Career Management Skills module
component
1 This note describes the Discrete approach to the Career Management Skills
module component (equal to 5 credits) which is designed to be included in degree programmes as part of a 10 or 20 credit module. Examples of where it fits into other modules include; Professional Careers in Archaeology (10 credit module in Archaeology), Project and career skills (10 credit module in Psychology), career management and transferable skills (10 credit module in School of Biological Sciences) and Skills for graduates (10 credit module in Meteorology).
2 CMS is also capable of being located within an undergraduate programme in ways other than as a Discrete component of one specific module. Two of these ways, the Distributed and the Pervasive approaches are addressed at the end of this document in the Appendices.
3 The aims, learning outcomes and brief outline of content have been written to be included in module descriptions.
Providing School/Department: (academic School/Department responsible for delivery)
Part: Level 2 (module may be taken at other
levels)
Number of Credits: 5 (50 notional hours of study Terms in which taught: Autumn, Spring and Summer
Module Convenor: (member of academic staff responsible for module)
Modules excluded: for combined students, any other module containing the CMS module component (as CMS should only be taken once)
Aims
4 To provide the opportunity for students to acquire career management skills that will assist them in implementing career decisions.
Learning outcomes
5 On successful completion of this unit students will be expected, at threshold level, to be able to:
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• Explore the options open to student and identify the specific skills and qualities required in chosen opportunity.
• Identify and research different sources of vacancy information and
recruitment methods used by employers, opportunity and course providers • Identify those skills individual student may need to develop further in order
to achieve personal career goals
• Relate student's own skills in the context of career decision making to chosen opportunity
• Evaluate how (student's) personal priorities and constraints may affect career decisions and to formulate the action needed to achieve career goals.
• Recognise and demonstrate what makes an effective application
• Identify and perform effectively in the recruitment and selection process appropriate to their career plans e.g. participating in assessment centres • Recognise the purpose and process of interviews and to identify strategies for
self presentation
Syllabus outline
Self awareness
6 Activities leading to an understanding of personal skills, interests, values and motivations - promotion of individual strengths in writing eg by completion of a targeted application form or CV
Opportunity awareness
7 Activities leading to an awareness of the full range of opportunities available to students - eg exploring careers resources
Decision learning
8 Research activities which enable students to identify future career goals Transition learning
9 Activities leading to an understanding of how to present themselves effectively in writing and in person
Additional outcomes
10 Students will develop business awareness through understanding broad trends in the graduate labour market and the personal attributes and achievements that employers require. They will develop oral communication and team working skills through practical group exercises. IT skills and information handling skills will be developed through use of the Internet. They will develop Personal Development Planning abilities through the reflective exercises and forward-looking nature of CMS, which will significantly contribute to PARs and other PDP activities.
Additional information on content
11 N.B. Involvement of employers or alumni has the potential to ‘bring to life’ the material for the students and to add extra learning (e.g. opportunities for networking and building confidence). It can be a very valuable addition to any or all of the taught sessions. For these reasons, while such involvement cannot be required, it is nevertheless to be encouraged.
Assessment
12 Students will be asked to submit three pieces of work, some of which will be formative and summative assignments e.g. job study, annotated CV.
13 Marking criteria are available for students to see on the CMS website, and marker sheets with guidelines are provided for teaching staff from the CAS staff page. Please see http://www.careers.reading.ac.uk/staff/cms.asp
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Appendix 1 - Additional information on the Distributed
approach to achieving CMS
14 The Distributed approach to CMS differs from the Discrete approach with regard to:-
• The credits are not assigned to a specific module (s), rather the component is assigned 5 credits within the 120 credits for the whole of Part 2. The marks from CMS are distributed proportionally between all the marks for the Part 2 modules.
• The curriculum location of CMS is not specified as being within any one module, but rather is given as being within the Part 2 programme as a whole. 15 Where this approach is adopted the following procedures should apply
• The CMS component should be documented as normal, using the RD2CMS module description (or where appropriate the programme specific variant). • A note should be added at the end of the relevant level in the programme
Specification stating that: ‘Career Management Skills (RD2CMS - change RISIS code as appropriate) contributes 5 credits’ worth of marks to the average for Part 2.’
• The CMS component should also be referred to in the Skills section of the Programme Specification.
• The contribution of marks from the Distributed approach to an individual student’s final degree classification should be made using the formula supplied by the Examinations Office.
Appendix 2 - Additional information on the Pervasive
approach to achieving CMS
16 The Pervasive approach caters for those programmes with a high vocational content that explicitly develops career management skills as a routine part of their subject discipline, without including the CMS component.
17 Concerning this approach the University Board for Teaching and Learning has stated that: ‘it is incumbent upon the Board of Studies to demonstrate that the equivalent of five credits across more than one module is devoted to the
achievement of the required learning outcomes… (and that)… the achievement of the learning outcomes must be assessed… (and)… contribute to the final degree classification.’
18 This should be demonstrated using an auditing tool, The University of Reading Template for Career Management Skills, which is designed to identify and record where a programme achieves the CMS learning outcomes. This Template can also be used to record other career relevant learning that is non-assessed which takes place on a programme.
19 The Template can be down loaded from
http://www.careers.reading.ac.uk/staff/CEIGPolicy.doc
20 Consideration of this Template should be included within the normal quality process for programmes using the Distributed Approach.
21 A programme that succeeds in fully satisfying the criteria for the Pervasive approach, is not, thereby prevented from drawing on selected aspects of the CMS component, (including the online learning) or other bespoke careers provision, to enhance the careers learning already provided.
