WOMS100 to YSED202

WOMS100 Introduction to Women’s Studies 1: Concepts and Concerns                                              10 cp

Perequisites Nil

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, tutorials, workshops and seminars.

Concepts: How did women’s studies develop as an area of academic inquiry and what are the main theoretical tools employed? Topics covered will include (a) the fundamentals of understandings of androcentricism, for example masculinism, phallocentricism and patriarchy (b) the concepts of bias such as sexism, racism, ethnocentricism, Eurocentricism, heterosexism, colonialism and their link to binary modes of thought (c) the creation of ideologies and discourses regarding gender.

Concerns: What are the major issues women’s studies attempt to address? The dominant issues to be addressed will include (a) corporeality and its relationship to idea about masculinity and femininity (b) state–based institutions interacting with the female body such as the health sector (including reproductive technologies), childcare, the religious organisations and families (c) Australian women in a world context.

WOMS101 Introduction to Women’s Studies 2: Perspectives and Debates                                          10 cp

Prerequisites Nil

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, tutorials, workshops and seminars.

Perspectives: what has been the history of women’s activism? Topics to be discussed will include early feminist thought, the rise of women’s activism in the twentieth century, late twentieth century ‘second wave feminism’ as well as the specific perspectives of third world, post–colonial, radical, liberal, socialist, lesbian and black feminists.

Debates: how has the history of women’s activism been debated and understood? Issues include how notions of patriarchy have informed feminist methodology, the extent to which society presents an interlocking web of oppressions, questions about subjectivity and agency, and the challenges presented between feminist generations.

WOMS200 Sociology of Gender                                                                                                           10 cp

Prerequisites Sociology major: SOCI102 and SOCI103 Introduction to Sociology A and B

Women’s Studies major/minor: SOCI102 and SOCI103 Introduction to Sociology A and B

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent.

Topics include: the making of female and male worlds; feminist movements (liberal, socialist, Marxist and radical); religion and the construction of the feminine and the masculine; theory and feminisms; colonial women’s history; post–colonialism, ethnic identity and gender; theorising women, work and family; ‘girl-friendly’ schooling; violence towards women and children: a study of power relations; women and health.

YSED100 History of Young People                                                                                                        10 cp

Prerequisites Nil

Teaching Organisation Students will use a combination of lectures, workshops and seminars to complete the major objectives of the unit. Duration: 3 hours per week.

This unit provides students with an historical framework from which to understand the development of the concept of youth in the Australian context against the background of its development in the Western world. It provides a foundation for understanding the major social-historical forces and institutions impacting on and defining the lives of young people and the historical background that influences our thinking about young people and their issues today. Particular attention will be given to the constitution of the categories of "childhood", "adolescence", "youth" and "delinquency". There will also be a focus on the history and development of youth work as a profession. Insight will be provided into the lived experiences of young people in various historical contexts, and also how observers within those environments portrayed them. The unit will assist students to develop a critical capacity for historical enquiry.

YSED101 Ethical Principles and Practice of Youth Work                                                                      10 cp

Prerequisites Nil

Teaching Organisation A variety of formats will be used throughout the course of this unit, including lectures, workshops, seminars, case studies, student presentations and a guest speaker series. Duration: 3 hours per week.

Ethical principles in youth work are given particular attention in this unit. It seeks to identify best practice principles and agencies that apply these principles in the field. The unit also focuses on key issues for young people eg substance use; poverty; crime; health, homelessness and abuse, and identifies the primary approaches used by youth workers in those sectors to support young people.

This unit examines the contemporary principles and practices of the youth work sector, making concrete links between theory and work in the field. It explores a variety of theories, approaches, models, frameworks and interventions used by the sector in their work with young people, in particular, the community development model.

YSED102 Practicum 1: Mapping Agencies                                                                                            10 cp

Prerequisites YSED100 History of Young People

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks. A variety of formats will be used including workshops, and seminars, team-work based experiential learning methods, incursion and excursions.

This unit will provide students with an opportunity to develop an understanding of the Youth Work sector. Students will visit a range of settings in which youth agencies are placed and gain an understanding of the range of collaborative practices that characterise contemporary youth work eg youth workers in school settings; youth workers in the ethnic sector; youth workers in the drug and alcohol sector. Students will be encouraged to develop a career plan which will inform possible options for future practicum placements, volunteer experience and future work. This career plan will also inform the choices selected in broader course work and the development of networks, skills and tools relevant to the sector. This unit will not have a placement component but will offer a comprehensive guest speaker and visiting program. Students will be challenged to consider their own values, and engage in learning principles and experiential learning techniques to develop self- directed learning and autonomous work practices.

YSED200 Researching Young People                                                                                                   10 cp

Prerequisites YSED100 History of Young People and YSED101 Principles and Practice of Youth Work

Teaching Organisation Students will use a combination of library literature searches, lectures, workshops, seminars and guest speakers to complete the major objectives of the unit.  Duration: 3 hours per week

This unit outlines the importance of youth research and how it shapes our knowledge about young people. It traces the ways a variety of academic disciplines have set about researching young people and considers the ways such research and theoretical knowledge shapes various styles of youth work practice and programs. Attention is given to the various research methods and particular attention is paid to ethics in research. It will look at all stages of the research process and put these skills into practice through short research projects. The unit will identify key research issues for the youth work sector and consider some of the dilemmas that researchers face.

YSED201 Working in Youth Organisations                                                                                            10 cp

Prerequisites YSED100 History of Young People and YSED101 Principles and Practice of Youth Work

Teaching Organisation 3 hours per week for 12 weeks or equivalent of lectures, seminars, tutorials and research.

In this unit students will examine the impact of organisational theory, practice, and context on youth work. The unit includes: an historical overview of organisational theory, assessing linkages between ideology, forms of organisational structure and the culture and practice of human services agencies. New directions in privatisation and strategic management will be explored, together with governmental policy, programs and legislative requirements of corporate citizenship in the youth sector.

YSED202 Practicum 2: Evaluation Skills                                                                                               10 cp

Prerequisites YSED102 Practicum 1: Mapping Agencies

Teaching Organisation A variety of formats will be used throughout the placement including workshops, seminars, incursions and excursions in a class setting and on placement, one-to-one supervision sessions. The placement should focus on key issues facing the young clients of the chosen organisation.

The practicum will provide students with an opportunity undertake their first placement in a youth work agency context. (‘Agency’ is defined very broadly here to cover a wide range of youth work settings). The practicum will allow students to examine the daily practices of an agency in relations to its stated goals. Students will consider their own values and beliefs through purposeful, reasoned and goal-directed critical thinking, In consultation with field educators students will be expected to apply adult learning principles and experiential learning techniques to develop self-directed learning and autonomous work practices, with regard to their strategic career plan (developed in practicum one).

This unit will seek to demonstrate the need for students to actively incorporate a professional philosophy based on integrity, and to ensure that their relationships with young people are non-exploitative.