Achieving economic sustainability for niche social profession courses in the Australian higher education sector Final Report 2019
Associate Professor Dr. Trudi Cooper
Dr. Miriam Rose Brooker
This research project was funded from an Australian government Office for Learning and Teaching Fellowship through the Department of Education and Training.
The views expressed in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Government Department of Education and Training.
Lead institution and year: Edith Cowan University. Report completed 2019
Purpose: This fellowship set out to improve availability of specialist degrees in youth work, aging and disability.
Its aim was to develop a nationwide collaborative strategy to improve the economic sustainability and geographic availability of university-based niche social profession courses that meet specialist social needs in disability services, social gerontology, and youth work. This included:
- Raise awareness about the need for urgent system-wide action on niche courses in general and niche social professions in particular;
- Develop collaborative network(s) to strengthen cross-institutional relationships between staff offering courses in niche social professions;
- Strengthen relationships with relevant state and federal professional bodies;
- Establish a network of colleagues to help resolve these challenges and find practical collaboration arrangements to improve the availability of these courses;
- Propose changes to support a nationwide collaborative strategy that will enable institutions to offer viable programmes for the niche social professions; and,
- Move beyond known interest groups to outline issues and document successful strategies for consideration by other niche courses in Australian higher education.
Why this research is important:
Services for children and young people, for older people and for people with disabilities have not always treated service users supportively, or with the kindness and respect they deserve (as seen from Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse).
A vision of better services has inspired changes to policy for services for people with disabilities, for young people and for senior citizens.
New thinking occurred about what is needed so everyone can reach their fullest potential.
Policy responses such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) require knowledgeable leadership to achieve their purposes.
Specialist degree courses in youth work, aging and disability services can provide this expertise but are still not available in most states and are still at risk of disappearing from Australian higher education.
Systemic action is needed to ensure these courses survive.
Acknowledgements and Collaborators
This programme has benefited from the support and collaboration of many colleagues from universities in Australia and New Zealand and from professional associations and policy organisations. We would like to thank staff from the following universities for their interviews, informal discussions or for their participation in the Sydney symposium.
- Australian Catholic University
- Charles Sturt University
- Flinders University
- Griffith University
- RMIT University
- Southern Cross University
- Tabor College (Adelaide)
- Unitech Institute of Technology (N.Z.)
- University of New England
- University of Tasmania
- Victoria University
- Wellington Institute of Technology (N.Z.)
We would like to thank members of the reference groups who provided suggestions about people to contact, and to thank the representatives from professional associations and policy organisations who gave their time to be interviewed or by attending the Sydney symposium.
- Council on the Ageing
- National Aged Care Alliance
- National Disability Services
- Youth Action (New South Wales)
- Western Australian Council of Social Services
- Wellington Institute of Technology (N.Z.)
- Youth Workers’ Association (Victoria)
- Youth Work South Australia
- Youth Work Western Australia
Finally, we would like to acknowledge and thank several special individuals for their contributions. Associate Professor Lynne Roberts, for her contribution as evaluator and critical friend. She offered valuable support, and insightful suggestions, giving equal attention to both parts of the role. We would like to thank Mr Dean Ward (Strategic Information Manager) for help will interpreting data about enrolments, and Mrs Wendy Simpson (Research Assistant and PhD candidate) for research support and advice on professional and policy networks in disability and ageing.