Enrolments for 2021 have closed.
Social Policy and Community Action
Undergraduate | MUR-COD214 | 2021
Course information for 2021 intake View information for 2024 course intake
Wrestle with social policy and how it shapes social and community work. Sift through concepts including social justice, welfare and reciprocity. Track recent trends in Australia's social policies. Familiarise yourself with the policy analysis process.
- Study method
- 100% online
- Assessments
- 100% online
- Entry requirements
- Prior study needed
- Duration
- 13 weeks
HECS-HELP and FEE-HELP available
Social Policy and Community Action
About this subject
On successful completion of the subject you should:
- understand the ways in which social policy ideas have changed over time
- understand recent trends in Australian social policy, and the issues influencing social policy formation.
- be familiar with the ways in which concepts of 'community' shape social policy
- understand the role language plays in social policy discourse
- have developed skills in social policy analysis
- have improved research and problem-solving skills
- have improved oral and written communication skills.
- Social Policy: what do they say it is?
- Change and controversy over time
- Who, what and when?
- Policy actors and the policy cycle
- "Problem making" and causality
- "Don't think of an elephant": Language and rhetoric in social policy
- Metaphor and social policy
- Who is my neighbour? Community and values in social policy
- Sorting through the evidence
- Bringing ideas together: Making a start of policy analysis
This subject was previously known as COD355A Community and Social Policy.
This subject aims to equip you with an understanding of social policy, and how the policy context shapes community‐based work. The unit focuses on the intersection between social policy and community ‐ exploring ideas about the way political philosophies and concepts of community influence social policy formation and implementation, the attributes and limitations of the way policy is made, as well as the key role played by language in the social policy discourse.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport.
Students are asked to prepare written assignments that examine particular fields of interest in the social policy field, the influence of language in social policy and to explore how theory and practice intersect. The assessments are designed to build student skills in research, social policy analysis and community-based policy development.
- Policy Case Study (30%)
- Briefing Paper (30%)
- Online discussion participation (10%)
- Essay (timed open task) (30%)
For textbook details check your university's handbook, website or learning management system (LMS).
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Entry requirements
Equivalent subjects
You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:
MUR-COD355A (Not currently available)
MUR-COD355 (Not currently available)
Others
Students must have completed 18 credit points (6 OUA subjects) at Level 1 before enrolling in this subject. This subject is also equivalent to COD355 Community and Social Policy.
Additional requirements
No additional requirements
Study load
- 0.125 EFTSL
- This is in the range of 10 to 12 hours of study each week.
Equivalent full time study load (EFTSL) is one way to calculate your study load. One (1.0) EFTSL is equivalent to a full-time study load for one year.
Find out more information on Commonwealth Loans to understand what this means to your eligibility for financial support.
What to study next?
Once you’ve completed this subject it can be credited towards one of the following courses
UndergraduateMUR-CDV-DEG
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