Unit Synopsis
This unit will introduce you to social work and human services in Australia and the changing context for professional practice within contemporary society. You will develop an understanding of the historical and cultural context of social work, and human services more broadly, within the Australian welfare state and how these services are currently organised and delivered. You will be able to conceptualise social justice, inequality and disadvantage and their significance to professional practice. You will understand the values, ethics and principles of social work and human services, and how these inform methods of practice. This unit will focus on the human services context of professional practice and the broader challenges and opportunities within the social services sector. Consideration will be given to reflective practice and the 'use of self' and how social workers navigate complex systems of service delivery.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| 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 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 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 | 20% |
| 2. Reflective Practice Assignment | 30% |
| 3. Case Study | 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 .
Term 1 - 2022 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 100.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 26.79% 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 feedback
Feedback from students throughout the course in 2021 was overall positive. Students commented on the benefit of the residential school and the content and format of these.
Continue to provide engaging residential schools to support student learning.
The residential school model for the course has been reviewed and a 5 day, 1st year residential school will commence in 2023 to enhance student engagement, learning and reduce financial and travel impacts on students.
Source: Evaluations
Students provided feedback on the assessments, stating each were helpful in their learning. There was some feedback that some of the assessments were difficult.
Assessments reviewed and greater clarity about task requirements undertaken.
Assessments continue to be refined each year to ensure relevance and clarity for students.
Source: Via evaluation and direct feedback
Students provided feedback on the assessments, stating each were helpful in their learning. There was some feedback that some of the assessments were difficult
The assessments were reviewed and greater support offered to students with exemplars, ALC support and drop in sessions
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Examine the historical and contemporary context of service delivery within Australian human service organisations;
- Critique the concepts of social justice, and inequality, and how these inform professional social work practice within Australian human service organisations;
- Appraise the key values, ethics, principles and models of practice that inform professional practice in social work and human services;
- Demonstrate critically reflective practice techniques.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 2 - Reflective Practice Assignment | • | • | ||
| 3 - Case Study | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • |
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |