Task Focus

Your group will examine how three (3) theories of change that inform social workers’ understanding of individuals’ relationships with their social environment, that is, groups, families, neighbourhoods, or the social organisation of Australian society. You may choose any or all of the latter social systems as examples to demonstrate your understanding of three (3) theories presented in Chapters 3 and 7 (Connolly & Harms 2019) and Modules 1 and 2 at Moodle. The reflective and reflexive component will be informed by Chapter 8 Connolly and Harms 2019) and Module 4 at Moodle.

This assessment task requires you to work in a collaborative learning group resulting in the creation of diverse and creative materials intended to inform a workshop presentation within the parameters below. This assessment task requires the presentation of materials only. There is no oral presentation required.

You will be randomly allocated into collaborative learning groups by the end of Week 2.

Your role

Imagine you belong to a network of social workers dispersed geographically and employed by a multi-regional organisation of your choosing, for example, Anglicare, Community Mental Health, Centrelink, the Australian Defence Force or a Child Safety Service Centre.

Your organisational context is a multi-disciplinary team delivering a service of your choosing. In order to raise the awareness of social work’s theoretical perspectives, as a social work network you will be presenting at the next in-service (professional development) event. This will involve the attendance of colleagues from at least five disciplinary backgrounds including: management; community nurses; occupational therapists; welfare workers; and psychologists. It will be delivered face to face and with the use of technology depending on your locations.

Most of the modes of service delivery are based on work with individuals however social work theoretical analysis extends beyond theories that just explain individuals' behaviours. Your overall task in this in-service session is to raise your colleagues’ awareness of social work's theoretical eclecticism in order to understand the relationships between individuals’ lives and their relationships with their physical and social environments.

Performance/product (2000 words -10% above or below)

Overall, this written component should be designed with the intent that it can be used again by other staff in future presentations.

Things to consider:

· Use the Spiral of Life Long Learning and discussion at Moodle to formulate your work/study plan, group meetings, and content.

· Locate and agree on a regional organisational context, and service within that organisation, that provides the best base for this assessment task.

· With theory as your starting point and focus - choose three theories that help interpret, explain or predict the stressors individual clients experience and the relationships of those stressors with their physical and social environments.

· Briefly examine the history of the theories and how/why they became part of the social work profession’s eclectic theoretical mix.

· Use examples to demonstrate and communicate your understanding of the concepts that comprise the theories chosen.

· Identify the strengths and challenges of the chosen theories in relation to the organisational context and service selected.

· Utilise creativity to engage with your audience.

· One submission per group only is required. Please ensure the names of all people who have contributed to the submission are included on the cover sheet.

This assessment requires that you undertake a self assessment and a peer assessment of participation and contribution to the group learning assessment task based on the criteria below.

The link to the on-line survey is sent to your student email account. You will receive one survey Friday, Week 4 in order to receive formative feedback from your peers. This scoring will not form the 10% weighting for this assessment task. You will receive a second survey one week after the submission of Assessment 1. The collation of average scores from this second survey will form the basis of the 10% weighting.

NB Unit co-ordinators have access to each student's name and their scoring. However, you will not have access to the identity of group members or their individual scoring. You are not evaluating the accuracy of ideas or resources brought by individual members to the assessment you are evaluating participation and contribution.

The online feedback system will allow you to assess group members on the following participation criteria. Only scores based on the Likert scales will be forwarded to student email accounts but please consider providing additional comments in that section to justice your assessment of group member participation:

· Was dependable in attending group meetings (Likert Scale)

· Willingly accepted assigned tasks (Likert Scale)

· Contributed positively to group discussions (Likert Scale)

· Completed work on time or made alternative arrangements (Likert Scale)

· Helped others with their work when needed (Likert Scale)

· Did work accurately and completely (Likert Scale)

· Contributed their fair share of the work (Likert Scale)

· Worked well with other group members (Likert Scale)

· Overall was a valuable member of the team (Likert Scale)

· The group member listens to others (Likert Scale)

· Additional comments (Comment)

Using story-telling theories to raise awareness in community and begin community change (Chapter 6 Connolly and Harms 2019 and Module 3 at Moodle)

Focus statement

The theories presented in this unit are pitched at the social organsiation of society. A ‘community’ is one of several systems of social work concern and practice. The focus of this assessment task is the use of theory to inform practice.

Your role

Imagine you are in the role of a community development officer with your local Council. Your Community Programs Manager has asked for you to submit documentation for its possible inclusion in grant funding with the Federal government.

Performance/product (Written assessment 2000 words 10% above or below)

This assessment item requires you to:

•Examine the community in which you live and identify one of the most prominent social issues impacting adversely on people’s well being. 

•Use a diverse range of independent sources to describe the nature and extent of the social issue of concern. See in particular the ‘Learning’ phase of the Spiral of Life Long Learning.

•With the goal of raising your community’s awareness of the social issue of concern, and to begin a process of community engagement and change, use the Story-Telling theories presented in this unit (that is, Narrative) to inform and design a sequence of four community events.

Things to consider:

* The design of the four community events must be supported with theoretical concepts.

* Be mindful of the presentation of theoretical concepts to an audience unfamiliar with those perspectives and the ways in which language and concepts need to be conveyed.

* Locate social work interventions in the published literature or reports by reputable organisations in Australia where community awareness raising, engagement and change has been undertaken around the same or similar social issues.

* Consider the diversity of your local community members when processing information/language, learning, and change.

* Consider how you would address how the concerns selected might be viewed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse heritage.