Personal Profile & Self Evaluation Exercise

Please read the role description and job specification and using the remainder of this form to evidence the skills, knowledge, achievements and experience you possess to perform the role.

Please use the spaces provided to answer the following questions.

Why do want to work for East London Borough Council Witness Support Service? (Including any future employment goals, how you heard about us, fulfilling a personal goal….)

I want to work for the East London Borough Council Witness Support because it is one of the premier organizations in UK which works with providing official and emotional support to witnesses before and during the trial. I first came across the organization when I was advised by an academic instructor to look into jobs providing witness support. The reason why I was advised to look for employment in that sector by an academic instructor was because I consulted her about looking for employment in a sector which would fit my skill set and interests. She suggested East London Borough Council Witness support and upon some independent research of my own, I understood that the company benefits and their approach towards providing support for legal witnesses falls exactly in line with my own aspirations and future career goal.

I want to work for this organisation not only because its principles are what I believe in as well, but also because I feel the work environment and job description of the work, I will do there will allow me to grow and thrive in that particular sector. Since I hope to work in witness support in the future, I hope to gain a lot of professional experience by working with the East Borough Council Witness Support Service.

2. Please tell us about the skills and experiences you have to offer which are relevant to the Volunteer Witness Support Worker position?

Even though I do not possess direct experience in the sector, I have worked in the volunteering sector before, teaching underprivileged children. I believe the skills used in the pursuit of that volunteer work and the experience gathered from there contributed greatly to my interest in becoming a witness support worker. Firstly, I have become sensitized to the needs of individuals who are vulnerable and in need of guidance. Most of the children that I worked with came from impoverished households and had been neglected with regards to their upbringing and education. More than an educator, they needed someone to guide them into realizing their goals in life and focusing on those goals. I endeavoured to create an atmosphere of trust and understanding when they would come to the centre, so that the children who come from troubled households could freely express themselves. I realised the work gave me a sense of fulfilment and I was deeply invested in providing the children with a safe environment. I believe this particular experience helped me realise the goal of wanting to work with witness support and I believe this particular job experience will also help me when I am working in that sector.

3. Please tell us about the skills and experiences you hope to further develop whilst working with the East London Borough Council Witness Support Service.?

I have been determined about working for an organization which offers witness support service early on. However, I understand that because I am still a student at a university with not as much industry experience, there are some skills which I still need to acquire. The most obvious is the potential to thoroughly learn about the legal process which the witness must be made aware of when they are brought into court. This forms a part of the witness support worker’s training when they first join the organisation. Because I am not yet a part of the organization, it is a training I am yet to receive.

Secondly, I believe I do not yet have direct relevant training in working with providing support to adults. I believe that provision of support and empathy while giving information is a skill that is universal. However, since I’ve only worked with children before this, I would like to be more involved in training adults to face legal jargon and questioning and presenting their statement with clarity. The coaching of adult witnesses is a skill that will require some training for me to become adept.

Thirdly, I hope to get training in the area of handline trauma victims, as it is possible that several of these individuals who wish to appear as witnesses have experienced and seen traumatic things. It is highly possible that they might be afraid to talk about it or they may be disturbed. Several times, the issue is that they are disturbed by what had happened and they had to witness. In the case of that, it is imperative that they get the kind of support which enables them to come out and speak out about it. This becomes important as the healing process of the individual is taking place not at a normal rate as is usually the case. It needs to take place at an accelerated pace because the legal system and justice is dependent on the timely deliverance of witness statements. In this case, the witness support worker should realise that they shoulder the immense responsibility of bringing about this course of action.

References

Please give the names of two people who can provide references about your ability to do this job and to work with vulnerable adults. If possible one referee should be your current or most recent employer, or a prison or probation officer. These are professional references so cannot be friends or relatives. You cannot use an East London Borough Council employee.

We strongly suggest that you try to submit all coursework by the deadline set as meeting deadlines is expected in employment. However, in our regulations, UEL has permitted students to be able to submit their coursework up to 24 hours after the deadline. Coursework which is submitted late, but within 24 hours of the deadline, will be assessed but subject to a fixed penalty.

The impact of the fixed penalty on your result will depend what level of study you are in and when you began your course at UEL. For full details see Part 3, Manual of General Regulations at https://www.uel.ac.uk/about/about-uel/governance/policies-regulations-corporate-documents/student-policies/manual-of-general-regulations.

Please note that if you submit twice, once before the deadline and once during the 24 hour late period, then the second submission will be marked and the fixed penalty applied.

This rule only applies to coursework. It does not apply to examinations, presentations, performances, practical assessments or viva voce examinations. If you miss these for a genuine reason, then you will need to apply for extenuating circumstances, or accept that you will receive a zero mark.

As a student, you will be taught how to write correctly referenced essays using UEL's standard Harvard referencing system from Cite Them Right. Cite Them Right is the standard Harvard referencing style at UEL for all Schools apart from the School of Psychology which uses the APA system.

The electronic version of Cite Them Right: The Essential Referencing Guide (11th edition), can be accessed whilst on or off campus via UEL the link below and will teach you all you need to know about Harvard referencing, plagiarism and collusion. The book can only be read online and no part of it can be printed nor downloaded.

Further information is available at:

Cite Them Right

https://www.citethemrightonline.com/

If you are accessing off campus:

• Click Login
• Select University of East London from the list of institutions
• Click Log In at University of East London
• Enter your UEL email address and password

Harvard referencing: https://uelac.sharepoint.com/LibraryandLearningServices/Pages/Harvard-Referencing-.aspx

Academic Integrity: https://uelac.sharepoint.com/LibraryandLearningServices/Pages/Academic-integrity.aspx

Notice is hereby given that all submissions (3 tasks) comprising 3,000-word portfolio of this Module must be submitted to Turnitin.” If you fail to submit any one of the three tasks of 3,000 word portfolio, to Turnitin, in accordance with the guidance provided on the Virtual Learning Environment (Moodle), a mark of 0 will be awarded for the portfolio.

Submitting Assessments Using Turnitin:

Turnitin is required for coursework assessments, such as report/research papers or projects in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and in PDF format. There are two main reasons we want you to use Turnitin:

• Turnitin can help you avoid academic breaches and plagiarism. When you use Turnitin before a submission deadline, you can use the Originality Report feature to compare your work to thousands of other sources (like websites, Wikipedia, and even other student papers). Anything in your work that identically matches another source is highlighted for you to see. When you use this feature before the deadline, you will have time to revise your work to avoid an instance of academic breach/plagiarism.
• Turnitin saves paper. When using Turnitin to electronically submit your work, you will almost never have to submit a paper copy.

Late Submissions Using Turnitin

UEL has permitted students to be able to submit their coursework up to 24 hours after the deadline. Assessments that are submitted up to 24 hours late are still marked, but with a deduction in marks (see above). However, you have to be very careful when you are submitting your assessment. If you submit your work twice, once using the original deadline link and then again using the late submission link on Turnitin, your assignment will be graded as late.

Turnitin System Failure

Best advice: Don’t wait until the last minute to submit your assessments electronically. If you experience a problem submitting your work with Turnitin, you should notify your lecturer/tutor by email immediately. However, deadlines are not extended unless there is a significant systems problem with Turnitin. UEL has specific plans in place to address these issues. If UEL finds that the issue with the system was significant, you will receive an email notifying you of the issue and that you have been given a 24 hour extension. If you don’t receive any email that specifically states you have been given an extension, then the original deadline has not been changed.

Return of Work and Feedback

Students will receive individual detailed written feedback and a (provisional) mark for their coursework via Turnitin within 20 working days [within term time e.g. excluding Christmas and Easter break periods] of coursework deadline or from the date work was submitted.

Individual feedback on coursework performance is also available via a one-to-one meeting with the module leader/course tutor during the Feedback Fortnight period which takes place each term. Feedback Fortnight is advertised on Moodle and is a special period allocated by staff after each assessment period to discuss student assessment. Staff are available both in their Offices and by email at the times advertised. We will not provide feedback beyond these times as the material is archived.

Resit Assessment

Students will be informed of the July dates for "resit" assessment for those who have not passed the coursework in January.

MARKING

The following table gives indications of the standard for particular ranges of marks.

STUDENT FEEDBACK

UEL values student feedback and there are lots of channels for gathering your views. Module evaluation is your opportunity to provide feedback on your learning and teaching experience of studying on your modules. All undergraduate and taught postgraduate students are provided with the opportunity to contribute feedback on their experience for each module that they study.

Take a deeper dive into Personal Journey and Aspirations in Law with our additional resources.