SWN024 Child, Youth and Family Practice

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2025, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

Social workers work with children, young people, and families in many different contexts, requiring a broad range of knowledge and skills. This unit provides you with core knowledge and skills required for working with these groups. This unit uses a multidimensional approach to understanding the experiences and life course of children, young people, and families. Factors which contribute to vulnerability, such as poverty, domestic, family and community violence, and disability are explored. Skills working with diverse families are emphasised. This second year unit of the MSW(Q) builds on the communication and helping process skills developed in SWN004, and draws on the theories introduced in SWN018. Content and skills specifically intersect with mental health curricula in SWN005 and the impacts of colonisation in SWN023.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Formulate and convey a critical understanding of the individual, relational, structural and digital forces that impact upon the development and experiences of children, young people and families
2. Appraise the multidimensional environment to identify strengths, resources and vulnerabilities in children, young people, and families
3. Create an interpersonal process that engages children, young people and families that reflects a critical consciousness of the complexity of the context, and an anti-oppressive approach.
4. Critically consider and communicate the professional, legal, organisational and digital requirements for practice in primary, secondary, and tertiary child and family well-being services.

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit uses a blend of lectures, required pre-reading, interactive tutorials, and on-line resources and activities to support key content areas. The lectures, readings, and on-line materials will provide the knowledge essential to passing the unit. The tutorials will focus on the development of the core skills and will directly relate to the skills based assessment tasks.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives are used to explore how services to children, young people and families could be improved for all. Culturally safe social work but also educational practices are discussed and expected from all. 

Embedded support for learning is also provided to you via access to the Student Support Group, Library liaison officers and a range of online academic resources provided by QUT. You are also provided with knowledge of how to build and develop hyour career in the context of social work practice.

The development and refinement of digital practices and interprofessional learning occurs with course materials and authentic assessment pieces which mirror the real-world practice of social work with children, young people and families.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

 Formative feedback on progress with tutorial activities will be provided. Individual summative feedback will be provided in addition to the assessment grading rubrics, with more general comments being provided on the unit Canvas site.

Assessment

Overview

SWN024 contains AASW Core Curriculum content in child wellbeing and protection and there are two pieces of assessment for this unit.

Assignment 1: Annotated Bibliography: Students will complete an annotated bibliography inclusive of five readings from the course readings list. This assessment will require students to convey a critical understanding of the forces impacting children, young people and families within a multidimensional environment. 

Assignment 2: Engagement Plan and Recording: You will develop a written engagement plan and online video demonstrating the use of engagement skills and a developmentally appropriate process for developing understanding of a child, young person or a parent's situation. The content from the lectures, readings and on-line material will provide the necessary knowledge for successful completion of this task, and you will practice the requisite skills in the interactive tutorials.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Annotated Bibliography

The annotated bibliography comprises a summary and critical evaluation of five key readings from the unit.

Assessment: Engagement Plan and Recording

In response to a provided real world case scenario, you will provide a 1500-word written engagement strategy and a 20-minute filmed role play demonstrating your engagement skills and one developmentally appropriate activity that aids in developing a multidimensional understanding of the client situation.

This is an authentic piece of assessment as you will be required to create and enact engagement strategies in the course of your future practice:

a. the role is social work practitioner

b. the audiences are clients, supervisors and other stakeholders

c. the process is to use your skills to deploy your engagement strategy

d. the product is the video evidence of your engagement strategy and skills. 

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)

Heward-Belle, S., & Tsantefski, M. (Eds.). (2023). Working with Families Experiencing Vulnerability: A Partnership Approach (3rd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/9781009218344

Other

You will need access to a video recording device such as an iPad for the filming of your demonstration for assessment 2.

You will be able to access many of the required readings from QUT Readings.

Risk Assessment Statement

Students may find some of the information in this unit emotionally and psychologically challenging. Please advise the Unit Coordinator if this occurs so that they can assist you in accessing appropriate supports such as the QUT Counselling Services.

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: Annotated Bibliography
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: Annotated Bibliography