Unit Synopsis
In this unit, you will explore issues that impact on professional practice, and apply prior learning of paediatric and adult clinical practice to complex and contemporary contexts. You will integrate theoretical and empirical research in the field of speech pathology and debate ethical dilemmas. Professional and interprofessional competencies will be investigated in the context of speech pathology practice.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 4 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Pre-Requisites:
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. Oral Examination | 0% |
| 2. Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | 0% |
This is a pass/fail (non-graded) unit. To pass the unit, you must pass all of the individual assessment tasks shown in the table above.
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 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 85.71% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 87.5% 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: Unit coordinator reflection and observation, and formal student feedback.
Continue to include weekly case studies as the primary means by which students apply knowledge from the weekly lectures and practise verbal communication skills to be used in oral exams.
It is recommended that the use of case studies to enhance student learning and preparation for student exams continues to be the main learning approach in tutorials.
In 2025 the same format of case based tutorials was applied to all unit topics.
Source: Unit coordinator reflection and observation, and informal student feedback.
Continue to invite people with lived experience and/or industry experts to contribute specialist knowledge to the evolving topics in SPCH14001.
It is recommended that the unit coordinator invites guest speakers to contribute specialist knowledge in 2025 to enhance student knowledge and connections with industry.
In 2025 guest speakers were invited to speak on specialist topics to enhance student learning.
Source: Instructor reflection, formal and informal student feedback
Enhance the clarity and detail of the Assessment 1 and 2 rubrics to better communicate expectations to students
It is recommended that additional detail be incorporated into the Assessment 1 and 2 rubrics to improve understanding of expectations around task requirements and help students better understand how their work will be evaluated.
In Progress
Source: Formal student SUTE feedback
Increase the explicit connection between clinical topics and their real-world application to help students better understand their relevance to professional practice
It is recommended that the real-world relevance of clinical topics be made more explicit within the unit content and assessment tasks to strengthen the connection between theory and professional practice.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Integrate ethical principles into clinical decision making
- Analyse and interpret assessment data for children and adults with communication and/or swallowing goals and needs
- Create and implement holistic management plans to optimise communication
- Evaluate the role and scope of practice of speech pathologists and other professionals involved in the interprofessional care of people with diverse needs
- Justify decisions using clinical reasoning and evidence-based practice within the context of paediatric and adult speech pathology practice
The learning outcomes in this unit contribute to the development of clinical and professional competencies as outlined by Speech Pathology Australia's Professional standards.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Oral Examination | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) | • | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | • | • |
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | • | • | • |
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | • | • |
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | ||||
| 5 - Team Work | • | ||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | • | • | • | • |
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | • | ||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | • | • | • | • | • |
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |