¾«¶«´«Ã½app

Staffing

Examiner:

Requisites

Pre-requisite: Students must be enrolled in one of the following Programs: GCCO or GDCN or MCCO or PDEV or GCHH or GDHH or MOHH

Rationale

Modern counsellors typically integrate skills and theories from a range of models rather than being devoted to a single psychotherapeutic approach. This course helps students understand factors associated with client change that are common to all psychotherapeutic modalities as informed from decades of outcome research. This broader knowledge of what are referred to as ‘common factors’ provides counsellors a major conceptual framework to customize treatment in ways that maximize these factors. Counsellors also need exposure to the range of counselling modalities and methods that can be customized to different therapists, clients and treatment contexts. Different counselling modalities target different areas for intervention, whether this be via thinking, feeling, behaviour, insight, experience or other processes. The course provides students with an integrative framework, and exposure to the major theories so that students can begin constructing their own practice framework.

Synopsis

This course introduces to students the common factors of successful counselling. Students are introduced to the major psychological treatment models available and will identify and justify their own approach to developing a framework of practice.

This course contains a mandatory four-day residential school and 10 hours of mandatory online synchronous tutorials.

Objectives

Topics

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

Reference materials

Student workload expectations

Assessment details

Important assessment information

1. Attendance requirements:
   
   Students must attend at least 80% of the mandatory residential school and online synchronous tutorials. Students who are unable to complete the mandatory residential school because of Compassionate and Compelling Circumstances may be eligible to defer that Assessment Item in accordance with the Assessment Procedure (point 4.4).
   
   
2. Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
   
   To satisfactorily complete the mandatory residential school and online synchronous tutorials, students must attend at least 80% and achieve a mark of 1 out of 1 for the assessment item. Students must earn at least 50% for the Video assessment to pass the course. To complete the other assessment items satisfactorily students must achieve at least 50% of the marks for that item.
   
   
3. Penalties for late submission of required work:
   
   Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure (point 4.2.4)
   
   
4. Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
   
   To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must attend at least 80% and achieve a mark of 1 out of 1 for the mandatory residential school and the online synchronous tutorials. Achieve at least 50% for the Video assessment, and achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
   
   
5. Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
   
   The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative items for the course.
   
   
6. Examination information:
   
   There is no examination in this course.
   
   
7. Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
   
   No Exam. There is no examination in this course so there will be no deferred or supplementary examinations.
   
   
8. ¾«¶«´«Ã½app Student Policies:
   
   Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene ¾«¶«´«Ã½app policies and practices. These policies can be found at .
   
   

Assessment notes

1. Students must familiarise themselves with the USQ Assessment Procedures (.
   
   
2. APA style is the referencing system required in this course. Students must use 6th edition APA style in their assignments to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The APA style to be used is defined by the USQ Library's referencing guide. .
   
   
3. Reliable access to the internet is a requirement of this course as the course contains electronic assessment and submission elements. Students who knowingly do not have reliable access to the internet should actively seek alternative internet access (e.g., Internet cafes, local libraries, or work places) for assessment submission and electronic assessment attempts. All students are able to use the on-campus student computer laboratories once access has been enabled. To be granted access, external students need to contact ICT and ask to have a student account enabled so that they can work on-campus.
   
   

Evaluation and benchmarking

In meeting the ¾«¶«´«Ã½app’s aims to establish quality learning and teaching for all programs, this course monitors and ensures quality assurance and improvements in at least two ways. This course:
1. conforms to the USQ Policy on Evaluation of Teaching, Courses and Programs to ensure ongoing monitoring and systematic improvement.
2. forms part of the Graduate Certificate of Counselling, the Graduate Diploma of Counselling, and the Masters of Counselling, and is benchmarked against the:
o internal USQ accreditation/reaccreditation processes which include (i) stringent standards in the independent accreditation of its academic programs, (ii) close integration between business and academic planning, and (iii) regular and rigorous review;
o professional accreditation standards of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia Training Standards, 2014.

Other requirements

1. Computer, e-mail and Internet access:
   Students are required to have access to a personal computer, webcam, headset, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at .
   
   
2. Students can expect that questions in assessment items in this course may draw upon knowledge and skills that they can reasonably be expected to have acquired before enrolling in this course. This includes knowledge contained in pre-requisite courses and appropriate communication, information literacy, analytical, critical thinking, problem solving or numeracy skills. Students who do not possess such knowledge and skills should not expect the same grades as those students who do possess them.
   
   
3. Mandatory attendance at the residential school and online synchronous tutorials supports requirements of professional counsellor training and membership standards and assists students to meet course learning objectives.