Unit Synopsis
In this unit you will be offered a range of learning opportunities to engage with key theories that have informed professional social work practice. This unit presents both structural and personal theories, and how these can be integrated for professional practice, such as working with change and complexity. Structural theories include post modernism, critical theory and ecological perspectives; personal theories include psychological approaches, humanism, grief, loss and trauma-informed practice. This unit also explores change models and how these inform the development of assessment and intervenion strategies. You will engage in the process of critical reflection and exploring your values and beliefs, in order to develop an emerging ethical theoretical framework for your professional social work practice.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
SOWK11015 Professional Communication in Human Services Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2026
Term 1 - 2027 Profile
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 50% |
| 2. Presentation and Written Assessment | 50% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Source: Student evaluation
Students highly valued the unit's authentic learning experiences, particularly the First Nations case study and the variety of assessment formats, which they felt enhanced learning, cultural responsiveness, and engagement.
Continue using authentic, practice-based assessment tasks.
In Progress
Source: Student evaluation
While students found the learning resources useful for completing assessments and appreciated the teaching team's support, some felt overwhelmed by the volume of weekly content.
Review the volume and organisation of learning materials to support student engagement and accessibility.
In Progress
Source: Student evaluation
Students highly valued the weekly tutorials, Zoom sessions, and supportive teaching approach, seeing them as key to consolidating learning, clarifying complex content, and supporting assessment success.
Continue offering regular tutorial and assessment support opportunities while maintaining a strong teaching presence and responsive communication with students.
The teaching and learning approach was continued.
Source: Student evaluation
Some lecture recordings required updating to improve accessibility and quality.
Lecture materials will be updated to improve quality and accessibility.
Lectures were updated.
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Identify theoretical perspectives that have informed the professional practice of social work
- Analyse theoretical perspectives and apply to social work practice contexts
- Integrate social work theories with your emerging professional practice frameworks
- Appraise and critically reflect on feedback drawn from your experiences in professional learning contexts.
This unit addresses components of Practice Standard Objectives (2003): 1,2,3 and 6
These suggested amendments are in line with the ASWEAS (2020) and anticipate the further changes needed for the 2022 re-accreditation process for the existing BSW.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | ||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||