Learning Outcomes:
a) Discuss and evaluate the historical, cultural, political, social, and global context of social work.
b) Analyse and discuss concepts of social justice and human rights and how they underpin the philosophical, ethical, and moral base of social work practice.
c) Critically reflect on current fields of practice and communities of interest, identifying specific roles and responsibilities for practice.
d) Link current social work practice methods to specific practice fields and assess their impact on targeted groups.
e) Demonstrate a critically reflective stance to inform their response to the increasingly complex demands of contemporary social work practice.
Assessment Details and Instructions
This assessment task gives students an opportunity to explore and critically analyse one field of social work practice. Students may choose from a range of practice areas including disability, homelessness, family violence, aged care, child and family services and mental health. If students have a particular area of interest, they are encouraged to discuss this with their lecturer.
In this task, students will address each of the 3 questions as outlined below related to their chosen field of practice.
Question 1: Describe your chosen field of practice and the current challenges and tensions in this field for social work.
Question 2: Analyse one specific and current issue (or “gap”) in service delivery, why has this arisen and what is one strategy that has been developed to address the issue.
Question 3: Critically reflect on your learning during the preparation of this essay about the intersection of your own personal and cultural values and beliefs and social work practice.
Responses should draw on 8-10 journal articles or references from unit texts.
Essay:
Can you please complete the essay on the below-chosen field:
Question 1 - Chosen field (Mental Health, Psychosocial Disability – within the criminal justice system):
The fundamental aims of the Australian criminal justice system include ensuring public safety, deterring criminal behaviour, holding offenders accountable and providing restitution for victims. (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 1997)
Incarceration plays a particular role in supporting these aims.
There is a significant number of prisoners in Australia and a wide variety of factors that contribute to the causes of incarceration. Although individualistic ideas about criminal behaviour permeate much of the discourse on crime, there is ample evidence that crime is tied to social inequities such as poverty, intergenerational trauma, homelessness, mental health issues, disability, and substance abuse. (Pitt, 2021).
People with disabilities, particularly psychosocial or cognitive disabilities, are dramatically overrepresented in the criminal justice system in Australia – 18 percent of the country’s population, but almost 50 percent of people entering prison. However, prisons fail to adequately identify people with mental health and psychosocial disabilities and are ill-equipped to meet their needs, often lacking the most basic services. (Human Rights Watch, 2018).
Additionally, many prisoners in the Australian criminal justice system have unrecognized or undiagnosed mental health conditions, and psychosocial disabilities, particularly cognitive impairments. (Salerno, 2020).
Question 1 - Current challenges and tensions for social workers within this field of practice.
As a social worker, I recognize the close connection between growing imprisonment rates, racial injustice, disability discrimination and deprived liberty for those living with mental health and psychosocial disability.
The role of social work in responding to these issues is considered, and it is argued that social workers are well-placed to challenge injustices in the carceral system. (Policy Positions, n.d.)
With its professional ethics grounded in principles of human rights and social justice, social workers can support prisoners and ex-prisoners, advocate for community-based alternatives to incarceration, and work to address the underlying causes of crime. Ultimately, social workers can engage with emancipatory processes through the application of evidence-based research, policy, and activism.
Incarceration reform must respond to the changes in the nature and reasons for offending to address the root cause of crime and make communities safer.
