SWH404 Climate Justice in Local and Global Worlds

Unit Outline: Semester 2 2024, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

This unit orients you to the interface between climate justice, social justice and social work to refine your critical framework for practice in relation to climate change and climate justice. You will apply critical theories and social, economic and political philosophical positions to address social problems including climate change, food insecurity, forced migration, and global poverty, which shape communities and nations. Social workers and human service workers are at the forefront of developing sustainable thinking and cooperative social actions grounded in environmental and social justice as a way to respond to social problems. This unit extends on and integrates knowledge and theories, values, ethics and different practices learnt across the course journey with the addition of green social work practice.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Critically explore and explain the major challenges in local, global and environmental justice such as climate change, food insecurity, and global poverty.
2. Apply critical theories and philosophical positions, including Indigenous knowledges and diverse perspectives relevant to debates in the fields of environmental and social justice.
3. Critically describe the interaction between environmental justice, social justice and social work practice in the response to challenges of climate change and inequality.
4. Articulate a potential new vision and strategies for redressing the impact of climate change and environmental challenges toward sustainable transformative change.
5. Apply high level written and verbal communication and teamwork skills inclusive of advocacy skills and climate justice relevant to social work practice.

Content

Learning Approaches

This unit engages you in your learning through workshops on-campus with digital online support, project and experiential activities to focus on developing the skills necessary to successfully integrate climate justice into your critically oriented practice framework and complete your assessment. 

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

Assessment in this unit is both formative and summative. Overall feedback will be provided to the whole cohort. Formative activities such as in-class tasks, and critical discussions will support and develop your understanding of key concepts and scaffold your learning in preparation for summative assessment. Summative feedback is given via written comments on marking rubrics/criteria sheets. In the workshops you will be supported by academics and peers to critically explore the role of social work and human services in relation to issues of climate change and environmental justice toward your first assessment piece: essay. Ongoing formative feedback helps you to complete the second assessment piece: presentation, executive summary and a peer evaluation component. The peer evaluation is for giving and receiving feedback from your peers. For the peer evaluation, you will be supported in how to give and receive feedback in a safe and constructive manner. This feedback will help you progress towards the successful completion of the second assessment piece. 

Assessment

Overview

The unit consists of two assessment pieces, an individual essay relevant to critical thinking about climate justice, global challenges and social work/human service practice and an advocacy pitch drawing posing advocacy solutions to environmental challenges and social injustice as a combined project (presentation itch and executive summary) with individual component (peer review). Workshop activities will assist with planning for assessment tasks and are designed with an emphasis on co-creation of new knowledge and techniques informed by critical theory and analysis.

Each assessment item is designed to measure your ability to apply the knowledge and skills stated in the unit learning outcomes.

Unit Grading Scheme

7- point scale

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Essay

In this essay, you will respond to the questions of – why is environmental justice important to social work and what can social workers / human service workers do to address issue of climate change, food insecurity and environmental / social inequality? Using a critical theory and philosophy you will identify a climate change challenge and explore the implications for social work practice in addressing global and local challenges. Based on your critical analysis, you will consider the interconnections between social work practice (including potentially activism, community development and or policy analysis and development) and environmental justice to offer socially just actions for transformative change.

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

Assessment: Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary

Part A – Group presentation within workshop (20%)

• Imagine you and your group have been asked by the UN to identify a contemporary social issue related to climate change (eg. climate justice, degrowth, forced migration, food insecurity or environmental injustice of First Nations lands) and undertake critical analysis with reference to critical theory and philosophy.
• The group's critical analysis and reflection will clearly outline your vision for practice, policy development or structural change. It will illustrate how you can collaboratively make a difference in local or global communities or nations impacted by climate change and the need for environmental and social justice, by posing options that redresses climate issues.
• The context of the advocacy pitch is in a world that faces the ongoing and future impacts of climate change and the need for sustainable climate justice. The pitch will need to address these challenges and consider some implementation issues relevant to practice or policy.
• Your group will pitch the ideas on the issues and options for change to a mock UN Sub-committee on Climate Justice, Sustainability and Inclusion through a presentation format and then submit the group executive summary and individual peer-reviews. 

Part B – Executive summary of the advocacy pitch (20%)

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

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

A wide range of resource materials will be provided for this unit that will be accessed via QUT Readings.

Risk Assessment Statement

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.

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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary
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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary
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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary
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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary
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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary

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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary
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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary
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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary
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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary
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: Essay, Advocacy Pitch and Project Summary