Course Outline
MID707 Introduction to the midwifery practice
Course Coordinator:Elaine Jefford (ejefford@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Midwifery
2027Session 1
Online |
Online | You can do this course without coming onto campus, unless your program has specified a mandatory onsite requirement. |
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
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.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Online | |||
| Learning materials – Online asynchronous learning and teaching materials. | 3hrs | Week 1 | 6 times |
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Tutorials. | 2hrs | Week 1 | 6 times |
| Online – Drop in | 1hr | Refer to Format | 6 times |
Course Topics
- National and global historical and contemporary maternity care provision and models of care.
- Midwifery as a feminist profession and professional identity.
- Legal, regulatory, and professional ethical, gender-based and women’s rights and social justice in the maternity context.
- Providing quality, safe and culturally appropriate midwifery care.
- Reflection and reflexivity.
Mature Content
What level is this course?
700 Level (Specialised)
What is the unit value of this course?
6 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 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. | 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 |
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. | Ethical |
1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 2.2, 3.4, 5.4, 7.1, 7.3 |
| 4 | Apply principles and practice of academic writing, referencing and research. | Knowledgeable |
1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.6, 3.3, 7.3 |
* Competencies by Professional Body
| CODE | COMPETENCY |
| Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia | |
| 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 |
| 2.1 | 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 |
| 3.3 | 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 |
| 4.1 | The midwife works in partnership to determine factors that affect, or potentially affect, the health and wellbeing of women, communities and populations |
| 5.4 | The midwife documents, evaluates and modifies plans to facilitate the anticipated outcomes |
| 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 |
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
Enrolled in GD007
Co-requisites
MID706
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
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
The placing of the first assessment task in week 2 will provide the opportunity for students to receive early feedback
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 | Artefact - Creative, and Oral | Individual | 50% | 8-10 minutes |
Week 2 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All | 2 | Written Piece | Individual | 50% | 1500 words |
Week 5 | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
| All - Assessment Task 1:Artefact - Creative and Oral (script) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | This assignment gives you an opportunity to demonstrate critical analysis, and principles of reflection using a feminist lens. |
||||||||||||||||||
| Product: | Artefact - Creative, and Oral | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Further details provided on Canvas. |
||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria: |
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Information literacy |
||||||||||||||||||
| All - Assessment Task 2:Midwifery care and models of care | |||||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | This assignments provides the opportunity to explore how historical events impact woman-centred care, contemporary midwifery care and models of care. |
||||||||||||||||||
| Product: | Written Piece | ||||||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Format: | Further details provided on Canvas. |
||||||||||||||||||
| Criteria: |
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation, Information literacy |
||||||||||||||||||
Assessment to competency mapping
| Programme Delivery Mode | Assessment Type | Title | Competency | Teaching Methods |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midwife standards for practice - 1 October 2018 | ||||
| All delivery modes | Artefact - Creative, and Oral | Artefact - Creative and Oral (script) | 1.1 | Taught, Assessed |
| 1.2 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 1.3 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 1.4 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 1.6 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 2.1 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 3.3 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 3.4 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 5.4 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 7.1 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 7.3 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| Written Piece | Midwifery care and models of care | 1.2 | Taught, Assessed | |
| 1.3 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 1.4 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 1.6 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 2.1 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 2.2 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 2.5 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 2.6 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 3.3 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 3.4 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 4.1 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 5.4 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 7.1 | Taught, Assessed | |||
| 7.3 | Taught, Assessed | |||
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 |
| Required | Sally Pairman,Sally K. Tracy,Hannah Dahlen,Lesley Dixon,Priscilla Peart,Bernadette Pulis | 2026 | Midwifery Preparation for Practice | 6 | Elsevier |
| Required | Elaine Jefford,Julie Jomeen | 2019 | Empowering Decision-Making in Midwifery | 1 | Routledge |
Specific requirements
Not applicable
How are risks managed in this course?
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
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Assessment: Submission penalties
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
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
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: