Unit Synopsis
This foundation unit will introduce you to core concepts in the field of domestic and family violence practice. There is a specific focus on investigating terminology issues and the prevailing understanding of domestic and family violence at state, national and global levels. You will make critical use of contemporary research, policy documents and legislation that address domestic and family violence (including intimate partner violence and the abuse of children, older persons, parents, siblings and animals). You will examine perspectives and theories that demonstrate the difference between gendered and non-gendered conceptions of domestic and family violence and explore societal and individual influences on this behaviour. You will learn about the sociological nature of domestic and family violence that illustrates the issues faced by priority populations and implications for practice. Legal and safety considerations that arise from working in this context and ethical, professional and self-management implications for practice are explored in this unit.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 8 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
There are no pre-requisites for the unit.
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 |
Be Different Intakes
2026 - Online
Higher Education Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Hyperflexible Annual Term - 2026 Profile
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Postgraduate 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 | 40% |
| 2. Written Assessment | 40% |
| 3. Online Quiz(zes) | 20% |
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.
Term 1 - 2021 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 92.31% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 39.39% 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: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation
Nicola provided us with incredibly helpful information with lots of examples and templates to use. This is my first formal studies in about 23 years and have felt both very supported and that the unit was very informative and useful in my learning. The essays expanded my thoughts and evidence base of current strategies in Victoria and contemporary theories.
Continue to provide essay templates and maintain the focus in assessment on relevance to personal professional practice
Assignments were updated to move away from the formal essay structure that students were struggling with, reducing the need for templates. Assessment items were written to maintain a focus on practice relevance.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation
Each unit was very helpful for my DFV practice. I enjoyed the variety of assessment questions and presentations styles. Thank you for the after hours tutorials and for recording these.
Continue to allow students to choose theories to apply to their practice and continue providing live web tutorials.
The assignments still drew on theories and I provided live tutorials.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation
The topic of this unit is interesting and was supported by a good range of readings. I liked the recorded lectures and lecture notes. By reading and listening, I felt more engaged with the content. Dr. Nicola was very approachable and knowledgeable. I also appreciated that, while being theory-based, the information was constantly drawn back to the application in practice.
Continue to provide a range of readings and recorded lectures. Continue connecting theory to professional practice.
A range of readings were provided and recorded lectures were also uploaded. I also continued to ensure that the unit content was connected back to practice.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation
Feedback on assignments was detailed and useful. The assignment questions were detailed and required a broad range of aspects to be considered in the assignments, this was somewhat difficult to do in the word count accepted.
Continue providing detailed feedback, but consider how the assessment items can be better scaffolded to direct students in completing the assignments and provide more resources on concise writing.
Detailed feedback continued to be provided and assessment items were updated so they were better scaffolded. Additional resources on writing were provided for students.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation
I did struggle with the powerpoint presentations and although I thought I followed the suggestions provided by Nicola I didn't seem to have grasped the intended ideas as well. Nicola is very open to questions however and did provide great feedback which I know I can ask more.
As a number of students noted the difficulty they faced in preparing the PowerPoint presentation, it is recommended that the utility of PowerPoint presentations be considered and whether this is an effective method of assessment going forward.
The PowerPoint presentation was removed as an assessment item.
Source: Student Unit and Teaching Evaluation and personal communications
Some students noted that they found it difficult to apply theory to their practice, particularly if they were not currently working or if they were not in a DFV-specific role.
As some students found it difficult to apply theory to their practice, more scaffolding will be provided around how to apply theory to practice in teaching and assessment items. The assessment instructions will more specifically reference that students can think of theory as it applies to their current practice or the future role they would like to enter, whether that role is DFV-specific or not, as everyone has a role in the response to DFV.
More scaffolding was provided around the theory so students could see the application to current or future practice in assessment items.
Source: Student evaluation
Students appreciated the focus on practice in their assessment items.
Continue to provide practice-focused assignments for students in the unit.
In Progress
Source: Student evaluation
Students appreciated being informed about the connection between theory and practice.
Expand efforts to demonstrate the connection between theory and practice by adding in additional examples to the unit materials and through videos.
In Progress
Source: Student evaluation
Students would appreciate more instructions on the assignment than is provided in written instructions and pre-recorded assessment videos.
Hold drop-in sessions specifically for questions on the assignments.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Evaluate key resources including relevant research, policy, and legislation regarding types of domestic and family violence and related impacts.
- Apply relevant theories to domestic and family violence practice, with a focus on gender.
- Critique the sociological nature of domestic and family violence, particularly with regard to priority populations.
- Appraise the ethical and legal context of professional practice in domestic and family violence.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 2 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 3 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Research | • | • | ||
| 5 - Self-management | • | |||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | |||
| 7 - Leadership | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |