Work based placements – October 2022 Could you offer a University of Worcester, School of Law student a work based placement? A message from Doug Wotherspoon - Senior Lecturer @ School of Law Dear Practitioner, I am a Senior Lecturer at the School of Law at University of Worcester, and I am responsible for co-ordinating the Work Based Placement module for our final year law students. This is a module which, with the assistance of local law firms and others, we have run successfully for several years but, since the pandemic, it has proved more challenging to secure placement opportunities for our degree students. That said, several local firms have supported us from the inception of the module and many of our recent graduates are now working locally in various capacities, including as trainee solicitors. The aims of the module are to help our students in the following ways: • • • • • •
Experience a real working environment Acquire a more professional outlook Build contacts for their future career Practice ways of thinking and doing in a real-life context Bridge the gap between “law in books” and “law in practice” Develop useful skills to help them compete within a competitive professional job market.
the placement (assessment 3). The university will provide initial guidance on the required format and the necessary formalities and students can benefit from 6x 1-hour tutorials over the course of the academic year to assist them with this assignment. For the avoidance of doubt therefore, the only direct involvement and commitment beyond supervising the student from week to week is in preparing a brief report at the end of the placement. If you are able to offer a student a placement from October 2022 or indeed if you would like me to answer any questions about the module then please feel free to contact me by email (details below). Yours sincerely, Doug Wotherspoon d.wotherspoon@worc.ac.uk
I am sure you will not need me to tell you how valuable a placement experience is to our students and whilst I will be happy to discuss to details of the module in greater detail, the main requirements are intended to be ‘light touch’ with a health and safety / insurance form completed before the placement commences. The placement itself consists of at least 20 working days / 120 hours over 2 terms. This would usually involve one day a week (approximately 6 hours) in the workplace. The main obligation on the part of the placement provider is to offer learning opportunities to the student and it is of course accepted and understood by us that placement students will be expected to carry out or assist with a variety of office-based activities (at the discretion of the placement provider) commensurate with their junior / unqualified status. Whilst there is a significant work-based element to the placement, the students are also assessed and, in this regard, students are required to do 3 things: 1. Maintain and submit a weekly ‘self-reflective’ diary (assessment 1). 2. Impress the placement provider! For the purposes of assessment 2, the placement provider completes and submits to the university at the end of the placement a short document commenting on the qualities which the student has hopefully demonstrated over the course of the year. This report is made available to the student by way of feedback. 3. Submit a 5000-word independent research project based on an area of the law that the student has experienced on
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