Module Information
Course Delivery
| Delivery Type | Delivery length / details |
|---|---|
| Seminars / Tutorials | 5 Hours. (5 x 1 hour) |
| Practical | 5-6 week work based learning placement |
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 2,000 word report | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Presentation | 20% |
| Semester Assessment | 1 x 1,500 word essay | 30% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 2,000 word report (if report failed) | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 500 word assignment (if presentation failed) | 20% |
| Supplementary Assessment | 1 x 1,500 word essay (if essay failed) | 30% |
Learning Outcomes
1. Discuss and evaluate the nature of their work placement organisation and its role in the context of Welsh politics.
2. Discuss and assess the multi-level structures of governance in Wales, the policy and legislative processes of the Welsh Government and National Assembly for Wales.
3. Describe and analyse in written work the engagement opportunities open to different organisations to contribute to the policy and legislative processes in Wales.
4. Make associations between their own experiences of Welsh politics and their academic studies of Welsh politics.
5. Reflect on the nature of professional standards and skills requirements within the public, private and third sector in Wales.
6. Discuss and evaluate their own skills portfolio.
7. Reflect on how the module has influenced their skills and awareness of skill requirements in employment.
Brief description
This module will provide students with the opportunity deepen their understanding of Welsh politics through work based learning opportunities and strengthening their awareness of the skills required in the context of Welsh politics. There will be two practical aspects to the module. Firstly, students will undertake a 6 week work placement with a public, private or third sector organisation directly engaged in Welsh politics on a daily basis during the summer holiday period (either directly at the end of semester 2 or 6 weeks before the beginning of Semester 1). Secondly, in order to consolidate on the work placement experiences, during the subsequent semester 1 students will be involved in a series of skills seminars with officials working in the public, private or third sectors. Thirdly, drawing upon both experiences, students will be encouraged to think reflectively about the insights that they have gained from the work placement and the skills sessions through purposefully selected assessed work tasks
Content
2. To enable students to develop a practical understanding of the multi-level structures of governance in Wales, the policy and legislative processes of the Welsh Government and National Assembly for Wales. Students will also become aware of the influence and engagement opportunities open to different organisations as part of the policy and legislative processes. Some work placement opportunities may also provide strong insights into the political relationships between Wales and London, in the context of Whitehall, Westminster or relating more specifically to the organisation where they are based.
3. To better enable students to relate their academic studies to the practicalities of Welsh politics. It will contribute to the employability agenda by enabling students to gain insights into the world of work and develop the types of skills that are required in the context of Welsh Politics.
4. To promote students to relate their experiences and their degree scheme to a workplace context thus bridging between Higher Education and employers
5. To develop and relate core skills to their work placement experience. In addition, the skills seminars can broaden their transferrable skills portfolio and awareness.
6. To provide students with experiences that may assist them in deciding on their future career paths and to strengthen their awareness of professional standards and skills within the public, private and third sector.
Aims
This module aims to facilitate stronger linkages between the academic study of Welsh politics and the practical skills associated with working in this area.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Application of Number | Dependent on the assignments that the students will undertake in the workplace it is possible that they will make use of statistical information and develop practical experience of some analysis of numerical data and will therefore develop basic interpretative skills. |
| Communication | Students will learn how to present their ideas both verbally and in writing and how to assert themselves to advantage. They will understand the importance of information and clear communication and how to exploit these. They will know how to use the many sources of information available and how to use the most appropriate form of communication to the best advantage. They will learn to be clear and direct in their communication and to be direct about aims and objectives. They will learn to consider only that which is relevant to the topic, focus and objectives of their argument or discussion. The emphasis throughout the module will be on student participation and communication. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | The module aims to promote self-management but within a context of assistance from both the convenor and Line Manager in the workplace. Based on the work placement, students will be expected to improve their own learning and performance by undertaking their own research and to exercise their own initiative, including searching for sources, compiling reading lists, and deciding (under guidance) the direction of their assessed work. The need to meet deadlines with written work will focus student' attention on the need to manage their time and opportunity resources well. The strong emphasis on skills development will also assist students to reflect on their performance and in particular through assessment of skills such as presentation skills. |
| Information Technology | Students will be expected to submit their work in word-processed format. Also, students will be encouraged to search for sources of information on the web, as well as seeking sources through electronic information sources. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | The placements will help to develop students’ verbal and presentation skills. The range of experiences in addition to the completing the assessed work, planning an essay, framing the parameters of the projects, honing and developing the projects and seeing through to completion will contribute towards their portfolio of transferable skills. The module will also make students more aware of the career opportunities available to them and will encourage them to evaluate the types of skills that they wish to develop in order to enhance their career aims. |
| Problem solving | Independent project work and problem solving will be one of the central goals of the module; the submission of assessed work and assignments at the workplace will require that the student develops independent research skills as well as problem solving skills. The need to research and undertake tasks in the workplace will also enable the student to develop independent project skills. The ability of students to solve problems will be developed and assessed by asking them to: adopt differing points of view; organize data and estimate an answer to the problem; consider extreme cases; reason logically; consider similar cases; look for patterns; divide issues into smaller problems. |
| Research skills | The submission of assessed work and assignments at the workplace and subsequently within the department will reflect the independent research skills of the student. The need to locate appropriate research resources and write up the results will also facilitate research skills. Research preparation will also enable the student to develop independent project skills. |
| Subject Specific Skills | |
| Team work | Students will be obliged to work in teams in the work place. |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6