PSYC29003 - Coaching Individuals for Positive Change

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will develop practical evidence-based positive psychology coaching skills for working with individual clients on positive behaviour change. Your practical coursework will include fundamental coaching skills for building a positive working alliance using active listening and skillful questioning. You will also use positive psychology theory and tools for working with clients to enhance positive emotions, explore character strengths, and build hope.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
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

Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2025

Term 1 - 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 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. Practical Assessment 30%
2. Practical Assessment 35%
3. Practical Assessment 35%

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

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Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 83.33% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 41.38% 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: Unit Coordinator observations.
Feedback
In Assessment 1, students find the concept of positive emotions and their role in coaching difficult to apply.
Recommendation
Unit Coordinator to include a new video resource to explain the key work on positive emotions and what it looks like in a coaching session.
Action Taken
Unit Coordinator made this a core focus in the first online Workshop. Additional reading materials were provided on Moodle for students as well.
Source: Unit Coordinator observations.
Feedback
Students are allocated in groups of 4 for Assessments 1 and 2, however when students leave the unit there are not always sufficient numbers remaining to form pairs.
Recommendation
Create groups of 6 instead of 4, so that the groups are more likely to have the numbers required to form pairs for the assessments.
Action Taken
We created groups of 6 instead of 4, making it more likely to have the numbers required to form pairs for Assessments 1 and 2.
Source: Unit Coordinator observations.
Feedback
The fourth workshop is not well attended.
Recommendation
Revise the third and fourth workshops in order to combine the material in these into one workshop.
Action Taken
Workshops 3 and 4 were combined into one workshop.
Source: SUTE responses.
Feedback
The mixed media of written and video content in the learning materials was helpful.
Recommendation
The teaching team will maintain the mixed-media delivery of unit content.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE responses.
Feedback
Students enjoyed the practical focus of assessments.
Recommendation
The teaching team will continue to focus on implementing practical assignments for this unit.
Action Taken
In Progress
Source: SUTE responses.
Feedback
Creating the handout for Assessment 3 can be time consuming for students unfamiliar with graphic or creative programs.
Recommendation
The teaching team will source additional learning materials on software and programs students could use to complete this assignment.
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Apply knowledge and skills from counselling, coaching and humanistic psychology to create and maintain a positive working alliance with clients in coaching sessions
  2. Apply positive psychology theories of change, tools and strategies to coaching individuals
  3. Apply critical knowledge of positive psychology concepts to adapt coaching techniques to diverse needs

N/A - no external accreditation.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Practical Assessment • •
2 - Practical Assessment • • •
3 - Practical Assessment • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Knowledge • • •
2 - Communication • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • •
5 - Self-management •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8