LW2PPY: Professional Placement Year

Module code: LW2PPY

Module provider: School of Law

Credits: 120

ECTS credits: 60

Level: 5

When you’ll be taught: Full year

Module convenor: Dr Alexandra Cox, email: a.cox@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Rosa Walling-Wefelmeyer, email: r.walling-wefelmeyer@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: Maxi placement

Academic year: 2026/7

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: No

Last updated: 26 March 2026

Overview

Module aims and purpose

The aims are to:

• Enable students to apply the knowledge and skills developed during the first two years of their undergraduate criminology studies.
• Broaden and deepen their understanding within the field of criminology.
• Acquire knowledge, practical experience, and skills relevant to working in a professional environment relevant to criminology.

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Demonstrate in-depth understanding of their placement’s organisation, structure, working practice and rules of governance and their own role within this structure.
2. Offer a detailed academic insight into the placement by relating the placement role to academic criminological study and demonstrating in-depth understanding of the ways in which criminological theory and practice are linked.
3. Present relevant material and articulate arguments in written and oral form.
4. Demonstrate the use of transferable skills from and to the placement.
5. Develop a greater understanding of the requirements of the workplace through experience of full-time employment in a setting with relevance to their skills and knowledge in the field of criminology. They will gain experiences of planning, team-based work, organisation, communication and research within the workplace that will be relevant to their future career development and employability.

Module content

The area of work undertaken on the placement will be related to the student's programme of study in criminology in the School of Law. The day-to-day content of the work will be set by the student's employer. The work placement should provide the student with the opportunity for independent problem solving and working in a team.

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Students will receive guidance on placement planning and remain supported by the School of Law throughout their year. However, the emphasis on this module is on independent working, including work experience, learning by observation, training and doing.

Study hours

This module is a placement or study abroad module and therefore the teaching and learning activities will predominantly, or entirely, take place away from the University of Reading. Your host organisation will normally advise you of the associated hours of your placement or year abroad. If the module includes any in-person activities at the University of Reading, these will be confirmed to you before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Reassessment

Additional costs