Course Title: Youth Work Field Education 3rd Year

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Youth Work Field Education 3rd Year

Credit Points: 24.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
HWSS2169	City Campus	Undergraduate	365H Global, Urban and Social Studies	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2009, Sem 1 2010, Sem 2 2010, Sem 1 2011, Sem 2 2011, Sem 1 2015, Sem 2 2015, Sem 1 2017, Sem 2 2017, Sem 1 2018, Sem 2 2018
HWSS2169	City Campus	Undergraduate	365H Global, Urban and Social Studies	Workplace	Sem 1 2012, Sem 2 2012, Sem 1 2013, Sem 2 2013, Sem 1 2014, Sem 2 2014, Sem 1 2016, Sem 2 2016

Course Coordinator: Michael Emslie

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 8272

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

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

As a third year core course, students need to have satisfactorily completed Field Education (Youth Work) 1 and ‘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 core third 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: ‘Legal and Justice Issues for Young People’ and ’Youth Policy’. Actual details on the 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 develop an understanding about Australia’s legal system in relation to young people and youth workers; to articulate young people’s legal and citizenship status, young peoples views and experiences of their status, and some of the key legal and justice issues pertaining to young people in a number of areas.


Students can also choose a placement that builds on the learning objectives articulated in ‘Youth Policy’. These include gaining insight into how policy agendas are set, how policies operate in various sites, how certain theories inform policy, and being able to recognise how youth problems are constituted or discovered. Finally, it involves developing an appreciation of key aspects of historical and contemporary youth policy and some of the primary ethical issues pertaining to young people and youth policy.


Students will undertake a field project or activity designed to provide learning experiences which develop knowledge and skills relevant to whichever of the above options they elect. Students will build on their skills and knowledge of how groups of young people and professionals operate, and to enhance their understanding of the various ways power is exercised in the work-place. Field placements will also be designed generally to enhance student’s capacity for reflective and ethical practice.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

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.

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 specific legal and justice issues for young people are played out in the sector and in the lives of young people, and be able to demonstrate an understanding of key legal and justice issues pertaining to young people in specified areas and sites
4. be able to demonstrate a conceptual and practical understandings of youth policy and how this is operates in the sector and in the lives of young people, and be able to demonstrate an understanding of key policy issues pertaining to young people in specified areas and sites
5. demonstrate an understanding of arguments used to in the workplace to legitimate professional status and 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.

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.