Social workers make an important contribution to the wellbeing and improvement of society. With a strong commitment to social justice and human rights, social workers can be found working with people who are disadvantaged and marginalised by society because of poverty or personal circumstances. As a UOW Social Work graduate you will enter the labour market with extensive skills and knowledge, and supervised professional practice experience. You will be ready to promote social change and development, and improve the lives of individuals, families and communities.

This degree

UOW Social Work offers fresh and innovative content, taught by experts in the Social Work field. The intensive professional experience in this degree will allow you to practise your skills with real people, in real- world situations giving you first-hand Social Work experience. This experience ensures you are job-ready when graduating, making you highly attractive to employers.

What you will study

The UOW Bachelor of Social Work provides a balance of skills, concepts and theory, as well as hands-on experience in professional practice. You will cover the following five areas:

• Study of the individual and society: with subjects such as Psychology, Introduction to Social Work and electives from a range of humanities, which will provide an introduction to people and social context.
• Skills for practice: you will develop skills to work effectively with people, and use critical insights to understand people and social problems.
• Enactment of social justice: enacting social justice is a core requirement when working with individuals, families or communities, and for social researchers and policy developers
• Engaging with community: engaging with communities on joint projects is an important part of Social Work, and is central in the program.
• Supervised professional practice: in the final years of the degree, you will gain supervised professional practice experience in human service agencies. This is where you will develop the skills and knowledge necessary for a career as a social worker.

• Health
• Disability
• Aged Care
• Children and Child Protection
• Family Services
• Community Development
• Housing
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities
• Migrant and Refugees Services
• Social Planning
• Mental Health
• Social Policy
• Homelessness
• Youth Services
• Community Based Research
• Program Planning and Evaluation
• Women (Including Domestic Violence) and Trauma