SOCWORK 726 : Practice with Communities

Education and Social Work

2020 Semester One (1203) (15 POINTS)

Course Prescription

An advanced consideration of change-oriented social work practice with communities, with particular emphasis on diverse and indigenous communities and critical analysis of current and historical factors shaping community well-being. Building their own theories of change, students learn models and skills for integrating partnerships with communities into their practice, including engagement, capacity building, community development, organising, activism, research and policy advocacy.

Course Overview

This course is very much be a broad brush introduction to community development (CD) and practising with communities. Taking part in this course will give you an understanding of how you might practice with communities in a variety of settings. Practitioner perspectives and case examples used throughout the course will enable you to identify and analyse practises for working with communities in sustainable and engaging ways. You will engage deeply with critical practice issues in context to examine how theory works in practice. It will help you navigate how to incorporate community development activities into your social work practice and might even inspire you to pursue further community practice qualifications in the future! 

Course Requirements

Prerequisite: 60 points passed at Stage III Restriction: SOCWORK 356, 426

Capabilities Developed in this Course

Capability 1: Disciplinary Knowledge and Practice
Capability 2: Critical Thinking
Capability 3: Solution Seeking
Capability 4: Communication and Engagement
Capability 6: Social and Environmental Responsibilities

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
  1. Navigate how community practice and development concepts (i.e., models, approaches, core concepts and engagement activities) can be incorporated into your social work practice. (Capability 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.1, 4.2, 6.1 and 6.3)
  2. Develop skills to prepare a 'theory of change'--processes which you can adapt and adopt when planning future community development projects (Capability 2.2, 3.1, 3.2 and 4.2)
  3. Identify and analyse practises for working with communities in sustainable and engaging ways (Capability 1.3, 2.2, 2.3 and 3.2)

Assessments

Assessment Type Percentage Classification
Community Practice Project Proposal 30% Group & Individual Coursework
Community Practice Project Presentation 30% Group & Individual Coursework
Critical Thinking Seminar 20% Group Coursework
Theory of Change Workshops 20% Group & Individual Coursework
Assessment Type Learning Outcome Addressed
1 2 3
Community Practice Project Proposal
Community Practice Project Presentation
Critical Thinking Seminar
Theory of Change Workshops
There are ten workshops and a scaffolded community practice project for the assessments in this course. In addition, you will be assigned groups and a topic for which you will run a 20 minute seminar on a current critical issues in practice. Students must complete all the coursework (assignments and workshops) to the satisfaction of markers, and achieve at least 50% for the course.  

Learning Resources

Required readings are assigned each week in the reading list and are available electronically from the UoA library. 

Workload Expectations

This course is a standard 15 point course and students are expected to spend 10 hours per week involved in each 15 point course that they are enrolled in.

For this course, you can expect 2 hours of lectures and a 1 hour workshop each week. Spending time in the workshop means that you can get the bulk of your proposed community project sections drafted in that time. 2.5 hours of reading and thinking about the content and 2.5 hours of work on individual and group assignments.



Digital Resources

Course materials are made available in a learning and collaboration tool called Canvas which also includes reading lists and lecture recordings (where available).

Please remember that the recording of any class on a personal device requires the permission of the instructor.

Academic Integrity

The University of Auckland will not tolerate cheating, or assisting others to cheat, and views cheating in coursework as a serious academic offence. The work that a student submits for grading must be the student's own work, reflecting their learning. Where work from other sources is used, it must be properly acknowledged and referenced. This requirement also applies to sources on the internet. A student's assessed work may be reviewed against online source material using computerised detection mechanisms.

Inclusive Learning

All students are asked to discuss any impairment related requirements privately, face to face and/or in written form with the course coordinator, lecturer or tutor.

Student Disability Services also provides support for students with a wide range of impairments, both visible and invisible, to succeed and excel at the University. For more information and contact details, please visit the Student Disability Services’ website at http://disability.auckland.ac.nz

Special Circumstances

If your ability to complete assessed coursework is affected by illness or other personal circumstances outside of your control, contact a member of teaching staff as soon as possible before the assessment is due.

If your personal circumstances significantly affect your performance, or preparation, for an exam or eligible written test, refer to the University’s aegrotat or compassionate consideration page: https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/academic-information/exams-and-final-results/during-exams/aegrotat-and-compassionate-consideration.html.

This should be done as soon as possible and no later than seven days after the affected test or exam date.

Student Feedback

At the end of every semester students will be invited to give feedback on the course and teaching through a tool called SET or Qualtrics. The lecturers and course co-ordinators will consider all feedback and respond with summaries and actions.

Your feedback helps teachers to improve the course and its delivery for future students.

Class Representatives in each class can take feedback to the department and faculty staff-student consultative committees.

Student Charter and Responsibilities

The Student Charter assumes and acknowledges that students are active participants in the learning process and that they have responsibilities to the institution and the international community of scholars. The University expects that students will act at all times in a way that demonstrates respect for the rights of other students and staff so that the learning environment is both safe and productive. For further information visit Student Charter (https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/students/forms-policies-and-guidelines/student-policies-and-guidelines/student-charter.html).

Disclaimer

Elements of this outline may be subject to change. The latest information about the course will be available for enrolled students in Canvas.

In this course you may be asked to submit your coursework assessments digitally. The University reserves the right to conduct scheduled tests and examinations for this course online or through the use of computers or other electronic devices. Where tests or examinations are conducted online remote invigilation arrangements may be used. The final decision on the completion mode for a test or examination, and remote invigilation arrangements where applicable, will be advised to students at least 10 days prior to the scheduled date of the assessment, or in the case of an examination when the examination timetable is published.

Published on 22/06/2020 06:41 p.m.