Theories and Perspectives for Social Work Practice

Curriculum Guideline

Effective Date:
Course
Discontinued
No
Course Code
SOWK 3100
Descriptive
Theories and Perspectives for Social Work Practice
Department
Social Work
Faculty
Applied Community Studies
Credits
3.00
Start Date
End Term
Not Specified
PLAR
No
Semester Length
15 weeks
Max Class Size
35
Contact Hours
60 hours
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Learning Activities

Lecture
Group Exercises
Student Presentations
Use of multimedia resources.

 

Course Description
The course provides the student with an overview of essential traditional, contemporary and emergent theories, models and perspectives relevant to generalist social work practice. Students will examine those important to social work practice such as developmental, biopsychosocial, psychodynamic, relational, systems, anti-oppressive, feminist, social justice, social constructivism, and structural. Students will explore the application of theories, models and perspectives to practice and develop a guiding framework for their own practice
Course Content

The following values and principles, consistent with professional standards, inform course content.

  • Human behaviour is highly complex and the social work profession is involved in a wide range of activities. Generalist social workers must have knowledge of a range of theories and perspectives and be able to apply them to guide and evaluate their actions in different situations.
  • Social workers critically evaluate the application of theory to practice and understand how theories, models and perspectives reflect and shape one’s ideas, attitudes and behaviour.

Course content will be informed by current social work research, practice, and scholarship.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

  1. Describe key attributes of a broad range of social work theories;
  2. Critically evaluate a range of social work theories (traditional, contemporary and emergent);
  3. Articulate the relationship between social work theories, practice, and research;
  4. Identify aspects of a theory that are consistent or inconsistent with one’s own values and professional ethics;
  5. Apply a selection of theories to a situation and describe how each theory guides practice in that situation.
Means of Assessment

This course will conform to Douglas College policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations. Typical means of evaluation would include a combination of any of the following:

  • Examinations
  • Research papers
  • Participation
  • Attendance.

 

Textbook Materials

Text(s) such as the following, the list to be updated periodically:

Healy, K. (2005). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. New York: Palgrave MacMillan.
Jennissen, T., & Lundy, C. (2011). One hundred years of social work: A history of the profession in English Canada, 1900–2000. Waterloo, ON: Wilfred Laurier Press.

 

Prerequisites

Nil

Corequisites

Nil

Equivalencies

Nil

Which Prerequisite

Nil