units

SWM5160

Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

18 September 2017 23 April 2024

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This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2016 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

Monash University

12 points, SCA Band 1, 0.250 EFTSL

Postgraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences

Organisational Unit

Department of Social Work

Coordinator(s)

Dr Bernadette Saunders

Offered

Caulfield

Synopsis

This unit explores a number of issues related to social work practice that involves children; particularly children whose well-being may be at risk or who have suffered child abuse or neglect. Attention will be drawn to the relationship between the child, the family, the community and the state, with a particular focus on children's perspectives, children's status, and children's rights.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. Describe complex relationships between the child, the family, the community and the state.
  2. Reflect upon and evaluate/critique complex relationships between the child, the family, the community and the state.
  3. Describe, reflect upon and document considered responses to, historical and current perceptions of children, the family, and child well-being.
  4. Describe, reflect upon and document, considered responses to historical and current perceptions of child protection concerns.
  5. Identify legislation in relation to specific fields of child welfare, child protection, child abuse and/or child neglect.
  6. Identify and document links and discrepancies between policy and practice in relation to specific fields of child welfare, child protection, child abuse and/or child neglect.
  7. Propose well-informed written suggestions for desirable law reform, and/or changes to current policies.
  8. Propose well-informed, written suggestions for improvements in current attitudes towards children and responses to families.

Assessment

Online participation - commentary/discussion (10%)
An annotated bibliography of an issue related to childhood or children in society (3,000 words) (40%)
Detailed plan/selected reference list for an essay on a topic that the student derives from the annotated bibliography (1,000 words) (10%)
Major essay based on assessed topic and detailed plan (4,000 words) (40%)

Chief examiner(s)

Dr Bernadette Saunders

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Social work

Additional information on this unit is available from the faculty at:

http://www.med.monash.edu.au/socialwork/