LATE SUBMISSION PENALTY

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – 10 marks out of 100 credit will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted seven days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline.

WORD LIMITS For all assessments, the word limit is + / - 10%, NOT including bibliography.

Delivery: Fully online/virtual.  WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Online asynchronous: online students are fully online/virtual and have no timetabled classes. All virtual materials are pre-recorded for access at any time.  Students enrol Fully Online/Virtual or equivalent external mode (such as OUA) and then there is no class registration required (because there are no classes). 

Unit content is designed to be self-paced, where students work through materials at times convenient to them. There are no tutorials however there are reflection posts due at the end of each of Module. At key points in semester the unit convenor will host Optional live Zoom sessions for those who wish to join.

This unit requires students to draw on theoretical and discipline knowledge and use these to engage actively in a current and topical policy problem. The students will have opportunities to consult experts and stakeholders in a given policy area and identify relevant evidence, expert opinion and stakeholder views. Students will explore a range of problem definitions and scenarios, and consider alternative policy solutions. Students will develop and present a comprehensive and constructive policy proposal which demonstrates an awareness of ethical, political, social, economic and cultural factors which are significant in the specific policy context. 

Each semester, the unit is designed around a particular social policy probelem. In 2021 the case study of focus is refugee employment. Module 1: Policy Design, Practice and Democracy This first module introduces some key themes for the unit: the links between policy design and practice, and between policy and democracy. Module 2: Defining problems and end users In this module we first focus the range of refugee employment outcomes in Australia, in the broader context of settlement outcomes. We then focus on the policy context: the multi-level nature of immigrant and refugee settlement policy, and the marketisation of settlement services. We finish with a presentation of various framings of the refugee as recipient of settlement policy. Module 3: Designing for delivery In this module we are examining the range of instruments which might be used by policy makers to address specific policy problems. We will look at how different types of instruments might be considered appropriate for specific types of policy problems, and we will note the importance of combining instruments to address complex problems. We will also look at the challenges of delivery, or implementation, and reflect on the importance of planning, consistency and coordination. Module 4: Communication, evaluation and redesign In this module we will discuss government communication of policy, the role of the media in policy communication, policy evaluation and communication of policy redesign. We will first consider the characteristics of government communication in Australia. We will then discuss linkages between media and democracy in Australia and the portrayal of refugees and asylum seekers at election time. Next, we will focus on the meaning of policy evaluation and focus on recent examples of evaluation of refugee settlement and refugee employment policies. Lastly, we will investigate communication of policy evaluation and policy overhaul in this field.