Disaster Interventions from Green Social Work Perspectives

Relevant honours degree or practice experience accepted.

English language requirements

If English is not your first language you must have one of the following qualifications as evidence of your English language skills:

• IELTS Academic or UKVI 6.0 with a minimum of 5.5 in each sub-skill.
• Pearson Test of English (Academic) 60 overall with a minimum of 59 in each sub-skill.
• IBT TOEFL 78 overall with a minimum of 17 in listening, 18 in reading, 20 in speaking and 17 in writing.

The module includes a number of case studies, which will explore:

• The stages of a disaster.
• Complexities that social workers and humanitarian aid workers encounter in doing their work in difficult circumstances
• The impact of disasters on the emotions of the victim-survivors dealing with grief and loss, and the impact of these reactions on the practitioner him/herself, and thus, the need for self-care and supervision. T
• The importance of the physical environment on the well-being of the victim-survivors, practitioners.

Individual tutorials will be agreed with the students.

This single 20-credit module is delivered online. Students are treated as adult learners responsible for contributing to their own education and that of others.

The module has one formative and one summative assignment. The formative assignment is a peer and tutor evaluation of a group presentation (title and topic to be agreed with the Module Convenor) and a summative case-study assignment of 3000 words (title and topic to be agreed with Module Convenor). Students will be given advice individually and in groups on their presentations and assignments.  Each student will normally receive two individual thirty minute tutorials to discuss their formative and summative assignments and any other issues pertaining to or affecting their studies.

A student who successfully completes the assignment for the SWKPG89 module can ask to be exempted from SWKPG83 (‘Natural’ and ‘(Hu)man-made’ Disasters: Definitions, Skills, Stages and Strategies of Intervention (Prevention, Preparation, Mitigation and Adaptation), also worth 20 credits if they subsequently decide to register for the MSc in Disaster Interventions and Humanitarian Aid.

If a student chooses not to complete the assignment they will be given a certificate of attendance, which may be used towards fulfilling their CDP requirements.

Professor Lena Dominelli