COD504 Community, Policy and Change

COD504 Community, Policy and Change: Study guide
Semester 1, 2020
Welcome to this first semester of the year and to our “Community, Policy and Change” unit. We hope this unit
will shed some interesting light on aspects of living in community that sometimes pass us by, and will give you
some practical tools to help you think about ideas and work toward change in areas of society that matter to
you personally or professionally.
Over this semester we aim to uncover some of the mysteries of policy work and how social policies are formed.
We look at the way language is used to promote, hide, contort, and explain various ideas and policy practices,
and we explore how community-based practitioners can be better equipped to shape policy that can make a
positive contribution to human well-being.
The assessments in this unit aim to give you a chance to experience what it’s
like to be part of the social policy process, and we hope the various readings,
videos, discussions, blog posts, and other resources give you an insight into
some ideas you haven’t encountered before, and deepen your understanding
of your existing knowledge and experience.
We also hope this unit gives you further opportunities to explore and try out
new ideas with your fellow scholars and practitioners, so we’d encourage you
make the most of places where you can present and discuss your ideas and
wonderings with others.
This unit is set out in a series of ten weekly themes that introduce a collection
of ideas about social policy, and especially the connection of social policy to
community-based work.
We will examine these ideas through weekly lectures and workshop discussions, as well as offering a range of
material to read, view, listen to and think about. Reading and viewing this recommended material in
preparation for the weekly lecture will assist you with understanding the themes covered in the unit, as well as
in discovering more about the world of social policy. The list of recommended sources is not exhaustive, and
you are encouraged to read more widely, including some of the online resources mentioned here in this guide.
Also, the assessments will require you to read further in some more specific fields of policy, and particularly in
those that are of interest to you.
We’ll look forward to working with you through the semester.
Contacting us
Unit Coordinator:
Cameron Tero
Email: c.tero@murdoch.edu.au
Room: 450.4.038
Phone: (08) 9360 2992
Tutors: We have a team of tutors in this unit and we’ll make sure you have contact details for your tutor at the
start of semester.
2
COD504 Semester 1 weekly program
Over the next couple of pages is a brief outline of our themes for each week of the coming semester. This
is designed to give you an idea of what’s ahead and there are also a number of resources that will
accompany these themes. There are resources posted on the COD504 unit page, including links to
essential readings in the library reading list, and we will also suggest additional material during semester.
Also, see the further resources section on page 4.
Week 1: Friday 28th February
Social policy: what do they say it is?
In this first week, aim to orient yourself to the unit, the themes we’ll be covering and the unit requirements, and
start to consider the areas of social policy that interest you. Today’s lecture will also introduce you to some initial
ideas about what social policy is, and some of the territory it covers across our society.
Week 2: Friday 6th March
Change and controversy over time
This week we look at how ideas about social policy have developed and changed over time, as well as the role of a
range of theoretical perspectives in that evolution.
Week 3: Friday 13th March
Who, what and when? Policy actors and the policy cycle
This week we start to explore the process of social policy, how it is made and by who. In the lecture we discuss a
number of ideas about how policy making can be understood, and the usefulness of understanding the policy
process.