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SOWK28004 - Intersectionality and Social Justice in Social Work Practice

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will explore the concepts of intersectionality and social justice in social work practice to address systemic inequalities and promote equitable outcomes when working with individuals, groups and communities. Using critical intersectional and identity theoretical frameworks, you will critically examine the fluidity and complexity of identity. You will explore how social constructions, such as ethnicity, culture, gender, religion, class, sexual orientation, age, disability, and other identity markers, intersect to create nuanced experiences of oppression and privilege. This analysis will help you to understand how groups are categorised, stratified and often stigmatised based on their conformity to or deviation from dominant social and cultural norms. This knowledge and the AASW Code of Ethics (2020) will inform holistic and collaborative social work assessments considering service users' lived experiences of multiple intersecting identities. You will employ intersectional-informed critical reflection to examine your identities and experiences, facilitating awareness of social work’s positionality and power relations. Reflecting on your cultural background, biases, and assumptions will promote culturally safe and sensitive social work practice. The unit explores discriminatory structures and practices and their impact on social work in Australia. It will equip you with skills to advocate for systemic changes and promote social justice to support diverse service users effectively.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
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 2 - 2025

Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Sydney

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).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate 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. Reflective Practice Assignment 20%
2. Written Assessment 40%
3. Case Study 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%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

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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.

Unit learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Analyse and apply critical and intersectional theoretical frameworks to understand how various social constructs intersect to create complex experiences of oppression and privilege.
  2. Apply critical transformative social work practices and social justice principles, guided by the AASW Code of Ethics (2020), to effectively engage and support diverse populations.
  3. Engage in intersectional-informed critical reflective practice to identify and challenge personal biases and assumptions and critically examine the concepts of power, privilege and oppression in social work practice with diverse populations.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Reflective Practice Assignment • •
2 - Written Assessment • •
3 - Case Study • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3
1 - Knowledge • • •
2 - Communication • • •
4 - Research •
5 - Self-management • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8