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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2017/2018

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Social and Political Science : Social Work

Postgraduate Course: Social Work in Communities (SCWR11039)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Social and Political Science CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course is intended to familiarise you with a range of communities and contexts in which social work is practised and to introduce you to the social work role and task. There is a particular focus at this stage of the programme on social work's social welfare role. The social work role in statutory and more complex situations will be addressed as the programme progresses.

On completion of the course you should be able to:

Draw upon a range of sources and strategies to identify and reflect upon the history, demographics and characteristics of an identified community, including issues such as poverty, unemployment, substance misuse, racism, age and disability;

Identify and reflect upon the range of services/resources that exist in communities, the professionals who service these and the purposes they serve;

Critically analyse the social work role in responding to community need and building upon community strengths.
Course description Topics covered during lecture input vary from year to year but generally include:

What is Community?
Poverty and Inequality in Communities
Social capital & communities
Crime and Communities
Racism and Communities
Housing and Communities
Drugs and Alcohol and Communities
The Law and Social Work

Student Learning Experience:

This is a 20-credit course that runs over a four-week period, with group and individual assessment tasks submitted in week 5. The teaching, learning and assessment is based around an approach called Enquiry and Action Learning (EAL), a well-established approach in professional education, and found in social work, medicine and other fields.

The EAL programme has a mixture of:

Formal inputs: lectures and workshops, which draw on a range of perspectives from disciplines including Social Policy, Sociology, Law and Ethics.

Group work: EAL groups (both facilitated by a staff member and unfacilitated) and tutorial groups.

Individual study: 1-1 meetings with tutors and time set aside for students to work independently.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed:
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements This course is only available to MSW Social Work students (PTSOWRK).
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2017/18, Not available to visiting students (SS1) Quota:  90
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Lecture Hours 16, Seminar/Tutorial Hours 24, Fieldwork Hours 3, Other Study Hours 55, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 98 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Formal assessment of this course is broken down into two components: an individual essay (worth 80% of the individual mark) and a group exercise (worth 20% of the overall mark).

Please note that each of the assignment tasks must be passed independently at 40% or above. This means that if you fail the essay, you will have to do a resit, because you have to pass everything to progress to next year. The total mark awarded for the course will be an aggregate of the marks for the essay and for the group presentation, weighted to reflect the percentage allocation of marks above.
Feedback Staff members facilitate two of the EAL group meetings and provide advice on the group presentation. The course organiser offers a session prior to the essay submission to discuss expectations for the individual essay.
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Draw upon a range of sources and strategies to identify and reflect upon the history, demographics and characteristics of an identified community, including issues such as poverty, unemployment, substance misuse, racism, age and disability;
  2. Identify and reflect upon the range of services/resources that exist in communities, the professionals who service these and the purposes they serve;
  3. Critically analyse the social work role in responding to community need and building upon community strengths
Reading List
Adams, R., Dominelli, L. and Payne, M. (eds) (2002) Critical Practice in Social Work, Basingstoke: Palgrave.

Adams, R. L. Dominelli,L. and Payne, M. (eds) (2009) Social Work: Themes, Issues and Critical Debates, 3rd edition, London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Cree, V.E. (2010) Sociology for Social Workers and Probation Officers, 2nd edition, London: Routledge.

Cree, V.E. and Myers, S. (2008) Social Work: Making a Difference, Bristol, Policy Press/ BASW.

Cree, V.E. (ed.) (2010) Social Work A Reader, London: Routledge.

Ferguson, I. and Woodward, R. (2009) Radical Social Work in Practice. Making a Difference, Bristol: Policy Press.

Jones, K., Cooper, B. and Ferguson, H. (eds) (2008) Best Practice in Social Work. Critical Perspectives, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

Teater, B. and Baldwin, M. (2012) Social Work in the Community: Making a difference, Bristol: Policy Press

Wilson, K, Ruch, G, Lymbery, M and Cooper, A (2011) Social Work: An Introduction to Contemporary Practice, Harlow: Longman
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Autumn Roesch-Marsh
Tel: (0131 6)51 3870
Email:
Course secretaryMr Benjamin Mcnab
Tel: (0131 6)51 5066
Email:
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