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Unit of Study SWRK3005 - Social Work Practice VII - Social Work in Legal Contexts (2025)

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Unit Snapshot

  • Unit type

    UG Coursework Unit

  • Credit points

    12

  • Faculty/College

    Faculty of Health

  • Placement

    No

  • Enrolment information

    All students are required to meet participation requirements comprising 42 hours of compulsory attendance at either on-campus tutorials. (GC students) or an on-campus residential (online students)

Unit description

This unit develops students' understanding of the legal contexts of contemporary social work practice in both statutory and non-statutory settings. Students will critically analyse legal issues impacting disadvantaged and vulnerable groups and devise interventions to advance human rights and social justice. They will also learn how to incorporate knowledge of law, ethics, and human rights to exercise professional judgment and decision making. The unit further develops students’ social work practice skills in critical thinking, written and verbal communication, record keeping, decision making, assessment and intervention, and advocacy.

Unit content

  1. Social work and the law: a human rights perspective
  2. Social work fields of practice, roles and responsibilities
  3. Disadvantage, vulnerability and the law
  4. Intervention and advocacy in legal contexts
  5. Law, rights, ethics and decision making 
  6. Records, reports and evidence

Availabilities

Location Domestic International
Gold Coast
Term1
Term1
Online
Term1
Term1

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 legal contexts of contemporary social work practice in statutory and non-statutory settings

produce documents that comply with social workers’ legal and ethical duties

critically analyse legal issues impacting disadvantaged or vulnerable groups and devise interventions that advance human rights and social justice

incorporate knowledge of law and human rights to exercise professional judgment and ethical decision-making

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.