Unit Synopsis
The aim of this unit is to introduce you, as a first year student, to the primary fields of social work practice where you will find yourself positioned as a practitioner on completion of Bachelor of Social Work. Each week, you will explore different fields of practice and examine the interface between the individuals and their environments fostering an understanding of the systemic factors that influence well-being and social justice. These fields of practice may include working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, social work in healthcare settings, child protection, domestic and family violence, and mental health. You will also gain understanding of ethical issues that may present in social work practice in the different fields and consider principles for working respectfully and inclusively with regard to culture and diversity.
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. Online Quiz(zes) | 30% |
| 2. Case Study | 30% |
| 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
I liked really liked this unit and felt it provides a lot of information regarding social work practice.
Continue to provides a solid introduction to the profession of social work highlighting real world examples of the types of practice fields available to students.
Content and learning activities were reviewed for recency and relevance to practice. Real-world examples, practitioner videos, and case studies were embedded throughout the unit to help students understand the breadth of social work roles and practice settings.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
The amount of videos on top of lectures and tutorials expected to be completed each week were overwhelming.
Review the learning material for each week.
Learning materials were reviewed and reorganised to ensure an even distribution of content across the term. Non-essential content was removed and at times replaced by more recent and concise resources.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
I really struggled with the lecture content in this course. I find that more regular lectures where students can participate are more beneficial.
Continue to offer regular ZOOM sessions for student discussions and encourage students to take an active part in the learning community. Continue to encourage students to post questions on the Moodle forums and to contact the UC if they require help with the learning material.
Regular interactive ZOOM sessions were offered to complement lecture content and create space for student participation and discussion. Students were encouraged to engage with the learning community through Moodle discussion forums, share their reflections, and contact the unit coordinator for further support if required.
Source: SUTE data and SUTE Teacher report
Student comments were positive, noting the lecturer’s supportive and approachable manner. No specific concerns were raised.
Students will continue to be encouraged to provide detailed feedback in future evaluations to support ongoing enhancement of the unit.
In Progress
Source: Informal verbal feedback.
Students reported that they enjoyed completing the online quizzes and found them helpful in maintaining engagement with weekly content.
Maintain the online quizzes assessment and continue expanding and refreshing the quiz question bank to support assessment integrity and sustained student engagement.
In Progress
Source: Informal verbal feedback.
Students reported that they enjoyed exploring different social work fields of practice and found the practitioner interviews engaging and relevant.
Continue incorporating practitioner interviews to strengthen students’ understanding of diverse practice contexts
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Examine social work fields of practice within different contexts in Australia
- Describe social work processes required for effective communication, assessment, intervention and evaluation
- Explore the issues that impact on social work practice
- Reflect on the social work ethical issues that have emerged in exploring different social work fields of practice.
The Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards (ASWEAS 2020) discuss the importance of students gaining an understanding of the experience of individuals, groups and communities within a range of different fields of practice settings (ASWEAS Appendix 2.1). This unit provides a beginning understanding of social work in general and within these practice settings. It will allow students to understand some of the complex issues that social workers are involved in within their practice. Also, it will commence the process for students to assess whether their value base aligns with that of the social work profession.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Online Quiz(zes) | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Case Study | • | • | • | |
| 3 - Written Assessment | • | • | ||
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | • |
| 9 - Social Innovation | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |