EDAC521 Human Relations and Group Processes

10 cp

In this unit participants will be encouraged to explore ways in which human relations in schools, communities, institutions and organisations can be enhanced through educative processes. Reflective techniques, human relations indicators, stories, group experiences, theories and empirical research will be used and critically examined as educative tools for understanding and improving the dynamics of human relations and professional effectiveness, particularly in community contexts. The role of education in the development of functional relations will be studied. Programs in human relations training appropriate to the community focus of the course will be developed trialled and evaluated.

 

EDAC522 Education, the Common Good and the Rule of Law

10 cp

This unit aims to help students understand how the rule of law affects education in both school and broader social contexts and how it contributes to the common good. It will give students an opportunity to analyse schools and education systems through a legal lens and to apply legal principles to their own and to others’ educational settings. The unit will focus on the interaction between the common law and statute law. It will examine this interaction by exploring the way the law safeguards rights, restrains and civilises power rather than necessarily imposing or enforcing obligations. From this perspective, the law becomes, for the educator, a partner in achieving the common good rather than a menace, irritation or merely a necessary evil.

 

EDAC523 Indigenous Policies and Services

10 cp

This unit explores changes in government policy and practice towards Indigenous peoples from the end of the 19th Century through to the beginning of the 21st Century. The unit also examines the extent to which Indigenous communities have been marginalised in Australian society as a result of initial dispossession and subsequent government policies. It will examine the impact of this history on family structures in Indigenous communities and the effectiveness of mainstream service delivery in education, welfare, health, housing and other community services. The unit will encourage the development and adoption of a range of educational strategies to improve cross-cultural communication and education for people working in or with Indigenous communities.

 

EDAC524 Quality Ageing and Communities

10 cp

The unit will look at features of an ageing population in Western countries, as well as ways to promote quality ageing from educational and social justice perspectives. Lifelong learning provides a basic framework for examining educational programs that promote quality ageing. Students will examine how the construct of ‘age’ can discriminate. Educational strategies for promoting quality ageing in diverse cultural contexts will be examined. An empowerment approach to education in school and community contexts will be a basis for addressing issues related to quality ageing.

 

EDAC525 Citizenship and Human Rights

10 cp

Citizenship has many dimensions and meanings for people, depending upon their class, gender, ethnicity and age. The most obvious meaning of citizenship relates to the formal and informal ways in which we belong to a society, or nation: a nationality marked by a passport; the right to certain social and economic ‘goods’ such as education, social security, healthcare; and a shared system of values that are common and bind us as social beings. Citizenship, however, is not primarily a passive role. Citizens in a democracy must participate actively. This unit will provide knowledge and skills required for the education of responsible citizens.

 

EDAC601 Advocacy and Negotiation

10 cp

Many issues of concern confront disadvantaged groups in Australian society such as people with disabilities. Advocacy is one way to represent the values and interests of these groups and communities. This unit focuses on the practice of advocacy on public issues of concern.

Advocacy not only is a critical practice area for community workers and activists, it is also an area of which any responsible citizen needs to be aware. Students in this unit will develop knowledge and practical skills in the advocacy process. Planning is a key focus, with practical skill development in lobbying, negotiating, direct action, making submissions and using the media. Considerable time will be given to the process of negotiation. Case studies of campaigns will be used to explore these practice areas.

 

EDAC606 Independent Study Unit 2 (Cross-cultural Immersion)

20 cp

Exploration is undertaken within a variety of sites and experiences including rural and urban settings, wealthy and poor, industrial and agrarian with special attention to educational initiatives. Programmes will be instituted that are an ideal way of increasing student awareness and providing opportunity for personal change since the individual experiences the cultural and societal differences first-hand and in their real setting. Students have the opportunity for multi-disciplined learning since a variety of strategies is required to analyse and filter experience.

 

EDAC610 Child Protection and Communities

10 cp

This unit is designed for teachers and educators to explore the range of risk and abuse situations within families and communities which affect children and young people. This exploration would include the indicators, myths, incidence and required intervention for sexual, emotional and physical abuse and neglect, bullying and domestic violence. Unit methodology includes critical reflection on theoretical perspectives, personal values and issues which relate to family life, as well as social and political issues which affect families, communities and risk assessment. The unit also includes reflection on the outcomes for children and young people of various approaches and interventions used to address a range of risk behaviours such as substance abuse, youth homelessness, young offenders and youth suicide.

 

EDAC611 Designing and Implementing Child Abuse Prevention Programs

10 cp

This unit will assist participants to be able to design, implement and evaluate child abuse prevention programs which reduce the risk factors and enhance the protective factors in community, school or juvenile settings. The unit will include the diverse needs of different children and young people, principles of effective prevention programs and the development of implementation plans for various settings. This would involve examining the theoretical perspectives and discourse of child abuse, status of children and young people, and their impact on the types of responses that can be made to reduce risk and enhance protective factors.

 

EDAC615 Indigenous Education in Australia

10 cp

This unit will initially examine how the development of specific policies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education arose from Aboriginal experience of exclusion and assimilation in education. A range of specific issues will be further explored including: the impact of trauma and social dislocation on education for Indigenous Australians; adult education in the community context; issues relating to consultation and teaching about Indigenous Australia and issues concerning research ethics and access and equity involving Indigenous Australians.

 

EDAC617 Adult Learning and Community Education

10 cp

In this unit participants explore different ways of creating and facilitating positive environments where adult learning is community-based, collaborative, relevant to local needs, culturally sensitive and transformative in nature. They critically examine the principles, practices and ideologies underlying a number of models of adult learning and community education and come to some resolution regarding their own actual and preferred positions. Case studies, field work and experiential learning will be used as a basis for critically analysing how educational and social inequalities arise, and are perpetuated or challenged. There will be an examination of the role of international movements and government and non-government organisations in promoting community development and education.

 

EDAC618 Processes for Education in Personal and Interpersonal Development

10 cp

This unit will offer participants the opportunity to use inner work and educational techniques for self-exploration, emotional release and personal development with children, youth and adults. Gestalt, psychosynthesis, dream work and other creative processes will be used to tap into the wisdom of the body, mind and spirit and to make positive life changes. Humanistic, cognitive and existential theories and processes including control theory, brief therapy, reality theory, rational emotive therapy and transactional analysis will be studied as methods to use with individuals and small groups interested in growth, transformation, healing, improved interpersonal relations and problem solving. There will be special emphasis on ways to handle interpersonal problems, emotions and feelings.

 

EDAC620 Social Research Methods and Community Contexts

10 cp

In this unit, students develop knowledge and practical skills in social research theory and methods. The unit provides a comprehensive overview of various approaches to social research with a solid grounding in strategy and methods. The strategy of ethnography is particularly explored as are the methods of interviewing, observation and the use of documentary data. Practical stages of the research process are the main focus of study. Students are required to design a small-scale research project developing these stages.

 

EDAC625 Theories and Concepts of Human Rights and Social Justice

10 cp

This unit provides theoretical and conceptual frameworks for the study of human rights and social justice. It examines human rights in both international law, through human rights treaties and other international instruments and in Australian domestic law. The elements of social justice and the criteria for a socially just society will be critically discussed. The unit develops not only knowledge of human rights and social justice, but deeper commitment to the values of human rights and social justice as a positive basis for social, civil, political, economic and cultural life.

 

EDAC626 Issues of Human Rights and Social Justice: Educational Perspectives

10 cp

The situations of particular disadvantaged and marginalised groups will be examined. Principles of human rights and social justice relevant to these groups and their situations will be addressed together with practical ways in which these principles can be implemented.

 

EDAC627 Community Placement, Analysis and Research

10 cp

Students will undertake a supervised placement in one of the following: a community organisation, non-governmental organisation, service provider or advocacy group. They will be involved in an analysis of the organisation including its ethos, work practices, and appropriateness in meeting the needs of the target group. This analysis will give explicit reference to principles of human rights and social justice.

 

EDAC633 Human Rights Law in Australia

10 cp
Prerequisites EDAC525 Citizenship and Human Rights and EDAC625 Theories and Concepts of Human Rights and Social Justice

This unit provides non-lawyers and lawyers with an interest in human rights access to the domestic law governing human rights in Australia. It also provides students with the social and political context for the contemporary debate about the need for a bill of rights in Australia, and the shortcomings in Australian law for the adequate protection of minorities including Indigenous Australians, asylum seekers and refugees and women and girls who are trafficked. This unit provides non-government organisation (NGO) workers, educators, concerned citizens and other professionals employed by schools, church agencies and other professional and volunteer contexts with the learning needed to contribute to education, public dialogue and action enhancing human rights in Australia, including freedom of religion.

 

EDAC634 The International Law of Human Rights

10 cp
Prerequisites EDAC525 Citizenship and Human Rights and EDAC625 Theories and Concepts of Human Rights and Social Justice

This unit provides lawyers and non-lawyers such as educators and human rights activists with a broad overview of the international law relating to human rights. Students will be given an outline of the Unites Nations (UN) system for the protection of human rights, and the emerging changes within the UN Human Rights system, particularly the role and function of the new Human Rights Council. The unit provides a special focus on East Timor and Cambodia, the two countries in the region to have received closest attention from the UN Human Rights agencies. The Right to Education and its relevant UN machinery are outlined. The role human rights education plays in the promotion of human rights in various professional contexts such as schools and community organisations are explored.