Unit Synopsis
This unit examines a range of theories that have informed professional social work practice. You will be offered with learning opportunities to identify and critique key theories as well as apply them to contemporary social work practice. You will examine the usefulness of theories alongside their strengths and limitations in informing social work interventions in various fields of practice. In addition, you will engage in critical reflection to support your emerging ethical theoretical framework for professional social work practice.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 2 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
SOWK11015 Professional Communication in Human Services, or SOWK11012 Introduction to Social Work A and SOWK11013 Introduction to Social Work B. 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 2 - 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. Case Study | 40% |
| 2. Creative work | 20% |
| 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 .
Term 2 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 66.67% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 22.5% 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: SUTE Unit Comments
I really enjoy learning about the underpinning theoretical perspectives that shape social work and how these are used in practice.
Continue to focus on the application of theories to practice in the content delivery.
The central focus of the unit are theories of change and their application to social work practice.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
I found the teaching style and PowerPoint presentations a great help and allowed me to absorb and connect more.
Continue to follow the general format in how the key concepts are presented.
The general teaching format continued to be followed.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
The video lectures are helpful however I could consider recording a few shorter videos to cover the content/ break it up.
Review the delivery mode of the lecture material.
The delivery mode of the lecture material was reviewed and the decision was made to continue with the existing model
Source: SUTE data
The unit and lectures were well organized.
Continue with the general format of the unit delivery in Moodle
In Progress
Source: SUTE data
Breaking the prerecorded lecture content into smaller (2 or 3 recordings) would make a positive difference and help stay focused.
Review this recommendation around producing shorter videos.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Analyse how key philosophies inform the delivery of human services and the practice of social work.
- Analyse social work practice through a theoretical and social work values lens.
- Justify the importance of integrating a philosophy, ideology or theory into your emerging professional practice framework.
- Analyse the social context and how it influences social workers’ understanding of individual issues or problems and how to initiate change.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Case Study | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Creative work | • | • | ||
| 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 | |