Working with Children checks in Australia are regulated by legislation and designed to be used as pre-employment criminal history screening for child-related roles and organisations. Most Australian universities require prospective social work students to hold Working with Children clearance as a precondition to enrolment. Little is known about the reasoning for such application, and this Queensland study aims to contribute to resolving this question, by examining the frequency by which nonregulated jobs advertised online require a Working with Children check (a Blue Card in Queensland). Of the 400 job advertisements analysed, just over half of the nonregulated roles did not require a Blue Card. This suggests it is likely that there are field placements available to students without Working with Children clearance. If Blue Cards are not required to secure field placements for students, then applying a blanket requirement for Working with Children checks prior to enrolment in a social work course is unnecessary and may be discriminatory. IMPLICATIONS Criminal history and associated screening methods, such as Working with Children clearances, should only be used when justified, and to utilise such screening requirements when not required may be discriminatory and unfair. This analysis of the job market suggests that requiring Working with Children checks as a precondition to studying social work is not justified on the grounds that there will be limited placement opportunities, or subsequent jobs, for ineligible students. Some form of gatekeeping to the social work profession is required to protect vulnerable service users, but unnecessarily restricting access to education for prospective students with criminal histories has implications for service users who might benefit from access to social workers with lived experience.

Australian higher education providers (HEPs) gatekeep access to social work education using academic credentials, as well as criminal history checks. Some HEPs take an "as needed" approach to vaccination, while some add vaccination status as a gatekeeping criterion, and eligibility to study can be contingent upon all prospective students being fully vaccinated. We examined the websites of the 32 Australian HEPs that offered accredited social work programs at the time of the study, to determine the extent to which mandatory vaccination was required. Of these, 28% (n = 9) specified that students must be fully vaccinated in order to participate in compulsory field placements, irrespective of the requirements of placement agencies. Of these 9 HEPs, 7 had their social work programs located in a health or allied health school.IMPLICATIONSThe choice of where to study social work in Australia is reduced for some prospective students by HEP policies that require mandatory vaccinationThe rationale for mandating vaccinations for social work students by some HEPs is unclear, and may be related to programs being co-located in health focused schools/departments, or a reflection of a broader emphasis on risk managementMandating vaccination for no compelling reason is at odds with broader public policy principles and may conflict with human rights principles, which are fundamental to social work

BACKGROUND:This paper explores the mental health and wellbeing outcomes of a massed community choir program in Australia. METHODS:This study employed a mixed methods approach. Data were collected via a survey of choir participants (N = 305), four qualitative interviews and focus groups with facilitators and participants (N = 22), and two workshops with organising staff (N = 5). Questions were derived from a co-designed program logic, and data were triangulated and analysed thematically. RESULTS:Participants reported feeling a sense of connectedness (psychological), but also experiencing connection (social) with their fellow singers. Psychological outcomes included the sensations of affect, arousal, and affirmation. Social outcomes included experiencing belonging, inclusion, and sharing. These positive psycho-social experiences promoted positive mental health and wellbeing outcomes in the large group of participating singers. CONCLUSIONS:This paper addresses gaps in our understanding about the mental health and wellbeing outcomes fostered by community choirs at scale.

Whilst the value of lived experience in the helping process is recognised in a range of settings including mental health, disability and substance addiction, the understanding of therole of lived experience of incarceration in the helping process is less developed. This is relevant to the question of gatekeeping into the social work profession. A heightened focus on risk has resulted in limited opportunity for those with a history of incarceration from studying and practising social work. Little is known about how a lived experience of incarceration influences the helping relationship, and in turn we know very little about the implications for service users of having reduced access to social workers who have experienced imprisonment. To better understand the current state of knowledge regarding the role of lived experience of incarceration in the helping process, a scoping review of the literature was undertaken. A thematic analysis of sixty-one articles published before 2019 was undertaken and consensus was achieved on four themes: stigma and discrimination; trust and authenticity; role modelling and hope; and, power and agency. The findings include recommendations for more nuanced policy regarding the restriction of those with a lived experience of incarceration entering the social work profession.

Relationships matter in higher education in a range of ways. Positive relationships between students and educators can contribute to the creation of a safe learning environment and sense of connection, and thereby enhance learning outcomes for students. Advances in technology, combined with the need for flexibility for students managing multiple demands and responsibilities – particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic – have resulted in the expansion of online education. The relationships between students and teaching staff,and between peers, take on new dimensions in the online space. This paper explores the perspectives of students on relationship-building, and what barriers and enablers are experienced in the creation of optimal online learning spaces. Strategies to better foster safety and connection in the online learning environment are also explored.

This report describes the outcomes of a research evaluation of the 2019 Queensland Music Festival’s (QMF) project, Help is on its Way. The Help is on its Way project was the second national choral initiative to have been programmed as part of QMF’s festival program in recent years with a focus on highlighting pressing social issues. In 2019, Help is on its Way sought to foster a dialogue around positive men’s mental health, and also promote the importance of help seeking behaviours. The project engaged 3,916 choristers from 65 community choirs and 34 schools across all Australian states and territories. In order to develop a more detailed understanding of participants’ experiences of this project and its outcomes, Queensland Conservatorium Research Centre (QCRC) worked in collaboration with the Black Dog Institute to undertake a research evaluation of this initiative. The research involved a survey with 305 participants from the Help is on its Way massed choir, observations of the final rehearsal and performance, as well as a series of interviews and focus groups with several participating choirs, the massed choir director, and the QMF team running the project.

ABSTRACT Increasingly human service organisations in Australia require staff, volunteers, and social work students on placement to undergo child-related criminal history checks. In turn, many schools of social work require prospective or enrolled students to undergo criminal history checks and provide a clearance of their suitability to work with children. Universities have historically played a role of gatekeeper to the social work profession, but the appropriateness of using past criminal history in this gatekeeping process is contested. This study examines the websites of 30 Australian universities to ascertain the extent to which they require social work students to undertake child-related criminal history screening. Most universities required students to have a child-related criminal history clearance, and all but one of the remaining universities identified that screening may be required, depending upon placement agency requirements. This may limit or close off access to social work education for people with criminal histories and lived experience of hardship and disadvantage. IMPLICATIONS The opportunity to study social work in Australia is limited for people who are ineligible for a child-related criminal history clearance. Requirements for clearances imposed by universities often go beyond those required by legislation aimed at protecting the rights and safety of children. Universities could move away from a blanket exclusion to a more flexible “as needed” arrangement, so that people with lived experience of contact with the criminal justice system are not excluded from the social work profession.

The degree to which social work educators maintain engagement in practice alongside teaching requires closer examination, given the stronger accountability expectations associated with managerialism in Australian universities. This personal reflection suggests that the ways that social work educators discuss practice examples might be influenced by the proximity of the practice example, and therefore maintaining links with practice may positively contribute to the teaching process. Students learn on multiple levels, and the care and respect implicit in a practice example used in class may provide an important element in the teaching process, particularly in relation to core concepts such as unconditional positive regard. Gestalt therapy provides a lens to help explore this proposition, as Gestalt suggests that the aliveness of the client in the mind of the social work educator may contribute to an experiential change process in the classroom.

This edited collection aims to advance the research tradition in Gestalt therapy, as the editors see this as integral to the advancement of Gestalt therapy (Roubal, Francesetti, Brownell, Melnick, & ZeleskovDjoric, 2016). Some in the Gestalt community will intuitively accept the logic of this argument, and for those people this text provides both a useful articulation of why research into Gestalt therapy matters, as well as a resource to support their engagement in this work. For other prospective readers the value of engaging in research may be of little interest, and some from this group may harbour misgivings about the perceived inherent incompatibility between the scientific method on the one hand, and the Gestalt therapeutic process on the other. This text acknowledges and explores these concerns, and it seeks to engage this group of research agnostics and atheists in dialogue. For example, in the preface by Leslie Greenberg, he questions whether the term ‘research’, if replaced by ‘investigation’ or a continual process of ‘re-search’, might be a more acceptable frame for opening conversations.

Review(s) of: Towards a research tradition in Gestalt therapy, by Roubal, Jan (Executive Editor), Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Cambridge Scholars, Publishing, 2016, 372 pp. ISBN (10) 1-4438-0734-6, ISBN (13) 978-1-4438-0734-0.

Commonwealth and state governments spend very large amounts of money on housing assistance. The housing or shelter impacts of these interventions are reasonably well understood. But, given the capacity of housing to affect many other elements of people's lives, what are the non-shelter outcomes of housing assistance? Using survey data, Peter Phibbs and Peter Young identify a number of outcomes.

The reduced housing costs, increased residential stability, reduced crowding and more socially diverse neighbourhoods provided to new public tenants benefit educational outcomes for children, the health and well being of tenants, and reduce health costs for government. As for employment, the findings were mixed: some new public tenants worked more, others worked less.