SWB100 Orientation to Social Work and Human Services
To view more information for this unit, select Unit Outline from the list below. Please note the teaching period for which the Unit Outline is relevant.
| Unit code: | SWB100 |
|---|---|
| Antirequisite(s): | HHB100 |
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Timetable | Details in HiQ, if available |
| Availabilities |
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| CSP student contribution | The Commonwealth supported place student contribution amount for this unit depends upon the course of study. Find out more |
| Pre-2021 CSP student contribution | The pre-2021 commonwealth supported place (CSP) contribution amount only applies to students enrolled in a course prior to 2021. To learn more, visit our Understanding your fees page. |
| Domestic tuition unit fee | $3,204 |
| International unit fee | $4,572 |
Unit Outline: Semester 1 2025, Kelvin Grove, Internal
| Unit code: | SWB100 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Anti-requisite: | HHB100 |
| Coordinators: | Yasmin Thomas | y.thomas@qut.edu.au Alyssa Venning | alyssa.venning@qut.edu.au |
Overview
Purposefully positioned at the beginning of your course, this unit scaffolds essential learning about the scope of social work or human services, the professional context, and the changing occupational patterns of and service delivery. It is important that you start to explore your own motivation for becoming a social work or human service practitioner and begin to develop your professional identity. This unit also considers it essential that you are provided with the foundation for developing a critical approach to practice, grounded in social justice and social change. The concepts of power, oppression, privilege, and positionality will be explored. An understanding of critical practice, cultural diversity and the construction of 'difference' is presented as fundamental to commencing your reflective learning journey that you will continue throughout the social work or human services course.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Critically analyse and communicate the nature and scope of social problems associated with social justice issues and social forces in the social work and human services sector and the social work and human services roles within it
- Reflect on and critique the role of values, ethics and practice standards in social work and human services
- Collaborate as a group to critique establishment theories and the history and changing contexts of social work and human services in Australia
- Reflect on and critique your own developing sense of professional identity and positionality
- Select and apply academic skills and tools to different academic contexts
Content
The unit will provide a foundational understanding of a range of social work and human services concepts and theories. It aims to provide an overview of social and political forces that shape social issues and responses, as well as the breadth of social work and human services work within contemporary Australian society. We will examine the current contexts that impact on practice processes, methods and sources of knowledge used by social work and human service practitioners. The unit will also engage you in thinking critically about your developing sense of professional identity and positionality; facilitating critical reflection on how your values and beliefs shape your practice that supports social justice.
Content will include:
- Foundational social work and human services knowledge and concepts including social justice, critical analysis; self-reflection and positionality.
- Values and ethics for social work and human services that support social justice.
- Global social forces and their impacts on shaping contemporary Australian contexts.
- The history of social work and its relevance for practice today, including interaction with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and diverse perspectives.
- An introduction to formal and informal theoretical frameworks, practice approaches and practice methods.
- An introduction to fields of practice and working across difference, power and oppression.
Relates to learning outcomes
Learning outcomes link to:
AASW Education and Accreditation Standards: 3.1, 3.2, 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 4.1.6
AASW Practice Standards (2013): 1.2, 2.2,3.1, 4.1 4.2, 4.3, 5.2, 5.4 , 6.1, 6.3
ACWA Practice Guidelines 1.1, 1.2,1.5, 2.7, 2.9, 5.1, 5.2, 5.6, 5.7, 6.2, 6.5, 6.6, 7.4, 7.6, 7.7, 8.3, 8.6, 8.9
Learning Approaches
The unit is taught in lecture and tutorial mode. The unit will be supported by a Canvas site. Lectures and tutorials will include didactic and dialogical approaches to the unit topics. They will specifically include information on, and support for, the assessment pieces for the unit. Required tutorials for convening student presentations and related peer discussion will also be scheduled. Through the assessment approach, you will have an opportunity to explore and present your critical analysis of a real world social justice issue of your choosing in both items of assessment through different modes (both oral and written). Critical and transformative pedagogies will be employed using a combination of problem-based learning, critical analysis of social issues and case scenarios to facilitate the integration of theory and practice across all realms of social work and human services.
Support for learning is embedded in the unit through the availability of support from the Student Success Group and QUT library. You will also be encouraged to access SWAHPS, the Social Work and Human Services peer support program.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Assessment item one and two are formative and summative. General feedback will be provided to you via the unit homepage. Specific feedback will be provided to you via tutors. Assessment item three is summative. Feedback will be provided via tutors.
Assessment
Overview
You will have an opportunity to explore and present your critical analysis of a real world social justice issue of your choosing in two items of assessment (Assessment 1 and 3) through two different modes (oral and written). You will also have an opportunity to compare and contrast critical and establishment theoretical frameworks used in social work, across a range of foundational concepts including methods of practice used in social work. You will demonstrate this knowledge in application to a practice scenario (Assessment 2).
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Presentation (Oral)
Choose a social justice issue that you are passionate about and through critical review of this issue, apply and demonstrate your understanding of the first 5 weeks of unit topics.
Your presentation of the issue will include:
- examining why the issue chosen constitutes a social justice issue;
- identifying global social forces that are implicated in the social injustice;
- articulating various methods of social work practices that might be relevant in responding to the social justice issue;
- identifying differences between how critical and establishment theories conceptualise the social justice issue, and;
- examining your own values in relation to the social justice issue and congruence of these with the espoused values and ethics of social work.
Assessment: Case Study - performance
This assessment task will require you to work with members of your tutorial group in order to contribute to your group's capacity to demonstrate the application of a critical approach and an establishment approach to a practice scenario. Your group will work together to identify a practice scenario, then create a performance to highlight the differences between at least 2 theoretical perspectives in terms of their practice implications for understanding and responding to the scenario.
This assessment has group (20 marks) and individual (20 marks) assessment components (equal split of the 40 marks). The individual component comprises a self and peer assessment.
Due date: Component 1 (your tutorial’s group performance) will be assessed during week 13.
Due date: Component 2 (Self and peer assessment) will be assessed in week 8-13.
Assessment: Essay
Building on your presentation in assessment 1, in this assignment you continue to research your chosen social justice issue, connecting to academic material from the entire unit. This authentic piece of assessment is in written form and requires you to engage and educate a broad audience about the chosen social justice issue. The written piece will take the form of an opinion editorial that could be submitted to The Guardian, The Conversation, or Social Dialogue magazine to raise consciousness about the social justice issue and engage in research as a practice for social change.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
Resource Materials
Prescribed text(s)
Morley, C., Ablett, P., &. MacFarlane, S. (2019). Engaging with social work: A critical introduction (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Other
Students will have access to material on Canvas including a weekly current affairs watch.
Risk Assessment Statement
There are no particular risks associated with this unit.
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.SW04 Bachelor of Social Work
- Critique and apply coherent theoretical, practical and contextually relevant social work knowledge, skills and values, and cultivate a commitment toward meeting diverse clients and community needs. [Knowledge, Practice, Values and Disposition]
Relates to: Essay - Construct and implement strategies for engaging in critical thinking and decision-making, utilising advanced research knowledge and skills to inform culturally safe practice, and promote social justice from diverse perspectives. [Practice, Knowledge, Values and Disposition]
Relates to: Presentation (Oral), Case Study - performance - Access, evaluate, and utilise relevant social work information that informs and assists in intra- and inter-professional communication in a range of contexts, through effective oral, written and digital interactions. [Practice, Knowledge]
Relates to: Presentation (Oral) - Design a plan of action for working within socially progressive, anti-oppressive, culturally safe and ethical practice, that embody an autonomous and collaborative evidence-based orientation to social work, integral to the standards of professional social work practice. [Values and Disposition, Practice]
Relates to: Case Study - performance, Essay
SW05 Bachelor of Social Work (Honours)
- Critically evaluate theoretical, practical and contextually relevant social work knowledge, skills and values and, as a change facilitator, meet diverse client and community needs that promote social justice
Relates to: Presentation (Oral), Case Study - performance - Develop advanced knowledge, skills and values, to inform culturally safe communication and effective intra- and inter-professional collaboration and with a wide range of audiences and contexts, including accessing, evaluating and utlising digital health information.
Relates to: Presentation (Oral), Case Study - performance - Access, evaluate and utilise social work information to advocate for a socially just society and the promotion of human dignity and worth that reflect different social, political, cultural and historical circumstances, on the beliefs, values and aspirations of various groups, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations
Relates to: Essay
Unit Outline: Semester 2 2025, Kelvin Grove, Internal
| Unit code: | SWB100 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Anti-requisite: | HHB100 |
| Coordinators: | Yasmin Thomas | y.thomas@qut.edu.au |
Overview
Purposefully positioned at the beginning of your course, this unit scaffolds essential learning about the scope of social work or human services, the professional context, and the changing occupational patterns of and service delivery. It is important that you start to explore your own motivation for becoming a social work or human service practitioner and begin to develop your professional identity. This unit also considers it essential that you are provided with the foundation for developing a critical approach to practice, grounded in social justice and social change. The concepts of power, oppression, privilege, and positionality will be explored. An understanding of critical practice, cultural diversity and the construction of 'difference' is presented as fundamental to commencing your reflective learning journey that you will continue throughout the social work or human services course.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Critically analyse and communicate the nature and scope of social problems associated with social justice issues and social forces in the social work and human services sector and the social work and human services roles within it
- Reflect on and critique the role of values, ethics and practice standards in social work and human services
- Collaborate as a group to critique establishment theories and the history and changing contexts of social work and human services in Australia
- Reflect on and critique your own developing sense of professional identity and positionality
- Select and apply academic skills and tools to different academic contexts
Content
The unit will provide a foundational understanding of a range of social work and human services concepts and theories. It aims to provide an overview of social and political forces that shape social issues and responses, as well as the breadth of social work and human services work within contemporary Australian society. We will examine the current contexts that impact on practice processes, methods and sources of knowledge used by social work and human service practitioners. The unit will also engage you in thinking critically about your developing sense of professional identity and positionality; facilitating critical reflection on how your values and beliefs shape your practice that supports social justice.
Content will include:
- Foundational social work and human services knowledge and concepts including social justice, critical analysis; self-reflection and positionality.
- Values and ethics for social work and human services that support social justice.
- Global social forces and their impacts on shaping contemporary Australian contexts.
- The history of social work and its relevance for practice today, including interaction with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives and diverse perspectives.
- An introduction to formal and informal theoretical frameworks, practice approaches and practice methods.
- An introduction to fields of practice and working across difference, power and oppression.
Relates to learning outcomes
Learning outcomes link to:
AASW Education and Accreditation Standards: 3.1, 3.2, 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1.5, 4.1.6
AASW Practice Standards (2013): 1.2, 2.2,3.1, 4.1 4.2, 4.3, 5.2, 5.4 , 6.1, 6.3
ACWA Practice Guidelines 1.1, 1.2,1.5, 2.7, 2.9, 5.1, 5.2, 5.6, 5.7, 6.2, 6.5, 6.6, 7.4, 7.6, 7.7, 8.3, 8.6, 8.9
Learning Approaches
The unit is taught in lecture and tutorial mode. The unit will be supported by a Canvas site. Lectures and tutorials will include didactic and dialogical approaches to the unit topics. They will specifically include information on, and support for, the assessment pieces for the unit. Required tutorials for convening student presentations and related peer discussion will also be scheduled. Through the assessment approach, you will have an opportunity to explore and present your critical analysis of a real world social justice issue of your choosing in both items of assessment through different modes (both oral and written). Critical and transformative pedagogies will be employed using a combination of problem-based learning, critical analysis of social issues and case scenarios to facilitate the integration of theory and practice across all realms of social work and human services.
Support for learning is embedded in the unit through the availability of support from the Student Success Group and QUT library. You will also be encouraged to access SWAHPS, the Social Work and Human Services peer support program.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Assessment item one and two are formative and summative. General feedback will be provided to you via the unit homepage. Specific feedback will be provided to you via tutors. Assessment item three is summative. Feedback will be provided via tutors.
Assessment
Overview
You will have an opportunity to explore and present your critical analysis of a real world social justice issue of your choosing in two items of assessment (Assessment 1 and 3) through two different modes (oral and written). You will also have an opportunity to compare and contrast critical and establishment theoretical frameworks used in social work, across a range of foundational concepts including methods of practice used in social work. You will demonstrate this knowledge in application to a practice scenario (Assessment 2).
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Presentation (Oral)
Choose a social justice issue that you are passionate about and through critical review of this issue, apply and demonstrate your understanding of the first 5 weeks of unit topics.
Your presentation of the issue will include:
- examining why the issue chosen constitutes a social justice issue;
- identifying global social forces that are implicated in the social injustice;
- articulating various methods of social work practices that might be relevant in responding to the social justice issue;
- identifying differences between how critical and establishment theories conceptualise the social justice issue, and;
- examining your own values in relation to the social justice issue and congruence of these with the espoused values and ethics of social work.
Assessment: Case Study - performance
This assessment task will require you to work with members of your tutorial group in order to contribute to your group's capacity to demonstrate the application of a critical approach and an establishment approach to a practice scenario. Your group will work together to identify a practice scenario, then create a performance to highlight the differences between at least 2 theoretical perspectives in terms of their practice implications for understanding and responding to the scenario.
This assessment has group (20 marks) and individual (20 marks) assessment components (equal split of the 40 marks). The individual component comprises a self and peer assessment.
Due date: Component 1 (your tutorial’s group performance) will be assessed during week 13.
Due date: Component 2 (Self and peer assessment) will be assessed in week 8-13.
Assessment: Essay
Building on your presentation in assessment 1, in this assignment you continue to research your chosen social justice issue, connecting to academic material from the entire unit. This authentic piece of assessment is in written form and requires you to engage and educate a broad audience about the chosen social justice issue. The written piece will take the form of an opinion editorial that could be submitted to The Guardian, The Conversation, or Social Dialogue magazine to raise consciousness about the social justice issue and engage in research as a practice for social change.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
Resource Materials
Prescribed text(s)
Morley, C., Ablett, P., &. MacFarlane, S. (2019). Engaging with social work: A critical introduction (2nd ed.). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Other
Students will have access to material on Canvas including a weekly current affairs watch.
Risk Assessment Statement
There are no particular risks associated with this unit.
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.SW04 Bachelor of Social Work
- Critique and apply coherent theoretical, practical and contextually relevant social work knowledge, skills and values, and cultivate a commitment toward meeting diverse clients and community needs. [Knowledge, Practice, Values and Disposition]
Relates to: Essay - Construct and implement strategies for engaging in critical thinking and decision-making, utilising advanced research knowledge and skills to inform culturally safe practice, and promote social justice from diverse perspectives. [Practice, Knowledge, Values and Disposition]
Relates to: Presentation (Oral), Case Study - performance - Access, evaluate, and utilise relevant social work information that informs and assists in intra- and inter-professional communication in a range of contexts, through effective oral, written and digital interactions. [Practice, Knowledge]
Relates to: Presentation (Oral) - Design a plan of action for working within socially progressive, anti-oppressive, culturally safe and ethical practice, that embody an autonomous and collaborative evidence-based orientation to social work, integral to the standards of professional social work practice. [Values and Disposition, Practice]
Relates to: Case Study - performance, Essay
SW05 Bachelor of Social Work (Honours)
- Critically evaluate theoretical, practical and contextually relevant social work knowledge, skills and values and, as a change facilitator, meet diverse client and community needs that promote social justice
Relates to: Presentation (Oral), Case Study - performance - Develop advanced knowledge, skills and values, to inform culturally safe communication and effective intra- and inter-professional collaboration and with a wide range of audiences and contexts, including accessing, evaluating and utlising digital health information.
Relates to: Presentation (Oral), Case Study - performance - Access, evaluate and utilise social work information to advocate for a socially just society and the promotion of human dignity and worth that reflect different social, political, cultural and historical circumstances, on the beliefs, values and aspirations of various groups, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations
Relates to: Essay