
This module offers a series of advanced activities aimed at equipping you to evidence and critically reflect on your development of the skills and behaviours required for practice in financial services. The module empowers you to think critically and helps you to recognise how you can advance your workplace through your own personal leadership. It will also develop your ability to reflect on the impact resulted from your degree apprenticeship and work experience, plus the development and exhibition of your professional behaviours.
The module is designed to pull together learning from research-inspired content and activities in support of proactively managing one’s own professional learning and development. Through constructive feedback from both academic and workplace mentors, you will critically reflect on your progress, developing and refining your skills and behaviours in order to establish yourselves as a Financial Services Professional.
The module aims to equip you to demonstrate the skills and behaviours for your level 6 Financial Services Professional Degree Apprenticeship, which include but are not limited to:
Time Management (S21)
Problem Solving and Decision Making (S22)
Communicating and Networking (S23,24)
Teamwork and collaboration (S25-28)
Honesty and Integrity (33-36)
Adaptability (37)
Innovation and Creativity (41)
Resilience and Enthusiasm (38-40)
Attention to Detail (42)
Developing Self and Others (29-32)
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Problem Solving and decision making (S22): Gathers and organise the appropriate facts and evidence, evaluate information quickly and draw accurate conclusions in order to solve problems and implement effective decision making.
- 2. Self-Awareness and Personal Leadership (28,30,31,32): Take ownership for self-development by reflecting upon professional practice to identify, evaluate and modify own behaviours using self-analysis and constructive feedback, identifying opportunities for taking a leadership role in the team; and acting as a role model and supporting others in their development as appropriate
- 3. Team Working, Collaboration and (S25,26): Apply a suite of professional skills to enable effective team working, collaboration and personal leadership, in order to build/maintains strong, positive working relationships with clients/colleagues/suppliers as appropriate; support colleagues and collaborate to achieve results;
- 4. Time Management (S21): Proactively plan and organises your work and time, clearly identifying priorities to meet commitments/KPIs/ deadlines.
- 5. Communicating and Networking (S15,23-24): Apply strong interpersonal skills and communicate well through a range of media, using language that is clear and meaningful to the recipient. This may include but is not limited to: listening actively to understand needs and adapts their style to the recipient; Builds ethically sound and trusted relationships with internal and/or external clients/customers to form the basis of a long-term partnership.
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Critical Thinking Develop critical arguments both of self and of module-related theories that support and deepen learning.
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 7. Apply reflection to professional practice through an integration of theory, frameworks and models into evaluating and improving behaviours. These behaviours include but are not limited to: Honesty and Integrity (33-36) Adaptability (37) Innovation and Creativity (41) Resilience and Enthusiasm (38-40) Attention to Detail (42)
- 8. Compile, manage and edit a portfolio of evidence in support of own progression against the relevant Degree Apprentice learning objectives.
Syllabus plan
Through a series of advanced online, research-inspired learning activities, applied exercises and reflective assignments finance professionals can expect to develop and refine their management and leadership skills; professional effectiveness and critical reflection. In addition, through portfolio building, they are expected to demonstrate and evidence the behaviours of honesty and integrity, adaptability, resilience and enthusiasm, innovation and creativity and attention to detail.
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 76 | 374 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ? Self-directed and self-managed research, with support from module lead, academic mentor tutor and a line manager in learners organisation. | ||
| ? Formative feedback during the 12 month period of the personal development planning module (48 weeks in total). | ||
| ? Mentoring support and feedback from a senior colleague/s in the workplace. | ||
| ? Ongoing reflection against self-development plan. | ||
| Seminars (Master classes/Webinars) | 28 | Taking place during the synchronous seminars there will be at least 28 hours of taught input. |
| Online activities and PDP coaching | 48 | Ongoing PDP coaching throughout 48 weeks of the online module. Drawing upon academic guidance, professional development coaching and workplace mentoring. |
| Applied Professional Practice and Development | 374 | Guided and independent learning which will be applied to the work context in consultation with a manager from the organisation. It will include a mixture of reading material, self-development exercises, online discussion forums, self-assessments and videos. |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Continuous and embedded within module activities | Equivalent to 1000-1,500 words | 1-8 | Verbal feedback |
| Group work agreement including plan of action, meeting dates and roles/responsibilities | 1000 words | 2, 3 | Lecturer feedback |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentation which explores the best practice of two areas of the apprenticeship standards skills and behaviours | 30 | 15-minute group presentation | 1-5 | Lecturer will provide written feedback |
| Critical reflection on working in a team. | 30 | 750-word critical reflection (equivalent to 1000 words with portfolio of work evidence) | 3, 7, 8 | Lecturer will provide written feedback |
| 1,500-word personal brand webpage/document showcasing your skills and behaviours with work product and witness testimony | 40 | 1,500 words (equivalent to 2,500 words with portfolio of work evidence) | 1-8 | Lecturer will provide written feedback |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Group presentation which explores the best practice of two areas of the apprenticeship standards skills and behaviours | Change from the original due to the nature of group work: 15-minute individual presentation which explores the best practice of two areas of the apprenticeship standards skills and behaviours (15 minutes, 30%) | 1-5 | Referral/deferral period |
| Critical reflection on working in a team. | As per original: Critical reflection on working in a team, 750 words (equivalent to 1000 words with portfolio of work evidence) (30%) | 3, 7, 8 | Referral/deferral period |
| 1,500-word personal brand webpage/document showcasing your skills and behaviours with work product and witness testimony | As per original: 1,500-word personal brand webpage/document showcasing your skills and behaviours with work product and witness testimony, 1,500 words (equivalent to 2,500 words with portfolio of work evidence) (40%) | 1-8 | Referral/deferral period |
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
Recommended text:
Cottrell, S. (2021) Skills for success: personal development and employability. Palgrave Macmillan
Kahneman, D. (2012) Thinking Fast and Slow. Penguin: UK
Miller, D. (2015) Brilliant Personal Effectiveness: What to know and say to make an impact at work. Pearson: UK
Brick, J., Wilson, N., Wong, D., Herke, M. (2019) Academic Success: a student’s guide to studying at university. Macmillian International Organisation.
Supplementary text:
Cottrell, S (2017) Critical Thinking Skills; Developing Effective Analysis, argument and reflection.
Palgrave Macmillan
Miller, D. (2015) Brilliant Personal Effectiveness: What to know and say to make an impact at work. Pearson: UK
Paul, D., Cadle, J., & Thomas, P (2012) The Human Touch: Personal Skills for Professional Success. BCS: UK
Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources
ELE – Web-based and electronic resources will be posted and made available throughout the module
| Credit value | 45 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 22.5 |
| Module pre-requisites | none |
| Module co-requisites | none |
| NQF level (module) | 5 |
| Available as distance learning? | Yes |
| Origin date | 21/11/2022 |
| Last revision date | 28/03/2025 |
