Course Title: Youth Work Field Education 1
Part A: Course Overview
Course Title: Youth Work Field Education 1
Credit Points: 24.00
Course Coordinator: Rob Nabben
Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 9711
Course Coordinator Email: rob.nabben@rmit.edu.au
Course Coordinator Location: 22.4.6C
Course Coordinator Availability: by appointment
Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities
This is a second year course within the Bachelor of Social Science (Youth Work) program
Course Description
There are four major aspects to tutorials which are designed to support this process:
The first are mainly administrative outcomes which focus on negotiating and designing your placement, specifically:
1/ familiarization with the requirements and processes for Field Education year 2,
2/ deciding your 2nd year learning goals and the type of agency where these can be achieved,
3/ supporting the effective negotiation of a field experience contract,
4/ monitoring the progress of placement, and making changes where appropriate,
5/ providing support in order to successfully undertake the assessment requirements.
The second major aspect of field education tutorials is to broaden your knowledge of the youth work sector. In the tutorial you will have the opportunity to learn from 14 other students, many of whom will be working in agencies you are unfamiliar with.
The third aspect of field education tutorials is to begin developing your skills in reflective practice and peer supervision to de-brief, gain support, and make plans for improving your ‘interventions’. At the completion of second year you should be prepared to enter into negotiations about your third year field education (2008).
Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development
This course will support you in developing in-depth knowledge of group work with young people (see field manual, assessment).
• You will learn to observe and describe a group of young people; explore program planning; give evidence of program evaluation; and critically relate these to the literature and your own capabilities.
• The course involves initiating yourself to a peer supervision context. This includes basic level skills such as listening and being supportive.
• Year 2 Field Education will also prepare you for a transition to year 3 Field Education.
3. An ability to articulate and practice good youth-work in the light of ideas about justice, equity, respect and democratic citizenship. This requires:
• a capacity to exercise critical argument, reflection and responsibility regarding ethical conduct and values related to ideas such as respect, acceptance,
• an attentiveness to the wide range of ethical issues regarding young people and research,
• a sensitivity to tensions between universal human rights discourses and arguments supporting parochial or culturally specific rights
• confidence, an optimistic attitude towards young people and a commitment to improving young people’s well-being and their moral and legal status.
• a will and capacity to advocate for/with young people.
Overview of Learning Activities
Field Education Tutorials
The year 2 group is divided into tutorials of approximately 15 students. Each group is allocated a tutor and is timetabled for a one hour per week in both semester 1 and 2.
You will be assisted in tutorials to develop a placement based on:
• the many agencies that exist in Victoria, interstate or internationally,
• the range of duties that agencies may require, and
• the learning objectives you set for yourself,
• university requirements.
Field education tutorials ensure that you gain the maximum learning from your placement. This group then becomes a set of professional peers, similar to a team in a workplace, who share a common context but who bring with them a diverse set of professional and life experiences. The tutorial group support each other to develop better understandings of theory and practice. A very high degree of participation will be expected. You will be expected to work cooperatively with all members of the Professional Practice group and from time to time exercise leadership and take responsibility for the tasks of the group.
The classes will provide you with opportunities to explore issues and concepts arising from placement experiences and to integrate this with other learning within the course – in particular group work.
University Tutors will work cooperatively with you to ensure that you have a successful second year learning experience. He or she will assess your learning objectives, and discuss a range of agencies that may be appropriate. S/he will work with you to ensure that you understand all aspects of the placement process so that you can approach an agency and negotiate a successful placement. S/he will undertake an on-site, 3-way meeting to sign the contract (distance permitting), make a mid-placement follow-up phone call to the agency, and work with you to understand your strengths and areas to improve. If you, your agency supervisor, or the university tutor request, there will be a ‘termination’ meeting at the completion of placement.
The university tutor will respond to any placement problems or emergencies if necessary, and will give you feedback on all aspects of assessment. If there are any major problems on placement the university tutor will facilitate a 3-way meeting to resolve these.
To help finding an appropriate agency, a database is provided of agencies that supported placements in previous years, and/or have contacted the university to express interest in hosting a placement. Tutors will also work with you to identify appropriate agencies. However agencies are not found for students - there is a strong emphasis on you identifying and approaching an agency/s of your choice to negotiate placement.
Overview of Learning Resources
Brown, A. & Bourne, I. (1996) The social work supervisor : supervision in community, day care, and residential settings, Open University Press, Buckingham , Philadelphia
Chiaferi, R. & Griffin, M. (1997) Developing fieldwork skills : a guide for human services, counseling, and social work students, Brooks/Cole Pub. Co, Pacific Grove
Cleak, H. and Wilson, J. (2004) Making the Most of Field Placement Nelson, Victoria
Dalmau, T. (1999) Values in action : applying the ideas of Argyris and Schon, Interchange, Chapel Hill, Qld
Gardiner, D. (1989) The anatomy of supervision : developing learning and professional competence for social work students, Society for Research into Higher Education & Open University Press, Milton Keynes, England
Hardwick, A. and Woodhead, J. (1999) Loving, Hating and Survival - A handbook for all who work with troubled children and young people, Ashgate Publishing, Hants, England
Huskins, J (1997) Quality Work with Youth - Developing social skills and diversion from risk, distributed by Youth Clubs UK
MacNamara, R. (1992) Creating abuse-free caregiving environments for children, the disabled, and the elderly : preparing, supervising, and managing caregivers for the emotional impact of their responsibilities, C.C. Thomas, Springfield, Ill., U.S.A
Malinen, A. (2000) Towards the essence of adult experiential learning : a reading of the theories of Knowles, Kolb, Mezirow, Revans and Schön, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
Moon, J. (1999) Reflection in learning & professional development : theory & practice, Kogan Page, London
Morrison, T. (2001) Staff supervision in social care: making a real difference for staff and service users, Pavilion, London
Morrow, R. & Torres, C. (2002) Reading Freire and Habermas : critical pedagogy and transformative social change, Teachers College Press, New York
Schon, D. (1995) Reflective practitioner : how professionals think in action, Arena, Aldershot, England
Stanley, J & Goddard, C. (2002) In the firing line : violence and power in child protection work, Wiley, Chichester
Overview of Assessment
Assessment Criteria
Assessment item 1: Completion of the placement contract.
Assessment item 2: Satisfactory report from agency tutor
Assessment item 3: Written Report from Student
Length 3500 words
Assessment item 4: Student Portfolio
Assessment Item 5: Student Learning Journal
Assessment item 6: Satisfactory completion of university fieldwork tutorial requirements.
• Participation in classes: attendance, supporting the progress of others, active listening skills, engaging in discussions where appropriate
• Submission of a CV and letter of interest: clearly laid out, sequential, comprehensive, including up-to-date (both university and employment experience). Spelling and grammar is correct.
• Submission of learning objectives: these should be stated in a way to enable discussion with agencies during the 3-way meeting (realistic, relevant, thorough)
• Submission of a list of agencies to be contacted. Some students may commence the semester with a direct agency contact. However for others, several priority agencies may have to be selected prior to approaching them. In this case you will need to develop a list of contacts and discuss them with the tutor.
• Leading a discussion / supervision with peers about a workplace professional practice issue. In order to be assessed as a pass, you should demonstrate some familiarity with ‘theory’ or references of relevance to this topic. You should demonstrate an ability to stimulate discussion, and to balance both input and listening. Following the session you should write a brief reflection covering a) what you presented, b) why you chose that topic c) your views about strengths and weaknesses of the session as a peer supervision activity. Length 300 – 400 words.