Lecture: 4 hours/week
Lecture
Group exercises
Student presentations
Course content will be guided by research, empirical knowledge and best practice. The following values and principles, consistent with professional standards, inform course content:
- A critical analysis of the role of social work in society is necessary for effective social work practice.
- Social workers need a broad understanding of contemporary social problems, and of the diversity of social work responses to these problems.
- In partnership with individuals, groups, and communities, social workers facilitate empowerment, social change, and mutual aid.
- Addressing oppression to advance human rights and social justice is a central function of social work practice.
- Social workers have an ethical responsibility to decolonization, anti-racism, and relational solidarity with the self-determination of Indigenous Peoples.
- Social workers seek to understand the impact of the social locations and identities of themselves and others.
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Describe social welfare traditions and ideologies that inform contemporary social work practice in Canada.
- Discuss the nature of social work and the roles of a generalist social work practitioner.
- Identify the core principles of anti-oppressive, decolonizing, and anti-racist social work practice.
- Describe best practices in Indigenous social work and social work with Indigenous Peoples.
- Explain how social work’s major theoretical and practice approaches can be applied in a variety of contexts.
- Apply professional ethics, values, and decision-making frameworks.
- Analyze structural sources of injustice and the relationship between personal struggles and public issues.
Examinations
Research papers
Presentations
Participation
Attendance
Evaluations will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College Evaluation Policy and will include both formative and summative components. Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation in a course as part of the student’s graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline.
Textbooks and materials are to be purchased by students. A list of required textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of the semester. Example texts may include:
- Ives, N., Denov, M. & Sussman, T. (2020). Introduction to social work in Canada: Histories, contexts, and practices. Oxford University Press Canada.
- Canadian Social Work Association (2024). Code of Ethics.
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