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Employment Experience

Module description

Students taking this module work in the UK for the whole academic year (a minimum of 28 weeks). You will use one or more work placements to gain skills that equip you to work in the employment market and to improve your knowledge of the work environment. You are encouraged to think about the intercultural competence and the employability skills that you acquire during your year.

You will normally need to have gained an overall average mark for the year of 50% or above in Stage 1 in order to participate in ‘Employment Experience.’

As a prerequisite, you are required to have studied the workshop element of HUC2001 Humanities in the Workplace and to have participated in the pre-departure briefing sessions for Humanities Employment Experience UK.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module aims to:

• To increase your employability skills in an increasingly competitive market through
  • seeking and successfully gaining a work placement in the UK
  • being in a workplace for a significant period and reflecting on that experience
• To develop your intercultural awareness and competence through reflection on the experience of employment.
• To enhance your capacity for self-assessment through structured reflection on your experience
• Enhance key transferable skills through the managing of your learning in an independent context. i.e. working with others; problem solving; communication; building up resilience; showing leadership attributes

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

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

• 1. Produce job applications that represent the your strengths and target specific employers in an appropriate manner
• 2. Demonstrate knowledge and application of the attitudes and qualities that are required to function well in a work environment
• 3. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the social, cultural and political considerations which influence employment settings, using appropriate discipline-specific theoretical perspectives to analyse those settings
• 4. Reflect critically on practical experiences gained, and the impact they may have on your views and actions

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

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

• 5. Research, select and evaluate specific jobs and the structural context of those jobs
• 6. Use appropriate Humanities-specific critical approaches to evaluate the social and cultural and political aspects of an employment setting
• 7. Communicate (in writing and in speech) in a manner appropriate to the particular workplace context

ILO: Personal and key skills

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

• 8. Develop / enhance practical work-based skills and experience
• 9. Negotiate the different types of working relationships with staff within the workplace, and others - directly or indirectly - relevant to the placement
• 10. Identify and reflect on personal challenges and to learn from their resolution
• 11. Use a range of technologies and applications relevant to most workplaces

Syllabus plan

Work placement(s) for the full academic year (minimum of 28 weeks) in one or more placements approved by the University of Exeter.

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)

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

• Cottrell, S. (2003), Skills for Success: The Personal Development Handbook. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Fanthome, C. (2004) Work Placements: A survival guide for students. Palgrave

Key words search

Employability, work experience