Seminar: 10 hours/semester
and
Practicum: 140 hours/semester
In this course, students engage in a variety of learning activities including: seminar, with guided, small group discussion, course instructor and supervisor guidance, and practicum placement in a CYC community setting.
- Child and youth care practicum is an opportunity to engage with a wide range of CYC perspectives, models, and theories from diverse worldviews and traditions that inform CYC practice.
- Child and youth care practicum is an opportunity to learn by engaging with individuals, groups, families, and communities and developing an awareness of individual and collective social locations.
- Child and youth care practicum is an opportunity to apply a variety of communication skills and practice strategies required to work respectfully and empathetically within diverse CYC contexts.
- Child and youth care practicum is an opportunity for students to reflect critically on their practice. These reflections are grounded in an understanding and awareness of systems of power and privilege, as they manifest in marginalization, structural inequity and colonialism, and contextualize CYC practicum within an intersectional framework that responds to calls for decolonization.
- Child and youth care practicum is an opportunity to demonstrate a professional CYC orientation that integrates CYC theories, perspectives, and values to attend to the wellness of young people and families across diverse contexts. This professional orientation is grounded in a critical understanding and awareness of the history of the profession, the relational self, the ethical, cultural, and legal CYC frameworks.
This course's content and learning outcomes are guided by the Child & Youth Care Education Consortium of British Columbia, the North American Competencies for Child & Youth Work Practitioners, and the Child & Youth Care Educational Accreditation Board of Canada.
Appropriate to the context of the Child and Youth Care (CYC) setting, upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Embody and articulate the role, scope of practice, and values of the CYC practitioner, in accordance with CYC competencies, the Child and Youth Care Association of British Columbia Code of Ethics, and organizational policies.
- With guidance from the site supervisor and course instructor, formulate a professional learning plan that acknowledges the importance of continuous competency development.
- Connect and engage with young people in a way that demonstrates an understanding of therapeutic relationships in CYC practice.
- Design, facilitate, and evaluate individual and/or group therapeutic activities, appropriate to CYC contexts and settings.
- Critically reflect upon and integrate CYC-related theories, values, and approaches with practices and processes at CYC settings.
- Critically evaluate one's social position to pursue social justice-oriented practice.
- With guidance from the site supervisor and course instructor, evaluate and integrate feedback into one's professional practice.
Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. Typical means of evaluation would include a combination of:
- Practice Reports
- Reflective Essays
- Activity Plans
- Professional Development Plans
- Seminar Discussions
- Self-Evaluations
- Competency Assessments
Textbooks and materials are to be purchased by students. A list of required textbooks and materials will be provided for students at the beginning of the semester.