Family studies presentation august 2019 webinar brief version
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An overview of the Master of Family Studies and the Graduate Certificate of Family Studies at the University of Newcastle (through the Family Action Centre). Presented by Alan Hayes (Professor of Family Studies and Director of the Family Action Centre) and Jennifer St George (Program Convenor).
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Family studies presentation august 2019 webinar brief version
- 2. Dr Jennifer StGeorge Convenor Family Studies Distinguished Professor in Family Studies Alan Hayes, AM
- 4. Family Studies is the study of family life, family processes, and family functions in social and cultural contexts that include the broader social environment of government policies and priorities. It is also the study of the effects of adverse life circumstances on families, and how best we can contribute to their strengths and resilience. We have a particular focus is on the most vulnerable families in our society, and on times in the lifecourse when families are most vulnerable.
- 5. FAMILY STUDIES AT UON • The Discipline of Family Studies • only one in an Australian University • Inaugural Chair of Family Studies • Distinguished Professor Alan Hayes, AM • Global Consortium for International Family Studies (GCIFS) • University of Nebraska-Lincoln (USA) & Tata Institute of Social Sciences (India)
- 6. WHY STUDY AT UON REAL-WORLD EXPERIENCES PRACTICE-INFORMED TEACHING 30 year history of family programs Hunter Outreach Project SNUG UNI4YOU Deadly Streaming Our Health Rules Father Inclusive Practice 30 year history of family programs
- 7. WHY STUDY AT UON RESEARCH- INFORMED TEACHING Fathers & Families Research Program SMS4Dads Coparenting for Healthy Families Rough and Tumble Play Strong Families— Capable Communities Muswellbrook Healthy and Well Evidence Based Practice in Family Services
- 8. STRONGFAMILIES— CAPABLECOMMUNITIES• The University of Newcastle’s extensive expertise in • social sciences • health • family studies • integrated health and community services • enabling programs • Collaborative partnerships with • DPC, FACS, Education, Health, Housing, the Police Area Command • Muswellbrook Shire Council • and the Social Housing Provider – Compass Housing • A Collective Impact Facilitator (CIF)to • synergise multiple government, community and industry resources to identify local priority risk factors • enhance family and community capability to address these
- 10. ROUGH & TUMBLE PLAY Competitiveness Risk taking, autotelic experiences Motoric elements & emotional experience Sensory modalities Paradox & cognition Flow experience Interventions for children and or parents Autism ADHD ODD
- 11. WHY STUDY FAMILY STUDIES? 0.0 200.0 400.0 600.0 800.0 1,000.0 1,200.0 1,400.0 1,600.0 1,800.0 2,000.0 Employed('000) Health Care and Social Assistance Time series and projection 0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000 300,000 350,000 400,000 Employees' qualifications 2006 2011
- 12. WHY STUDY AT UON CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Family Service Manager Family Program Coordinator Research & Policy Officer Family & Relationship Services Practitioner Specialist family worker in nursing, allied health, youth work, drug &alcohol, mental health, early childhood, education & law In Government, non-government and corporate sectors
- 13. FAST FACTS MASTER OF FAMILY STUDIES DURATION 1.5 years full-time or part-time equivalent MAXIMUM TIME 5 years LOCATION Online COURSES Complete a total of 6 Core Courses and 2 or 6 Directed Courses depending on whether you are in the 80 or 120 unit pathway. ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE Minimum of a three year degree in any area related to Family Studies or extended by a related postgraduate qualification. GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN FAMILY STUDIES DURATION 1 year full-time or part-time equivalent MAXIMUM TIME 3 years LOCATION Online COURSES Complete 1 Core Course and 3 Directed Courses ASSUMED KNOWLEDGE Diploma in a related field of study and extended by 3 years relevant work experience.
- 14. BACKGROUNDS OF OUR STUDENTS? • Allied Health • Applied Science • Arts • Community Services • Children, Youth or Family Services • Counselling • Education • Law • Indigenous Studies or Health • Medicine • Mediation • Mental Health • Nursing • Psychology • Psychotherapy • Public Health or Safety • Relationship Education • Social Science • Social Work • Volunteering
- 15. Faculty Faculty of Health and Medicine School School of Health Sciences Program/Degree The final award you will receive when you complete – for example, the Master of Family Studies Course A program is made up of individual courses (subjects). Each course is usually 10 units. Core Course A course that MUST be completed by all students within the degree program. Directed Course A course chosen from a range of courses offered within the degree program.
- 16. WHAT WILL YOU STUDY? • Diverse family forms, family functions and family systems • Life-course perspective • Transitions & vulnerabilities • Prevention and early intervention focus • Strengths perspective
- 17. WHY STUDY AT UON WAYS OF TEACHING TUTORIAL • ‘Collaborate’ sessions throughout the courses LECTURE • Video lectures for core concepts and academic skills PERSONAL STUDY/INDEPENDENT LEARNING • We expect that you’ll spend about 10 hours per course per week on all your study; reading the given readings, listening to lectures, making notes, drafting and finalizing assessments and contributing to group discussions. ONLINE • Learning activities, learning resources, interaction with other students, and assessment
- 18. The issues addressed here all apply to life across the globe. I have learnt a lot and am enjoying the integration of theory and practice. I am taking the learnings from this course back into my workplace and am making the most of the learning I am experiencing. …been very captivating and challenging and we’ve been encouraged to apply them practically in work and in life.
- 19. NEXTSTEPS Want to know more? • Type in Master of Family Studies into the UON search box • Call me on 02 4921 6690 • Closing date: 18 August 2019 How to apply? • Click the Apply now button, or • Ask a Question button.
Editor's Notes
- Good evening Thank you for attending the webinar tonight. I will record this webinar until the Q&A section. I am Dr Jennifer StGeorge, and I’m the Program Convenor - in other words, organiser of our Family Studies coursework degrees. Also in the picture is our Distinguished Professor of Family Studies, Professor Alan Hayes, AM. Professor Hayes is Head of Discipline of Family Studies, and Director of the Family Action Centre.
- We ask these seemingly obvious questions to highlight the importance of Family Studies, and why it is useful and important to have a deep and extensive knowledge and practice when we work with families. While families are very diverse and family forms are constantly changing, families are still the fundamental unit in society for growing and nurturing the development of children and for meeting the needs of adults to form intimate, loving and supportive relationships. So Family Studies is the study of family life, family processes, and family functions in social and cultural contexts that include the broader social environment of government policies and priorities. It is also the study of the effects of adverse life circumstances on families, and how best we can contribute to their strengths and resilience. We have a particular focus is on the most vulnerable families in our society, and on times in the lifecourse when families are most vulnerable.
- the University of Newcastle has established the first and currently the only Discipline of Family Studies with a postgraduate degree at an Australian University. And we appointed our first Professor of Family studies in July 2015. UON also a member of the Global Consortium for International Family Studies. This is a unique collaboration of three universities: the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and the University of Newcastle. This collaboration is responsible for joint teaching of Family Studies to students in USA, India and Australia.
- The Family Action Centre has a 30 year history of family programs, research and teaching – and the new degrees were built on these foundations. Our centre is renowned for its ‘real-world’ practice: our work with families and housing, family support and outreach services, parenting programs, family inclusive practice programs, education programs (UNI4 YOU) and health initiatives across a range of local and regional locations. We reached over 800 families in our work last year. Selecting just three of our many programs: The Hunter Outreach Project is a home visiting and mobile family support program for families in the lower Hunter area. Case workers work with and advocate for families and their survival needs. Special Need Unlimited Group (SNUG) is funded by the Steve Waugh Foundation (SWF) and provides residential retreats for families with children with rare conditions. The whole family attends the retreat together and a program of activities is designed so that every attendee can participate. Uni4You is funded by the Commonwealth and offers intensive support to people in the University of Newcastle’s Enabling Programs. Activities include study preparation workshops, learning support groups plus personalised social-emotional support. THIS PRACTICE INFORMS OUR TEACHING – and you will see program leaders talk about or describe their experiences and examples within your courses.
- During the last 7 years, the FAC has generated over 2 million dollars in externally funded research revenue. We have two active streams of research: Strong Families-Capable Communities, and fatherhood and family well-being.
- Historically a mining-centric community, in recent years Muswellbrook Shire Council (MSC) has actively sought solutions to diversify the area’s economic base and broaden local productivity and workforce skills. It also seeks to to improve the long-term health, wellbeing and opportunities of the people and families in Muswellbrook. the Strong Families—Capable Communities initiative leverages the University of Newcastle’s considerable capacity across the health social sciences, family studies and integrated community services. It involves a collaborative partnership with the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet and the Muswellbrook CREATE Change Coalition, which includes the Departments of Family and Community Services, Education, Health, Housing, the Police Area Command, Transport, the Muswellbrook Shire Council and the Social Housing Provider. It deploys an innovative, evidence-driven, prevention support system designed to intervene early in the pathways that can lead to disadvantage.
- Our fatherhood research encompasses several areas. The flagship project is SMS4dads. SMS4dads sends messages with tips, information and links for new dad; these tips help dad connect with his baby, look after himself and support his partner. This project was devised because there is strong evidence that The birth of a baby can be a happy but stressful time; and dads may not know where to go or who to ask. In the SMS4Dads and Mums, messages are sent to both parents to help them develop shared expectations and enhance their sense of sharing the parenting journey. SMS4dads&mums helps them build a strong parenting partnership during their first year as FAMILY. The SMS4dads programs now extend throughout Australia, for example for parents where the mother has a severe mental illness, and in the UK and Canada.
- A second area of research is Father-Child interaction. Research by myself and several others clearly shows that fathers’ physical play with their children benefits the child’s social and emotional development. Yet there are so many unexplored aspects of this play, especially when thinking about interventions for children with autism, ODD, or ADHD. These 2 research streams, Strong Families—Capable Communities, and Fatherhood, are based on our practice experience, and on research, and in turn, the processes, methods and findings of these research streams inform our teaching and practice. This means that the learning material and the ways in which the lecturers ‘teach’ is informed by the latest research and real-life experiences of working with families.
- One of the motivators for creating the degree was the increasing need for skilled professionals… there is a predicted growth of about 18% over the next 5 years in community services and health workforce. You can see on this graph too that workers are becoming more qualified - of 1 million surveyed, postgraduate learning is INCREASING AND fewer workers are unqualified. So what does the future hold? • increased scope of support worker roles • emerging demand for care coordination roles • continuing demand for workers to develop existing and acquire new skills (in some cases leading to the development of new more advanced or specialised roles) • increased demand for skills in business leadership, management and administration • greater emphasis on technological knowledge and skills.
- Some students in our degrees already have positions such as programs manager, or practitioner in family work. But equally, students from our degrees obtain employment in these areas following their study. The family relationships sector does not require professional registration, so the degree is not linked to accreditation for practice.
- To be eligible for these POSTgraduate degrees, you will need some undergraduate degree, perhaps coupled with work experience. For the Master of Family Studies, you need a 3-year degree in an area related to Family Studies or extended by a related postgraduate qualification. If you have a 4-year undergraduate degree in a related field, or other postgraduate qualifications or related experience, as demonstrated by a CV and statement of service, you may be able to seek credit in the Master degree. That is, you can complete the Masters by 8 courses instead of 12. For the Graduate Certificate Family Studies, you need a 3-year undergraduate degree (in any field); or a Diploma or Advanced Diploma, with 3 years of relevant experience. 40 secs
- These are some of the employment or qualification areas that are related to Family Studies and can be considered in Initial applications or for Credit. The list is at least as long as your arm and you are sure to fit in somewhere. This is something that would be a good conversation point between you and I when you make your application. 10 seconds.
- So, what you will learn about in OUR family studies degree (BOTH Master and Grad Cert)? Families change throughout the life-course, and it is often at transition points or major life events that some families are highly vulnerable, and encounter problems. Such Key transition points might be forming or breaking partnerships, the birth of a child, adolescence, aging, illness or disability of a family member, work-life changes such as retrenchment or retirement…. All may require intervention from professionals in government and non-government organisations. Prevention and early-intervention is therefore an important focus in Family Studies. In your undergraduate degree you have likely encountered some of these topics; however, in this postgraduate environment, there is an in-depth treatment of the topics. Our starting point is an in-depth analysis of how definitions of family shape the political agenda and social relations. You’ll move through a range of courses that give you an in-depth intensive investigation of specific crises or issues such as domestic violence, child neglect and the impact of trauma and chronic stress on development and on parenting. At the same time, you’ll learn more about how to work with families through difficult transitions or specific crises. Although it’s a fully online program, you will have the opportunity for guided practice, with feedback, on communication and difficult conversations. We focus on all levels of response – from practitioner skills and self-care, to agency and service organisation, to policy and politics. Through this program of study, students are able to immerse themselves in critical reflection, not only on the theories and cases presented to them, but on their own practice. We often get powerful feedback from students indicating the immediacy and relevancy of their studies to their practice. There are many different starting points, yet the postgraduate studies gives you an extra level of skills, no matter where you started.
- AT the University of Newcastle, all our courses are structured by modules, between 3 and 6 weeks long; this divides the course into its core concepts, with associated assessments. There is variation across the courses, but we all hold some online tutorials; here you get the chance to talk with your Course Coordinator and other students. Essentially, what you will do is… Online activity… Personal study… We strongly advise that you contribute consistently and copiously to the Discussion Boards and attend the online tutorials or other group sessions as advised. Fees : $2115 per course - x 4 for Grad Cert = $8,460; for Master of Family Studies, $16,920 or $25,380 for full 12-course degree. You may be able to apply for FEE-HELP from the Government. This gives you an interest free loan for studies that is repayable once you reach a salary of about $52,000.
- What have students said about our degrees? Each year, we ask students for feedback on the courses they are studying. Here are some comments.