Course Title: Field Education (Youth Work) 1

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Field Education (Youth Work) 1

Credit Points: 12


Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

HWSS2135

City Campus

Undergraduate

365H Global Studies, Soc Sci & Plng

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2007,
Sem 2 2007,
Sem 1 2008,
Sem 2 2008

Course Coordinator: Michael Emslie

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 99258272

Course Coordinator Email:michael.emslie@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 48.4.26


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

As a second year core course, students need to have satisfactorily completed the ‘Youth Work Ethics and Professionalism’ – or an equivalent -as this course relies on students having considered key ethical issues pertaining to youth work practice.


Course Description

This is core second year practicum course provides students with experiences designed to complement and reinforce other elements of the curriculum. Students can choose the focus they want for their field education from the following courses; ‘Youth Work, Ethics and Professionalism’ and ‘What is Youth Work?’ Details on the explicit learning objectives will be articulated in placement contracts developed between the student, RMIT staff and the agency.

Students will complete their placement in an agency that provides opportunities to focus on the ethics and professionalism (ie. to develop capacities for reflexive practice, for ethical analysis of youth work, for developing knowledge of ethical argument and clarity on their own values, to apply ideas from ethical traditions to youth related problems, to further develop understandings of theories and arguments around professionalism).

Students can also choose a placement that builds on the learning objectives articulated in the course ‘What is Youth Work?’ In this case, placement contracts will specify learning experiences designed to develop their conceptual and practical understandings of contemporary youth work, while considering new value frameworks for contemporary youth work practice (ie. the credibility of arguments used to legitimate professional status; knowledge of contemporary neo-liberal discourses that inform practice; and how more recent theories might relate to new forms of youth work, and new understandings of young people).

Students will undertake a field based project or activity that provides learning experiences that develops their knowledge and skills relevant to which ever of the above options they elect. Students will have opportunities to apply their knowledge to practice, to use their time in the agency to further develop their understanding and insights into youth work ethics and professionalism and what the future of youth work is. More generally students will have opportunities to develop skills in working in teams and organisational settings. Field placements will also be designed generally to enhance student’s capacity for reflective and ethical practice.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

By the end of this course students will:
1. develop and reinforce the learning experiences and outcomes already experienced in specified complimentary courses in the program
2. develop capacities appreciate contemporary debates about professionalism and
ethics in respect to youth work
3. demonstrate a introductory knowledge of how ethical conduct is practiced is the workplace
4. be able to demonstrate a their conceptual and practical understandings of
contemporary youth work while considering new value frameworks
5. demonstrate an understanding of arguments used to in the workplace to legitimate professional status
6. understand the different ways youth work identity is articulated

Students will apply their knowledge to practice, develop insights into youth work ethics and professionalism and youth work identity. The course will produce outcomes identified in the generic graduate capabilities 1, 2, 3 and 4. It also provides learning activities designed to realize youth work specific graduate capabilities 1, 2, 3 and 4.



Overview of Learning Activities

The kind of learning activities students will experience in this course include use of information and communications technology to research various sources that include the internet, printed media, historical, philosophical, social science accounts of youth work and young people.
Learning activities will also include formal lectures, workshops incorporating group work, active problem based learning, interviews, comparative and textual analysis, and field work.


Overview of Learning Resources

Students will need to access to prescribed and recommended texts and information technology (computers, data bases).


Overview of Assessment

Assessment tasks are directly linked to the stated objectives and graduates capabilities. Assessment tasks will include class based activities, and written reports, essays, folios, oral reports, and annotated visual reports.