This module aims to facilitate student engagement with and reflection on the relationship between different forms of work, citizenship and higher education. As part of the cultural world the practices and knowledges of geographers are influenced by that world, and can influence it. This module first develops insights into how different citizenship obligations have evolved and changed from Hobbes to the present day, and what the main influences have been including globalisation, capitalism and liberalism. This module also requires students to go out into the world in order to gain first-hand experience of paid and voluntary work and in doing so reflect on the ways in which conceptualisations of citizenship held by employers, educators and themselves may differ and change. These experiences will take two forms: The first will include (paid or unpaid) work placements in a range of public or private bodies and volunteering in local charities. This placement will be carried out through enrolment in The Cardiff Award. Through this scheme students will be offered support in finding placements, will attend employer seminars, and participate in employment-related assessments. Secondly, students will enrol in the Royal Geographical Society’s Ambassador Programme. Through

this scheme students will be involved in mentoring and outreach activities in schools, advising pupils on geography at university and the experience of university life. Involvement in these roles will be underpinned by a third element of the module; a set of lectures and seminars which will contextualise citizenship in relation to higher education, work, and geography as a discipline.

1. Identify different conceptualisations of citizenship and relate them to contemporary debates on work and higher education in the UK

1. Analyse and evaluate the relationship between employment, unpaid work, citizenship and education.

1. Apply and critically evaluate theories of work and citizenship in relation to their practical experience of paid or unpaid work through completion of the Cardiff Award, RGS Ambassadors Scheme.

1. Identify a range of different employers and career paths that their Geography degree prepares them for through attending a series of lectures given by guest speakers.

1. Search for jobs, write effective job applications and CVs, and communicate effectively with potential employers at interview through engagement with the practical, written and oral elements of the Cardiff Award (externally assessed).

1. Outline an understanding of university level Geography and orally convey this to Secondary school pupils in the context of the RGS Ambassadors scheme (externally assessed).

The module will be delivered through a variety of modes including lectures, seminars, employment skills workshops, outreach and work placement. It comprises of three components:

1. Citizen Geographies lectures and guest seminar series. To gain the 20 module credits the students will attend a series of module specific seminars and lectures in CPlan. They will also attend a seminar series where outside speakers, alumni and postgraduate students will give ideas and insight by reflecting on their experiences of work, volunteering and further study. The module is assessed through two pieces of coursework: The first is a 2000 word essay on the academic content of the module. The second is a 2000 word reflective diary where the student will reflect on their experiences of paid/ unpaid work via the CA, RGS Ambassadors scheme or other placement.

2. The Cardiff Award (CA). The CA is notionally 100 learning hours comprised of 70 hours of extra curricular activities: 40 hours of this must be work experience, the other 30 hours can be made up in any combination of volunteering, work placements, language training, RGS Ambassadors Scheme etc. Support is offered in helping to secure placement, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the students themselves to get the placement. The remaining 30 hours is comprised of attendance at 6 compulsory workshops (Introduction to the Cardiff Award, CV, application form, commercial awareness, speaking and presenting, and completing the Cardiff Award) and 2 optional seminars from a range of employers. These hours are in addition to the 200 learning hours that comprise the module. The Cardiff Award component is internally assessed through a range of practice oriented skills such as oral presentation, application form writing and psychometric testing.

3. RGS Ambassadors Scheme. The Geography Ambassadors scheme recruits, trains and supports undergraduate, postgraduate and graduate geographers from universities and business to act as ambassadors for geography in the classroom and beyond. Ambassadors act as positive role models for pupils and illustrate, via a range of fun, interactive and informative sessions, the specific and transferable skills they have developed as a geographer. The scheme works closely with schools, universities and businesses and offers opportunity for all to strengthen their links with each other on a local scale.

Subject-related:

• Use case study material and data to explore, illustrate and test theoretical propositions
• Enhance understanding of personal identity and social position in a globalising world

• Understand sources of inequality in citizenship and critically assess ways in which they can be transformed and reproduced

• Make links between social, cultural and economic phenomena and geographical distributions

Transferable:

• Make links between abstract theoretical knowledge and everyday life

• Handle conceptual and factual material in both oral and written forms

• Write clearly and competently, and make reflective comments upon topics learned
• Gain and articulate knowledge on relevant theoretical, empirical and policy issues through small group discussions and reasoned debate

Values/attitudes:             

• Develop reasoned arguments, both orally and in written form, and demonstrate the ability to critically assess and evaluate evidence and claims
• Develop an active sense of citizenship through group debate and understanding sources of inequality

There will be 2 elements of assessment. The essay requires students to link together and critically evaluate theories of citizenship, work and education discussed in lectures and seminars (Learning Outcomes 1 & 2). The diary requires students to reflect on their experience of paid work/ volunteering through the Cardiff Award/ RGS Ambassadors scheme/ other placement alongside the guest seminar series and academic literature. (Learning Outcomes 3 & 4).

Type of assessment

%

Contribution

Title

Duration
(if applicable)

Approx. date of Assessment

Essay

50

Theories of citizenship, work and education

2000 words

Spring

Reflective diary

50

Placement diary

2000 words

Spring

The opportunity for reassessment in this module

Students are permitted to be reassessed in a module which they have failed, in line with the course regulations. The reassessment will usually take place during the summer.

1. Introduction: Geography and Citizenship

2. Theorising citizenship

3. Economy, work and citizenship

4. Activating citizens? volunteering and the 3^rd sector

5. Education, geography and citizenship

6. Global citizenships

7. Consumer citizens

6. Guest lecture/ seminar series on geography and future employment/ study

7. Guided study and reflection on the nature of work and citizenship

• Barnett C, Low M (Eds) (2004) Spaces of Democracy: Geographical Perspectives on Citizenship, Participation and Representation (Sage, London)
• Boucher, D. & Kelly, P. (Eds) Political thinkers from Socrates to the present (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
• Etzioni, A. (2007) Citizenship Tests: A Comparative, Communitarian Perspective, Political Quarterly, 78(3), pp.353-363

·Fudge, J. (2005) After industrial citizenship: market citizenship or citizenship at work? Industrial Relations, 60(4), pp.631-656

·Fyfe, N. (2005) Making space for neo-communitarianism? The third sector, state and civil society in the UK, Antipode, pp.536-557

• Holdsworth, C. & Quinn, J. (2012) The Epistemological Challenge of Higher Education Student Volunteering: “Reproductive” or “Deconstructive” Volunteering? Antipode, 44(2), pp.386-405
• Marshall, T. H. (1950) Citizenship and social class and other essays (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)

·Marston, S & Mitchell K. (2004) Citizenship and the state: citizenship formations in space and time in Barnett C, Low M (Eds) Spaces of Democracy: Geographical Perspectives on Citizenship, Participation and Representation (Sage, London) pp.93-112

·Turner, B. (2001) The erosion of citizenship, British Journal of Sociology, 52(2), pp.189-209

• Wood, J. (2012) The University as a Public Good: Active citizenship and university community engagement, International Journal of Progressive Education, 8 (3), pp.15-31

• Anderson, J. (2012) Reflective journals as a tool for auto-ethnographic learning: A case study of student experiences with individualised sustainability, Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 36:4, pp.613-623

·Dean, H. (2004) ‘Popular discourse and the ethical deficiency of ‘Third Way’ conceptions of “Citizenship”’, Citizenship Studies, vol 8, no 1: 65-82.

• Delanty, G. (2001) Challenging knowledge: the university in the knowledge society (Open University Press: Buckingham)
• Desforges, L., Jones, R. & Woods, M. (2005), New Geographies of Citizenship, Citizenship Studies, 9(5), 439-451
• Isin, E. & Wood, P. (1999) Citizenship and Identity (Sage, London)
• Isin, E. (2009) Citizenship in flux: the figure of the activist citizen, Subjectivity, 29, pp. 367-388

·MacDonald, P., Bailey, J., Price, R,. Pini, B. (2014) School-aged workers: industrial citizens in waiting? Journal of Sociology, 50(3), pp.315-330

·Orton, M. (2006) Wealth, Citizenship and Responsibility: The Views of “Better Off” Citizens in the UK, Citizenship Studies, 10:2, 251-265

• Lewis, M. (2000) Public good or private value: a critique of the commodification of knowledge in higher education – A Canadian Perspective in Canaan, J. E. & Shumar, W. (Eds) Structure and agency in the neoliberal university (Routledge: London), pp.45-66