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

    Youth Issues
  • Unit Code

    YWK1220
  • Year

    2016
  • Enrolment Period

    1
  • Version

    1
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online

Description

This unit will cover a range of youth issues which have implications for young people's well being and their transistion to adulthood. Topics may include leisure; spirituality;friendships; relationships with parents, partners and peers; youth suicide; anorexia and other eating or body-control disorders; youth homelessness; crime; drug use and alcohol usage; family violence and breakdown; youth poverty; employment; housing and homelessness; education and the labour market. Major policy approaches to these questions will be analysed and students will be introduced to a range of youth field responses addressing these questions.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Discuss HIV/AIDS/STDs.
  2. Discuss body image, anorexia and other eating or body-control disorders.
  3. Discuss depression and youth suicide.
  4. Discuss drug use and other risk-taking behaviour.
  5. Discuss youth homelessness; youth unemployment, youth poverty, job market segregation.
  6. Examine family violence and family breakdown.
  7. Examine the relationship between young people and education.
  8. Outline relevant theory and policy relating to a range of youth issues.

Unit Content

  1. An introduction to a sociological perspective on youth
  2. Politics and youth issues and how moral panics about young people arise.
  3. How to find high quality research on youth issues and use this to evaluate commonly held beliefs about young people
  4. Different theoretical frameworks for understanding well-being, medical, psychological, social and spiritual discourses including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives.
  5. Myths about young people and media reporting.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures and tutorial groups. Students participate in group projects, simulations, case studies, peer learning and group discussions. Students will be introduced to the role of University Learning Advisors and Library Skills workshops.

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 Board of Examiners.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
PresentationPaired project10%
EssayContemporary Youth Issue40%
ExaminationFinal examination50%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
PresentationPaired project10%
EssayContemporary Youth Issue40%
ExaminationFinal examination50%

Text References

  • ^ White, R., & Wynn, J. (2013). Youth and Society: Exploring the Social Dynamics of Youth Experience. South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia: Oxford University Press.
  • Healey, J. (Ed.). (2007). Youth suicide prevention. Thirroul, NSW: Spinney Press.
  • Holgate, H., Evans, R., & Yuen, F. (2006). Teenage pregnancy and parenthood: global perspectives, issues and interventions. London: Routledge.
  • Mission Australia. (2011). National survey of young Australians 2007: key and emerging issues. Sydney: Mission Australia.
  • Riha, D. (2010). Emerging practices in cyberculture and social networking. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Journal References

  • Youth Affairs Council of WA News Bulletin
  • Youth and Policy
  • ^ Journal of Applied Youth Studies

Website References

^ Mandatory reference


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.

Academic Misconduct

Edith Cowan University has firm rules governing academic misconduct and there are substantial penalties that can be applied to students who are found in breach of these rules. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • plagiarism;
  • unauthorised collaboration;
  • cheating in examinations;
  • theft of other students' work;

Additionally, any material submitted for assessment purposes must be work that has not been submitted previously, by any person, for any other unit at ECU or elsewhere.

The ECU rules and policies governing all academic activities, including misconduct, can be accessed through the ECU website.

YWK1220|1|1

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

    Youth Issues
  • Unit Code

    YWK1220
  • Year

    2016
  • Enrolment Period

    2
  • Version

    2
  • Credit Points

    15
  • Full Year Unit

    N
  • Mode of Delivery

    On Campus
    Online

Description

This unit will cover a range of youth issues which have implications for young people's well being and their transition to adulthood. Topics may include leisure; spirituality; friendships; relationships with parents, partners and peers; youth suicide; anorexia and other eating or body-control disorders; youth homelessness; crime; drug use and alcohol usage; family violence and breakdown; youth poverty; employment; housing and homelessness; education and the labour market. Major policy approaches to these questions will be analysed and students will be introduced to a range of youth field responses addressing these questions.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

  1. Explain how sociological perspectives can be useful in understanding young people (for example, concepts such like the social construction of youth, and the idea of a moral panic).
  2. Discuss various difficulties that some young people face during the transitions from childhood to adulthood.
  3. Demonstrate information literacy by differentiating between reliable and unreliable sources of information about young people.
  4. Select and accurately present to others, relevant and up to date sociological information about a youth issue (including written information and simple numerical data) to interrogate common myths about young people.
  5. Demonstrate appropriate collaboration in learning activities and an understanding of the boundary between beneficial peer collaboration and plagiarism.

Unit Content

  1. An introduction to a sociological perspective on youth
  2. How to find high quality research on youth issues and use this to evaluate commonly held beliefs about young people
  3. Myths about young people and media reporting.
  4. Politics and youth issues and how moral panics about young people arise.
  5. Different theoretical frameworks for understanding well-being, medical, psychological, social and spiritual discourses including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives.
  6. Introduction to learning at university. Topics may include family violence and family breakdown, physical and mental health, body image, anorexia and other eating or body-control disorders, sexual relationships, relationships with parents and peers, youth homelessness, difficulties with education, training and employment, youth wages, income support, and youth poverty.

Additional Learning Experience Information

Lectures and tutorial groups. Students participate in group projects, simulations, case studies, peer learning and group discussions. Students will be introduced to the role of University Learning Advisors and Library Skills workshops.

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 Board of Examiners.

ON CAMPUS
TypeDescriptionValue
PresentationPaired project10%
EssayContemporary Youth Issue40%
ExaminationFinal examination50%
ONLINE
TypeDescriptionValue
PresentationPaired project10%
EssayContemporary Youth Issue40%
ExaminationFinal examination50%

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.

Academic Misconduct

Edith Cowan University has firm rules governing academic misconduct and there are substantial penalties that can be applied to students who are found in breach of these rules. Academic misconduct includes, but is not limited to:

  • plagiarism;
  • unauthorised collaboration;
  • cheating in examinations;
  • theft of other students' work;

Additionally, any material submitted for assessment purposes must be work that has not been submitted previously, by any person, for any other unit at ECU or elsewhere.

The ECU rules and policies governing all academic activities, including misconduct, can be accessed through the ECU website.

YWK1220|2|2