Kirra (14) is an Australian Aboriginal girl who in the last 12 months has suffered the loss of her father and her 54 years old maternal grandmother, both from chronic illness. In the same year, she has also lost her 17-year-old cousin to suicide.

Assessment 2

Skills demonstration analysis

 Effective intervention relies on experience and the application of knowledge, as well as self-reflection. This assignment will assist and support students in the development and critical reflection of child focused engagement skills.

 The assessment is divided in two parts: 
Week 9 (Working with Aboriginal children and families)

This week’s case studies:

Kirra (14) is an Australian Aboriginal girl who in the last 12 months has suffered the loss of her father and her 54 years old maternal grandmother, both from chronic illness. In the same year, she has also lost her 17-year-old cousin to suicide. 

·       You are a school counsellor and this is your first counselling session with Kirra. She has been referred by her teacher as she has been withdrawn and disengaged.   

 

 

Part A: Role play (30%)

During the three tutorials from weeks 8-10 (or during the intensive workshop if you are an external student) you will prepare for and practice engagement with children by participating in a variety of role play scenarios. This provides opportunities to simulate work with children and adolescents and to identify appropriate engagement strategies.
Following participation in the role plays you will take detailed notes of your interaction(s) and your reflections of the child’s’ reactions and the social work purpose in the role play.

Feedback from your role play observers also need to be noted and included. You are not required to do a process recording (word for word) of your practice sessions, but you will need to reflect on what worked and what didn’t, so it will be useful to record your roleplay for your own benefit.

Your notes will form a basis for part B assessment 2 where you’re required to briefly describe the intervention undertaken during your role play and to critically analyse your performance with reference to your learning in this course, social work theories and the literature. The questions in part ‘B’ below should guide both your note taking and your completed assessment 2.

 

Duration: 15 minutes inclusive of 5 minutes for preparation and feedback, i.e. 10 minutes for roleplay.

 

Tips for the Part A: Role-play

·        Practice for your role play but don’t over practice. The use of cue cards and notes is not acceptable during the role play.

·        This assessment is not about intervention, so please avoid providing any type of advice, solutions, or outcomes during your roleplay.

·        The roleplay is to assess your knowledge and skills in engaging appropriately and respectfully with children. Therefore, you will need to demonstrate a good understanding

·        Create a safe and comfortable setting.

·        meet and greet: introduce self, role and purpose of session (all the different scenarios share the same purpose which is to gain a better understanding of the child’s situation).

·        Addressing issues of power imbalance. 

·        Consider principles of working with children

·        Consider child-centred principles and practice approaches.

Part B: 1500 words Reflective Analysis (70%)

Part B builds on your reflections and the feedback from your role-play. 
You are required to reflect on your preparation for the session, relevant knowledge of age appropriate engagement strategies, empathy for the child and understanding of child centred practice and how this has been applied in your role-play scenarios.

Structure:

This paper needs to be written like an essay with an introduction, body, and conclusion. The reflective analysis should cover the following points: 

·        Brief Description of the role play scenario; beginning, middle and ending (including what you did to prepare for the session)

·        What was child centred about your approach? Which child centred approaches were you drawing from and why? 

·        How did you demonstrate your knowledge of child development theories? Give specific examples from your role-play scenario to APPLY this knowledge.

·        What child centred social work skills, knowledge and values (refer to the AASW Code of Ethics) did you utilise? Why did you choose these approaches for this scenario? Explain how these were demonstrated – include examples.

·        How did you demonstrate empathy with the child/young person? Include examples of what you said/did.

·        Critically reflect on what went well in your role play? What could you have done differently and why? Include examples of feedback from the observer. 

 

Formatting:

1500 words in length (plus and minus 10%) with a minimum of 8 academic references.

Please don’t use headings, subheadings, and dot points. 

APA referencing style applies for assignments in this course. Minimum of 8 references.