Bachelor of Social Work

The ANU Bachelor of Social Work is a four-year AASW-accredited degree from the ANU School of Sociology and the College of Arts and Social Sciences. Year one covers introduction to social work, human behaviour and the social environment, Australian social policy, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social work and the foundations of communication and counselling. Year two layers theories of social work practice, working with individuals and families, group work, mental health practice and research methods, plus the first major field placement (around 500 supervised hours). Year three runs advanced practice, child protection, violence-and-trauma-informed practice, community development and policy advocacy. Year four carries the second major field placement (the AASW requires a total of 1000 supervised practice hours), advanced theory units, and a research-led capstone. The ANU School of Sociology has a research-school flavour - many lecturers are active policy researchers consulting to APS departments. The degree is heavily writing-led with reflective journals, casework reports and policy essays alongside the placement workload.

The BSW requires 1000 hours of supervised field placement across two major blocks, per AASW Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards. ANU matches students with ACT Government agencies (Community Services Directorate child and youth protection, ACT Health social work departments at Canberra Hospital and Calvary Public Bruce), Catholic and faith-based services (Marymead, CatholicCare Canberra and Goulburn), NGOs (YWCA Canberra, Anglicare, Communities at Work, Karralika Programs), Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (Winnunga Nimmityjah, Yerrabi Yurwang) and community legal centres. Placement is unpaid and typically full-time for a block of around 70 to 80 days. Students cover travel, the ACT Working with Vulnerable People (WWVP) registration, criminal record check and any specialty training the agency requires.

Graduates apply for membership of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) which is the only path to recognised social-work practice in Australia. AASW Accredited Mental Health Social Worker status comes after a Master of Mental Health Practice or comparable. Common postgraduate pivots include the Master of Social Work (Qualifying) for those wanting to switch from another bachelor, Master of Counselling, Master of Public Health (Crawford / NCEPH) and the Master of Public Policy. Career progression typically moves from generalist caseworker to senior practitioner, team leader and policy roles within five to eight years. ANUs proximity to APS policy departments makes the policy track unusually accessible.