Course Coordinator:Gerard Jefferies (gjefferi@usc.edu.au) School:School of Law and Society
UniSC Sunshine CoastUniSC Moreton BayUniSC Fraser Coast |
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 usc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
Social work is a dynamic area of professional practice. This course equips you as a practitioner with knowledge and skills to actively contribute to a range of core direct practice processes across a range of practice contexts. These processes include collaborative case management; developing and facilitating experiential programs; facilitating collective action; and writing well-founded social work reports that assist decision making. Such processes often occur in practice contexts typified by social and systemic complexities and containing significant ethical challenges for practitioners.
Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
Blended learning | |||
Tutorial/Workshop 1 – Scheduled On-Campus Workshops in intensive format in O week | 35hrs | Pre-semester/trimester/session | Once Only |
Learning materials – Online asynchronous learning and teaching materials | 4hrs | Pre-semester/trimester/session | Once Only |
300 Level (Graduate)
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 * Australian Association of Social Workers | |
1 | Gather pertinent information by systematic questioning and discussions, incorporating the clients and service users' perspective. | Empowered |
1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.2, 3, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 5, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 6, 6.1, 6.2 |
2 | Formulate and document a social work assessment, including risk and protective factors. | Empowered |
1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.2, 3, 3.1, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 5, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 6, 6.1, 7, 7.1, 7.2 |
3 | Make independent and appropriate judgements and assessment conclusions. | Creative and critical thinker |
1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.1, 2.2, 3, 3.1, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 4.4, 5, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 6, 6.1, 6.2, 7, 7.1, 7.2 |
4 | Communicate evidence informing decision and actions. | Engaged |
1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.2, 3, 4, 5, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4, 6, 6.1, 6.2, 7, 7.1, 7.2 |
5 | Ensure explicit processes are available for clients and service users to know and check understanding of their legal and moral rights and responsibilities. | Ethical |
1, 1.1, 1.2, 2, 2.1, 2.2, 3, 3.1, 4, 4.2, 4.3, 5, 5.1, 5.4, 6, 6.1, 6.2, 7, 7.1, 7.2 |
6 | Transfer, adapt and apply social work knowledge and skills in diverse contexts. | Knowledgeable |
1, 3, 3.1, 4, 4.1, 4.2, 5, 5.1, 5.3, 5.4 |
CODE | COMPETENCY |
Australian Association of Social Workers | |
1 | Values and ethics |
1.1 | Practise in accordance with the AASW Code of Ethics |
1.2 | Manage ethical dilemmas and issues arising in practice |
2 | Professionalism |
2.1 | Represent the social work profession with integrity and professionalism |
2.2 | Behave in a professional manner and be accountable for all actions and decisions |
3 | Culturally responsive and inclusive practice |
3.1 | Work inclusively and respectfully with cultural difference and diversity |
4 | Knowledge for practice |
4.1 | Understand higher level systemic influences on people with respect to area of practice |
4.2 | Understand and articulate social work and other relevant theories and concepts |
4.3 | Understand the role of research and evaluation in obtaining and generating new knowledge for practice |
4.4 | Understand and articulate how and when theories, knowledge bases and knowledge sources inform practice |
5 | Applying knowledge to practice |
5.1 | Assess and analyse needs to inform practice |
5.3 | Use a range of social work methods and techniques appropriate to the area of practice |
5.4 | Apply critical and reflective thinking to practice |
6 | Communication and interpersonal skills |
6.1 | Communicate with a diverse range of people |
6.2 | Communicate the details and nature of the service offered to people |
7 | Information recording and sharing |
7.1 | Record and manage information appropriately |
7.2 | Keep and maintain information in accordance with ethical principles and relevant legislation |
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
SWK301 or (SWK300 and SWK304)
Not applicable
Not applicable
Not applicable
Limited Grading (PNP)
Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
All | 1 | Written Piece | Individual | 300-500 words |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online Assignment Submission with plagiarism check |
All | 2 | Oral | Individual | 10 - 15 mins |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | In Class |
All | 3 | Activity Participation | Individual | Workshop days |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | In Class |
All - Assessment Task 1:Social Work Case Note | |
Goal: | To draw on course readings, class activities and discussions to develop a social work case note. |
Product: | Written Piece |
Format: | Written case note reflecting on an authentic practice case study, to demonstrate your ability to accurately record the interaction. Submission will be within the intensive week. |
Criteria: |
|
All - Assessment Task 2:Social Work Assessment and Skills Analysis | |
Goal: | To demonstrate advanced social work skills in assessment. Drawing on social work concepts, skills, values and approaches to make a professional assessment in a given case study. This task further requires you to demonstrate your oral communication and presentation skills in accordance with the inherent academic requirements of this degree. |
Product: | Oral |
Format: | Engage in a simulated practice scenario and critical reflection to develop a comprehensive social work assessment that reflects advanced social work skills. Present a professional assessment incorporating social work skills and knowledge in an in-class presentation which simulates a professional supervision session in practice. |
Criteria: |
|
All - Assessment Task 3:Participation and engagement | |
Goal: | Critically reflect on participation in workshop activities to meet the AASW accreditation guidelines |
Product: | Activity Participation |
Format: | Course attendance will be recorded to meet external AASW accreditation requirements. Student participation and engagement in course activities assessed based upon attendance and participation across course workshop format. You are required to attend all days to meet the attendance requirements. |
Criteria: |
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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.
Not applicable
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.
Limited Graded Course: This course will be graded as Pass in a Limited Grade Course (PU) or Fail in a Limited Grade Course (UF) as per clause 4.1.3 and 4.1.4 of the Grades and Grade Point Average (GPA) - Institutional Operating Policy of the USC. In a course eligible to use Limited Grades, all assessment items in that course are marked on a Pass/Fail basis and all assessment tasks are required to be passed for a student to successfully complete the course. Supplementary assessment is not available in courses using Limited Grades.
You must contact your Course Coordinator and provide the required documentation if you require an extension or alternate assessment.
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