Overview
Through this assignment, students will:
• Develop skills in critical observation and reflexive analysis
• Identify how social policies, institutions and government programs shape daily experiences
• Apply course concepts related to power, ideology, inequality, and the welfare state
• Strengthen academic writing skills appropriate for first-year social work study
This assignment provides students with an opportunity to move from abstract understandings of social policy to
concrete, lived observations, building foundational skills in structural thinking and reflexivity that are central to
social work education and practice.
This assignment is a summative assessment of the following course learning outcomes:
• LO1: Recognize the role of diversity in society and the existence of multiple perspectives on social welfare
issues
• LO2: Describe social, historical, economic, legal, political, institutional and cultural structures that
produce and limit human and civil rights
• LO5: Construct analyses or arguments that properly integrate research or information from multiple
disciplines
This assignment also contributes to the development of the following BSW Program Learning Outcomes:
• BSWLO1: Develop professional identity as a social worker
• BSWLO3: Develop an ethical, responsible professional practice
• BSWLO4: Recognize and challenge colonialism in social work
• BSWLO7: Advance equity and social justice within social work role
• BSWLO8: Resist racism and develop anti-racist practice
• BSWLO10: Apply values and ethics in professional practice
• BSWLO12: Apply knowledge and skills in policy analysis and development
Overview
(Copied from course outline):
This assignment introduces students to the idea that the welfare state is present in everyday life. Social
welfare systems are not limited to formal programs or services; they shape daily routines, environments,
and interactions in visible and invisible ways.