Course Coordinator:Elaine Jefford (ejefford@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Midwifery
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus. |
Please go to usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
The aim of this course is to explore maternity care from a feminist perspective and identify historical and contemporary national and international gender-based and social justice issues, that impact upon women, maternity care providers, childbirth and models of care. Legal, regulatory, professional frameworks and ethical issues are examined. You will critically reflect on personal, social, cultural, and professional identity in relation to midwifery practice.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Online | |||
Learning materials – Online asynchronous learning and teaching materials and options for lecturer and peer to peer collaborations, and lecturer and peer zoom drop ins. | 5hrs | Week 1 | 8 times |
Placement – Clinical placement onsite | 120hrs | Week 1 | Once Only |
700 Level (Specialised)
12 units
Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Mapping Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | Professional Standard Mapping * Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia | |
1 | Critically evaluate the impact of historical maternity care provision on contemporary midwifery care and models of care. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker |
1.2, 2.1, 2.2, 2.5, 2.6, 4.1 |
2 | Critically analyse from a feminist perspective and reflect upon your own social/cultural identity, personal and professional beliefs, and their impact on your midwifery care provision. |
Creative and critical thinker Ethical |
1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 2.2, 3.4, 5.4, 7.1, 7.3 |
3 | Critically examine national and international legal, regulatory, professional, and ethical concepts and contextualise gender-based and women’s rights (social justice) as they relate to childbearing across the continuum. |
Knowledgeable Creative and critical thinker Ethical |
1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.2, 3.4, 5.4, 7.1, 7.3 |
4 | Demonstrate a satisfactory level of progression towards the ANMAC Midwifery Professional Experience (MPE) requirements and hours for the course |
Ethical Engaged |
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
5 | Apply principles and practices of academic writing and referencing and research. |
Knowledgeable Ethical |
1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 3.3, 7.3 |
CODE | COMPETENCY |
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia | |
1 | Standard 1: Promotes health and wellbeing through evidence-based midwifery practice |
1.1 | The midwife identifies what is important to women as the foundation for using evidence to promote informed decision-making, participation in care, and self-determination |
1.2 | The midwife accesses, analyses, and uses the best available evidence, that includes research findings, for safe, quality midwifery practice |
1.3 | The midwife uses health assessment and health education to support birth and reproductive health, and minimise the potential for complications |
1.4 | The midwife undertakes ongoing processes of reflection to ensure professional judgements acknowledge how personal culture impacts on practice |
1.6 | The midwife supports the development, implementation and evaluation of evidenced-based health initiatives and programs |
2 | Standard 2: Engages in professional relationships and respectful partnerships |
2.1 | The midwife supports the choices of the woman, with respect for families and communities in relation to maternity care |
2.2 | The midwife partners with women to strengthen women’s capabilities and confidence to care for themselves and their families |
2.5 | The midwife practises cultural safety that is holistic, free of bias and exposes racism |
2.6 | The midwife practises in a way that respects that family and community underpin the health of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples |
3 | Standard 3: Demonstrates the capability and accountability for midwifery practice |
3.3 | The midwife participates in own continuing professional development to maintain the required knowledge and skill base for safe and effective practice |
3.4 | The midwife contributes to a culture that supports learning, teaching, knowledge transfer and critical reflection |
4 | Standard 4: Undertakes comprehensive assessments |
4.1 | The midwife works in partnership to determine factors that affect, or potentially affect, the health and wellbeing of women, communities and populations |
5 | Standard 5: Develops a plan for midwifery practice |
5.4 | The midwife documents, evaluates and modifies plans to facilitate the anticipated outcomes |
6 | Standard 6: Provides safety and quality in midwifery practice |
7 | Standard 7: Evaluates outcomes to improve midwifery practice |
7.1 | The midwife evaluates and monitors progress towards planned goals and anticipated outcomes |
7.3 | The midwife uses evaluation and reflection to inform future practice and professional development |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
MID700
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Standard Grading (GRD)
High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Early feedback will be provided by the clinical facilitator when completing the Progressive component of the Clinical Assessment Tools. This feedback includes assessment of your competency in all standards. The facilitator will discuss the deliberations with you and you will have the opportunity to provide comment on the tool during both the Progressive and Summative components.
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 | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | Individual | 50% | 750 words |
Week 3 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 2 | Written Piece | Individual | 50% | 1500 words |
Week 7 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 3 | Placement performance | Individual | 0% | 120 hours |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All - Assessment Task 1:Creative and written | |||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | This assignment gives you an opportunity to demonstrate critical analysis, and principles of reflection. Using a feminist lens reflect on your own social/cultural identity, professional, and personal beliefs, and their impact on applying the principles and philosophy of midwifery to your care provision. |
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Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Written Piece | ||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Creative video with written support, further details will be provided on your course Canvas site. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 2:Models of care | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Goal: | To critically analyse ONE historical aspect, of an Australian maternity services provision, on contemporary midwifery care and models of care. |
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Product: | Written Piece | |||||||||||||||||||||
Format: | Written piece with further details provided on Canvas. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
All - Assessment Task 3:Placement Performance & Portfolio | |||||||||||||
Goal: | The purpose of this assessment is for you to demonstrate completion of allocated placement for this course and satisfactory competency based on the NMBA Midwife Standards for Practice as measured in the Clinical Assessment Tool. Evidence of your MPE is collected progressively throughout the program in a portfolio. Details regarding MPE evidence will be provided by the course coordinator on the course Canvas site. |
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Product: | Placement performance | ||||||||||||
Format: | The clinical facilitator will complete the Clinical Assessment Tool including assessment of your competency in all standards and completion of the required hours. The course coordinator provides the final decision and outcome. If you are not meeting satisfactory practice standards at any point of the placement, learning processes will be implemented to support you to attain the necessary behaviours to satisfactorily meet each standard. Unsatisfactory behaviours which put client safety at risk or which do not adhere with the NMBA Midwife Standards for Practice, Code of Professional Conduct and/or Code of Ethics criteria and standards may result in your removal from placement. If you do not meet each standard at a satisfactory standard you will fail this course. Please refer to the Canvas for details. |
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Criteria: |
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Generic Skills: | Communication, Collaboration, Problem solving, Applying technologies |
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.
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.
Please note that you need to have regular access to the resource(s) listed below. Resources may be required or recommended.
Required? | Author | Year | Title | Edition | Publisher |
Required | Sally Pairman,Sally K. Tracy,Hannah Dahlen,Lesley Dixon,Priscilla Peart,Bernadette Pulis | 2023 | Midwifery Preparation for Practice | 5 | Elsevier |
Required | RUTH JOHNSON,Wendy Taylor | 2021 | SKILLS FOR MIDWIFERY PRACTICE 5E | 5 | Elsevier |
Required | Elaine Jefford,Julie Jomeen | 2019 | Empowering Decision-Making in Midwifery | 1 | Routledge |
Your clinical placement may have specific requirements, and information will be provided during your placement orientation. UniSC uniform as outlined on Canvas is to be worn on all placements.
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.
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment 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
Late submission of assessment tasks will be penalised at the following maximum rate (the rates are cumulative): - 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 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 and supply the required documentation to negotiate an outcome. Refer to the Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs – Procedures
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For help with course-specific advice, for example what information to include in your assessment, you should first contact your tutor, then your course coordinator, if needed.
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