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Course Outline

COU361 Counselling Development and Supervision 1

Course Coordinator:Kelly Thomson (kthomson1@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society

2026Semester 2

UniSC Sunshine Coast

UniSC Moreton Bay

 Blended learning Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online.

Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.

What is this course about?

Description

This course explores counselling values, theories, knowledge and skills and their integration into practice in a safe, supportive and supervised setting, which will include clinical practice supervision. In preparation for practice, you will identify and develop skills appropriate to core theoretical approaches in counselling and supervision to enable you to describe, analyse and utilise these skills on placement. Counselling methods are experienced, knowledge and theories applied, and skills developed. This course has a focus on developing your skills as a reflective practitioner.

How will this course be delivered?

Activity Hours Beginning Week Frequency
Blended learning
Learning materials – Learning materials embedded online in the LMS, designed to introduce the learning objectives each week via diverse activities, including journal readings, videos, class collaboration discussions. 1hr Week 1 13 times
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – On campus tutorial, aimed at putting knowledge and skills into practice in a safe space; group supervision 2hrs Week 1 13 times

Course Topics

Person Centred Therapy

Active listening skills

Reflection of content/feelings

Paraphrasing/Summarising Skills

Informed consent

Ethics, Code of Conduct and Ethical Decision Making Models

Record keeping and Case conceptualisation

Counselling across the life stages

Suicide and Self harm Assessments

Self Care 

Critical Reflective Learning

Mature Content

Adult themes

What level is this course?

300 Level (Graduate)

Demonstrating coherence and breadth or depth of knowledge and skills. Independent application of knowledge and skills in unfamiliar contexts. Meeting professional requirements and AQF descriptors for the degree. May require pre-requisites where discipline specific introductory or developing knowledge or skills is necessary. Normally undertaken in the third or fourth full-time study year of an undergraduate program.

What is the unit value of this course?

12 units

How does this course contribute to my learning?

Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming...
1 Identify, articulate and describe beginning skills in developing a critically reflective practice including how your values and beliefs impinge on your practice. Empowered
2 Recognise principles and competencies required in supervision practices. Assess and identify ways of strengthening the supervisee/supervisor relationship and the relationships with colleagues in the agency and on campus. Knowledgeable
3 Describe the professional, ethical and legal issues in practice and of your own ethical behaviour, including the importance of self-care Knowledgeable
4 Apply the values and ethical principles of counselling according to UniSC Student Code of Conduct, Student Placement Agreement and ACA and PACFA Codes of Ethics, acting in a professional manner. Ethical
5 Demonstrate respect and valuing others with an understanding of and sensitivity towards the issue of cultural diversity, gender and disability. Ethical
6 Demonstrate graduate level academic reflective skills in oral and written format, and compliance with accepted APA 7th ed. conventions. Empowered

Am I eligible to enrol in this course?

Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.

Pre-requisites

COU180 and COU101 and COU176 and COU200 and COU265 and enrolled in Program AR375 or AR302 or AR303 or SA306

Co-requisites

COU363

Anti-requisites

COU261

Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)

Not applicable

Microcredential Information

Not applicable

How am I going to be assessed?

Grading Scale

Standard Grading (GRD)

High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL).

Details of early feedback on progress

Timely and detailed feedback is provided for each assessment. Feedback is provided both within text and general comments to build scholarly skills. Students are able to seek feedback through face-to-face discussion with the course coordinator. Tutorials will include extended discussion and review of the assessment task requirements and scope.

Assessment tasks

Delivery mode Task No. Assessment Product Individual or Group Weighting % What is the duration / length? When should I submit? Where should I submit it?
All 1 Oral Individual or Group 40% 
15 minute (individual) or 20 min (group) Presentation, plus 5 minute questions in Workshop
 Refer to Format In Class
All 2 Written Piece Individual 20% 
100 words each
 Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) Online Submission
All 3 Essay Individual 40% 
1800 words
 Exam Period Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check
All - Assessment Task 1:Placement Presentation
Goal: 
Delivery of an oral presentation of your placement agency highlighting your reflection on counselling theories, methods, skills; ACA and PACFA Codes of Ethics; and other relevant policies, acts, legislation that inform your placement practice
Product: Oral
Authorship Statement:
Format: 
Submit: Weeks 7,8, 9 10 & 11. 

The presentation will be 15 minutes for individuals including 10 minute presentation and 5 minutes of questions. 20 minutes for groups including 15 minute presentation and 5 minutes of questions.
a)	A brief overview of the program you are placed with, the agency in which it sits, and links to community;
b)	Legislation underpinning the agency and their theoretical frameworks;
c)	Your role in the agency;
d)	Referral processes into and out of your organisation;
e)	A critical incident or ethical challenge you have experienced, your responses, reflections and learnings about yourself and the agency using theory to support your discussion;
f)	The supervision process on placement and in the workshops and how you use this time to deepen your learning;
g)	Your perception of the agency at this stage of your placement, with a comparison to your initial perceptions of the agency;
h)	Strengths & weaknesses of the agency and gaps in service provision.
Criteria:
No. Learning Outcome assessed
1 
Develop critical self-reflection within workshops, supported by evidence;
 1 2 3
2 
Develop clarity of the relationship of ethics and theories to a practice setting;
 3
3 
Demonstrate graduate level oral presentation skills, emphasising the graduates developing critical reflective practice.
 1 6
Generic Skills: 
Communication, Collaboration, Applying technologies
All - Assessment Task 2:Online discussion participation
Goal: 
Weekly critically reflective contributions to online discussion topics informed from supervision workshop content.
Product: Written Piece
Authorship Statement:
Format: 
After each on campus tutorial, the course coordinator will include a related question in the online space, inviting the student to reflect on their response, informed from both their experience and the literature.
Criteria:
No. Learning Outcome assessed
1 
Develop critical self-reflection within workshops, supported by evidence.
 1
2 
Develop relationships with others in a professional manner, and that comply with ACA and PACFA values.
 2 4
3 
Extend professional academic writing skills to the online discussion board format, including acceptable grammar, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure
 6
Generic Skills: 
Communication, Applying technologies
All - Assessment Task 3:Reflective journal essay
Goal: 
To critically reflect on your professional and ethical counselling practice.
Product: Essay
Authorship Statement:
Format: 
You will be required to keep a reflective diary for each day of placement, recording and reflecting on your experiences in the field.
Suggested areas to include:
a)	Your observations of the organisation including aims of the agency, legislation, and theory underpinning the agency;
b)	The client or consumer services provided by the agency;
c)	Staffing profile and the program you were placed with;
d)	your tasks;
e)	Yourself as ‘student practitioner’ within the agency, providing a discussion on how your theoretical frameworks inform your practice framework;
f)	Critical reflection on your significant learning experiences in relation to your knowledge, skills, values discussing:
a.	Interaction with staff and clients;
b.	The supervisee/supervisor relationship, with colleagues on placement and on campus how you have strengthened these relationships;
c.	How your values and beliefs impinge on your evaluation of supervision;
g)	Examples of professional, ethical and legal issues you experienced and congruence with your ethical values, beliefs and behaviour;
h)	Self-care and management of personal and professional stress including stress caused by diversity;
i)	Your future learning goals.
Criteria:
No. Learning Outcome assessed
1 
Demonstrate an understanding of the organisational context of practice and the application
 3
2 
Reflection of counselling theory and frameworks within the context of your work in the agency;
 1 5
3 
Provide evidence your reflection on your skills and knowledge development throughout your placement
 4
4 
Clearly presented essay, which will be organised and logically ordered;
 6
5 
Reference and document evidence through correct use of citations, quotations and reference list (Refer to APA referencing guide);
 6
6 
Correct use of grammar, punctuation, spelling and clear quality of expression
 6
Generic Skills: 

                        

                    

                

        

    

    

        

            

                
Directed study hours

                
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.

            

        

    


    

        

            

                
What resources do I need to undertake this course?

                

                    Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
                

            


            

                
Prescribed text(s) or course reader

                    

                        You need regular access to the resource(s) below. Many texts are available as ebooks through the Library at no additional cost.
                    

                    

                        
                            

                                Required?
                                Author
                                Year
                                Title
                                Edition
                                Publisher
                            

                        
                        
                                

                                    Recommended
                                    David Geldard,Kathryn Geldard,Rebecca Yin Foo
                                    2017
                                    Basic Personal Counselling: A Training Manual for Counsellors
                                    8
                                    Cengage AU
                                

                                

                                    Recommended
                                    H. Frederick Sweitzer,Mary A. King
                                    2013
                                    The Successful Internship
                                    n/a
                                    Cengage Learning
                                

                        
                    

            

        


        

            

                
Specific requirements

                    
Please note that all placements require a Blue Card and some placement agencies require criminal history check, NDIS worker screening and Covid vaccination status. It is important to discuss this with the field education coordinator at the pre-placement Interview.

            

        

    


    

        

            
How are risks managed in this course?

            
Risk assessments have been performed for all field activities and low to moderate levels of health and safety risk exists. Moderate risks may include working in an Australian bush setting, working with people, working outside normal office hours for example. It is your responsibility to review course material, search online, discuss with lecturers and peers and understand the health and safety risks associated with your specific course of study and to familiarise yourself with the University’s general health and safety principles by reviewing the online induction training for students, and following the instructions of the University staff.

        

    


    

        
What administrative information is relevant to this course?


        

            

                
Assessment: Academic Integrity

                
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.

            

        


        

            

                
Assessment: Additional Requirements

                Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:

The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%
The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
You have not failed an assessment task in the course due to academic misconduct.
            

        


        

            

                
Assessment: Submission penalties

                Late submission of assessment tasks may be penalised at the following maximum rate: 
- 5% (of the assessment task's identified value) per day for the first two days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. 
- 10% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the third day - 20% (of the assessment task's identified value) for the fourth day and subsequent days up to and including seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. 
- A result of zero is awarded for an assessment task submitted after seven days from the date identified as the due date for the assessment task. Weekdays and weekends are included in the calculation of days late. To request an extension you must contact your course coordinator to negotiate an outcome.
            

        


        

            

                
Links to relevant University policy and procedures

                
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
  • Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
  • Review of Assessment and Final Grades
  • Supplementary Assessment
  • Central Examinations
  • Deferred Examinations
  • Student Conduct
  • Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching

            

        


        

            

                
Student Charter

                
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful.  The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.

            

        


        

            

                
General Enquiries

                
  • In person: 
    • UniSC Sunshine Coast - Student Central, Ground Floor, Building C, 90 Sippy Downs Drive, Sippy Downs
    • UniSC Moreton Bay - Service Centre, Ground Floor, Foundation Building, Gympie Road, Petrie
    • UniSC SouthBank - Student Central, Building A4 (SW1), 52 Merivale Street, South Brisbane
    • UniSC Gympie - Student Central, 71 Cartwright Road, Gympie
    • UniSC Fraser Coast - Student Central, Student Central, Building A, 161 Old Maryborough Rd, Hervey Bay
    • UniSC Caboolture - Student Central, Level 1 Building J, Cnr Manley and Tallon Street, Caboolture
  • Tel:+61 7 5430 2890
  • Email:studentcentral@usc.edu.au

            

        

    







    

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