Preparing social work students for policy practice: an Australian example

Abstract

This paper presents an innovative approach to the teaching of policy skills across the two years of an Australian Social Work degree programme. It argues that placing policy back into practice and teaching the skills involved provides social work practitioners with a better capacity to effect change. Australian Catholic University, School of Social Work is located in Australia's capital city. The policy units have a clear framework within which to understand policy development and provide students with real hands‐on policy experience combining an experiential based learning approach with traditional teaching methods. The second year subject is structured around a number of policy workshops. Each workshop deals with a current policy problem and examines a different stage of policy development. It has as a consultant to the process a social worker who works as a policy practitioner providing a role model of practice in a policy area. Feedback from students has been extremely positive reporting increased confidence in policy skills and a recognition of the importance of these skills in social work. This teaching experience reinforces the need to focus on the educational considerations in teaching a subject where conceptual, theoretical and skill components are equally important if policy practice is to effect change.

Keywords:

• Policy Practice
• Policy Teaching
• Australian Social Work

Notes

Correspondence to: Dr Joanna Zubrzycki, Australian Catholic University, P.O. Box 256, Dickson 2602, Canberra, Australia. Email: [email protected]

Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, University of Queensland, Sydney University, Curtin University (integrates community work and policy), Newcastle University (problem based learning) and University of Western Sydney are exceptions in that they take a more skills and experiential based approach to teaching policy.

The same could be said for the dirth of material on teaching community work skills (see Allen‐Kelly et al., 2001).

Policy analysis had also been discussed in the Year 1 course.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Joanna Zubrzycki

Correspondence to: Dr Joanna Zubrzycki, Australian Catholic University, P.O. Box 256, Dickson 2602, Canberra, Australia. Email: [email protected]