School: Arts and Humanities

This unit information may be updated and amended immediately prior to semester. To ensure you have the correct outline, please check it again at the beginning of semester.

  • Unit Title

    Social Work Foundations and Fields of Practice
  • Unit Code

    SWK6405
  • Year

    2025
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    20
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online
  • Unit Coordinator

    Prof Janine JOYCE

Description

This unit critically evaluates social work practice domains and fields of practice across the life course. It introduces the broad scope of social work practice informed by values of social and environmental justice. This unit explores social work change strategies in a range of fields including mental health, child protection, disability, and aged care. Students consider culturally specific ways of seeing how belief systems shape understandings of health and well-being. Students develop skills in writing reports and case notes using inclusive, recovery-oriented, and non-judgemental language.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Critically reflect on the values of social and environmental justice across varying fields of social work practice.
  2. Investigate and evaluate the full range of social work practice domains within a specific field of social work.
  3. Apply communication and collaboration skills to create high quality reports and case notes and develop effective change strategies for a specific field of practice to articulate social and /or environmental justice in practice.
  4. Critically reflect on and understand the use of self in social work practice in a specific field of practice to develop an assessment report exhibiting respect for diverse belief systems.

Unit Content

  1. Critical engagement with written material about social work practice domains.
  2. Skills development through simulations and role play.
  3. Written report writing skills.
  4. Culturally specific ways of seeing how belief systems shape understandings of health and well-being.
  5. The use of self in social work practice.

Learning Experience

ON-CAMPUS

Students will attend on campus classes as well as engage in learning activities through ECU's LMS

For more information see the Semester Timetable

ONLINE

Students will engage in learning experiences via ECU’s LMS as well as additional ECU learning technologies

Additional Learning Experience Information

This unit covers AASW 2021 ASWEAS Required Curriculum content area (2) Power, oppression and exploitation (5) Psychosocial health and wellbeing across the life cycle. ASWEAS graduate attributes: 3,4,and 6.

Assessment

GS1 GRADING SCHEMA 1 Used for standard coursework units

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
Portfolio ^Group work simulation /role play – collective and collaborative case study and case notes, individual reflections on collaboration 50%
Report ^An assessment report based on the case study 50%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
Portfolio ^Group work simulation /role play – collective and collaborative case study and case notes, individual reflections on collaboration 50%
Report ^An assessment report based on the case study 50%

^ Mandatory to Pass


Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005)

For the purposes of considering a request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Commonwealth 2005), inherent requirements for this subject are articulated in the Unit Description, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the support for students with disabilities or medical conditions can be found at the Access and Inclusion website.

Assessment

Students please note: The marks and grades received by students on assessments may be subject to further moderation. Informal vivas may be conducted as part of an assessment task, where staff require further information to confirm the learning outcomes have been met. All marks and grades are to be considered provisional until endorsed by the relevant School Progression Panel.

Academic Integrity

Integrity is a core value at Edith Cowan University, and it is expected that ECU students complete their assessment tasks honestly and with acknowledgement of other people's work as well as any generative artificial intelligence tools that may have been used. This means that assessment tasks must be completed individually (unless it is an authorised group assessment task) and any sources used must be referenced.

Breaches of academic integrity can include:

Plagiarism

Copying the words, ideas or creative works of other people or generative artificial intelligence tools, without referencing in accordance with stated University requirements. Students need to seek approval from the Unit Coordinator within the first week of study if they intend to use some of their previous work in an assessment task (self-plagiarism).

Unauthorised collaboration (collusion)

Working with other students and submitting the same or substantially similar work or portions of work when an individual submission was required. This includes students knowingly providing others with copies of their own work to use in the same or similar assessment task(s).

Contract cheating

Organising a friend, a family member, another student or an external person or organisation (e.g. through an online website) to complete or substantially edit or refine part or all of an assessment task(s) on their behalf.

Cheating in an exam

Using or having access to unauthorised materials in an exam or test.

Serious outcomes may be imposed if a student is found to have committed one of these breaches, up to and including expulsion from the University for repeated or serious acts.

ECU's policies and more information about academic integrity can be found on the student academic integrity website.

All commencing ECU students are required to complete the Academic Integrity Module.

Assessment Extension

In some circumstances, Students may apply to their Unit Coordinator to extend the due date of their Assessment Task(s) in accordance with ECU's Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386.

Special Consideration

Students may apply for Special Consideration in respect of a final unit grade, where their achievement was affected by Exceptional Circumstances as set out in the Assessment, Examination and Moderation Procedures - for more information visit https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000003318.

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