Sociological and Psychological Frameworks Presentation Guidance Administrative details:
Presentation Day:
This assignment is worth 50% of 30 credits towards your first year Assignment:
Create a presentation to explore an issue or concern facing social work today, through the application of research and theory from the disciplines of sociology and psychology. You must apply a sociological theory and a psychological theory to explain your issue. Make sure that you use sources of evidence (e.g. research articles and studies, books, policy guidelines, etc.) effectively and don’t forget to cite.
The main point of the assignment is to choose an issue that you are truly interested in; one that you want to understand better and want to present your ideas on it. There are a number of issues relevant to social work, some of which we have discussed during the module, some of which you will have heard in other modules or issues that you are aware of because you have read about or heard people speak about or based on your experience.
Examples of issues include but are not limited to: alcohol or substance abuse disorder, adoption, asylum seekers and refugees, racism and xenophobia, the care of people with mental health problems, foster care, community social work, Black Lives Matter, decolonising social work, austerity, Brexit (and its potential impact on SW), child protection, work with LGBTQ+ individuals/communities, care of homeless people, domestic abuse, child sexual exploitation, social work in schools, older peoples care, moral panics, the media perception of social work, the public perception of social work, youth offending, etc.
All work should:
- Be a PowerPoint presentation
- Include a topic title on the first slide labelled with your student number
- Your slides should be numbered. You should aim to give between 10-15 slides (roughly a minute per slide) including your title slide
- Include a reference list at the end of your main presentation slides (on a separate slide or slides) and use an appropriate referencing system to acknowledge the source of all material referred to in your slides
- Whilst not mandatory and you will not be marked upon this you might find it helpful to include notes under each slide as guidance to what you will say during the presentation.
Support and guidance resources
Knowledge and understanding: The teaching and learning in this module have focused on different sociological and psychological theories. We have discussed various concepts, their implications in making sense of the role and nature of social work, social work practices, service users, etc.
You will need to demonstrate that you understand at least one sociological and one psychological theory by applying both of them to the issue you are interested in. You can do this by first providing a general description of each of the theories and move to discuss what each theory might explain or say about the issue you are interested in.
You are not expected to provide an analysis that covers every possible aspect, instead think what are the specific areas of your topic that the chosen theories can better highlight and focus on those that you are more interested in (e.g. effects on service users, dominant practices in social work, service users or social workers behaviours, advocacy for marginalised and disadvantaged people, policy evaluation, etc.).
Application of data: In your assignment, make sure you consistently apply your knowledge and understanding of the issue by explaining what it is and why it is a relevant issue for social work today, e.g. who is affected, how many people might experience this issue and why is it important?
You will need to show that you can interpret relevant theories and concepts, referenced sources such as research evidence, statistics or policy guidelines that you might use in your presentation. This helps you to demonstrate your critical reasoning skills. Try to draw links or comparisons between concepts, alternative approaches and review the evidence that justifies selected approaches.
What is a criticism of those theories and which theory has made most sense to you in explaining why an issue has come about?
Problem-solving: In this assignment, you should demonstrate your problem solving by applying a sociological theory and a psychological theory to explain the issue. If for example your issue is poverty you need to demonstrate how your chosen sociological theory helps to better understand, explain or tackle poverty or aspects of it in society and how your chosen psychological theory allows us to better understand certain effects of poverty on a group of service users.
Communication and References: You should look to write a presentation that communicates your ideas effectively. Be sure to use the language and terminology associated with SW. Introduce your topic and the main parts of your presentation (identify the main aim of your presentation) in the beginning of your presentation. Include subheadings in your slides. In each of your slides add the most important information to illustrate or give a clear snapshot of what you will be saying while presenting this slide.
Be sure that you have used references to support your arguments, and make sure that you use in-text citations (at the end of a sentence rather than the end of a paragraph) and include a reference list according to referencing guidelines in the last slide(s) of your presentation.
Personal Learning and Transferable Skills: In this presentation demonstrate your own learning (both in terms of academic and professional knowledge) and how you have developed your understanding of the issue. This could be identified in a slide by the end of your presentation entitled personal learning. It is also important when you develop your discussion that you demonstrate a professional, safe and ethical approach to thinking about SW that do not marginalise vulnerable groups and individuals.
To show you have understood a concept it is not enough to simply mention it. You need to apply it to a context. You should discuss how it helps us to understand aspects of your particular issue, what the main implications in understanding the issue through such a lens are and what some of its weaknesses might be.
