Unit rationale, description and aim
This unit aims to equip students with key concepts and practical skills when working with people of colour and other marginalised groups. As social workers are often working with people of colour, they have a responsibility to understand and respond to their specific needs, as well as be aware of how racism shapes their experiences. Students will learn about the relationship between racial injustice and social inequalities and develop anti-racist principles and skills. This unit is essential core curriculum content as required by the Australian Association of Social Workers, attending to the practice standard of Culturally responsive and inclusive practice. In the first half of the unit, the emphasis is on developing racial literacy, with a focus on how racialized categories have been produced, and how they shape inequalities across race. The second half will turn to the knowledge and skills of working with people of colour and other marginalised groups . Students will explore Australian migration history and social policy with an emphasis on how these impact on the experiences of migrant, refugee and asylum seeker populations and communities. Concepts of white privilege, white supremacy, power and racialised inequality, will be presented within frameworks of social justice and human rights. Cross-cultural skill development will include working with interpreters, and anti-racist strategies.
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.
Understand the impact of key historical and social...
Learning Outcome 01
Identify personal and professional values and ethi...
Learning Outcome 02
Demonstrate social work skills within culturally a...
Learning Outcome 03
Develop racial literacy and understand key theorie...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
Racism, identity and culture
- Racism, white privilege and inequality in Australian social work : Eurocentrism
- Australian Social and language policies for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
Theories and Practice Frameworks
- Anti-racism and decolonising theories
- Whiteness theory and critical race theory
- Intersectionality
- Theories of trauma
- Cultural responsiveness
- Skills and approaches
- Self- awareness and critical reflection
- Developing anti-racist skills, strategies, and practices
- Working with interpreters
- Becoming an ally: advocacy and activism
Ethics and Values
- Ethical issues and dilemmas in cross cultural practice
- Self awareness and reflection
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessments 1 and 2 are authentic case-based tasks that require students to demonstrate application of social work skills, practice knowledge and attitudes in white-dominated contexts. Assessment 1 is a group work task that uses online and video case studies. It requires students to demonstrate understanding of racism and its impact, cultural and race theories and to demonstrate tangible responses to racism. Assessment 2 requires students to apply knowledge of anti-racist practice and cross-cultural skills to a case scenario involving people of colour. The final assessment, a critical learning journal, is designed to assess students’ ability to reflect on each week’s unit content and how this knowledge has facilitated a growing understanding of their own cultural identity and values and its impacts on their future social work identity. In order to pass the unit, students must submit all pieces of assessments and PASS at least two assessments in order to achieve all the learning outcomes of the unit.
Overview of assessments
Group presentation on racism: Students demonstrat...
Group presentation on racism: Students demonstrate understanding of racism and its impact and demonstrate ability to apply theories of race.
20%
Skills assessment: Enables students to articulate...
Skills assessment: Enables students to articulate anti-racist skills and values and develop a mock intervention plan to a case study.
40%
Reflective assignment: Captures learning and de...
Reflective assignment: Captures learning and development over time and enables students to demonstrate their ability to reflect on their racial identity, and how this relates to their social work identity.
40%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Teaching and learning strategies for this unit include lectures, workshops, small group discussions, case studies, lived experience, storytelling and story-sharing, and compulsory simulated role-plays. Tutorials include small group collaborative reflections, discussions and simulated role-plays in order to apply theoretical content to practice situations and allow students to develop skills in a simulated context. Case-based learning is used to assist students to better understand and apply cultural knowledge to processes required when engaging cross-culturally and within contexts of cultural and linguistic diversity. Use of cases, developed in collaboration with service providers, parallels and models authentic assessment task requirements to ensure alignment of teaching, learning and assessment. This ensures that students are initially practising and developing their understanding, attitudes and skills in learning environments to prepare them for practising in culturally safe and responsive ways.
AASW Practice Standards
This Unit has been mapped to the ACU Graduate Attributes and the ASWEAS Profession-Specific Graduate Attributes. The following table sets out the broad relationship between the Learning Outcomes, Graduate Attributes and the ASWEAS Profession-Specific Graduate Attributes provided in the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards: https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/13565
ASWEAS Profession-Specific Graduate Attributes
This Unit has been mapped to the ACU Graduate Attributes and the ASWEAS Profession-Specific Graduate Attributes. The following table sets out the broad relationship between the Learning Outcomes, Graduate Attributes and the ASWEAS Profession-Specific Graduate Attributes provided in the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards: https://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/13565