Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Social Work - Studies in Religion

The University of Sydney

This five-year degree offers a comprehensive and flexible combined degree program that qualifies you as an accredited social worker, while also allowing you to enhance your qualification with majors and minors that complement the Bachelor of Social Work. While this combined degree requires a major or minor in Sociology, or a minor in Social Policy, you can choose another major or minor in various interest areas such as diversity studies, gender studies, Aboriginal Studies, or philosophy. You'll undertake integrated studies in social sciences, social policy and social work theory and practice, with a strong emphasis on Australian and comparative social welfare studies. In the last two years of the degree all students undertake the professional social work program, which includes two fieldwork placements supervised by highly skilled and experienced practitioners in a variety of settings. We develop field education learning expectations across the program and aim to develop values, skills and knowledge for levels from beginner to a practitioner capable of meeting the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Practice Standards.Analyse the concepts that people and communities prioritise in their lives to explain their existence, including religions, philosophies, life-justifications, and popular mythologies. You will be introduced to a range of methodologies including sociology, anthropology, cultural studies, philosophy, textual studies and history. You will study the essence of what it means to be human and will examine how dramatic narratives and powerful inner experiences propel both the individual and social constructions of reality. The Studies in Religion major allows you to investigate the ways in which humans have ascribed value to their lives, societies, and other important ideals from family to nation, individuality, and the afterlife. You will get to examine how these values and aspirations have been formalised into communal structures and powerful institutions throughout all of human history. Equipped with the necessary skills in critical thinking, you will be able to understand and interrogate the central role of religion-overtly and covertly-in broader socio-cultural practices. You will also develop a critical awareness of the skills used in the academy to assess the narrative, ethical, legal, and institutional aspects of religion we use to keep our societies functioning and which we call sacred.

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