YSED100 - Knowing Young People

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Unit rationale, description and aim

To be effective in youth work requires advanced knowledge and understanding of the social contexts that impact on young people's lives. In particular, understanding the ways in which school, ethnicity, family, gender, class, geographic location and culture shape the experience of being a young person is required to inform the development of skills needed to engage with young people. To help students gain an understanding of the histories that influence our thinking about young people and their issues today this unit will investigate the major socio-historical forces and institutions impacting on their lives.

The aim of this unit is to develop insight into the lived experiences of young people, particularly in the Australian context.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

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

LO1 - Describe the ways historically generated perspectives influence how young people are represented and treated in contemporary Australian society (GA1, GA2, GA4, GA5)

LO2 - Explain key youth issues, impacting on young people (GA1, GA2, GA4)

LO3 - Critically evaluate the ways in which key social structures (such as institutions and cultural discourses) shape the opportunities available for young people (GA4, GA6, GA8) 

LO4 - Articulate a sociological understanding of the nature of social relationships and institutions, patterns of social diversity and inequality as they impact on the experience of youth (GA1, GA2, GA4, GA9) 

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include: 

• Social constructions of young people  
• Social divisions and the youth experience (class, ethnicity, gender and sexuality) 
• Social institutions and young people (family, school and work) 
• Social identities and young people. (youth cultures, technology) 
• Social Issues (crime, violence, public space) 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This 10-credit point on-campus unit provides hands-on learning, including collaborative learning. It takes the form of a face-to-face class incorporating activities through which students will gain a deep understanding of the ways historically generated perspectives influence how young people are represented and treated. Key learning activities will include debating, learning to ‘read’ and interpret writing on youth work and other key sources, reading, writing, group discussion, finding scholarly sources, and problem-solving. The lectures provide students with content and analytical frameworks necessary for understanding and analysing the nature of social relationships and institutions, patterns of social diversity and inequality as they impact on the experience of youth while tutorials give students the opportunity to discuss, debate, look at case studies and examples from the Australian setting.  

ACU Online 

This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to the discipline. Students are provided with choice and variety in how they learn. Students are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions. Active learning opportunities provide students with opportunities to practice and apply their learning in situations similar to their future professions. Activities encourage students to bring their own examples to demonstrate understanding, application and engage constructively with their peers. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessments in this unit encourage students to engage with the scholarship surrounding sociological theories of youth (tests), critically examine social context and develop skills around communicating ideas and theories about young people (film review) and apply a sociological understanding of the nature of social relationships and institutions, patterns of social diversity and inequality (sociological autobiography) in order to develop an understanding of young people’s social context. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Bradford, S 2012, Sociology, youth and youth work practice, Palgrave Macmillan, London. 

Furlong, A 2013, Youth studies: An introduction, Routledge, Oxon, UK. 

Kehily, M 2007, Understanding youth: Perspectives, identities and practices. Sage, London.  

Robards, B & Baker, S 2017, Youth and youth subcultures: Australian perspectives. Routledge, London. 

Ruddock, A 2013, Youth and media, Sage, London. 

Wyn, J & Woodman, D 2014, Youth and generation: Rethinking change and inequality in the lives of young people, Sage, London.  

White, R, Wyn, J & Robards, B 2017, Youth and society. 4th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Vic.