Inherent requirements

Students undertaking social work studies are governed by practice standards and codes of ethics where students are both accountable and responsible for ensuring professional behaviour in all contexts.

Student demonstrates knowledge of, and engages in ethical behaviour in practice.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Compliance with the codes, guidelines and policies facilitates safe, competent interactions and relationships for students and/or the people with whom they engage. This supports the physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual wellbeing of all.
• Knowledge of, and compliance with the AASW Codes of Ethics is a requirement of course accreditation and graduate standards as mandated in the AASW Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards PDF.

Exemplars:

• Demonstrating appropriate behaviour with confidential information in classroom and field education  settings
• Demonstrate ability to reflect on ethical dilemmas and issues and take responsibility for ensuring awareness of ethical behaviour

Behavioural stability is required to function and adapt effectively and sensitively in this role.

Student demonstrates behavioural stability to work constructively in a diverse and changing academic and field education environment.

Justification of inherent requirement:

Behavioural stability is required to work individually and in teams in changing and unpredictable environments. Social work students will be exposed to highly complex human situations and will be required to have behavioural stability to manage these events

Exemplars:

• Being receptive and responding appropriately to constructive feedback
• Coping with own emotions and behaviour effectively when dealing with individuals in the field education setting

Social work is mandated by legislation and professional regulations to enable the delivery of safe and appropriate professional practice.

Student demonstrates knowledge and compliance with Australian Law, professional regulations and scope of practice.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Knowledge, understanding, and compliance with legislative and regulatory requirements are necessary prerequisites to field placements in order to reduce the risk of harm to self and others
• Compliance with these professional regulations and the Australian Law in the field placement setting ensures that students are both responsible and accountable for their practice

Exemplars:

• Complying with relevant child protection and safety legislation and reporting any notifiable concerns to your field education supervisor

Effective verbal communication, in English, is an essential requirement to provide safe delivery of support.

Student demonstrates:

• Sensitivity to individual and/or cultural differences
• The ability to understand and respond to verbal communication accurately, appropriately and in a timely manner
• The ability to provide clear instructions in the context of the situation
• Timely clear feedback and reporting

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Communicating in a way that displays respect and empathy to others and develops trusting relationships
• Communication may be restricted to verbal because of physical limitations of the individual (e.g. injury, disease or congenital conditions)
• Speed and interactivity of communication may be critical for individual safety and or assessment
• Timely, accurate and effective delivery of instructions is necessary to provide safe professional support

Adjustments must address effectiveness, timeliness, clarity and accuracy issues to ensure appropriate support. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Liaison Officer from Disability Services

Exemplars:

• Participating in tutorial and clinical discussions
• Responding appropriately in an interview in the field education setting

Effective non-verbal communication is fundamental to social work and needs to be respectful, clear, attentive, empathetic and non-judgmental.

Student demonstrates:

• The capacity to recognise, interpret and respond appropriately to behavioural cues
• Consistent and appropriate awareness of own behaviours
• Sensitivity to individual and/or cultural differences

Justification of inherent requirement:

• The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues assists with building rapport with people and gaining their trust and respect in academic and professional relationships.
• Displaying consistent and appropriate facial expressions, eye contact, being mindful of space, time boundaries and body movements and gestures promotes trust in academic and professional relationships.
• Being sensitive to individual and/or cultural differences displays respect and empathy to others and develops trusting relationships that are essential for effective professional support.
• The ability to observe and understand non-verbal cues is essential for effective observation of client reactions to facilitate assessment and to provide professional support.

Adjustments must enable the recognition, assessment, initiation of or appropriate response to effective non-verbal communication in a timely and appropriate manner. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Liaison Officer from Disability Services

Exemplars:

• Recognising and responding appropriately in classroom situations
• Recognising and responding appropriately to cues in the field education environment.

Effective written communication, in English, is a fundamental social work student responsibility with professional and legal ramifications.

Student demonstrates:

capacity to construct coherent written communication appropriate to the circumstances.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Construction of written text based assessment tasks to reflect the required academic standards are necessary to convey knowledge and understanding of relevant subject matter for professional practice standards
• Accurate written communication, including record keeping, client instructions and case notes is vital to provide consistent and accurate assessments and professional support in the field placement context

Adjustments must allow the students to meet necessary standards of clarity, accuracy and accessibility to ensure effective recording and transmission of information in both academic and field placement settings. Adjustments specific to the individual can be discussed with a Disability Liaison Officer from Disability Services.

Exemplars:

• Constructing an essay to academic standards
• Constructing a social worker's report in a timely manner that meets professional standards

Consistent knowledge and effective cognitive skills must be demonstrated to provide professional and competent social work practice.

Student demonstrates:

• Capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information
• Ability to process information relevant to practice
• Ability to integrate and implement knowledge in practice

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Safe and effective social work practice is based on knowledge that must be sourced, understood and applied appropriately
• A demonstrated defined range of knowledge and cognitive skills is a requirement for course accreditation, field placements and professional registration by the AASW

Exemplars:

• Ability to conceptualise and use appropriate knowledge in response to academic assessment items
• Appropriately applying knowledge of policy and procedures in the field education setting

Competent literacy skills are essential to provide safe and effective professional support.

Student demonstrates 

• The ability to acquire information and accurately convey appropriate, effective messages
• Ability to read and comprehend a range of literature and information
• The capacity to understand and implement academic and practice conventions to construct written text in an appropriate manner for the intended audience

Justification of inherent requirement:

• The ability to acquire information and to accurately convey messages is fundamental to ensure safe and effective assessment, treatment and professional support
• The ability to read, decode, interpret and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for safe and effective professional support in the field placement context

Exemplars:

• Conveying a spoken message accurately and effectively in a field education setting
• Paraphrasing, summarising and referencing in accordance with appropriate academic and/or professional practice conventions
• Producing accurate, concise and clear case notes which meets legal and professional practice requirements

Competent and accurate numeracy skills are essential in many areas of professional activity.

Student demonstrates the ability to interpret and correctly apply numerical data, measurement and numerical criteria.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Competent application of numeracy skills is essential in psychology to facilitate accurate and effective delivery of results when collecting and interpreting numerical data.

Exemplars:

• Accurately interpreting psychological test results.
• Accurately gathering and interpreting data using specialist software, e.g. SPSS.
• Effectively communicating an understanding of statistical concepts and analyses

Social work practice requires the ability to make and maintain strong relationships with a wide range of individuals, groups and communities.

Student demonstrates 

• The ability to establish and maintain rapport with clients, academic staff, supervisors and peers
• The ability to engage in effective and empathic counselling skills
• Ability to engage and relate appropriately in individual and group clinical supervision and experiential learning groups

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Highly developed relational skills are a cornerstone of effective relationships that permit effective assessment and interventions

Exemplars:

• Rapidly building rapport with a client in order to engage them in an assessment while on placement
• Effectively using relational and interpersonal skills to manage relationships with clients while on placement

Social work practice requires self-awareness and a capacity for reflectivity in order to consider the effect of one's own issues, actions, values and behaviours on practice.

Student demonstrates:

• The ability to accurately reflect on their professional performance
• The ability to accept feedback on their professional practice and respond constructively

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Participation in supervision is a key teaching strategy in social work education which requires well developed understanding of oneself in order to appropriately engage in this activity

• Working with clients while on placement and understanding and responding to them requires well developed understanding of oneself and the ability to effectively manage one's reactions to situations that may arise.

• The BSW and MSW (Q) are practice ready qualifications which mean that there is an emphasis on reflection embedded throughout the curriculum. It is important that students have the capacity and are open to, engaging in reflection to support the transference of theory to practice.

Exemplars:

• Identifying when a practice issue is outside one's scope or expertise or when one's practice may be negatively affected by personal experience and/or reactions.

Social work practice in the field education context requires both physical and mental performance at a consistent and sustained level.

Student demonstrates:

• Consistent and sustained level of physical energy to complete a specific task in a timely manner and over time

• The capacity to maintain consistency and quality of performance throughout the designated period of time

• The capacity and availability to complete 1000 hours of field Education.

Justification of inherent requirement:

• Sufficient physical and mental resilience is an essential requirement needed to perform tasks in an assigned period to provide effective, safe and professional support in the field placement context

Exemplars:

• Participating in tutorials, lectures, skills
• Providing consistent field education practice over a negotiated time frame