YSED303 - Community Development

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

YSED203 Building Relationships and Supporting Young People or YSED302 Field Placement 2 or DVST304 Development Education Immersion Experience

Unit rationale, description and aim

Youth workers and community development workers contribute to the development of communities through social change processes that solve problems through the collective action of the communities themselves. The work may occur within and across social, environment, economic, arts and culture, and recreation sectors. Within these settings, whether they be local or international, Youth and community development workers are required to develop and implement a range of programs that are underpinned by practices that use community development approaches. In this unit, students develop knowledge and understanding of the nature of community development as a way to engage and re-engage young people in their communities. There is a focus on facilitating change with young people and the communities in which they live, utilising decolonized community development practice. The subject aims to enable youth workers and other community development workers to develop practical skills that contribute to building the capacity of and strength of local communities and the young people who live within them.

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 - Identify the links between community development and a rights-based framework for youth work or community development practice (GA4, GA5)

LO2 - Develop community engagement strategies to enhance participation (GA1, GA2, GA4, GA5, GA8)

LO3 - Apply the roles and skills necessary to undertake community development work in partnership with First Nation communities including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (GA1, GA2, GA5)

LO4 - Explain the importance of engaging with diverse cultures in community settings, using a decolonised approach that promotes cultural safety (GA1, GA4, GA5, GA7)

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 

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

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

Content

Topics will include: 

• The role of community development within youth work. 
• How community development can address culture, ethnicity, class, gender, age, sexual orientation and other forms of marginalisation 
• Community development work as anti-oppressive and decolonized practice. 
• Developing and providing community programs 
• Implementing community development strategies 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This 10-credit point face-to-face 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 skills and theories of community development. Key learning activities in tutorials will include reading, writing, group discussion and group activities, finding scholarly sources, and problem-solving. The lectures provide students with content and analytical frameworks necessary for understanding and analysing community development and assist students to synthesise a broad range of material.  

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to pass this unit, students are required to achieve all learning outcomes and obtain a final grade of 50% or better as an aggregate of all points from assessment tasks completed in this unit.  

A variety of assessment tasks have been designed to meet the learning outcomes of this unit and to ensure the development of graduate attributes.  To assist this, the following assessments tasks have been devised: 

The Case Study requires students to explore community development theory and practice through a local or international case study and undertake a critical analysis. This requires students to understand how the method of community development was employed in that case study and how it sought to work towards addressing those issues of structural inequality. 

The ‘Pitch’ task requires students to draw on community development theory and practice including mechanisms for consultation, building partnerships, enabling participation and evaluation in designing and pitching a community development project. This task requires students to demonstrate purposeful steps that structure community development processes. Bachelor of Youth Work students will be required to focus on a local project for youth, whereas Bachelor of International Development Studies students may focus on an international community development project that include youth. 

The test will assess students on knowledge obtained throughout the semester in readings, unit materials, lectures and/or discussions. This assessment requires students to apply knowledge, theories, skills and attitudes appropriate to working with young people. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Alldred, P, Cullen, F, Edwards, K & Fusco, D 2018, The Sage handbook of youth work practice, Sage, London. 

Craig, G 2011, The community development reader, Polity Press, London. 

Fitzsimons, A, Hope, M & Russell, K 2011, Empowerment and Participation in Youth Work, Learning Matters Ltd, Exeter. 

Horman, S 2016, Promoting community change: Making it happen in the real world, Cengage Learning, Boston. 

Ife, J 2012, Human rights and social work: Towards a rights based practice, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Vic.  

Ife, J 2016, Community development in an uncertain world: Vision, analysis and practice, 2nd edn, Cambridge University Press, Port Melbourne, Vic.  

Kenny, S & Connors P 2017, Developing communities for the future, 5th edn, Cengage Learning, South Melbourne, Vic.  

Pawar, MS 2009, Community development in Asia and the Pacific, Routledge, New York.