SWB204 Critical Practice with Children and Families

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2024, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

This unit focuses on social work and human services with children and families with an emphasis on providing support and services to parents so they are better able to identify and meet their children's needs. It introduces you to the continuum of welfare and family support services in Australia and knowledge and skills central to effective work with children and families. You will critically analyse the application of selected social work and human service practice approaches to work across a range of service contexts for children and families. Students from education, psychology, and health related areas also find this unit useful as it provides a foundation in theories and approaches for inter-professional practice with children and families that is transferable to a wide range of professional settings.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Demonstrate knowledge of legislative and service contexts for social work and human services practice with children and families in Australia;
2. Demonstrate knowledge of children in the context of their families and communities, including a beginning knowledge of child development, children's rights, family process and the social construction of childhood and parenting;
3. Critically evaluate selected practice approaches for work with children and families; and
4. Demonstrate beginning level skills for practice with children and families including the ability to critically reflect on values, attitudes and expectations in relation to family life, with particular reference to cultural and gender sensitivity

Content

Learning Approaches

The unit is conducted through weekly two hour lectures and a series of one and a half hour workshops where you will participate in facilitated group learning activities such as discussion, reflection on experience, practice skill development and case analysis. Teaching approaches are designed to encourage and support active learning and the development of critical analysis. Reading, questioning, talking, listening, reflecting, writing and identifying and dealing with problems are integral activities in the learning process.

The Canvas site offers a range of resources including lecture materials and workshop activity sheets; access to many set readings as well as extension readings via QUT Readings; links to government and community agency websites and study resources. Materials are provided as adjunct to attendance at lectures and workshops. You are advised to visit the notices pages at least once a week, preferably prior to the lecture.

Generic skills essential for effective study and work are also enhanced through an approach to teaching and learning that encourages you:

• to become a more effective communicator, both orally and in written work, and
• to expand your ability to access and use a range of information sources to support informed decision-making.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

All assessment items will be discussed in class. You will receive formative feedback for workshop exercises both informally in the workshop and through written comments. Formative and summative feedback will be provided throughout the semester.

Assessment

Overview

There are three assessment pieces overall and these include both formative and summative items. Students will be asked to deliver a critical practice approach with an associated information sheet in groups during tutorials in weeks 7-12. To maximise engagement with the task a small, individual reflective statement about the process of attending and delivering critical practice approaches is required in week 12. The unit also has an annotated bibliography to be submitted via Turnitin and a short answer exam at the end of the semester.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Annotated Bibliography

You will use the template provided on the unit Canvas site to summarise and analyse set readings mainly from the early weeks of the unit on knowledge of legislative and service contexts for social work and human services practice with children and families, and knowledge of children in the context of their families and communities. This is an assignment for the purposes of an extension. 

Assessment: Critical practice approach and reflection

In small groups student will lead a 45-minute workshop with their peers which demonstrates a critical practice approach which can be used when working with children and families in social work and human services.

Groups will be required to also provide an information sheet before commencing the workshop, outlining:

• The practice approach used
• The client group and setting where you would use this approach
• Benefits and challenges of this approach

It is suggested students consult with the Media Hub (Video) Channel on the Canvas site for critical practice ideas.

Students will also be asked to submit a reflective, engagement statement outlining the workshops they attended and their key learnings.

Assessment: Exam

This centrally administered 2 hour short answer exam will assess your knowledge of practice approaches to working with children and families; skills of culture and gender sensitivity; material covered in lectures, tutorials and some reflection on values, attitudes and expectations in relation to family life and set readings, predominantly for the second part of the unit. A practice exam will be available to focus your revision. 

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

Resource Materials

Other

Required readings are listed on the unit Canvas site.

Risk Assessment Statement

It is not envisaged that this unit will involve any significant workplace health and safety issues.

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: Critical practice approach and reflection, Exam
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: Exam
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: Annotated Bibliography, Critical practice approach and reflection
4. 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: Annotated Bibliography, Critical practice approach and reflection, Exam