Assessment strategy and rationale

The three assessment tasks used in this unit assist students to achieve the unit learning outcomes and develop the associated graduate attributes. 

Task 1: Record and review live supervision and feedback from clinical work, Hurdle 

Recording live supervision and feedback of clinical work is an essential task which students will use in Tasks 2 & 3. The act of recording and reviewing their clinical work and subsequent feedback allows students to learn to overcome the confronting and difficult feelings that emerge when we view ourselves and free themselves to be more attentive to the precise details of the process in the session. This task allows students to learn to become attentive, curious and engaged in the fine detail of what transpires in the process of therapy, and discover that there are multiple layers of process occurring in the session, many of which students were not aware of while conducting the session. Students can identify and reflect on the subtle and pivotal moments, the emotional reactions and experiences of the members of the family, and learn about their and their own automatic responses in these moments. Such moments often pass quickly, and while we may sense something has happened they take deliberate review and practice to notice and utilize in therapy sessions. Noticing and recognising such moments in retrospect, is the beginning of the learning process and alerts students to the conversations which evoked them and the importance they had in the unfolding experiences. In subsequent sessions students can refer back to these experiences by recording, reviewing and reflecting on these moments, so that they can become more skilled in deliberately evoking and/or utilizing them when they occur. Reviewing sessions also develops students' capacity to manage their emotional reactions and improve flexibility, deliberately improve their emotional self-regulation, and develop their clinical decision-making. The process of recording and reviewing contributes to improving students' cognitive-relational functioning, developing their capacity to manage their attentional resources and memory process, so that they can notice and recall sequences of interaction and place their attention on important relational episodes. This task also builds students' confidence and awareness of their unique personal knowledge, capacity to share and ability to enact their expertise in collaborative engagement in systemic process. This task has been found to facilitate the development of the complex constellation of cognitive–affective competencies which under-pin development of automaticity of therapeutic responses, and sound clinical decision-making in the heat of the moment. 

Task 2:  In-depth session analysis (2000 words), Pass/Fail

This in-depth analysis requires students to take themselves back, immerse themselves into pivotal moments in the session and analyse their in-the-moment experience, and subsequent observation about the way they managed that moment. Reflective analysis of key moments allows students to mentally-rehearse other options and or acknowledge moments of sound decision making, further integrating these segments with post-session reflection from clients, peers, supervisor and if appropriate, formal outcome measures. The act of sequencing these in-the-moment observations into a coherent in-depth written narrative contributes to the quality and depth of the learning experience, and builds procedural knowledge and clinical confidence. The task becomes a profound learning experience and facilitates students' development as a researcher-practitioner family and systemic therapist. 

Task 3: Clinical review and evaluation of a sequence of therapy session using case-study method (2000 words), Pass/Fail

The case-study research method provides students with pragmatic and accessible guidelines on conducting structured and systematic research within the clinical role, in a way that significantly benefits the clients. It is valid tool for thoughtfully applying well-reasoned and ethically sound interventions and systematically investigating the quality of outcome. This task facilitates the development of both the Family and Systemic Therapy competencies, and investigative and analytic skills of a practitioner-researcher family therapist. It is well established that conducting case-based research with one's own cases develops students as both competent research-informed practitioners and practitioner-researchers. It provides them with a methodology to grow in Family and Systemic Therapy competencies and contribute to the body of knowledge on delivering effective family and systemic therapy.