This module is designed to enable you to explore your future career and provide an environment where you can begin to focus on the professional values, skills and knowledge needed to succeed in your field.

We will explore the history of your chosen profession, the changing nature of the role, and the social and political context surrounding this. You will have the opportunity to consider the professional codes, values and expectations that relate to your career as well as the various roles you can undertake within your field. 

You will also reflect on your own skill set and consider your personal and professional development needs.

Indicative content:

• How to be a professional practice student: representing your profession 
• Investigate the historic and socio-political context of your chosen profession (Nursing, Midwifery, Education or Social Work)
• The importance of professional values and codes of practice/conduct
• The nature and scope of inter-professional working
• Core roles and responsibilities within your career and inter-professional working
• Theories of professional practice
• Equal opportunities, inclusion, diversity and professional practice
• Interpersonal communication skills; development of self-awareness and of own communication skills.
• Using models of reflection. 
• Safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults 
• Personal and professional development knowledge and skills
• Your profession and the public 
• Learning to use and navigate a range of digital spaces specific to your subject
• Understanding academic conduct and conventions for communicating information

The module introduces students to a range of social issues that are of concern across the social sciences, including for sociological, psychological, criminological and legal studies, as well as for people-focussed professional courses. It also encourages students to analyse the wider social and historical contexts for various public policy, legal and criminal justice scenarios, cases and debates. Additionally, the module provides students with support to advance their academic communication and to expand their research into subject-specific literatures.

Indicative content:

• Social scientific subjects and subject lenses, including sociological criminological, psychological, legal and professional perspectives on the social world
• Introductory ideas and concepts including society, socialisation and social structures  
• Introducing and applying social psychological ideas and theories to social issues
• Introducing ideas and debates surrounding youth studies, youth crime, and youth justice, including knife crime analysis
• Theory and debates surrounding generational categories (such as generations X, Y, Z and Alpha) 
• Digitalisation of society and digital ‘zeitgeist’ debates (such as selfie culture and ‘brain rot’)
• Consumerism, young people and identities
• Equality, inequality and intersectionality: class, age, gender, ‘race’, sexuality, disability
• Tackling inequalities, promoting equalities, power and social change
• Introducing and applying critical social science to issues of class, gender and 'race' , including Marxist, feminist, and critical race theory
• Riots, uprisings and collective violence
• Sex work, legal frameworks and sex trafficking
• Criminal justice debates including prison reform, the role and impact of Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) initiatives, ‘defunding the police’ campaigns, and the representation of crime in the media
• Public policy, legal, and criminal justice scenarios and cases  
• Advancing digital and academic skills introduced during Term 1
• Developing research and information literacy in relation to your subject
• Creating an academic poster on a chosen research paper
• Field visit
• Local case study

This module will explore how psychology and related disciplines can be applied to real world contexts. We will explore the history of psychology and related disciplines. You will explore key perspectives that include; social psychology, biological psychology, humanism and developmental psychology.

You will also investigate the following; mental health, bereavement support, and improving patient outcomes with Psychology. You will consider how this knowledge can support and inform your professional practice. You will also examine notions of wellbeing , stress and resilience to prepare you for professional practice.

Indicative content: 

• The role of social structures and socialisation in society
• The role and historical context of Psychology and related disciplines 
• The social Psychology of human interaction and behaviour
• Development psychology from childhood and through the lifespan
• Brain structure and functions
• Neurodiversity and brain differences - what makes us unique. 
• An introduction to mental health
• Humanism and its importance in professional practice
• Cognitive Psychology and its importance in professional practice  
• Stress, resilience and stress management
• What is wellbeing and how this can be applied to professional practice
• Supporting patient outcomes with Psychology 
• Leadership and motivation in nursing practice