SOWK13013 - Professional Practice with Children, Youth and Families

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

This unit examines social work practice with children, young people, and families, with a particular focus on statutory contexts including child protection, youth justice, family law, and mental health. It explores the historical, socio-political, and legislative conditions that shape contemporary practice, including the emergence of child-focused approaches and the principle of the ‘best interests of the child’. The unit critically engages with the multidimensional nature of child maltreatment and youth risk, with particular attention to structural influences such as poverty, social determinants of health, and systemic inequality. It examines the role of surveillance, control, and regulation within welfare systems, and the ongoing impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people, and families. The unit develops practice capability in risk assessment, professional judgement, and intervention planning. Students engage in applied learning through case-based analysis and a simulated multidisciplinary case conference to collaboratively develop and justify risk assessments and intervention strategies in complex practice contexts.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 4
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Students must have completed first and second year units before enrolling in this unit.   Foundational knowledge is required to successfully meet the unit's learning outcomes. 

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 2 - 2026 Profile
Online

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).

Assessment Overview

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

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%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 64.71% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 33.33% response rate.

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: Have your Say
Feedback:
More zoom sessions required

Recommendation:
Consider including more frequent zoom sessions, according to student requirements

Action Taken:
In response to previous feedback, tutorials were offered in the evenings and more frequently to enhance student participation.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
Feedback:
Moodle was very hard to navigate. Weekly tiles for content would have been easier. There were also double ups of information across tiles.

Recommendation:
The new Moodle set out has been introduced across social work units to improve accessibility and navigation.

Action Taken:
In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes
This information will not be available until 8 weeks before term.
To see Learning Outcomes from an earlier availability, please search via a previous term.