Contemporary social issues have many complex dimensions, and this reality creates new challenges that social service sectors must address. In this context, human services practitioners need deep evidence-based understandings of social issues so they can develop effective, human-centered solutions appropriate to the realities of the sector. This course will introduce you to the role of qualitative research, lived experience, participatory research methods and evaluation, and will teach you the skills to critically evaluate their contribution to the transformative, social change agenda.

In this course you will critically examine the competing discourses evident within research, lived experience and the broader human services sector, and learn to evaluate the appropriateness of interventions when working toward social justice, empowerment and evidence-informed, human-centered outcomes. The course includes a work integrated learning experience in which your developing knowledge and skills will be applied to a real issue identified by human services agencies and where feedback is integral to your experience. To guide the development of these capabilities, you will be required to engage with design thinking processes and activities and work with others to develop an evidence-informed and creative intervention aimed to address your selected issue. With these skills and knowledge, you will improve your ability to develop and evaluate ethical interventions within an organisational setting and use evidence to inform social change.

The course format allows you to work with individually and with others to develop your understanding and ideas, with time between workshops to absorb these ideas and engage with learning materials and assessments.