Now more than ever compassionate and engaged social workers are needed to help improve the life-chances and wellbeing of people and to combat societal inequality.

Contemporary social workers need contemporary skills to respond meaningfully to social problems. Our Bachelor of Social Work with Honours (Professional and Research Specialisations) has been redesigned after direct industry feedback to reflect current and emerging practice trends in the profession.

The newly updated honours-level course with specialisation options has been designed to exceed professional accreditation standards, and will give you key skills in ethical, innovative and collaborative social work practice.

The new curriculum will equip you with advanced knowledge of social work research principles and methods. It also includes 1,000 hours of supervised professional field education placement, and students are encouraged to take part in additional project and research work with communities and industry.

You will graduate as a creative and ethical communicator who respectfully uses knowledge to meet the needs of diverse social work client groups, communities and organisations. You will be able to respond to social justice and human rights challenges in ways that are culturally sensitive, principled, and effective.

Work placement

In your third and fourth years of study you will need to complete a minimum of 1000 hours of professional experience placement, equivalent to 2 x 14 weeks full-time. Depending on the organisation and where you are at in your degree, there will be opportunities of 5, 4 or 3 day per week placements.

The University will set up the agreement and match you to a suitable organisation. You will also have the opportunity to be provided with rural and remote experiences in the north and northwest.

Before you begin placement, you will need to attend preparation seminars and a placement interview. You will be allocated a field educator/social worker, with a minimum of 2 years full time equivalent post-graduation experience in the field. Your professional placement experience provides you with the opportunity to learn how to translate theories of social work into practice.

It is possible in some circumstances for students to complete a placement in their place of work.

Recognition of Prior Learning is possible for the first placement. Students who are given RPL for the first placement are unable to complete the final placement in their place of employment.

See more information and resources at Field Education Placements.

The skills and expertise our Social Work graduates gain equips them for a diverse range of rewarding careers, including:

• child safety practitioner
• social worker
• project manager
• youth worker
• mental health practitioner
• researcher
• policy analyst and advisor

• community development worker
• migrant and refugee settlement workers
• case manager
• drug and alcohol counsellor
• palliative care social worker
• relationships counsellor
• disability advocate.

Professional Recognition

This is an Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) accredited course. It is an entry qualification into the social work profession and has been determined to meet the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards. As a new course, the degree meets the national standards for Provisional Accreditation.