Aim 

This assessment aims to provide evidence of your attendance at the Brisbane compulsory residential school. Attending and completing the residential is a compulsory requirement of this unit. Any previous attempts at Field Education 1 and Integrating Theory and Practice 1 that resulted in a Fail grade and any previous residential attendance for this unit are not rolled over or counted towards a subsequent attempt at the course. 

Instructions 

Ensure that you 'sign in and out' of every residential session. After each session, residential staff will review the attendance sheet to ensure students are present for the entire session. Teaching staff will not follow up on absentees; it is your responsibility to ensure that the 'record of attendance' is completed. 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 and sufficient supporting documentation to do so (i.e. significant unforeseen 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.  

Aim

This assessment is designed to help you prepare for the integration of theory and practice, group work, and team-building activities you will experience in your field placement. 

You will undertake a case study via a group work process, present the case study at the residential school (Part A), and complete a critical reflection of a small group experience (Part B) to identify insights and learning gained for your future social work practice in teams.

Part A – Presentation

You will undertake a case study via a group work process, showcasing teamwork knowledge and skills guided by the principles and strategies of the Community Focused Learning (CFL) model and critical reflection frameworks. You will be allocated to a small group and given time at the residential school to work on the case study, culminating in a presentation of your group's analysis, assessment, and proposed intervention. 

Presentation Requirements:

• You are positioned as a social work student in training (SWIT) presenting to your peers. 
• In a presentation format of your choice, the group will deliver a 10 - 15-minute presentation informed by the critical reflection framework outlined below.  Like essay word counts, penalties for going under and over the allocated timeframe will be applied. 
• Be aware of your voice and the pace of the presentation. Before presenting, groups should practice and time the presentation. 
• All small group members are expected to participate in developing and delivering the presentation. 
• The presentation will be engaging and creative, utilising various formats such as role-play, panel discussions, visual aids, and interactive activities, rather than being limited to a single-modal PowerPoint presentation.  
• The PowerPoint must include a title page that lists all the group members. 
• Groups must demonstrate engagement in and integration of independent research and reading. The PowerPoint should be referenced using the seventh edition of the APA Referencing Style Guide, and a reference list slide should be included. Use at least eight contemporary references (<10 years) in the PowerPoint to support your discussion.
• The Unit Coordinator will record the presentation at the residential school for marking purposes. 
• The presentation will incorporate the AASW Practice Standards (2023) and Code of Ethics (2020) to guide and inform the case study analysis and plan. These documents and literature are provided in Group Work Materials on the unit Moodle site.  
• Use a conventional and legible font.  
• Any images used must be published with a Creative Commons (CC) license, and the source must be attributed as per the requirements of their CC license.  
• Use formal academic language.  
• Write in the third person context.  
• All work submitted must be your own work.  

Instructions

In a presentation format of your choice (be creative; don't feel limited to a PowerPoint presentation), the group will deliver a 10 – 15-minute presentation using the critical reflection framework of deconstruction and reconstruction outlined below. This framework will guide an in-depth case study analysis and reconstruction of your insights into a coherent action plan and presentation. 

Deconstruction 

Deconstruction involves exploring the role of society, culture and beliefs have played in shaping practice experiences (Fook & Gardner, 2007). It also necessitates reflexivity to identify and understand the influence of assumptions, beliefs and values and the use of self in practice (Fook & Gardner, 2007). 

1. Reflexivity: Exploring your experience

• In your small group, share your reactions, thoughts, and feelings while reading the case study.  
• Reflect on and share only what you feel comfortable with, the things that influenced your reaction (personal experiences, background, education, culture, values, beliefs, and knowledge) 
• Identify assumptions underlying your response.
• Did the case study highlight gaps you could encounter in how you might plan to practice (espoused theory and values) and your practice (theories in action)? Explain.

2. Exploring other perspectives 

This step, adapted from Brookfield's (2017) four lenses of critical reflection, aims to facilitate the exploration of other perspectives to help you identify and examine assumptions influencing practice. 

• Jo – What assumptions or beliefs may have influenced Jo's response and what she prioritised? What discourses influenced Jo's reaction? What was Jo's experience of power? What cultural aspects and knowledge did she consider and neglect? What are the ethical implications of her plan and actions?
• Mr Thompson – Why do you think Mr Thompson was upset? How might he, an older Aboriginal man with a chronic health condition from a rural location, view and experience the social worker's response? How did Mr Thompson experience power in the situation? What might be the implications of the social work response for Mr Thompson?
• Matt - How might Matt, the Indigenous Health Worker, have experienced and viewed the social worker's response? What might be some of the implications for Matt? How did he experience power?
• Theory and other knowledge – Choose one or two social work theories/perspectives, along with other relevant literature and knowledge, to explain and make sense of the situation, including the analysis of power dynamics and social forces.  

Reconstruction 

This stage of Fook and Gardner's model (2007) is focused on change, requiring you to consider how your new understandings from the critical evaluation will inform anti-oppressive and culturally sensitive and responsive practice and your emerging practice framework. 

1. New Understandings:

• Based on insights from the deconstruction phase, how has your understanding of the situation and possibilities for social work practice evolved? What aspects of Jo's response would you change or keep the same?  

2. Proposed Actions: 

• Plan of Action: What would you do? Justify your plan by explaining the professional values and ethics, as well as two theoretical approaches, skills, and strategies you would incorporate.
• Contextual Considerations: What other knowledge or contextual factors influenced our choice of practice approaches, methods and skills?
• Power: How does your approach respond to dominant discourses and power relations and contribute to social justice?

3. Hopes & Challenges:  

• What are the anticipated challenges, risks, hopes, and outcomes of this new way of working?  
• Identify the skills, strategies, support and self-care you would use or seek to develop to implement this plan and address the identified challenges. 

Resources 

• You can use unit-provided materials and other credible sources, e.g., journal articles and books, to reference your argument. The quality and credibility of your sources are important. Please note that lecture notes are not peer-reviewed primary sources of evidence and should not be used for this assessment. 
• For information on academic communication, writing, and referencing, please visit the Academic Learning Centre Moodle site. The Academic Communication section has many helpful resources, including information for students with English as a second language. There are also Oral Presentation resources. 
• For information on how to use PowerPoint, please go to the Academic Learning Centre Computing Basics section.   

Academic Integrity  

• You must abide by the principles of academic integrity (see Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure).  
• The use of any generative artificial intelligence is permitted for the following purposes: 

1. 1. Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures. 
   2. Gen AI content editing.  
   3. Checking spelling and grammar (for example, Grammarly). 

• If you use Gen AI to generate ideas, you are required to reference the Gen AI agent as per APA 7th guidelines. If you are using a Gen AI agent for content editing, please complete the declaration on the title page of your assessment. If Gen AI is not used, please delete this declaration.

Weighting - 10% 
Groups will be awarded a grade out of 10. This grade will be added to your Part B Reflective Practice grade to give you your final grade for Assessment 2. 

Due Date

Presentations will take place on Friday, February 28th, 2025, at the residential school.

Submission

Your small group's PowerPoint must be uploaded to the submission area with your Part B, Reflective Practice, Week 2, Friday (21st Mar 2025) at 6:00 pm AEST.

Part B – Reflective Practice (750 words) 

You will critically reflect on and analyse your participation in a small group learning environment to identify your strengths and areas for further development and consider what you might do in the future to improve your group work engagement and skills. 

Instructions 

Using a reflective practice model adapted from the Integrative Reflective Practice model (Kiser, 2014), critically reflect on an experience of significance/importance that occurred in your small group learning experience at the residential school. The experience should be one you hope to understand or learn more about. Writing in the first person, use the model and questions adapted from Fook and Gardner (2007) as a guide. 

1. Experience  

• • Describe the experience. What happened?

2. Reactions 

• • How did you react? How did you feel? What were you thinking? What did you do?

3. Reflecting on Meaning   

• • Why was the experience important/significant to you? What did it mean to you?  
  • What do your account and language tell you about your underlying values, beliefs, theories, and assumptions?  
  • Where do you think these ideas originated, and how was your experience influenced by your historical, cultural and social context? 

4. Other Perspectives, Theory & Knowledge  

• • What other perspectives have you considered? You can use AI as a critical friend to help you explore other perspectives and identify and challenge assumptions.  
  • Identify relevant theories or literature to help you understand or provide an alternative view of the situation. 

5. Examining dissonance  

• • Did this situation highlight any gap between how you say you will practice (espoused values, theories and skills) and your actions and interpretations?
  • Is this ok? If so, why? If not, why not? 
  • What does this tell you about the values, theories, and practices critical to your emerging social work identity and practice framework? 

6. Articulating learning  

• • Based on insights gained from your reflective practice, how has your understanding of the situation and possibilities for social work practice evolved?  
  • What specific learnings can you take from this experience for your future social work practice? What did you learn about yourself, others, and the society in which you live?  

7. Developing a plan  

• • What would you do the same or change in a similar practice situation next time? Explain why, including the anticipated consequences and hopes of this new response.  
  • What values, knowledge, theory, and skills will you need to develop to proceed with this new approach? 
     

Literature and references 

Use at least six contemporary references (<10 years) in your reflective practice to support your discussion. You may also use seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles, textbooks, and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the five elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature sourced from the internet must be from reputable websites such as government, university, or peak national bodies, such as the Australian Association of Social Workers. 

Requirements 

• Use a conventional and legible size 12 font, such as Times New Roman, with 1.5 or 2.0 line spacing and 2.54cm page margins (standard pre-set margin in Microsoft Word). 
• Include page numbers in a header on the top right side of each page. 
• Write in the first-person perspective. 
• The written assessment should identify the scenario your group worked on; however, it should not repeat the details of the case study. 
• When integrating theory and literature, use a third-person perspective and formal academic language. 
• Use the seventh edition American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. The CQUniversity Academic Learning Centre has an online APA Referencing Style Guide. 
• The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the reference list but includes in-text references and direct quotations. 

Academic Integrity  

• You must abide by the principles of academic integrity (see Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure). Completion of this assessment with another party or sharing of responses is not permitted at any time.  
• The use of any generative artificial intelligence is permitted for the following purposes:  

1. 1. Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.  
   2. AI can be used as a critical friend to help you explore other perspectives.  
   3. Gen AI content editing.  
   4. Checking spelling and grammar (for example, Grammarly).  

• If you use Gen AI to generate ideas, you are required to reference the Gen AI agent as per APA 7th guidelines. If you are using a Gen AI agent for content editing, please complete the declaration on the title page of your assessment. If Gen AI is not used, please delete this declaration.   

Resources 

You can support your argument using unit-provided materials and other credible sources (e.g., journal articles and books). 

The quality and credibility of your sources are important. We recommend that you access your discipline-specific library guide: the Social Work and Community Services Guide. 

For information on academic communication, please go to the Academic Learning Centre Moodle site. The Academic Communication section has many helpful resources, including information for students with English as a second language. 

Word Limit 
750 words 

Weighting 
10% - The reflection will be awarded a grade out of 10. This grade will be added to your Part A Presentation grade to give you your final grade for Assessment 2. 

Submission 
In the Assessment 2 submission area on Moodle, each group member must upload a copy of their small group PowerPoint presentation and Part B, Reflective Practice, as a Word document.  

Aim

In this assessment, you will demonstrate your critical reflection skills in examining and analysing a practice situation. The goal is to critique the social work practice and gain a comprehensive understanding of the situation, considering the perspectives of all stakeholders involved, as well as relevant theories, knowledge and literature. A critical reflective approach will help you build an ethically robust practice framework. The case study is located under Assessment 3 of the Assessment tile on Moodle. 

Instructions

Apply the following critical reflection framework to deconstruct and reconstruct the situation, integrating insights into a coherent action plan and emerging practice framework that embodies social work knowledge, theories, values and ethics.

Deconstruction

Deconstruction involves exploring the role of society, culture and beliefs have played in shaping practice experiences (Fook & Gardner 2007). It also necessitates reflexivity to identify and understand the influence of assumptions, beliefs and values and the use of self in practice (Fook & Gardner 2007).

With consideration given to Sara’s response to their interaction with the social worker, critically examine the social worker’s practice and the various factors contributing to the situation.

1.     Reflexivity: Exploring your experience

Describe your reaction and experience reading the case study from a first-person perspective. 

• • What were your reactions, thoughts, and feelings when reading the case study?
  • What do you think influenced your reaction? How did personal experiences, background, culture, values, beliefs, and knowledge influence your views of the social worker’s response? You can use AI as a critical friend to help you understand and explore assumptions underlying your response. 
  • Did the case study highlight gaps you could encounter in how you might plan to practice (espoused theory and values) and your practice (theories in action)? Explain. 

2.     Exploring other perspectives

This step, adapted from Brookfield's (2017) four lenses of critical reflection, aims to facilitate the exploration of other perspectives to help you identify and examine assumptions influencing practice. 

• • Chris - What experiences, assumptions or beliefs may have influenced the social worker’s response? What broader social inequalities and discourses were prevalent in this situation, and how might they have influenced their response? How do you think Chris experienced power? What are the ethical principles and implications of Chris’s actions?
  • Sara – Why do you think Sara became upset? What experiences, assumptions or beliefs may have influenced their interaction? How did Sara experience power in the situation? What might be the implications of the aged care response for Sara and her sisters?
  • Mrs Smith - How might Mrs Smith experience and view the aged care response and processes? What might be some of the implications for Mrs Smith? What do you think Mrs Smtih’s experience of power is in this situation?
  • Theory and other knowledge - How might theory, literature or other knowledge help you make sense of this situation? Choose a critical theory to analyse the power dynamics and social constructs at play in Mrs Smith’s situation and consider how societal norms and institutional practices may influence the experiences and behaviours of the stakeholders.

Reconstruction

This stage of Fook and Gardner's model (2007) is focused on change, requiring you to consider how your new understandings from the deconstruction phase will inform anti-oppressive practice and shape your emerging practice frameworks.

1. New Understandings:

• • Based on insights from the deconstruction phase, how has your understanding of the situation and possibilities for social work practice evolved? What would/wouldn’t you change about Chris’s response? 

2. Proposed Actions

• • Plan of Action: What would you do? Justify your plan by explaining the professional values and ethics and two theoretical approaches, skills, and strategies you would incorporate. 
  • Contextual Considerations: What other knowledge or contextual factors influenced your choice of practice approaches, methods and skills?
  • Power:  How does your approach respond to dominant discourses and power relations and contribute to social justice? How will you manage similar situations in the future where you feel powerless to change the systems in which you work?

3. Hopes & Challenges

• • What are the anticipated challenges, risks, hopes and benefits of your approach/plan? 
  • Identify the skills, strategies, support and self-care you would use or seek to develop to implement this plan and address the identified challenges.

4. Your Emerging Professional Identity & Practice Framework

• • What does your critical reflection reveal about your emerging professional identity and practice framework?

Literature and references

Use at least eight contemporary references in this assessment to support your discussion. You may also use seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles as well as textbooks, and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the five elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature sourced from the internet must be from reputable websites such as government, university, or peak professional and national bodies, e.g. the AASW.

Requirements

• Use a conventional and legible size 12 font, such as Times New Roman, with 1.5 or 2.0 line spacing and 2.54cm page margins (standard pre-set margin in Microsoft Word).
• Include page numbers on the top right side of each page in a header.
• A combination of the first-person and third-person perspectives. The first-person perspective is to be used when describing your experience; however, the third-person perspective is required when analysing the relevance of theory and literature to understand the situation.
• Use formal academic language.
• Use the APA Referencing Guide. The Academic Learning Centre has an online APA Guide.
• The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. The word count excludes the reference list but includes in-text references and direct quotations.

Academic Integrity  

• You must abide by the principles of academic integrity (see Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure). Completion of this assessment with another party or sharing of responses is not permitted at any time.  
• The use of any generative artificial intelligence is permitted for the following purposes:  

1. 1. Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.  
   2. AI can be used as a critical friend to help you explore other perspectives.  
   3. Gen AI content editing.  
   4. Checking spelling and grammar (for example, Grammarly).  

• If you use Gen AI to generate ideas, you are required to reference the Gen AI agent as per APA 7th guidelines. If you are using a Gen AI agent for content editing, please complete the declaration on the title page of your assessment. If Gen AI is not used, please delete this declaration.   

Resources

• You can use unit-provided materials and other credible sources (e.g. journal articles, books, grey literature) to reference your argument. The quality and credibility of your sources are important.
• We recommend that you access your discipline-specific library guide: the Social Work and Community Services Guide. ·
• For information on academic communication, please go to the Academic Learning Centre Moodle site. The Academic Communication section has many helpful resources, including information for students with English as a second language.
• Submit a draft before the due date to review your Turnitin Similarity Score before making a final submission. Instructions are available here.

References

Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a critically reflective teacher, John Wiley & Sons Inc, US.

Fook, J. & Gardner F. (2007). Practising critical reflection: a resource handbook, McGraw-Hill Education, UK.

Aim

The aim of this assessment is to develop the capacity to reflect on and articulate your social work practice effectively. A social work practice framework represents our preferred social work identity, a map of who we are as social workers, what we do and why. Drawing on a narrative theoretical approach to reflection, you will use a metaphor to symbolise your practice framework and share the story of your preferred social worker identity and its relationship to the past, present and future.

Your social work practice framework encompasses:

• Being: Reflects your values, ethics, purpose and professional identity as a social worker.
• Knowing: Represents the theoretical, practical and contextual knowledge and understanding that inform your practice.
• Doing: Refers to the practical application of skills and interventions in social work practice.
• Becoming: Recognises the ongoing critical reflective practice for learning and growth as a social worker.

Requirements

• Via Zoom, you will present a 10-12 minute oral presentation of your practice framework to a small group of peers and an academic staff member using any format (e.g., PowerPoint, Prezi, Word or other). 
• You will need to refer to the online meeting instructions on Moodle for links and times, where you will choose a time and group that suits you. Please note that attendance for the entire chosen session is a requirement of this assessment. If your first choice of time or group is no longer suitable, it is your responsibility to arrange to swap with a peer and then notify the UC of this arrangement.
• You will use a metaphor or symbol to assist your presentation (Tree, boat, basket, river, etc.). Students are permitted to use AI to help them create a symbol or metaphor that reflects their practice framework.
• This presentation is a concise articulation of the key components within your PF.
• As your social work identity and framework are continually developing, you are encouraged to engage in critical reflection in the supervision on placement.
• Use a conventional and legible font. · Any images used must be published with a Creative Commons (CC) license, and the source must be attributed as per the requirements of their CC license.
• Use formal academic language.
• Third and first-person perspectives are permitted.
• Use the seventh edition American Psychological Association (APA) referencing style. The CQUniversity Academic Learning Centre has an online APA Referencing Style Guide. A reference list must be included.

Instructions

Use a metaphor/symbol to summarise the key elements of your emerging social worker identity and developing practice framework:

1. Metaphor or symbol:

• • Introduce your chosen metaphor or symbol (e.g., tree, boat, basket, river) and elaborate on how it represents your current practice framework and your continuous growth and development as a social worker.

Being

2. Background & Reflexivity:

• • Informed by the concept of positionality, introduce yourself and how your positionality informs your practice framework.
  • Reflect on the key events, experiences, and/or people that influenced your commitment to becoming a social worker.
  • Discuss how these experiences shaped your values, purpose and intentions and how you will manage their impact on your professional role.

3. Values & Ethics:

• • Identify the core values and ethics guiding your practice framework, demonstrating how they inform your actions and decisions.
  • Explain how your values and purpose have both been challenged and aligned with social work values and aims, reflecting on your use of self in practice.

Knowing

4. Theories:

• • Briefly explain the theories underpinning your practice framework and how they inform your practice. Explain the theories you use to explain and understand situations and to intervene.
  • Explain how these theories inform your social work practice, including understanding and responding to service users' challenges, your therapeutic position/stance, and power relations. Discuss where your theoretical approach fits in Payne's triangle of views of social work (Payne, 2021, Figure 1.6)

5. Contextual Knowledge:

• • Discuss other knowledge central to your practice framework and explain why.
  • Explain how field placement or work context shapes your practice framework.
  • Demonstrate how your practice framework adapts to different practice and cultural contexts.

Doing

6. Skills & Methods

• • Discuss essential skills, methods and tools supporting the application of your practice framework and how they help engage and support service users.
  • Explain how the practice context has informed your skills and methods development.

Becoming

7. Strengths and Development Areas:

• • Reflect on an experience you had at field placement or work where you acted exactly how you wanted to as a social worker (Paquin 2006, p.136). Discuss what you noticed about what you were doing and how it aligned with your practice framework.
  • Identify internal and external challenges to your social work identity and practice framework. Consider factors such as personal biases, organisational constraints, and societal pressures.
  • Describe the qualities, strategies, skills and knowledge to build on your strengths, address your development areas, and adapt and evolve as a social worker.

8. Becoming:

• • Reflecting on your initial exploration of your practice framework at residential school, discuss how your practice framework has evolved and been influenced by field placement and practice experiences.
  • Reflect on what you have learned about your underlying assumptions and beliefs about social work and how they influence your practice.
  • Explain how you will continue to adapt your practice framework and grow as a social worker.

Submission:

Presentations will take place in Week 12 of the Term.

The developed visual material (e.g., PowerPoint/ Prezi/ Word Doc) plus the script used to speak to the visual material (if you used one) will be submitted to Moodle by Monday, 2nd June at 9 am AEST.

Literature and references

Use at least eight contemporary references (10 years or less) sourced from the CQUniversity library in this assessment to support your discussion. You may also use seminal scholarly literature where relevant. Suitable references include peer-reviewed journal articles, textbooks, and credible websites. When sourcing information, consider the five elements of a quality reference: currency, authority, relevance, objectivity, and coverage. Grey literature from

the internet must be from reputable websites such as government, university, or peak national bodies, for example, the Australian Association of Social Workers, Australian Bureau of Statistics, and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Websites such as StatPearls, Life in the Fastlane, and Wikipedia are unsuitable for this assessment task. Referencing lecture notes is unsuitable for this assessment task; students are encouraged to research the sources provided.

Resources

• You can reference your argument using unit-provided materials and other credible sources, e.g., journal articles and books. The quality and credibility of your sources are important. Please note that lecture notes are not peer-reviewed primary sources of evidence and should not be used for this assessment. · We recommend you access your discipline-specific Social Work and Human Services Guide.
• Please visit the Academic Learning Centre's Moodle site for academic communication, writing, and referencing information. The Academic Communication section has many helpful resources, including information for students with English as a second language. There are also Oral Presentation resources. · For information on using PowerPoint, please go to the Academic Learning Centre Computing Basics section – How to use PowerPoint. · For information on using Zoom to present your assessment, please go to Zoom web conferencing.
• You may wish to submit a draft to Studiosity.
• Submit at least one draft of your assessment to Turnitin before the due date so that your Turnitin Similarity Score can be reviewed before uploading your final submission. Instructions are available here.

Academic Integrity ·

• You must abide by the principles of academic Integrity (see Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure). Completing this assessment with another party or sharing responses is prohibited.
• The use of any generative artificial intelligence is permitted for the following purposes:

a. Gen AI content is used to generate ideas and general structures.

b. Gen AI content editing.

c. Checking spelling and grammar (for example, Grammarly).

d. To help create a symbol or metaphor reflecting your practice framework.

• If you use Gen AI to generate ideas or images, you are required to reference the Gen AI agent as per APA 7th guidelines. If you are using a Gen AI agent for content editing, please complete the declaration on the title page of your assessment. If Gen AI is not used, please delete this declaration.