Module Information

The module will provide students with the opportunity (with the help of IGES and Careers Advisory Service staff) a period of 80 hours of work experience sometime between the end of their second year and Easter of their third year (the equivalent of ten whole days). Students will be able to partake in the work experience either in one block of a fortnight during their summer vacation or on a more part-time basis throughout their third year. Students are expected to analyse their employability skills prior to and subsequent to their period of work experience, along with their contribution to the organisation with which they have worked. This analysis will form the basis of a 2,500 work reflective diary submitted by students at the end of the Lent term. Students will also be expected to research and write a 2,500 word academic essay in which they will examine the connections between Geography as a discipline and the industry or sector within which they have worked. This essay will be submitted at the beginning of the Summer term. In addition to these two forms of assessment, a dedicated Facebook page will be created for each cohort of students registered on the module so that they can share their experiences of engaging with the world of work.

Ideally, students should have arranged their work experience placement before the summer vacation. If the module coordinator is not convinced at the beginning of the third year that a student will be able to gain access to an appropriate work experience placement, s/he will advise the student to re-register for another Level 3 module. Students registered on the module will need to justify their work experience placement to the module coordinator in the small-group meetings arranged prior to the placement. In particular, the students will need to assure the module coordinator that the placement will provide them with the ability to achieve the module’s learning outcomes.

.1. Following students' pre-registration on the module, two preparatory sessions (4 hours in total) will be organised at the end of year 2. One will take the form of a lecture, delivered jointly by the module coordinator and a representative from the Careers Advisory Service during which the learning outcomes, assessment and more practical aspects of the moduld will be discussed. The second session will take the form of small-group meetings between the students and the module coordinator, during which students will discuss their current employability skills as well as possibilities for work experience placements. (If students have experienced difficulties with their work placements over the summer, an additional meeting may be arranged with the module coordinator in order to confirm that a suitable period of work experience may be undertaken over the course of the third year.)

.2. Students will need to partake in a period of work experience of at least 80 hours between the end of their second year and Easter of their third year. Students will be able to keep in touch with the module coordinator during this period either through a dedicated Facebook page created for that cohort of students or via email. Employers will be contacted by the module coordinator to confirm that the students have completed their work placement in a satisfactory manner.

.3. Two further meetings will be organised by the module coordinator. Towards the end of semester 1, a two-hour lecture will be organised in order to provide students with additional guidance on the module assessment. A second two-hour small-group meeting will be arranged for the beginning of semester 2 in order to provide students with an opportunity to discuss and evaluate their work experience in an informal context.
.4. Students will be expected to submit two pieces of assessment for the module. The first is a 2,500 word reflective diary in which students will be expected to analyse their employability skills prior to and subsequent to their period of work experience, along with their contribution to the organisation with which they have worked. Students will also be expected to research and write a 2,500 word academic essay in which they will examine the connections between Geography as a discipline and the industry or sector within which they have worked.