English Career Resources

Key Stage 3: World of work

Assignment

The world of work: investigating the police

Expectations

What do you know?

1. List as many jobs as you can connected with the law/law enforcement.



2. Using the TV schedules provided, find examples of police shows and any other programmes involving crime solving and law enforcement.



3. Put the programmes you have found into categories - you yourself will have to decide on these categories. Put the programmes which you think are most life-like or factual on one side, and the ones which seem most made-up, or fictional, on the other. If you're not sure they can go in the middle.

Evidence

You now have a lot of information – but where has it come from?

Start with the focus of our investigation: the police.

• You will be shown some recruitment material from police force.
  http://www.policecouldyou.co.uk/
  Could you? Test your decision making... have you got what it takes?



• Look at the home page. The main image and the main message changes. Why?



• What are they emphasising? How convincing are they? What representations do they offer? Who are they trying to convince, and why?



• Make a quick note of the main messages of this website



• You are going to watch the following extracts from TV police shows:
  e.g. The Bill, Thin Blue Line, Traffic Cops etc.



• While you are watching complete the analysis sheet.



• After you've watched all the extracts and completed the analysis, talk about the following:
  • What do these extracts have in common?
  • In what ways are they different?
  • How do they relate to the police promotional material you have seen?

Research: getting the facts right

Your next task is to research two or three jobs in this sector that interest you. Use as many different sources as you can.

Make a list of resources you can use to help you.

Summing up

When you have researched two or three different jobs, choose one you find particularly interesting, and prepare to make a PowerPoint presentation explaining what the job is, and what you have learned by reflecting on it.

Your presentation will need to include the following:

• What does the job involve? Think about the different aspects of the work – does it mean working with people, and if so, in what ways? Is it office-based, or out and about in the community? What sorts of personal skills would you need to develop?



• What qualifications do you need? Does the job require specialist training and skills, and if so, what sorts of training will you need?



• Why does it interest you? What particular aspects of the work appeal to you in particular, and why?



• What can you say about the way this work is represented in the media? Which different TV programmes feature this type of work, and how do they portray the sorts of skills, experience and decisions involved in the job?
  
  Is the work presented differently in fiction and factual/non-fiction shows?
  
  How do these programmes 'sell' you the idea of this type of work?