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Unit of Study SWRK3003 - Social Work Practice V - Policy and Community Activism (2025)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Unit type

    UG Coursework Unit

  • Credit points

    12

  • Faculty/College

    Faculty of Health

  • Placement

    No

  • Enrolment information

    N/A

Unit description

This unit develops students’ knowledge and skills in policy work, recognising that social workers are policy actors who make an important contribution to a range of policy making activities. Drawing upon social work values and theories of policy making, students will critically analyse contemporary social policies and consider their impacts on disadvantaged people and communities. They will also learn how to collaborate with other policy actors, foster community activism and devise strategies to advocate for more socially just policies.

Unit content

  1. Social work and policy practice
  2. Understanding policy issues: evidence, problem framing and ideology
  3. Making and influencing policy: processes, institutions and actors
  4. Critical policy analysis: making a case for change
  5. Policy advocacy, collaboration and activism
  6. Developing a policy brief and advocacy plan

 

 

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Gold Coast
Term3
Term3
Online
Term3
N/A

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

examine the contribution of social workers to policy development, advocacy and activism

employ policy concepts and theories to critically analyse contemporary social policy issues impacting on disadvantaged people and communities

devise strategies to foster community activism and advocate for policies that align with social work values and objectives

Prescribed learning resources

Prescribed Texts
  • Prescribed text information is not currently available.
Prescribed Resources/Equipment
  • Prescribed resources/equipment information is not currently available.

Prescribed Learning Resources may change in future Teaching Periods.