Level: AQF 8 core
Credit Points: 6

Unit Description:
This unit introduces students to the institutional and demographic context in which community development is taking place in Australia. The unit give you an opportunity to become familiar with social institutions, key social demographics and core cultural values that constitute Australian society. These particularly inform how the human services sector and social workers roles within it are organised and framed.

Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this unit, students will have:

a. Demonstrate advanced knowledge regarding the scope and functions of core institutional structures in Australian society including three levels of government, key government departments, legal institutions and legislative frameworks including international human rights obligations, anti-discrimination legislations and duty of care obligations that inform social work practice

b. Display and critique an advanced knowledge of the key social and economic indicators in Australia particularly relating to economic and social well-being, poverty, employment and unemployment.

c. Demonstrate high level specialist knowledge regarding the social demographic profiles of different social groups in the community including those that relate to individual and family profiles, gender and sexuality, ability and disability and different cultural and Indigenous groups.

d. Exhibit advance knowledge regarding different social and political stances in relation to key social issues, particularly relating to poverty, sexuality, family violence and drugs and alcohol.

Learning and Teaching Process:
This unit is taught over 13 weeks and totals 3 student contact hours per week.

Students will participate in teaching and learning activities including:

a)   Lectures and critical discussion

b)   Tutorials and skill development activities

c)   Online pre-learning activities

d)   Online post-learning

Depending on the delivery mode, this unit’s content is delivered to students via

• A weekly 3-hour learning session [via Zoom]. One hour will be didactive material delivered in lecture format. Two hours will be interactive class time, for discussion of the lecture, readings, assessments and class activities.

In addition to timetabled contact hours, students are expected to do at least 9.5 hours of personal study each week to review lectures and read prescribed and recommended materials for this unit. The total workload of this unit will be around 150 hours (including individual self-study and reading).

Level: AQF 8 core
Credit Points: 6

Unit Description:
This unit provides students with an orientation to professional human service literacies and academic study at a post-graduate level. Students will be orientated to the class space and the teaching and learning philosophy of the Discipline of Social Work. Students will receive readings related to their discipline and will be taught the skills that are relevant to their success in post-graduate education. In this unit students will develop and produce a range of written texts in professional genres including case notes and client referral. Students will also develop advanced skills to plan, structure and write essays in an academic style and presentation skills for a range of audiences. The use of Turn-It-In as a self-assessment tool in academic writing in combination with the use of reference managers and library search tools will be introduced. Students will also be introduced to the information and technology communication (ICT) skills required for study success.

Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this unit, students will have:

Learning and Teaching Process:

This unit is taught over 13 weeks and totals 3 student contact hours per week.

Students will participate in teaching and learning activities including:

• Lectures and critical discussion
• Tutorials and skill development activities
• Online pre-learning activities
• Online post-learning

Depending on the delivery mode, this unit’s content is to be delivered to students via

• a weekly 3 hour lecture [via Zoom]. These three hours will be interactive class time, and will include didactive materials, discussion, readings, assessment and class activities.

In addition to timetabled contact hours, students are expected to undertake at least 9.5 hours of personal study each week to review seminar materials and read prescribed and recommended materials for this unit. The total individual workload of this unit will be around 150 hours (including teamwork, individual self-study and reading).

Level: AQF 8 core
Credit Points: 6

Unit Description:
The unit provides an introduction to the social and human sciences, their historical foundations and their role in understanding and working in contemporary society. Concepts studied are particularly focussed on understanding social inequalities and how these may relate to contemporary social movements. These theories include structural theories about gender, class, diversity, politico-economic systems, social institutions, culture, colonisation, globalisation, neoliberalism and (post)modernity. Students will also explore postmodern concepts of human agency, lived experience, identity, knowledge, self and subjectivity. This analysis aims to provide students with an appreciation of the role of the social sciences in understanding contemporary society, but even more importantly it establishes a foundational framework through which the analysis of contemporary social issues and contemporary social action takes place.

Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this unit, students will have:

a. Exhibit advanced knowledge of key sociological concepts to contemporary social issues and their relation to collective action.

b. Demonstrate autonomy and well-developed judgement regarding the implementation of participatory planning approaches across a range of complex practice setting involving communities.

c. Demonstrate advanced knowledge regarding the influence of complex socialisation on social roles, beliefs and values and their impact on collective action

d. Review and analyse high level specialist knowledge of concepts including gender; class; status; power; structure and agency; and analyse how these contribute to social inequality, identity, and collective action.

e. Apply across different practice settings sociological knowledge involving diversity and inclusion within social environments and analyse historical patterns of social inequalities and social change and how these factors underpinned collective action.

f.  Display advanced knowledge of the roles of the social sciences in the development of human services policy frameworks and contemporary collective policy design processes (e.g. co-design).

Learning and Teaching Process

This unit is taught over 13weeks and totals 3student contact hours per week.

Students will participate in teaching and learning activities including:

a. Lectures and critical discussion

b. Tutorials and skill development activities

c. Online pre-learning activities

d. Online post-learning

Depending on the delivery mode, this unit’s content is delivered to students via

• A weekly 3 hour learning session [via Zoom]. These three hours will be interactive class time, and will include didactive materials, discussion, readings, assessments and class activities.

In addition to timetabled contact hours, students are expected to do at least 9.5 hours of personal study each week to review lectures and read prescribed and recommended materials for this unit. The total workload of this unit will be around 150 hours (including teamwork, individual self-study and reading).

Level: AQF 8 core
Credit Points: 6

Unit Description:
This unit will introduce students to the diversity of social, cultural and political situation in which First People in Australia live. Indigenous theories and practices as a new framework for influencing knowledge and practice in the community and human services sector will also be explored.

Learning Outcomes:
On completion of this unit, students will have:

a. Exhibit an advanced theoretical knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, their histories, and the effects of colonisation

b. Display an advanced ability to critically analyse the impact of history and policy upon the lived experience of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and a variety of community and human service work settings.

c. Demonstrate an advanced understanding of how government systems grounded in Western epistemologies tend to reinforce a marginalised position for Indigenous Australians and why mainstream human services are often irrelevant to Indigenous Australians.

d. Display an advanced application of theory, knowledge and skills to reflect culturally appropriate and creative approaches to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in a variety of settings.

e. Demonstrate advanced understanding of how alternative solutions to issues problematized by the state have considerable potential in addressing the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

f. Demonstrate integrated knowledge of the links between the worldviews of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and the values and principals of community and human services work

Learning and Teaching Process:

This unit is taught over 13 weeks and totals 3 student contact hours per week.

Students will participate in teaching and learning activities including:

a) Lectures and critical discussion

b) Tutorials and skill development activities

c) Online pre-learning activities

d) Online post-learning

Depending on the delivery mode, this unit’s content is delivered to students via

• A weekly 3 hour learning session [via Zoom]. This is in a seminar format and includes didactive material and interactive class time with discussion, readings, assessments and class activities.

In addition to timetabled contact hours, students are expected to do at least 9.5 hours of personal study each week to review lectures and read prescribed and recommended materials for this unit. The total workload of this unit will be around 150 hours (including individual self-study and reading).