Inherent Requirements

Inherent requirement statements

1. Students undertaking community service studies are governed by professional practice standards and codes of ethics as well as responsible and ethical research practices, where students are both accountable and responsible for ensuring professional behaviour in all contexts.
2. Student demonstrates knowledge of, and engages in ethical behaviour in practice.
3. Why is ethical behaviour an inherent requirement?
   a. Compliance with the codes, guidelines and policies (opens in new window) facilitates safe, competent interactions and relationships for students and/or the people with whom they engage. This supports the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of all.
   b. Knowledge of, and compliance with the Australian Community Workers (ACWA) Code of Ethics (opens in new window) is a requirement of course accreditation [PDF, 703 KB](opens in new window).
   c. Knowledge of, and compliance with, relevant research codes of ethics in the conduct of research protects the well-being of research participants and researchers.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the ethical behaviour requirement must ensure the codes and standards are not compromised or result in unethical behaviour.
5. Examples of ways in which ethical behaviour applies to this course
   Demonstrating appropriate behaviour with confidential information in classroom and field placement settings.
   Demonstrate ability to reflect on ethical dilemmas and issues and take responsibility for ensuring awareness of ethical behaviour.
   Appropriately acknowledging sources in the preparation of written assignments.

Inherent requirement statements

1. Behavioural stability is required to function and adapt effectively and sensitively in a demanding role.
2. Student demonstrates behavioural stability to work constructively in a diverse and changing academic and field placement environment.
3. Why is behavioural stability an inherent requirement?
   Behavioural stability is required to work individually and in teams in changing and unpredictable environments. Community Service students will be exposed to highly complex and potentially distressing situations in classroom and supervised field placement settings and will be required to have the behavioural stability to manage in these settings.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the behavioural stability requirement must support stable, effective and professional behaviour in both academic and field placement settings.
5. Examples of ways in which behavioural stability applies to this course
   a. Demonstrating the capacity to manage emotions and behaviour appropriately, including when feeling under stress.
   b. Being receptive and responding appropriately to constructive and / or critical feedback.
   c. Managing own emotional state in order to be able to develop and maintain an appropriate relationship with a diverse range of clients, professional colleagues and supervisors, academic staff, and peers.

Inherent requirement statements

1. Community work is mandated by legislation and professional regulations to enable the delivery of safe and appropriate professional practice.
2. Student demonstrates knowledge and compliance with Australian Law, professional regulations and scope of practice.
3. Why is legal compliance an inherent requirement?
   Knowledge, understanding, and compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements are necessary pre-requisites to field placements in order to reduce the risk of harm to self and others.
   Compliance with these professional regulations and the Australian Law in the field placement setting ensures that students are both responsible and accountable for their practice.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the legal compliance requirement must be consistent with legislative and regulatory requirements
5. Examples of ways in which legal compliance applies to this course
   Complying with legal requirements, including human rights and discrimination legislation and relevant child protection and safety legislation, and reporting any notifiable concerns to your field placement supervisor.
   Demonstrating capacity to research, understand and apply regulatory requirements specific to safe practice in the class setting and on field placement.

This course requires effective, verbal, non-verbal and written communication.

Verbal

Inherent requirement statements

1. Effective and efficient verbal communication, in English, is an essential requirement to provide safe delivery of support.
2. Student demonstrates:
   Sensitivity to individual and/or cultural differences.
   The ability to understand and respond to verbal communication accurately, appropriately and in a timely manner.
   The ability to provide clear instructions in the context of the situation.
   Timely, clear feedback and reporting.
3. Why is verbal communication an inherent requirement?
   The practice of social work depends on effective verbal communication with clients, as well as members of the community and professional team.
   Speed and accuracy of communication may be critical for individual safety or treatment.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the verbal communication requirement must address relevant effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy issues.
5. Examples of ways in which verbal communication applies to this course
   Participating and engaging in academic and clinical discussions.
   Demonstrating effective communication with a diverse range of clients, other field placement colleagues, and supervisors.

Non-verbal

Inherent requirement statements

1. Effective non-verbal communication is fundamental to social work and needs to be respectful, clear, attentive, empathic, honest and non-judgemental.
2. Student demonstrates:
   The capacity to recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to behavioural cues.
   Consistent and appropriate awareness of own behaviours.
   Sensitivity to individual and / or cultural differences.
3. Why is non-verbal communication an inherent requirement?
   The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues assists with building rapport with people and gaining their trust and respect in academic and professional relationships.
   Displaying consistent and appropriate facial expressions, eye contact, being mindful of space, time boundaries and body movements and gestures promotes trust in academic and professional relationships.
   The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues is essential for effective observation of client reactions to facilitate assessment and to provide professional support.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the non-verbal communication requirement must enable the recognition, assessment, initiation of or appropriate response to effective non-verbal communication in a timely and appropriate manner.
5. Examples of ways in which non-verbal communication applies to this course
   Recognising and responding appropriately to non-verbal cues in classroom situations.
   Recognising and responding appropriately to non-verbal cues in the field placement environment, for example signalling a change in a client’s emotional state.

Written

Inherent requirement statements

1. Effective written communication, in English, is a fundamental social work student responsibility with professional and legal ramifications.
2. Student demonstrates capacity to construct coherent written communication appropriate to the circumstances.
3. Why is written communication an inherent requirement?
   Construction of text based assessment tasks to reflect the required academic standards are necessary to convey knowledge and understanding of relevant subject matter for professional practice standards.
   Accurate written communication, including record keeping, client instructions and case notes is vital to provide consistent and accurate assessments and professional support in the field placement context.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the written communication requirement must allow the students to meet necessary standards of clarity, accuracy and accessibility to ensure effective recording and transmission of information in both academic and field placement settings.
5. Examples of ways in which written communication applies to this course
   Constructing an written assignment to academic standards including appropriate referencing of sources.
   Constructing a social worker’s report in a field placement setting which is appropriate to the audience and the purposes, in a timely manner that meets professional standards.

This course requires knowledge of theory and the skills of cognition and literacy.

Knowledge and cognitive skills

Inherent requirement statements

1. Consistent and effective knowledge and effective cognitive skills must be demonstrated to provide professional and competent social work practice.
2. Student demonstrates:
   The capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information.
   The ability to process information relevant to practice.
   The ability to integrate and implement knowledge in practice.
3. Why are knowledge and cognitive skills inherent requirements?
   Safe and effective social work practice is based on knowledge that must be sourced, understood and applied appropriately.
   A demonstrated defined range of knowledge and cognitive skills is a requirement for course accreditation, field placements and professional registration by the AASW.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the knowledge and cognitive skills requirement must ensure that a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills is not compromised or impeded.
5. Examples of ways in which knowledge and cognitive skills apply to this course
   Ability to conceptualise and use appropriate knowledge in response to academic assessment items.
   Appropriately applying knowledge of policy and procedures in the field placement setting.

Literacy (language)

Inherent requirement statements

1. Competent literacy skills are essential to permit safe and effective professional support.
2. Student demonstrates:
   The ability to accurately acquire information and convey appropriate, effective messages.
   The ability to read and comprehend a range of literature and information.
   The capacity to understand and implement academic and practice conventions to construct written text in an appropriate manner for the intended audience.
3. Why is literacy (language) an inherent requirement?
   The ability to read, decode, interpret and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for safe and effective professional support in the supervised field placement context.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the literacy (language) requirement must demonstrate a capacity to effectively acquire, comprehend, apply and communicate accurate information.
5. Examples of ways in which literacy (language) applies to this course
   Conveying a spoken message accurately and effectively in a field placement setting.
   Paraphrasing, summarising and referencing in accordance with appropriate academic and/or professional practice conventions, and without plagiarism.
   Producing accurate, concise and clear case notes which meet legal and professional practice requirements.

Numeracy

Inherent requirement statements

1. This relates to the ability to understand and work with numbers.
2. Student demonstrates:
   The ability to understand numbers and interpret reports.Capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information.The ability to implement knowledge in practice.
3. Why is numeracy an inherent requirement?
   The ability to read, decode, interpret, and communicate numerical information is essential to the community services sector.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the numeracy requirement must ensure students demonstrate effective numeracy skills.
5. Examples of ways in which literacy (language) applies to this course
   Appropriately applying knowledge of policy and procedures in a field placement setting.
   Appropriately interpreting quantitative and qualitative data reports in a field placement setting.

Inherent requirement statements

1. Community work practice requires the ability to make and maintain strong relationships with a range of individuals, groups, communities, organisations and other stakeholders, including people who are marginalised by wider society.
2. Student demonstrates:
   The ability to establish and maintain rapport with clients, academic staff, supervisors and peers.
   The ability to engage in effective and empathic counselling skills.
   Ability to engage and relate appropriately in individual and group clinical supervision and experiential learning groups.
3. Why are relational skills inherent requirements?
   Highly developed relational skills are a cornerstone of effective relationships that permit effective assessment and intervention in community work training and practice.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the relational skills requirement must not compromise the student’s ability to demonstrate an acceptable level of effective relational skills.
5. Examples of ways in which relational skills apply to this course
   Rapidly building rapport with clients from a diverse range of backgrounds in order to engage them in an assessment while on placement.
   Effectively using relational and interpersonal skills to manage relationships with clients while on placement.
   Relating effectively, openly and sensitively to academic staff, supervisors and peers to facilitate an effective learning environment and manage one’s own academic progress.

Inherent requirement statements

1. Community work practice requires self-awareness and a capacity for reflectivity in order to consider the effect of one’s own issues, actions, values and behaviours on practice.
2. Student demonstrates:
   The ability to accurately reflect on their professional performance.
   The ability to accept feedback on their professional practice and respond constructively.
3. Why are reflective skills inherent requirements?
   Participation in supervision is a key teaching strategy in community work education which requires a well-developed understanding of oneself in order to appropriately engage and progress in this activity.
   Working with clients while on field placement and understanding and responding to them requires a well-developed understanding of oneself and the ability to effectively manage one’s reactions to situations that may arise.
4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the reflective skills requirement must not compromise the student’s ability to demonstrate an acceptable minimum level of capacity in this area.
5. Examples of ways in which reflective skills apply to this course
   Identifying when a practice issue is outside one’s scope or expertise or when one’s practice may be negatively affected by personal experience and / or reactions.
   Identifying and managing the impact of personal issues, including health conditions, to facilitate progress through the course.

1. Inherent requirement statements
   1. Community work training and practice requires both physical and mental stamina.
   2. Student demonstrates:
      Consistent and sustained level of physical energy to complete a specific task in a timely manner and over time.
      The capacity to maintain consistency and quality of performance throughout the designated period of time.
   3. Why is sustainable performance an inherent requirement?
      Sufficient physical and mental resilience is an essential requirement needed to perform tasks in an assigned period to provide effective, safe and professional support in the field placement context.
   4. Adjustments offered by ACAP to assist students to meet the sustainable performance requirement must ensure that performance is consistent and sustained over a given period.
   5. Examples of ways in which sustainable performance applies to this course
      Attending and actively participating in tutorial and lectures as scheduled and for the required duration.
      Providing consistent field placement practice over a negotiated time frame.