Diploma in Social Sciences

This subject introduces students to university culture and life, and explores a range of skills, attributes and behaviours that will gear students for success in their first year of tertiary study. A range of topics will be covered to facilitate increased confidence in students as they embark upon their university journey, as well as enhance students’ capacities to engaging critically and actively in their chosen field of study. This subject will equip students with a range of academic study skills, research techniques and multi-literacies, and support students to develop their own individualised learning model, personal learning objectives and academic capacities. Academic integrity is further positioned as a critical component of university life and this subject will prepare students to engage effectively in their future professional fields and as active citizens.

This subject will support students across a range of Diplomas in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences to gain foundational knowledge and capacities relevant to their future studies. The subject will enable students to begin actively engaging with the foundation theories and contemporary issues and controversies from a selected discipline area for future professional application. Students will learn about the discipline and professional pathways that are specific to their diploma area, and be introduced to how these might intersect with other disciplines in a changing tertiary education and societal context. Students will also enhance and further demonstrate foundational university research and communication skills.

This subject introduces students to the development of criminology as a framework for analysis and offers a critical introductory insight into various applied institutional and legislative contexts through which criminal justice occurs. Students will consider the ways in which deviant and/or criminal behaviour is defined and how the legislative and policy responses to crime operate at the level of Police, Courts and Corrections as well as the communities in which they operate. By the end of this subject, students will consider a crime or deviance issue and reflect on current practice. Students will gain skills in assessing criminal justice issues holistically through a critical lens.

This subject explores various relevant theories, narratives and concepts that underpin social scientific scholarship. Students will gain critical insight into ideas such as identity, culture, structures of inequality and difference (e.g. such as gender, race, class, sexuality), and their intersections. With a focus on contemporary social life, the subject provides opportunity for students to consider current social issues and various macro and micro forces impacting social change on a social and spatial level. By exploring a range of key theories and concepts in the social sciences, students will gain knowledge and skills in how to analyse our social world – the world in which they will be working in the future as professionals – and thereby be in a position to more fully comprehend the world around them, its issues, problems, inequalities and injustices that they will be working with. The subject will prepare students with a range of skills relevant to scholarship in the social sciences, such as critical reading, sociological theorisation and analysis, as well as statistical and spatial literacy.

This subject introduces students to the rich diversity: past, present and future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in Australia with emphasis placed on the importance of identity, diversity, representation and resilience. You will engage directly with Indigenous sources and learn to critically analyse content from Indigenous standpoints. Presenting as a challenging and thought-provoking experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, places and philosophies, this subject provides a solid theoretical foundation of Indigenous perspectives essential for the knowledge and professional practices in your chosen field.

In this subject, students engage with the concepts and philosophy of human rights and explore how these ideas influence the Australian experience within legal, governmental and social service institutions. Students will be challenged to consider if vulnerable groups have their human rights promoted or undermined by current practice and identify a human rights issue to address through a community action plan. Students will gain subject relevant skills linking theory to practice in the process of critical reflection and exercising statistical literacy.

This subject is designed to complement the first six months of study in a College Diploma program by developing the skills required to be successful at University and beyond. The subject is delivered online with students accessing learning modules and connecting with their learner community in their own time and at their own pace to allow maximum flexibility. At the beginning of the subject students use diagnostic tools to identify their specific strengths and areas for improvement, and develop an individualised learning journey through the content. This learning journey will help to address individual study skill needs, while also developing employability skills, facilitating connection with peers and with the University community, as well as the student’s future career.

This subject is designed to assist students to take the next step in their academic development by helping them build higher level reflective skills that will allow them to critically consider their own learning and professional journey and make the adjustments required to achieve their goals. Students will begin to take ownership of their learning by developing proactive strategies that will allow them to study on their own terms. Students will begin engaging with their intended profession and reflect on the skills, attributes and qualifications that will be required to reach their goals. Students will also develop a transition plan to help them navigate the next steps in their academic journey so that they can identify the challenges they might encounter as they move forward, and develop the skills to overcome them.