SWN003 Community and Policy Practice

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2025, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

The commitment by social workers to social justice in the modern welfare state is the cornerstone to creating inclusive community change efforts and fair social policy responses. This unit provides you with opportunities to re-orient your practice by using critical theory to research and analyse 'big' policy issues of poverty, inequity and social exclusion that impact on the lives of vulnerable groups. In developing your critical approach, you will better understand the nature and construction of social problems and formulate change responses through the design, implementation and evaluation of socially just community change and social policy strategies. This unit prepares you for moving from research and analysis of social problems and key change ideas to the consideration of the potentials and challenges of community action strategies and social policy solutions.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Apply policy literacy in the critical analysis of Australian welfare state foundations, political processes and policy landscapes.
2. Explain policy as a contested space and demonstrate how to impact policy change through the use of relevant policy methodologies, persuasive argument and socially just strategies.
3. Use relevant methodologies, including digital technologies to critically design, analyse and evaluate socially just community change initiatives that address inequities.
4. Interpret AASW professional standards and apply to the complexities of ethical professional practice in community and social policy processes.
5. Apply collaborative skills to work and communicate as a team, ethically, entrepreneurially and respectfully towards achieving social justice, human rights, and progressive social change.

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit engages you in your learning through on-campus workshops with digital online support, project related exercises and experiential activities to explore real world community, policy and critical practice. The workshop provides a forum for the co-creation of new knowledge and experience through individual and collaborative group work, experiential activities, and Q&As. It is based on the following combination:

• the application of a critical theory, social constructivist approach requiring you to work independently and collaboratively to research and analyse real world community and social policy issues and constructs which relate knowledge to practice and career plans
• critical exploration of diverse perspectives and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives for socially just practice
• group interaction, discussion, and analysis of current events, media representations and discourses of the community and social policy
• presentation and communication technologies, will support developing social work policy and community practice expertise (such as critical and social entrepreneurial responses for change)

Reflecting the complex and intertwined nature of community work and social policy practice, this unit uses two inter-related pieces of assessment where unit learning outcomes are shown in a variety of ways. E.g. you not only interpret AASW professional standards but also apply policy literacy to the complexities of ethical practice in community and social policy processes on one occasion in this unit.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Feedback in this unit is provided to you across the semester in the following ways:

• informal: worked examples, such as verbal feedback is provided through workshop sessions, in class, personal consultation, group discussions, and engagement with on-campus discussions, experiential activities, virtual learning,
• formal: in writing, e.g. criteria sheets, written commentary in workshops, unit materials or communication, peer interaction 
• direct: to students, either in written form or in consultation
• indirect: to the whole class.

Assessment

Overview

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Digital Poster

You have been asked by your organisation to design a socially just, novel new community initiative for community change that is action oriented. You have also been tasked with delivering your proposed project approach to the community as an online 3-5min digital poster. In the digital poster you will critically and creatively illustrate key parts of the community change initiative using socially just entrepreneurial thinking to solve a problem, that is: outlining the community problem for addressing, and community work principles and values, theories, methods as well as implementation challenges. 

The new initiative will be relevant to the target audience (the community) and informative and engaging to the community. The innovative approach will highlight the potential of your community initiative in bringing about social change for diverse groups (including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people who are refugees, younger or older people, people with disabilities, LGBTQIA+ people or people living in rural/remote areas), as well as capturing new insights to inspire increased community equity, belonging and solidarity. This piece provides you with authentic, real-world skill-sets for enhancing your critical community work practice and career goals, that is you will consider community action strategies necessary to raise awareness and build resources (incl. using digital technologies) necessary for creating social and community change

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Assessment: Project (applied)

You will work as a project team of four members maximum to research, critically analyse and respond to a real world social problem or policy issue where social change needs to occur. Team members will use advanced level critical and social entrepreneurial thinking to present their initial ideas in a performance presentation as a credible, authoritative and defensible case for a new initiative or a policy change that has maximum policy impact. Teams need to clearly communicate why the policy change needs to occur at this point in time. Student teams will then produce an appropriately formatted document for submission to a government ministerial office at the state, national, or global level. This piece provides you with authentic, real-world skill-sets for enhancing your critical professional practice and career goals.

Performance presentation (20%) 15 mins (incl. 5mins co creation peer feedback)

Policy submission (30%)

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

Recommended text(s)

Althaus, C., Ball, S., Bridgman, P., Davis, G., & Threlfall, D. (2023). The Australian policy handbook (7th ed.). Routledge.

Bacchi, C. (2009). Analysing policy: What's the problem represented to be? French's Forest, NSW: Pearson Australia.

First Nations Constitutional Convention (2017). Uluru Statement from the Heart

Ife, J. (2016). Community development in an uncertain world: Vision, analysis and practice (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kenny, S., & Hand, T. (2022). Developing communities for the future (6th ed.). Cengage Learning.

McClelland, A., Smyth, P., & Marston, G. (2020). Social policy in Australia (4th ed.).Oxford University Press.

Taylor, J., Wilkinson, D., & Cheers, B. (2008). Working with communities in health and human services. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.

Risk Assessment Statement

Students are advised that some content and experiences may be distressing. Appropriate measures will be in place for debriefing and closure.

Course Learning Outcomes

SW81 Master of Social Work - Qualifying

1. Critically evaluate and apply critical social work theories, knowledge and skills that reflect the professional standards of the discipline and identify with the values and ethics that guide professional practice, including the recognition of diversity, human rights and promotion of social equality and justice.
   Relates to: Digital Poster, Project (applied)
2. Formulate strategies for engaging in critical thinking, decision making, critically reflective and culturally safe practice to create innovative and contextually responsive interventions that work towards emancipatory change.
   Relates to: Digital Poster, Project (applied)
3. Apply digital capabilities while accessing and evaluating relevant bodies of knowledge that guide collaborative, intra- and inter-professional practice with diverse populations (individual, groups, communities) to promote and advancing socially just outcomes.
   Relates to: Digital Poster
4. Communicate respectfully and work effectively with diverse groups, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, LGBTINBQ+, refugee, disabled and older populations, their families, carers, interprofessional teams and community leaders, to ensure safe and coordinated support for their interests and rights.
   Relates to: Project (applied)
5. Practise professional integrity, and effective written, oral and digital communication to analyse and convey complex information and build productive relationships across diverse stakeholders to promote ethical social work practice.
   Relates to: Project (applied)