Unit rationale, description and aim
Drawing on the experiences and learnings from Field Placement 1, this subject offers students an enhanced opportunity to experience the intersection of theory and practice. Students will have a greater allocation of time to ensure a deep and profound connection within a youth work agency where they will be enabled to put their developing youth work skills into practice. Students will be challenged to consider their own connection to praxis and to reflect on where and how they see the integration of theory with real world application.
This subject requires students to complete 300 hours of placement in an approved youth work agency. Whilst undertaking their placement, students will be challenged to integrate their knowledge of theory into youth work practice and service delivery. To achieve this, students are encouraged and supported to choose the field placement that best fits the career pathway they have decided to pursue, and as such, field placement will differ from student to student. Through all placement experiences, students will be supported to articulate their learnings and apply these insights to theoretical frameworks as well as their own professional practice. Students will experience practicing group and individual supervision to assist in their development of self-reflective practice skills.
Students will be expected to work with the agency to identify a project of value to the agency and with beneficial learning and skill development opportunities for the student. Students will be challenged to consider their own values and beliefs through purposeful, reasoned and goal directed critical thinking, and in consultation with field educators apply adult learning principles and experiential learning techniques to develop self-directed learning and autonomous work practices. Individualised field education plans will be negotiated between the student, agency and university.
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.
Describe and discuss the theoretical underpinnings...
Learning Outcome 01
Provide information to young people and make appro...
Learning Outcome 02
Plan and implement program(s) by applying personal...
Learning Outcome 03
Participate in and develop youth networks
Learning Outcome 04
Demonstrate a range of youth work practice skills ...
Learning Outcome 05
Demonstrate their capacity to work as a youth work...
Learning Outcome 06
Content
Topics will include:
- Individual and group activities with young people
- Program development and implementation
- Intervention and support strategies
- Conflict resolution, conflict management and violence prevention strategies
- Report writing and agency documentation processes
- Networking and referral processes
- Community education strategies
- Participate in professional supervision
- Career planning and self-evaluation
- Working with at risk and marginalised young people in agency settings
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment tasks for this subject are pass/fail.
Students are required to successfully undertake 300 hours of field placement in an approved youth service/agency. The 300 hours of field work enables students to comprehensively engage in programs, service delivery and the daily tasks of the host organisation. Students will participate in a project that enables them to experience greater responsibility, control and leadership within a program. Through participating in regular supervision with the host organisation and also the ACU field placement coordinator, students will grow in self-understanding of their own developing practice.
The report on the field work requires students to give a detailed outline of the various works of their host agency with special reference to any programs, services and/or practices they were involved in during their placement. In addition, students must reflect on where/how they experienced the intersection of youth work theories and those theories being delivered/enlivened/enacted in the work place. Students must reflect on how they saw successes and challenges of this nexus and discuss any tensions/learnings they took away from the experience.
The reflective journal is a progressive piece of work which reflects the student’s developing knowledge and critical reflective practice. The journal is a record of skills mastered on placement and is a focussed examination on the learning experience that were offered whilst on placement.
Overview of assessments
Field Work Placement Students are required to un...
Field Work Placement
Students are required to undertake 300 hours of placement in a youth work agency and receive a satisfactory report from their agency placement supervisor.
Pass/fail
Reflective Journal Students are required to reco...
Reflective Journal
Students are required to record and reflect on experiences during placement
Pass/fail
Written Piece Students are required to complete ...
Written Piece
Students are required to complete a written report on the host agency
Pass/fail
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
Mode: A variety of formats will be used throughout the course of this unit, including lectures, workshops, seminars, case studies, student presentations and a guest speaker series.
Duration: 15 hours in class preparation time and 300 hours placement in an approved youth work agency.