SWB322 Gender, Diversity and Cultural Safety

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2024, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

Gender, sexual and cultural diversity affect how social problems are constructed and understood. Using an intersectional feminist approach, this unit focuses on social and cultural justice related to gender, diversity and cultural safety. The purpose is to develop knowledge, skills, values and dispositions for working respectfully, inclusively and safely with others. Part of the work involves critically reflecting on how your own gender, sexual and cultural histories and positionings influence your professional identities as critical practitioners. Cultural safety is defined broadly and is threaded through the unit. 

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Critically analyse diverse standpoints, theories and approaches around gender, diversity and cultural safety
2. Critique and communicate dominant values, language, discourse, social constructions and systemic inequalities that impact on diverse groups
3. Develop a socially just personal framework for applying culturally safe, anti-oppressive practice for working with gender and diversity across groups and reflect on own professional positioning
4. Apply teamwork and group collaboration skills.

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit will involve a weekly lecture and tutorials. The lecture and tutorials will engage you in key knowledge, activities and processes to develop practice approach to gender, diversity and cultural safety, using a mixture of lecture components, discussion topics, case examples and processing of student observations around specific tasks which contribute to the assessment.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

You will gain feedback in this unit by participating in weekly lecture and tutorial discussions. You will also receive written and verbal feedback on your proposed approach to both assessments and comments on summative assessment in addition to criteria sheets.

You will be asked to critically reflect on your own professional positioning and what this might mean for your future professional practice. As part of this, you will consider how you apply insights generated from the unit alongside your personal and study experiences, as well as managing any gender, sexual and cultural stereotypes or assumptions.

Assessment

Overview

The assessment in this unit targets a broad range of capabilities including teamwork, communication, critical thinking and analysis, and theoretical and practical understanding. There are three components: 1) research poster; 2) critical self-reflection; and 3) group presentation. The (individual) research poster enables you to demonstrate your understanding of the way a social problem is constructed in relation to gender, sexuality and/or cultural diversity. The critical self-reflection ensures you understand how your own socio-cultural locations based on gender, sexuality and cultural diversity affect your identity as a critical practitioner. Finally, the group presentation involves a counter-storying process where you unearth and unsettle dominant and unfair narratives about gender, sexuality and/or ethnicity in relation to a chosen social issue. All three pieces of assessment are authentic and based on real world activities you will be asked to do when you graduate. 

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Research Poster

Research posters are often used by social work academics and social work and human service practitioners. Their purpose is to visually depict an important social issue/problem and in concise and accessible language, raise awareness of this issue or problem. Your poster must relate to a social issue through the prism of gender, sexuality and/or cultural diversity affecting a chosen client group. We will digitally display these posters on the unit canvas site. 

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

Assessment: Critical Self Reflection

The purpose of this assessment task is to instill reflective practice and the ability to be critical and responsive as you develop your professional practice grounded in socially just responses. Effective critical reflection and communication are paramount in shaping your personal narrative about your perspectives of culturally safe practice at personal and professional levels. 

The authentic role is human service or social work practitioner. The audience are practitioners and clients. The purpose is to show your ability to do critical reflection and critique dominant. The product is a reflection of a critically oriented narrative of your personal framework for applying culturally safe, anti-oppressive practice approach and perspective including personal responses for working with gender and diversity across various groups and communities. You will reflect on your own professional positioning. 

You are required to draw on the relevant literature (minimum of 10 sources) to support your framework, position and perspectives. 

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

Assessment: Group presentation

The purpose of this assessment task is to build your capacity to work as an intra-professional team in examining a social justice issue. The purpose of the task is to understand and critique dominant discourses that shape the ways social justice issues are seen and responded to.

Assuming the role of a critically oriented practitioner, you and your group will identify a relevant social justice issue for exploration. Drawing on the literature, theories and concepts examined through this unit you will craft and engage in a counterstory telling process to examine the issue your group has selected.

The counterstory telling process will be presented in the form of a PowerPoint presentation to an audience of students, practitioners and clients in a mock conference. The PPT presentation is followed by a demonstration of the product - short digital story - illustrating the 'counterstory' your group developed regarding the social justice issue.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

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.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Resources

Risk Assessment Statement

Students are expected to display integrity in participation in planned activities while showing respect and sensitivity to others in relation to gender, sexuality and cultural diversity.

Course Learning Outcomes

SW04 Bachelor of Social Work

1. 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: Research Poster , Critical Self Reflection, Group presentation
2. 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: Research Poster , Group presentation
3. 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: Research Poster , Group presentation
4. 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: Research Poster , Critical Self Reflection, Group presentation
5. Critically examine tenets of diversity and diverse perspectives in social work, and advocate for a socially just society and the promotion of human dignity that reflect different social, political, cultural and historical circumstances, on the beliefs, values and aspirations of various groups, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations. [Values and Disposition, Knowledge, Practice]
   Relates to: Research Poster , Critical Self Reflection, Group presentation

SW05 Bachelor of Social Work (Honours)

1. 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: Research Poster , Critical Self Reflection, Group presentation
2. Formulate and implement strategies using advanced knowledge and research skills to analyse, consolidate and synthesise social and practice evidence to generate solutions and to inform professional practice and decision-making
   Relates to: Research Poster , Critical Self Reflection, Group presentation
3. 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: Research Poster , Critical Self Reflection, Group presentation
4. Construct and implement strategies for practising collaboratively and independently, focused on socially progressive, anti-oppressive, culturally safe and ethical practice, integral to the standards of professional social work practice
   Relates to: Research Poster , Critical Self Reflection, Group presentation
5. 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: Research Poster , Critical Self Reflection, Group presentation