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Course Design Blueprint

Placements

As explored in other sections of this blueprint, placements take many forms and contribute in a variety of ways to students' learning and achievement.  It is important that placements are carefully managed, and that students are fully informed and supported to enable them to flourish within their placement environments and to achieve the learning outcomes intended to be achieved through the placement experience, and provided with individual support where placement experiences or personal circumstances impact on their ability to engage with the placement experiences effectively. It is also important that the course teams make efforts to evaluate the effectiveness of placement opportunities to inform future placements.

The University's Work-based and placement learning framework should be used as a source of reference to inform the development, planning and management of placements and to ensure a high quality student experience.  Thus framework helpfully sets out the responsibility of the course team in designing placements as part of their curriculum:

In the design, approval and monitoring of courses with a work based learning or placement component, course teams must ensure that

  1. the roles and responsibilities of all parties involved in work-based or placement learning (University or partner institution staff, Placement Supervisors, Placement Mentors and students) are clearly defined;
  2. the learning outcomes for placements are identified and that they explicitly contribute to the overall aims and learning outcomes course of the course;
  3. work-based or placement learning forms an integral part of the overall teaching and learning strategy for the course;
  4. the assessment of work-based or placement learning forms an integral part of the overall assessment strategy for the course;
  5. the arrangements for placements enable students to demonstrate achievement of the specified placement learning outcomes;
  6. the learning outcomes, assessment strategy, formal procedures and day to day practices for managing the placement are in accordance with this framework, relevant external reference points including the Quality Code and subject Benchmark statements, and any PSRB requirements.