| Effective Term: | 2025/02 |
| Institute / School : | Institute of Education, Arts & Community |
| Unit Title: | Social Work Practice With Groups and Communities |
| Unit ID: | BSWUG3004 |
| Credit Points: | 15.00 |
| Prerequisite(s): | Nil |
| Co-requisite(s): | Nil |
| Exclusion(s): | Nil |
| ASCED: | 090501 |
| Other Change: | |
| Brief description of the Unit |
Students of this course will be introduced to the place of community work in social work practice. Students will gain an awareness of theories and frameworks for practice at the community-level, such as community development, community capacity building, co-design and collective impact, and begin to acquire the knowledge and skills required to integrate these with practice. Students will be introduced to social work ethics and values inherent in community work and reflect on their application to practice. Using casestudies, students will formulate and critically analyse different methods and processes of engaging and working with communities in disaster contexts. Students will be introduced to common problems and tensions and ethical dilemmas that arise in community work and strategies for addressing these. Students will be introduced to eco-social work and begin to acquire the skills to integrate environmental justice and decolonising approaches to community work. |
| Grade Scheme: | Graded (HD, D, C, P, MF, F, XF) |
| Work Experience Indicator: |
| No work experience |
| Placement Component: No |
| Supplementary Assessment:Yes |
| Where supplementary assessment is available a student must have failed overall in the Unit but gained a final mark of 45 per cent or above, has completed all major assessment tasks (including all sub-components where a task has multiple parts) as specified in the Unit Description and is not eligible for any other form of supplementary assessment |
| Course Level: |
| Level of Unit in Course | AQF Level(s) of Course | | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | | Introductory | | | | | | | | Intermediate | | |  | | | | | Advanced | | | | | | |
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| Learning Outcomes: |
| Knowledge: |
| K1. | Identify the place of community work in social work practice and examine social work ethics and values in the context of community work; |
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| K2. | Demonstrate knowledge of theories and frameworks utilised in community work; |
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| K3. | Examine processes and methods of engaging and working with communities in disaster contexts |
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| K4. | Demonstrate an awareness of principles of mutual aid and group work and their application to community work processes; |
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| K5. | Develop knowledge of eco-social work, environmental justice and decolonising approaches to community practice |
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| K6. | Identify potential role conflicts, tensions and ethical dilemmas when working with communities and strategies for addressing these and |
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| K7. | Explore community organising, social action and activism as dimensions of community practice. |
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| Skills: |
| S1. | Identify and apply social work ethics and values to community work practice; |
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| S2. | Develop knowledge of theoretical models and frameworks that inform community-level practice; |
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| S3. | Apply appropriate processes and methodologies for engaging and working with communities in disaster contexts; |
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| S4. | Use appropriate communication, interpersonal and group work skills; |
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| S5. | Recognise complexity and uncertainty in community work and develop appropriate strategies to address common problems and ethical issues within the community development context; |
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| S6. | Integrate eco-social work, environmental justice, social action and activist approaches into community practice and; |
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| S7. | Reflect on and review practice as part of the process of developing a personal and professional practice framework with communities. |
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| Application of knowledge and skills: |
| A1. | Explain appropriate theoretical models/frameworks of social work community practice and apply them to simulated settings; |
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| A2. | Engage and work with communities in a collaborative manner which reflects social work ethics and values and; |
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| A3. | Demonstrate an ability to recognise complexity and uncertainty in community work and develop appropriate strategies to address common problems and ethical issues within the community development context. |
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| Unit Content: |
Introducing Community Work in Social Practice - The place of community work in social work practice.
- Values and ethics in community work:
- Critical reflection re: social work identity and community work Community work approaches in contemporary social work ie. co-design, community development, collective impact Principles of group work and mutual aid in community work
- Community development collaborative processes and methodologies
Disaster Social Work and Eco-Social Work - The role of social work in disasters
- The place of eco-social work in social work practice
- Environmental justice and decolonising approaches
Community Work: Values and ethics - Conflicts and ethical dilemmas when working with communities
- Strategies to address problems and ethical issues in community work
- Advocacy and social action, including closet activism
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| Graduate Attributes: |
| Federation University recognises that students require key transferable employability skills to prepare them for their future workplace and society. FEDTASKS (Transferable Attributes Skills and Knowledge) provide a targeted focus on five key transferable Attributes, Skills, and Knowledge that are be embedded within curriculum, developed gradually towards successful measures and interlinked with cross-discipline and Co-operative Learning opportunities. One or more FEDTASK, transferable Attributes, Skills or Knowledge must be evident in the specified learning outcomes and assessment for each FedUni Unit, and all must be directly assessed in each Course.
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| FED TASK and descriptor | Development and acquisition of FEDTASKS in the Unit | | Level | FEDTASK 1
Interpersonal | Students will demonstrate the ability to effectively communicate, inter-act and work with others both individually and in groups. Students will be required to display skills in-person and/or online in: • Using effective verbal and non-verbal communication • Listening for meaning and influencing via active listening • Showing empathy for others • Negotiating and demonstrating conflict resolution skills • Working respectfully in cross-cultural and diverse teams. | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context | FEDTASK 2
Leadership | Students will demonstrate the ability to apply professional skills and behaviours in leading others. Students will be required to display skills in: • Creating a collegial environment • Showing self -awareness and the ability to self-reflect • Inspiring and convincing others • Making informed decisions • Displaying initiative | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context | FEDTASK 3
Critical Thinking and Creativity | Students will demonstrate an ability to work in complexity and ambiguity using the imagination to create new ideas. Students will be required to display skills in: • Reflecting critically • Evaluating ideas, concepts and information • Considering alternative perspectives to refine ideas • Challenging conventional thinking to clarify concepts • Forming creative solutions in problem solving. | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context | FEDTASK 4
Digital Literacy | Students will demonstrate the ability to work fluently across a range of tools, platforms and applications to achieve a range of tasks. Students will be required to display skills in: • Finding, evaluating, managing, curating, organising and sharing digital information • Collating, managing, accessing and using digital data securely • Receiving and responding to messages in a range of digital media • Contributing actively to digital teams and working groups • Participating in and benefiting from digital learning opportunities. | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context | FEDTASK 5
Sustainable and Ethical Mindset | Students will demonstrate the ability to consider and assess the consequences and impact of ideas and actions in enacting ethical and sustainable decisions. Students will be required to display skills in: • Making informed judgments that consider the impact of devising solutions in global economic environmental and societal contexts • Committing to social responsibility as a professional and a citizen • Evaluating ethical, socially responsible and/or sustainable challenges and generating and articulating responses • Embracing lifelong, life-wide and life-deep learning to be open to diverse others • Implementing required actions to foster sustainability in their professional and personal life. | Level 3 - Student works independently with limited guidance or works within self-determined guidelines appropriate to context |
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| | Learning Outcomes Assessed | Assessment Tasks | Assessment Type | Weighting | | 1. | K1, K2, K4, S1, S2, S7 | Critical learning exercises that cover key concepts and prepare students for community-level social work | Learning Portfolio | 15% – 30% | | 2. | K1, K2, K3, K4, K6, S1, S2, S3, S5, S7, A1, A2, A3 | Using a case study, analyse community practice approaches and explore the potential dilemmas and challenges arising from their application | Case-study analysis | 25% - 40 % | | 3. | K1, K2, K3, K4, K5, K6, K7, S1, S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, A1 | Examine eco-social work theories and community work approaches to develop a group response to a disaster. | Group project to be developed in consultation with staff | 35%-45% |
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