Focus Statement

Field education provides students with experiential learning to become an effective professional in social work and human services workspaces. Your placement provides the rich opportunity for transformational learning. This assessment is designed to assist you in preparation for group work and team building activities that you will experience in the field. You are asked to undertake a case study via a group work process and present the case study at the residential school. Students will have the opportunity to showcase their teamwork skills and knowledge and be guided by the Community Focused Learning Process, working together to create a theoretical analysis, assessment and proposed intervention for the case study.

Your role

You are a student social worker working with your peers in a group to undertake a case study. Using the CFL (Community Focussed Learning) process, the group is required to discuss and critically analyse your provided case study.

Product/performance

Students will be placed in small groups at residential and provided the case study. Students will be given time at residential to work on the case study. The group is to engage in a CFL model of group work and be guided by the principles and strategies of the CFL model. Literature on the CFL model will be given to the group by the unit coordinator.

In the format of your choice, the group will deliver a 10-minute presentation that explores these four main areas:

1. The presenting and background issues integrating at least (2) theories that seek to explain the situation.
2. The theories must be clearly identified and the relationship to the scenario articulated.
3. The team is required to propose a suitable intervention and provide a rationale for the decision.
4. The team is to incorporate the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Practice Standards and Code of Ethics to guide and inform the case study. These documents will be given to the group at residential.

• Presentation demonstrates critical analysis of presenting issues, background and context highlighting student roles, duties and responsibilities in placement
• Presentation demonstrates integration of at least (2) relevant social work theories to explain the scenario
• Presentation creatively presents the assessment of the presenting issues, analysis and recommended strategies in an engaging manner
• Identifies the core ethical principles of social work and community welfare and how this relates to the scenario, making reference to the AASW Code of Ethics and the AASW Practice Standards and Social Work Graduate Attributes
• Synthesis and integration of literature / social work knowledge and skills within the presentation

Important Note: See the Moodle unit site for the detailed assessment criteria rubric.

Focus statement

Field education provides students with experiential learning to become an effective professional in social work and human services workspaces. Your placement provides the rich opportunity for transformational learning. Reflection and critical analysis of our performance and responses to various work situations can become critical learning junctures that are incorporated into our practice framework. Reflecting on your residential case scenario group experience, you are to prepare a written essay that identifies the knowledge base (theories and knowledge) and skills (interpersonal communication, crisis intervention, assessment, group work, facilitation, professional communication etc.) relevant to your scenario. With a focus on reflective practice, you are to describe and evaluate your responses and recommendations to the case scenario undertaken at residential school. This will include identification of the process of arriving at those decisions and reflection on that process and individual learning.

Your role

You are you – a student having just participated in a group case scenario assessment at residential school. Students are reminded that this is a REFLECTIVE and CRITICAL ANALYSIS of their performance in the group work and the overall group work processes.

Product/performance

1. You are to demonstrate your experiencing, reflecting, analysing and action planning skills in relation to the scenario undertaken at residential school while making connections to the Australian Association of Social Work (AASW) Practice Standards, AASW Code of Ethics and AASW student attributes as a guide. Your analysis of the scenario and decision-making processes should include demonstrated ability to integrate theory to practice while incorporating your own personal reflections and recommendations for your practice as a student social worker on placement.
2. Your paper should provide a summary reflection and analysis of your participation and role in the group process, referring to your perceived strengths and importantly, identified areas for further development.
3. Your paper should identify recommendations for your future practice including specification of relevant learning goals you will include in your learning agreement as a result of the reflecting experience. The written essay should identify which scenario your group worked on however it should not repeat details of the scenario.

Word Limit

1000 words - You must remain within 10% of the word limit excluding appendices and references (maximum 1% of the overall mark will be deducted for every 100 words over or under this range).

This assessment should be submitted to Moodle using Microsoft Word Document.

Penalties will be applied to late submissions.

• Demonstration of critical analysis of presenting issues and identification (2) social work theories and should clearly identify the role and responsibilities of the student social worker
• Identification of experiencing, reflecting, analysing and action planning skills with relevant examples of reflective practice
• Identifies relevant group participation roles with insight demonstrated around strengths and weaknesses and links to future learning goals
• Identifies the relevant practice standards, ethical requirements and student attributes of a student social worker on placement
• Demonstrates ability to produce a well written reflection and critical analysis with synthesis and integration of literature / social work knowledge and skills showing appropriate grammar, spelling and referencing (Harvard) within the word limit.
  

Important Note: See the unit Moodle site for the detailed assessment rubric. 

Focus statement

With a focus on social work knowledge and skills geared toward client and/or social change, select two experiences from Field Education 1 to be used as case studies to demonstrate how you integrate theory into your practice and your analysis of this (Assessment 4 - Comparative Case Study).

In order to prepare for the creation of Assessment 4, you are to author responses to the focus questions below in a 1000 word discussion applying full scholarly conventions. Students are welcome to use the questions as subheadings if desired. Please note, these prompts will assist you in the completion of the final comparative case study. You will utilise and integrate feedback from your Unit Coordinator/Marker to inform your Comparative Case Study assessment.

Your role

You are you – a student on your first placement.

Product/performance

Before commencing this assessment, it is imperative that you have reviewed Assessment 4 - Comparative Case Study, and have chosen the two cases relating to your field placement experiences. Once these two tasks have been undertaken you are to proceed to author the short answer responses to the focus questions that highlight the research and reflective analysis you have engaged in as part of your initial analysis of the two cases.

The focus questions include:

Q1. What are the primary presenting client/case needs or issues?

Q2. What social work and related knowledge would you draw from to inform your understanding of these issues?

Q3. What social work skills or methods were utilised? These should be clearly named and connected to the case.

Q4. What theories do these skills/methods approaches originate from?

Q5. How were you reflective and/or reflexive in your interaction/intervention? An example is strongly recommended.

Q6. What are your reflections on the strengths and weaknesses of your practice in this interaction?

Q7. How did you define 'change' and 'impasse'? What did you rely on to inform your position?

Word Limit

1000 words – You must remain within 10% of the word limit excluding appendices and references (maximum 1% of the overall mark will be deducted for every 100 words over or under this range)

This assessment should be uploaded to Moodle using Microsoft Word Document. Please ensure a Size 12 font, 1.5 line spacing, paragraphs are justified, there is a cover page with essential information. Students are welcome to use the questions as subtitles.

Penalties will apply for late submissions.

• Submission demonstrates the capacity to integrate information from several sources eg. Reflective practice from supervision, organisational knowledge, policy positions, research publication, practice documents, consumer feedback and theories used in contemporary social work and welfare practice.
• Submission demonstrates the capacity to evaluate information from several sources.
• Use of literature and theory to inform analysis and evaluation of interventions for change
• Demonstrates capacity to analyse and evaluate the practice standards contributing to or needed for successful change interventions and identify the particular needs of diverse client groups
• Demonstrates ability to support ideas with concrete examples from practice
• Demonstrates ability to produce a well written paper with synthesis and integration of literature / social work knowledge and skills, showing appropriate grammar, spelling and referencing (Harvard) within the word limit.
  

Important Note: See the unit Moodle site for detailed assessment rubric. 

Focus statement

With a focus on social work knowledge and skills geared toward client and/or social change, select two experiences from Field Education 1 to be used as case studies to demonstrate your emerging analysis skills and integration of theory to practice.

Your role

You are you – a student on your first placement.

Product/performance

You are to demonstrate your ability to compare and contrast two (2) case studies during Field Education 1 where processes of change reached an impasse against a second case study where change strategies were accomplished. The case studies need not be confined to direct practice such as casework, case management, group work, or family work but may be based on indirect practice such as organisational practice, neighbourhood or community work, social development, social policy or research. You may also wish to compare and contrast processes of change between the case studies drawn from direct and indirect practice.

Your paper should:

• Demonstrate your ability to evaluate what change interventions are/were possible in the case study and where change processes reached an impasse and justify, on reflection, your preferred course of action.
• Irrespective of whether the case study selected involved Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients /communities or those from Culturally and Linguistically diverse backgrounds, a section of the paper must be devoted to evaluating the theoretical approaches that would be appropriate to your chosen course of action in these contexts.
• Commence analysis using the relevant AASW practice standards as a guide.
• The evaluation must be informed by the integration of knowledge and theory you have acquired in all of your prior studies to date.
• The written assessment is to be presented in a case study format, and students may utilise appendices to include relevant case information or background data in addition to the case comparative analysis work.
• Observe all ethical and professional practices and placement organisational directives in relation to respecting the anonymity of those involved. As the Unit Co-Ordinator is aware of your location, there is no need to identify the name of your host organisation in electronic or printed documents. For example, if undertaking a case study analysis with the Department of Child Safety Services, refer to the organisation as a ‘child protection service’.

Word Limit

2000 words - You must remain within 10% of the word limit excluding appendices and references (maximum 1% of the overall mark will be deducted for every 100 words over or under this range).

This assessment should be uploaded to Moodle using Microsoft Word Document. Please ensure a Size font 12, 1.5 line spacing, paragraphs are justified, and there is a cover page with essential information.

Penalties will apply for late submissions.

• Submission demonstrates the capacity to integrate information from several sources e.g.. Reflective practice from supervision, organisational knowledge, policy positions, research publication, practice documents, consumer feedback and theories used in contemporary social work and welfare practice
• Submission demonstrates capacity to evaluate information from several sources Use of literature and theory to inform analysis and evaluation of interventions for change
• Use of literature and theory to inform analysis and evaluation of interventions for change
• Demonstrates capacity to analyse and evaluate the practice standards contributing to or needed for successful change interventions and identify the particular needs of diverse client groups
• Demonstrates ability to support ideas with concrete examples from practice
• Demonstrates ability to produce a well written comparative case analysis with synthesis and integration of literature / social work knowledge and skills, showing appropriate grammar, spelling and referencing (Harvard) within the word limit
  

Important Note: See the unit Moodle site for the detailed assessment rubric.

You must attend the compulsory residential to complete this course. Please note that attendance and successful completion of the residential is a course requirement and therefore any previous attempts at Field Education 1 and Integrating Theory and Practice 1 that resulted in a fail grade are not rolled over or counted towards a subsequent attempt at the course.

You must ensure that you have 'signed in and out' of every residential session. The residential staff will be reviewing the attendance sheet after each session to ensure that students are present for the entirety of the residential. Staff will not be expected to follow up on any absentees, it will be solely the responsibility of the student to ensure that 'record of attendance' is completed. In order to meet the requirements of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW), a student cannot miss any more than two hours of the residential and must provide a reason to do so (i.e. unavoidable event, illness).

You must pass this assessment to pass the unit. Failure to pass this unit will result in the final grade of 'Fail' for the entire unit.

Each student must attend residential in term 1 of 2018, and ensure they have completed the 'Record of Attendance', and then will receive a pass/fail grade accordingly.