TMA 02
The assignmentImportant: These pages provide guidance on how to write your assignment. Please ensure you read all this information right through until the checklist at the end.
Before you start work on this assignment, please ensure that you have read the Assessment guidance specific to this module and are familiar with the advice in Social Sciences Assessment Information. These sources contain support and guidance that you may need in writing your TMA including, for example, advice on plagiarism, referencing and the marking system. Note that failure to comply with relevant guidance could result in the loss of marks or other penalties.
There is one part to this TMA. On the following pages you will find guidance on how to complete this assignment. Task:
Produce an essay
Critically discuss the role of the socio-cultural issues of race, gender, age, and class in the case study.
Word limit: 1500 wordsIn the following pages, you will find:
learning outcomes addressed by this assignment
student notes for this assignment, including the case study
suggestions of relevant material from the module
a checklist to ensure you have done everything required for this assignment.
Learning outcomes
The module learning outcomes assessed by TMA 02 are as follows:
Knowledge and understanding
A systematic and critical understanding of current debates and new insights in theory and practice in counselling and forensic psychology.
A systematic and critical understanding of the types of evidence and research methods used in counselling and forensic psychology.
A critical understanding of how psychological theories and research are applied in practical and professional contexts in counselling and forensic psychology.
An awareness of the importance of socio-cultural factors with respect to diversity and difference in counselling and forensic psychology.
Cognitive skills
Construct arguments with appropriate use of relevant concepts, theories and evidence.
Identify and select evidence from a variety of sources.
Interpret, analyse and critically evaluate the contributions of different kinds of evidence, recognising the possible limitations of sources.
Apply concepts and theories to inform understanding of practice in counselling and forensic psychology.
Key skills
Select, summarise, synthesise and appropriately reference information from different sources, including primary texts and secondary sources.
Present written material in a coherently organised form, with developed arguments and information in logical sequence, and communicated effectively in a variety of forms.
Develop both technical and non-technical skills, including the use of information technology to search for and access electronic resources, and to process, prepare and present information.
Practical and/or professional skills
Communicate knowledge and/or findings in an appropriate way for particular audiences and present arguable and reasoned conclusions.
Employ evidence based and logical reasoning to examine practical, theoretical and ethical issues, particularly in relation to issues concerning practice in counselling and forensic psychology.
Student notes:Case studyRonald Bailey
Ronald Bailey is currently serving time in HMP Wormwood Scrubs Prison and is two years into his sentence.
Demographics and family: Ronald is a 23 year old male of African-Caribbean origin. He was born in London as the younger of two children and has a sister who is five years older than him. His grandparents on both sides came to the UK from Jamaica in the 1950s. His mother was a single parent and Ronald had only extremely limited contact with his father who moved to the US shortly after Ronald was born. Most of his extended family members live in the Caribbean so Ronald grew up rather isolated living in a household with his mother and sister on a South London housing estate. His mother works at the checkout of a local supermarket. She had different partners over the years but the relationships never lasted longer than a few months. Some of these partners were drug addicts and it happened more than once that she was violently beaten by one of her lovers, sometimes in front of Ronald.
Education: In primary school Ronald was reported to be often agitated and volatile and finding it difficult to concentrate. His performances often lagged behind the other kids in his class. In secondary school he started to miss school on a regular basis. When he did attend he found himself bored by the classes on offer. Ronald left school with little or no qualifications.Gang lifestyle and mental health:At a very young age Ronald became involved with gangs and knife crime, being drawn into it through friends of his older sister. Ronald was frequently stopped by the police which led to him gaining a criminal record at a young age for a variety of offences of theft, criminal damage and possession of weapons.
During times with a lot of violence and gang fighting Ronald often experienced intense feelings of pressure and anxiety. In these situations he started to secretly self-harm as this seemed to help him to ease the pressure inside. Due to the predominance of his challenging behaviour people at school or from health services did not notice his emotional struggles and self-harming behaviour. He himself did not look for any help and support as he felt no one could really understand how he felt.
Over the years Ronald became a regular drug user (mainly cannabis and alcohol). He was also involved in selling cannabis. From the age of about 18 onwards Ronald became increasingly embroiled in the local drugs economy. He obtained occasional work as a labourer, working cash in hand on a day-rate basis, but had no other income, and did not receive any benefits. He is heterosexual and has had frequent sexual relationships with women but these rarely last more than a few nights/dates.
Violence and criminal activity:As a gang member Ronald was regularly involved in local gang fights. He himself committed a robbery and violent assault as part of the gang and was himself victim of grievous bodily harm but refused to co-operate with the police. On one of the stop-and-search occasions Ronald felt he was provoked by a policeman and pushed him to the ground. This led to the policeman falling awkwardly and being injured. Ronald was convicted of assault for this and sentenced for a detention and training order for 6 months.
Current offence criminal assault:Ronald was convicted of grievous bodily harm because of stabbing a rival gang member who was only 17 at the time and sentenced to six years in prison. He believes that he was poorly represented at court by a junior barrister who didnt effectively present his account that he was acting in self-defense and has felt let down by the judicial system. Although Ronald has appealed against his sentence he was unsuccessful and has been denied the possibility of any further appeal. He believes that this was a result of a miscarriage of justice and that although he is sorry that he injured the police officer he believes that the police took the opportunity to make more of the situation than what actually happened. Prison life: His failure to accept his sentence has made any early release unlikely and he has not received favourable prison governor reports because of several protests he was involved in while in prison. Ronald was involved in protesting against the conditions that he was held in at HMP Liverpool. He believes these protests were legitimate but the punishment he received in the removal of privileges and allowances was disproportionate and unfair. To deal with his frustration and emotional lows he has resorted to self-harming but is hiding this from inmates and prison officers. He was offered counselling in prison but refused to engage as he was fearing negative consequences and bullying from inmates. Focus of the assignment
TMA 02 is intended to assess your ability to critically apply what you know about the relevant socio-cultural factors of race, gender, age and class, and the ways they intersect with each other, to a particular case study.
You can tackle this question in a variety of ways – there is no one correct approach. For example, some students may choose to deal with the four socio-cultural factors one after the other, and then discuss the ways how these factors intersect with each other (intersectionality) in a separate section. A different approach would be to weave in intersectionality issues where appropriate throughout the essay when discussing the different socio-cultural factors. Both of these approaches could be equally successful, and you should consider how you plan to accommodate the different aspects of the assignment task when choosing the structure of your assignment.
Regardless of the structure chosen, it is important that all students attempt to cover both the socio-cultural factors of race, gender, age and class and the ways they intersect with each other in the presented case study.
Command words
The main command word used in the essay title is critically discuss. This means that you should not just describe the socio-cultural factors and their intersection, but your essay should also contain critical evaluation of the research and theories introduced. You can achieve that by showing an awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the research that you introduce in your essay, or by questioning assumptions presented in the material.Tips for writing
You are asked for this assignment to identify and select those theories and research from Block 2 that are relevant to his case. It is important to note that the writing should be focused on the case provided (Ronald), and how the socio-cultural factors may play out and intersect in this case, rather than the socio-cultural factors in general.
Try to signpost to the reader in your introduction section how you are going to tackle the assignment. Also remember to signpost where you are up to at various points throughout your writing so that the reader is clear on what arguments you are making as your assignment progresses.
Given the word limit (1500 words) it is pivotal that you stay tightly focused on the assignment task and write concisely these are key academic skills for this assignment.
While you are expected to consider all four factors covered in Block 2 (and intersectionality) to some degree, you should prioritise (and spend more word count) on the factor/s that seem most relevant/impactful for this case (and less on others). Equally, when discussing each socio-cultural factor, you are not expected to cover all the theories/research introduced in the module material. You should rather select and prioritise the aspects within each factor that you see as most relevant for this specific case (and leave others out it might be better to cover fewer points in depth, than to try to squeeze in as many aspects as possible). It is definitely a good idea to produce an essay plan before writing the essay as this helps to stay focused. Remember that you are asked to write an essay for this assignment (so dont use bullet points or sub-headers as you might for a report). Relevant material
You are expected to consider all four socio-cultural factors that you covered in this block in your assignment, although you may focus more effort on the ones you see as being more relevant to the case of Ronald. You can draw material from both the book chapters and the VLE weeks. It is a good idea to read through the case study of Ronald before re-visiting the module material, noting down any relevant elements to the case study, before organising these into the arguments you will present in your essay.
You will find it helpful to review the Block 2 introduction, especially the sections on Mad or bad identities and Intersectionality. You may also find it useful to review the Mad or bad identity animation and the associated activity Activity 3 Search for literature on factors shaping mad or bad identities in which you looked for some relevant research to explore how socio-cultural factors might impact on individuals.
At this point you may have made some useful notes on research you found that might be relevant to the current case study.
Material on race
You may wish to consider issues raised in Chapter 5 Race (pages 6579, from Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology) with regard to Ronalds ethnic origin and the representation of that within both the criminal justice and mental health systems. The sections on Race and mental health and Race and the criminal justice system will also be useful in critically discussing the role of race.
From the VLE Week 7, Section 3 Race in mental health and the criminal justice system contains some useful information about how race as a socio-cultural factor may impact on Ronald. Activity 2 Explanations for ethnic inequalities might also help you to think about the reasons for inequalities in the mental health and criminal justice systems which you could apply to the case. The VLE Section 4.1 Implicit or unconscious biases may be helpful in considering the ways Ronald has been treated in different systems (in school, by the police and in the criminal justice system).
Material on gender
From Chapter 6 Gender (pages 8194, from Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology) you will be able to extract some relevant information from Representations of gender and criminality and Gender mental health and victimhood in the criminal justice system in order to consider how gender may impact on Ronald. In so doing you may wish to consider Ronalds experience as a victim as well as a perpetrator.
From the VLE Week 8, when you considered Noel Smiths history, you applied the socio-cultural factor of gender to Noels case, and this work (in Activity 3 Gender and criminality the case of Noel Smith) should have helped you prepare for doing the same task with Ronald.
Material on age
With regard to age, from Chapter 7 Age (pages 95108, from Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology) you may want to consider the section Age-related vulnerabilities to crime in considering how age-related factors may have impacted on Ronald. The section titled Age-related considerations for assessment, formulation and treatment can be useful in considering why Ronald might have felt that the treatment services on offer might not be helpful for him.
From the VLE Week 9, Section 4 Youth and adolescence may help you to think about the onset of Ronalds offending and how age may be a factor in that. You know about Ronalds gang involvement and lifestyle and so Section 5 Teen gangs will be useful. In Activity 4 Ex-gang members, you considered Darrens case and this should have prepared you for considering gang and age-relevant aspects in the case of Ronald.
Material on class
With regard to the socio-cultural factor of class you may wish to consider Ronalds class position. The section titled What is social class? from Chapter 8 Class (pages 109122, of Mad or Bad? A Critical Approach to Counselling and Forensic Psychology) will remind you to consider economic capital, social capital and cultural capital (Bordieu, 2002). The section Social class and crime contains relevant critical considerations about how class might apply to Ronalds case. The section on Social class and mental health treatment including the Information box 8.1 Social class worldview model will help you to consider how Ronald might have felt about seeking help for his problems.
From the VLE Week 10 the section The impact of social context on mental health contains useful references to classbased dispositions that might mismatch with traditional mental health services. Likewise the content of Activity 1 A new mental health initiative for Steve might help you to consider why Ronald seems to prefer to keep his problems to himself.
You may also wish to consider how the austerity ailments, covered on the VLE in Austerity and mental health might impact on Ronald.Checklist
Have I:
Yes
No. Where can I look for guidance?
Made sure I understand both parts of the question?
Look at Getting started in Social Sciences Assessment Information. See also Understand the question in Skills for OU Study.
Read all the guidance notes for this assignment?
Carefully read through the student notes that accompany your assignment to check that you have followed all the advice and instructions.
Actively studied the relevant module material and anything else to which Ive been directed?
See the booklets Reading and Taking Notes and Thinking Critically.
Reflected on my learning, including feedback received on earlier assignments, in order to improve my skills?
See Section 2, Active learning and Section 4, Being reflective of the booklet Develop Effective Study Strategies. See also Learning from feedback in Skills for OU Study.
Thought about how best to structure my answer and questions of style and language?
Further advice on structuring answers is available in the relevant sections in Social Sciences Assessment Information. See, for example, Skill: Essay writing.
For questions relating to style and language, see the section Presentation and language in Social Sciences Assessment Information. See also Developing academic English and Writing for university in Skills for OU Study; and Section 7 Choosing a writing style and Section 8 Improving your written English of the booklet Preparing Assignments.
Written in my own words?Guidance on writing in your own words is available in the sections on Skill: Understanding plagiarism and Skill: Writing in your own words in Social Sciences Assessment Information.
Where necessary, used evidence to back up my arguments, and referenced correctly?
Advice on using evidence to support your arguments is available in the section on Selecting your examples in Social Sciences Assessment Information. See also Gathering your materials in Skills for OU Study.
Guidance on referencing is available in the section on Referencing in Social Sciences Assessment Information.
Checked my word count?
The guidance notes tell you the word limit for each part of the TMA. An answer that is shorter than the word length by more than 10% is likely to be too short to have fully answered the question. An answer that exceeds the word limit by more than 10% may be penalised. For further information see the section on Word length in Social Sciences Assessment Information.
Written the word count at the end of each part of my TMA?
Check the word count and write that figure clearly at the end of each part of the assignment.
Set out my assignment properly?See Section 3.4, Conventions for presenting written work in your modules Assessment Guidance, which you will find under Assessment on the module website.
Completed each part of the TMA?
Read through these assignment notes carefully to check that you have completed all the necessary tasks.
