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The journey to become social workers – a community development approach to supporting international students’ social well-being, learning outcomes and retention at USC
Conference presentation

The journey to become social workers – a community development approach to supporting international students’ social well-being, learning outcomes and retention at USC

Athena Lathouras and Carey Shaw
2015 Learning & Teaching Week Program Book, p.16
Learning & Teaching Week, 2015 (Sunshine Coast, Australia, 14-Sep-2015–18-Sep-2015)
University of the Sunshine Coast
2015
url
https://www.usc.edu.au/View
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Abstract

Curriculum and Pedagogy social work program
In Semester One 2013 the social work program saw an exponential increase in enrolments of international students into the Masters Qualifying program. The students were facing a range of challenges impacting on their educational goals and well-being. To more adequately respond to students' needs, in 2013 an action-research project based on community development methods. The critical-relational methods and skills employed by the project have had outstanding results in advancing quality teaching and learning. The project's various iterations have: built a sense of community across diverse cultural groups within the university setting and beyond; influenced the organisational structure; increased critical pedagogical responses in the classroom; and developed responses within field education to better support students on placement. The final iteration of the project during Semester 1 2015 has had support from a Learning and Teaching Exploratory grant. The social work research team is exploring how critical pedagogy enhances both domestic and international social work students' engagement with curricular and positively impacts on students' deep learning.

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