Graduate Certificate of Human Services
Graduate Certificate of Human Services
Enhance your knowledge of social work
Domestic Fees
Graduate Certificate of Human Services
| Units x Cost 4 x $2,943 Total Indicative Course Fees* $11,772 Plus Student Services and Amenities Fee (SSAF) * The Total Indicative Course Fees are charged against individual units of study which may increase from time to time and does not take into account personal circumstances such as RPL, credit, repeats and some specialised electives. For more information view the ACAP Fees & Payments page. |
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Overview
The Graduate Certificate of Human Services will provide students with specific knowledge in sociology, social policy making, Indigenous issues, and professional communications.
Students will learn about contemporary Australian issues and nuances and how this relates to human services work, especially social work in the Australian community. Students will be guided on how to develop verbal and written communication, critical thinking and reasoning with an Australian context.
This course also has a unit focused on the diversity of social, cultural and political situation in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live. At the end of this course graduates will be able to apply knowledge and skills across a wide range of human services issues, enough to transition into and practice within the Human Services or Social Work industry. Note that this course is not available as a stand-alone qualification for international students. Full time enrolment in this course will involve a total of 36 hours of face to face workshops per unit.
This course has been accredited by ACAP under its self-accrediting authority.
ACAP ADELAIDE SCHOLARSHIP
To celebrate the launch of ACAP’s postgraduate social work courses at our Adelaide campus, we’re offering a limited number of scholarships valued at 20% of the first years’ tuition fees* to eligible international students who enrol in the Graduate Certificate of Human Services or the Master of Social Work (Qualifying).
Valued at 20% of the first years’ tuition fees (max 3 trimesters), the scholarship is available to new international students enrolling in Trimester 1, 2025 intake at the ACAP Adelaide campus. GCHS students who continue to the MSW(Q) will receive 20% off their GCHS tuition fees (2 trimesters) and the first trimester MSW(Q) tuition fees.
What you'll learn
Expertise in human behaviour forms the foundation of all our courses including our Graduate Certificate of Human Services.
EXPLORE WITH AN APPLIED FOCUS:
- Social Work Theories
- Professional Communication
- Indigenous Social Work
- Evidence Based Approaches
- Professional Issues and Applications
- Australian Society and Culture
Potential Careers
Once you graduate from the Graduate Certificate of Human Services, you will open doors to a range of possible career opportunities. Listed below are a few typical roles you could consider.
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First Nations Liaison Officer
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Child Protection Worker
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Disability Support Worker
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Community Worker
Course structure
The Graduate Certificate of Human Services course is comprised of 4 units, which are level 500 units. To find out unit delivery information view the relevant Yearly Planner.
The course duration is 26 weeks full time or up to 2 years part time. For more information on the recommended course sequence, click here.
Level: AQF 8 core
Credit Points: 6
Unit Description:
This unit introduces students to the institutional and demographic context in which community development is taking place in Australia. The unit give you an opportunity to become familiar with social institutions, key social demographics and core cultural values that constitute Australian society. These particularly inform how the human services sector and social workers roles within it are organised and framed.
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Learning and Teaching Process:
This unit is taught over 13 weeks and totals 3 student contact hours per week.
Students will participate in teaching and learning activities including:
a) Lectures and critical discussion
b) Tutorials and skill development activities
c) Online pre-learning activities
d) Online post-learning
Depending on the delivery mode, this unit’s content is delivered to students via
- A weekly 3-hour learning session [via Zoom]. One hour will be didactive material delivered in lecture format. Two hours will be interactive class time, for discussion of the lecture, readings, assessments and class activities.
In addition to timetabled contact hours, students are expected to do at least 9.5 hours of personal study each week to review lectures and read prescribed and recommended materials for this unit. The total workload of this unit will be around 150 hours (including individual self-study and reading).
Level: AQF 8 core
Credit Points: 6
Unit Description:
This unit provides students with an orientation to professional communication necessary for work in the human services. They will develop key academic and professional skills required in practice such as clear and effective verbal and written communication, and research literacy. In class learning activities and assessments allow students to demonstrate their ability to hear and synthesise information in real time- a necessary skill in human services work.
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
a. Apply effective, relevant, and culturally appropriate professional communication skills appropriate to work in the human services professions.
b. Critically analyse, interpret, process and communicate information effectively
c. Analyse and critically reflect upon the contexts and variables that impact effective academic and professional communication
Learning and Teaching Process:
This unit is taught over 13 weeks and totals 3 student contact hours per week.
Students will participate in teaching and learning activities including:
- Lectures and critical discussion
- Tutorials and skill development activities
- Online pre-learning activities
- Online post-learning
Depending on the delivery mode, this unit’s content is to be delivered to students via
- a weekly 3 hour lecture [via Zoom]. These three hours will be interactive class time, and will include didactive materials, discussion, readings, assessment and class activities.
In addition to timetabled contact hours, students are expected to undertake at least 9.5 hours of personal study each week to review seminar materials and read prescribed and recommended materials for this unit. The total individual workload of this unit will be around 150 hours (including teamwork, individual self-study and reading).
Level: AQF 8 core
Credit Points: 6
Unit Description:
The unit provides an introduction to the social and human sciences, their historical foundations and their role in understanding and working in contemporary society. Concepts studied are particularly focussed on understanding social inequalities and how these may relate to contemporary social movements. These theories include structural theories about gender, class, diversity, politico-economic systems, social institutions, culture, colonisation, globalisation, neoliberalism and (post)modernity. Students will also explore postmodern concepts of human agency, lived experience, identity, knowledge, self and subjectivity. This analysis aims to provide students with an appreciation of the role of the social sciences in understanding contemporary society, but even more importantly it establishes a foundational framework through which the analysis of contemporary social issues and contemporary social action takes place.
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Learning and Teaching Process
This unit is taught over 13weeks and totals 3student contact hours per week.
Students will participate in teaching and learning activities including:
a. Lectures and critical discussion
b. Tutorials and skill development activities
c. Online pre-learning activities
d. Online post-learning
Depending on the delivery mode, this unit’s content is delivered to students via
- A weekly 3 hour learning session [via Zoom]. These three hours will be interactive class time, and will include didactive materials, discussion, readings, assessments and class activities.
In addition to timetabled contact hours, students are expected to do at least 9.5 hours of personal study each week to review lectures and read prescribed and recommended materials for this unit. The total workload of this unit will be around 150 hours (including teamwork, individual self-study and reading).
Level: AQF 8 core
Credit Points: 6
Unit Description:
Developing knowledge and practice skills to engage ethically with First Nations People is a central requirement for all human services workers. This unit introduces students to the historical and contemporary policies and practices that impact the lives of First Nations People and frame their relationship with human services, promotes the development of practice skills for engagement, and introduces key practice, ethical and human rights frameworks.
This unit draws on content developed by First Nations social work academics and other relevant material and aims to begin to prepare students for practice with First Nations People. Contemporary issues such as constitutional reform, treaty and truth telling will also be examined for their significance to all Australians and especially for social workers engaging with First Nations People.
Learning Outcomes:
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
Learning and Teaching Process:
This unit is taught over 13 weeks and totals 3 student contact hours per week.
Students will participate in teaching and learning activities including:
a) Lectures and critical discussion
b) Tutorials and skill development activities
c) Online pre-learning activities
d) Online post-learning
Depending on the delivery mode, this unit’s content is delivered to students via
- A weekly 3 hour learning session [via Zoom]. This is in a seminar format and includes didactive material and interactive class time with discussion, readings, assessments and class activities.
In addition to timetabled contact hours, students are expected to do at least 9.5 hours of personal study each week to review lectures and read prescribed and recommended materials for this unit. The total workload of this unit will be around 150 hours (including individual self-study and reading).
View unit descriptions
Career Learning Outcomes
- Understand and engage with communities, building and maintaining relationships with individuals and groups demonstrating autonomy, well-developed judgement, adaptability and responsibility.
- Develop and support collaborative working and community participation demonstrating an ability to analyse, generate and transmit solutions to complex problems.
- Enable communities to take collective action, increase their influence and if appropriate their ability to access, manage and control resources and services by critically analysing, evaluating and transforming information.
- Support people and organisations to learn together and to raise an understanding, confidence and the skills needed for social change displaying advanced social theoretical and technical knowledge.
- Design and deliver participatory practices, structures and programmes that recognise and respect diversity and promote inclusion, demonstrating advanced theoretical and technical knowledge.
- Develop, evaluate and inform practice and policy for community development, using participatory evaluation to inform and improve strategic and operational practice displaying advanced theoretical and technical knowledge.
- Facilitate professional exchanges of ideas and collaborative work practices displaying advanced capacity in transmitting knowledge, skills and ideas to others.
Pathways for future study
The Graduate Certificate of Human Services will provide students with the knowledge and skills to seamlessly transition into a higher qualification in Social Work, such as the Master of Social Work (Qualifying).
Note that this course is not available as a stand-alone course for international students.
