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Unit Synopsis
This unit examines social work practice with children, young people, and families, with a particular focus on statutory contexts including child protection, youth justice, family law, and mental health. It explores the historical, socio-political, and legislative conditions that shape contemporary practice, including the emergence of child-focused approaches and the principle of the ‘best interests of the child’. The unit critically engages with the multidimensional nature of child maltreatment and youth risk, with particular attention to structural influences such as poverty, social determinants of health, and systemic inequality. It examines the role of surveillance, control, and regulation within welfare systems, and the ongoing impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people, and families. The unit develops practice capability in risk assessment, professional judgement, and intervention planning. Students engage in applied learning through case-based analysis and a simulated multidisciplinary case conference to collaboratively develop and justify risk assessments and intervention strategies in complex practice contexts.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 3 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 4 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Students must have completed first and second year units before enrolling in this unit. Foundational knowledge is required to successfully meet the unit's learning outcomes. 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 - 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. Written Assessment | 40% |
| 2. Group Work | 60% |
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: Have your Say
More zoom sessions required
Consider including more frequent zoom sessions, according to student requirements
In response to previous feedback, tutorials were offered in the evenings and more frequently to enhance student participation.
Source: SUTE Unit Comments
Moodle was very hard to navigate. Weekly tiles for content would have been easier. There were also double ups of information across tiles.
The new Moodle set out has been introduced across social work units to improve accessibility and navigation.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Critically analyse the historical, socio-political, and legislative contexts shaping contemporary practice with children, young people and families, including the construction of the ‘best interests of the child’ and child-focused approaches.
- Critically evaluate practice issues and decision-making in statutory contexts (including child protection, youth justice, family law, and mental health), with particular attention to risk, harm, and professional judgement.
- Apply and justify assessment and intervention strategies when working with children, young people and families, including the assessment of risk and harm, in ways that are ethically informed and responsive to complex practice contexts.
- Critically reflect on and apply culturally responsive and ethical practice, including working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and families, within statutory and non-statutory settings.
Learning Outcome: Relevant ASWEAS (2024) Standards and Clauses
LO1: Critically analyse the historical, socio-political, and legislative contexts shaping contemporary practice with children, young people and families, including the construction of the ‘best interests of the child’ and child-focused approaches.
Standard 3: Curriculum – Knowledge for practice; understanding of social, political and legislative contexts; human rights and social justice frameworks; child-focused and rights-based approaches.
LO2: Critically evaluate practice issues and decision-making in statutory contexts (including child protection, youth justice, family law, and mental health), with particular attention to risk, harm, and professional judgement.
Standard 3: Curriculum – Professional judgement and decision-making; ethical practice; understanding of statutory and legal contexts; risk and harm assessment.
LO3: Apply and justify assessment and intervention strategies when working with children, young people and families, including the assessment of risk and harm, in ways that are ethically informed and responsive to complex practice contexts.
Standard 3: Curriculum – Application of knowledge to practice; assessment and intervention skills; ethical and accountable practice; working with complexity and uncertainty; and collaborative and multidisciplinary practice.
LO4: Critically reflect on and apply culturally responsive and ethical practice, including working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and families, within statutory and non-statutory settings.
Standard 1: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledges and Practice.
Standard 3: Curriculum – Culturally responsive practice; reflexivity; ethical practice; working with diverse populations
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Group Work | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | ||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | ||
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | ||
| 5 - Team Work | • | |||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | |||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | |
| 9 - Social Innovation | • | |||
| 10 - First Nations Knowledges | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |