Unit Synopsis
This unit introduces you to professional communication skills within social work and the human services industry. You will acquire knowledge about the cultural context of communication. You will develop an understanding of the nature and contexts of professional helping relationships and how these differ from non-professional relationships; the importance of the working alliance and communication; the use of self; and how to facilitate self-determination when communicating. You will develop practical skills and knowledge in professional active listening skills, and in reflective practice and writing. You will be required to participate in assessable tasks in the relevant residential to complete the requirements of this unit. Attendance at residential is compulsory and is required under the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards 2020.
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 |
Compulsory Residential School View Unit Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 2 - 2026
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. On-campus Activity | 0% |
| 2. Practical and Written Assessment | 60% |
| 3. Written Assessment | 40% |
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.
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: SUTE UNIT COMMENTS REPORT - T2, 2024
The residential school for this unit was the best experience Thank you very much
Positive feedback regarding the residential school experience is appreciated. The current format and interactive learning activities will be maintained, with ongoing review to ensure the residential school continues to provide an engaging, supportive, and valuable learning experience that enhances students' professional communication skills and preparation for practice.
The interactive residential school format and associated learning activities were maintained in 2025 in response to positive student feedback. Opportunities for active participation, skills practice, and application of professional communication concepts continued to be embedded throughout the residential school and unit delivery. The highly positive student performance outcomes indicate that these approaches continued to support student engagement, learning, and achievement of the unit learning outcomes.
Source: SUTE UNIT COMMENTS REPORT - T2, 2025
Overall, the unit was great and I really enjoyed the learning experience. The only issue that I had was the timing of the residential school; having it fall on a weekend was not great timing, particularly for those of us who live locally and are parents. I also feel that more content could have been provided to frame our learning for the final assessment. I do understand that neither of these things was within the control of the teaching team and they did an amazing job within the situation they were given.
Feedback regarding the challenges associated with changes to the residential school and assessment preparation is acknowledged and appreciated. Opportunities will be explored to provide additional assessment guidance, clearer links between learning activities and assessment requirements, and supplementary resources to support students in preparing for the final assessment. Efforts will also continue to ensure that students are supported through any changes to unit delivery while maintaining a positive and engaging learning experience.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Apply effective professional listening and active listening communication skills
- Describe and demonstrate the working alliance; self-determination and the use of self; when communicating in a professional context
- Demonstrate critically reflective practice in relation to professional active listening communication skills
- Apply cross cultural awareness and knowledge when communicating with culturally diverse groups, including Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Australian Association of Social Workers
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - On-campus Activity | • | • | ||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | ||
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | • |
| 5 - Team Work | • | • | ||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | |||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |
| 1 - On-campus Activity | • | • | • | ||||||||
| 2 - Practical and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | ||||||
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • | • | |||||