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SP10145: Community needs assessment, groups and teamwork in practice

Follow this link for further information on academic years Academic Year: 2017/8
Further information on owning departmentsOwning Department/School: Department of Social & Policy Sciences
Further information on credits Credits: 12      [equivalent to 24 CATS credits]
Further information on notional study hours Notional Study Hours: 240
Further information on unit levels Level: Certificate (FHEQ level 4)
Further information on teaching periods Period:
Academic Year
Further information on unit assessment Assessment Summary: CW 70%, OT 30%
Further information on unit assessment Assessment Detail:
  • Assessment Group S: Coursework RTP12 (70%) (CW 70% - Qualifying Mark: 40)
  • Assessment Group S: Written and verbal report (30%) (OT 30% - Qualifying Mark: 40)
Further information on supplementary assessment Supplementary Assessment:
SP10145A Supplementary coursework 100% (where allowed by programme regulations)
Further information on requisites Requisites:
Further information on descriptions Description: Aims:
To ensure students meet both the Standards of Proficiency (HCPC) and Professional Capabilities Framework (TCSW) in relation to social work practice and principles.
The aims of this unit are to:
1. ensure that students develop an understanding of the theory and practice of assessing community needs through engaging in group projects. Students will gain an understanding of group work dynamics and will develop their skills in research methods through the completion of a community profile research project.
2. develop students' basic social work communication skills; ability to engage with users & carers; capacity to work as a member of an organisation; willingness to learn from feedback and supervision; basic social work values, knowledge & skills in order to make effective use of first practice placement

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this unit students will have learnt:
1. How an individual's identity is informed by factors such as culture, economic status, family composition, life experiences and characteristics, and take account of these to understand their experiences, questioning assumptions where necessary. PCF 3.1
2. To recognise how systemic approaches can be used to understand the person in the environment and inform your practice. PCF5.5
3. To inform decision-making through the identification and gathering of information from multiple sources, actively seeking new sources. PCF 6.2
4. To (with support) rigorously question and evaluate the reliability and validity of information from different sources. PCF 6.3
5. To demonstrate respectful partnership work with service users and carers, eliciting and respecting their needs and views, and promoting their participation in decision-making wherever possible. PCF 2.4
6. Demonstrate professionalism is terms of presentation, demeanour, reliability, honest and respectfulness. PCF 1.4
7. Promote and protect the privacy of individuals within and outside their families and networks, recognising the requirements of professional accountability and information sharing. PCF 2.6
8. Recognise the contribution, and begin to make use, of research to inform practice. PCF 5.10
9. Understand the need to construct hypotheses in social work practice PCF 6.5
10. Recognise and describe why evidence is important in social work practice PCF 6.6
11. Be able to work within an organisation's remit and contribute to its evaluation and development. PCF 8.4
12. Take responsibility for their role and impact within teams and be able to contribute positively to effective team working. PCF 8.6
13. the importance within social welfare, of good information, particularly about the needs of users and potential users of social services.
14. A range of skills necessary for needs assessment, utilising information gathering and analysis at a fundamental level.
15. Fundamental skills in communication, interviewing and enabling people to make themselves heard in the assessment process.
16. About research ethics and confidentiality in information gathering, storing and analysis. PCF 5.11
17. The usefulness of ICT for storage and analysis.
18. About local services and how they inter-relate
19. Skills in managing workloads, gathering and collation of data and its presentation in different forms for communication and information purposes. PCF 1.5
20. About the process of reflection and evaluation both for community profiling and within their own learning.
21. To identify indications and counter-indications for using groupwork as a method of intervention; to plan and induct members into formed groups; to select appropriate leadership styles and the tasks associated with them, such as communication and making decisions; to understand the groupwork role in relation to self-led groups; to solve common groupwork problems, and evaluate the process and outcomes of working in groups.
22. How group processes can be utilised in working with service users in the assessment of needs and the evaluation of services.

Skills:
Students will have developed skills in:
1. Recognising the importance of diversity in human identity and experience, and the application of anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive principles in social work practice (taught and assessed) PCF 3.1
2. Understanding the role of reflective practice and demonstrating basic skills of reflection (facilitated) PCF 6.4
3. Demonstrating a critical understanding of research methods (taught facilitated & assessed). PCF 5.11
4. Demonstrate core communication skills and the capacity to develop them (taught and facilitated) PCF 7.1
5. Demonstrate the ability to engage with people in order to build compassionate and effective relationships (taught and facilitated) PCF 7.3
6. Demonstrate basic ability to produce written documents relevant for practice (taught and assessed) PCF 7.8
7. Communicating an argument (facilitated and assessed)
8. Understanding a research question and using both qualitative and quantitative research methods to gather information and data from a number of sources (taught, facilitated and assessed)
9. Synthesising information and data to gain a coherent understanding (taught, facilitated and assessed)
10. Awareness of ethical issues in research (taught and assessed)
11. Presentation and verbal communication skills(taught)
12. Team and group working skills (taught and facilitated)
13. Managing time and workload effectively (facilitated)

Content:
Aims will be achieved by teaching input on:
* Context, purpose and value of community profiling as a responsive, user-focused and anti-discriminatory task, and the skills and knowledge base for effective practice
* Groupwork; group typologies; models of group development; planning groups; leadership styles and tasks; working with user-led groups; problem-solving in groups; recording and evaluating groups; work-based teams as groups.
* Qualitative & Quantitative Research Methods
* Undertaking a Literature Review
* Ethics in Research
* Academic skills including using the library, referencing, academic integrity, planning and writing assignments, portfolios and reports,
* Project work in collaborative groups, for a local statutory or community organisation.
* Project group supervision will be provided during the process of these projects in order to enhance learning
* Research presentation skills.
Further information on programme availabilityProgramme availability:

SP10145 is a Designated Essential Unit on the following programmes:

Department of Social & Policy Sciences
  • UHSP-AFB15 : BSc(Hons) Social Work and Applied Social Studies (Year 1)

SP10145 is Compulsory on the following programmes:

Department of Social & Policy Sciences

Notes: