The final written report is an overview of your experiences within your work placement, which largely assesses the same skills as the learning logs you have been completing. It does however require more thinking about structure and a more holistic view of your experiences and the organization you have been working for.
You can write this either in a traditional essay format or as a more formal report with headings. Please bear in mind the learning outcomes:
1. Operate effectively, both independently and with others, in a structured and routinely supervised work environment
2. Communicate appropriately with colleagues and superiors
3. Take a rational and organized approach, applying previously known or new techniques and/or methodologies, to task(s) set
4. Describe and evaluate the structure, major activities and responsibilities of an organization.
5. Evaluate critically his or her performance and abilities.
Some considerations are offered below regarding how to approach your report, and what to include. However, how you apply this will vary according to the nature of the organization you have been working for, and your role within it.
Everyone will have had a different and individual set of experiences. The crucial factors to include are critical reflection on your experiences, and tying your experiences in with relevant criminological theory and literature.
Please write 2300 words of self-reflection that covers the points below. Remember that your work should still conform to the academic standards laid out by the university.
The assignment should include your own personal reflections and how what you have learnt during your placement relates to topics, theories and issues covered in your degree course.
Citations should be properly referenced and your work should be double spaced and paragraphs justified.
1. Give some context to your work placement. What the placement was / is. Why you chose it. What was your previous experience of this work / organization? What are the criminological links (if they are not explicit)
2. What did you hope to achieve from the work placement and the academic module, e.g. work experience, knowledge of a specific organization, knowledge of a specific offender group, research skills, critical thinking about work experience. If you are already working within the organization, think about what you hoped to gain and achieve from combining your academic studies and work through this module.
3. Give some context to the organization you are working for. What are the organizations overall aims? What is its structure? What are the challenges? Bring in some academic literature or other data here.
4. Discuss the client base of the organization? What are the challenges? What problems do these individuals face and does your organization adequately support them or exacerbate their circumstances? Use examples. Bring in academic literature here.
5. Describe your specific duties. How clear were /are these? How connected are the local issues, and local activities, to the broader structural goals.
6. How did you adapt to the challenges and address any shortcoming in terms of knowledge and skills. Give further examples and tie in with literature if applicable.
7. How did you/do you evaluate your performance and your activities? Don’t just think about achieving organizational targets, but also think about other measures. For example, feedback from service users and self-assessment.
8. What are the main conclusions you have drawn from your experiences? About yourself, about the organization or about the experiences of user groups.
