SOCIAL JUSTICE

Social Justice is both a philosophical problem and an important issue in politics, religion and civil society. Social justice is what faces you in the morning. It is awakening in a house with adequate water supply, cooking facilities and sanitation. It is the ability to nourish your children and send them to school where their education not only equips them for employment but reinforces their knowledge and understanding of their cultural inheritance. It is the prospect of genuine employment and good health: a life of choices and opportunity, free from discrimination. - Mick Dodson 1993 Notre Dame promotes social responsibility through transformative education, social action and reflection. These play a key role in assisting the University community realise its goal of integrating Christian values and action for a more just society. The Social Justice program gives students a familiarity with those aspects of social justice, development, rights and peace which will most assist them in making a thoughtful and real contribution to contemporary society.		Back to Arts and Sciences Fremantle | Sydney
		Units eligible
		Unit descriptions
		Degree Planner
		Internships
		Study Abroad
		Experience the World
		Honours
		Double Degrees available
		Postgraduate Study

The Social Justice program at Notre Dame offers a unique series of units that challenge students to step out of their regular lives and become involved in making a difference in the world. Students can apply skills learned in this course to gain employment in education, government, welfare, private industry or the public sector.  The Social Justice program also provides an excellent pathway to postgraduate research opportunities, including a Diploma of Education (DipEd), Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Key components of the Social Justice program are the practical opportunities provided for learning.  Students may have the opportunity to participate in the School’s ‘Experience the World’ program which takes students to remote communities throughout Australia and to the developing world abroad, where they will live and work with people of diverse cultures for up to four weeks at a time.  Similarly, Social Justice students may choose to take a practical placement such as an Internship as part of their degree, in which they are hosted by a government or private agency for a semester.

SOCIAL  JUSTICE UNITS

Social Justice units are run on a two-year rotation cycle and are streamed into the key areas of

• peace and conflict studies;
• Human rights and its theory and practice; and
• social justice, service-learning and community engagement.

Eight approved units are required for a major in Social Justice; six approved units are required for a minor.

The School’s Majors and Minors lists published on our home page indicate the requirements of a Social Justice major, and its electives.  Popular units within the program, however, include:

Required Social Justice Units (Fremantle and Sydney)

AB100	Aboriginal People
JS112/JS212	Living Human Rights
JS315	Inside the Politics of Development
JS316	Peace and Conflict studies
JS317	Social justice, Service-Learning and Community Engagement
JS318	Human Response to Disasters
JS319	Social Implications of Globalisation
PL1000	Introduction to World Politics
PL3012	The Politics and History of Genocide
PS309	Social Psychology of Justice

SPECIAL INTEREST UNITS

The Social Justice Major and Minor offer unique opportunities for students to engage in work integrated learning and learning abroad.  Such units available to students in the Social Justice program include the following:

AL301	Experience the World overseas study tours
AL302	Experience the World Caritas and Kimberley immersions

UNIT DESCRIPTIONS, UNITS ON OFFER and DEGREE PLANNERS

The following resources are published on the School’s homepage and provide information regarding unit availability, unit content and program requirements:

• Units on Offer
• Majors, Minors and Specialisations lists
• Degree Planners
• Unit Descriptions

INTERNSHIPS

Students of a range of Arts majors, including Social Justice, Politics, History, Communications, Legal Studies and Theatre Studies, may be eligible to conduct an Internship as part of their degree.  Offered in Semester Two each year, the Internship takes the place of one unit and places the student on location with government or private industry. Students can hope to acquire helpful professional skills as part of the Internship, apply the learning they have so far gained in their discipline area at University, and develop personal and professional networks which may assist them in future employment.

STUDY ABROAD

The Study Abroad program allows Notre Dame’s Social Justice students to spend one semester of their degree at an overseas university in North America, the United Kingdom, Europe or Asia while gaining full credit in their degree at home.  Some students may be eligible for a Student Exchange Scholarship to help reduce the cost of airfares, accommodation and other expenses.

For more information please contact Notre Dame’s Study Abroad office.

EXPERIENCE THE WORLD

A variety of opportunities for extended scholarly and service learning exist for those students conducting a degree in Notre Dame’s School of Arts and Sciences.  Participation in these programs will provide students with additional professional and life skills that will not only enrich their learning experience at University, but will make their degree more marketable and attractive on completion.

Overseas study tours
Students can take advantage of Notre Dame’s overseas study tours and, in some cases, count the unit directly towards their degree major or minor. 

Notre Dame’s own lecturers take students to such overseas locations as New York, Spain and Washington for up to four weeks where an intensive study program is conducted regarding the History and Politics of the city or country being visited.  This program is often done in partnership with overseas universities and provides an amazing opportunity to combine study and travel.

East Kimberley Community Immersion
Students of such Arts and Sciences majors as Social Justice, Politics, History, Communications, English Literature, Legal Studies, Sociology and Theatre Studies may be eligible to participate in our East Kimberley immersion program.  This unique and often life-changing educational experience sees small teams of students travel to remote communities of Australia’s north-west twice a year.  In such towns as Wyndham and communities as Oombulgurri, Notre Dame students spend four weeks living and working with local young people in a project designed to achieve meaningful reconciliation and greater engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia.

This program is normally available as an elective within a degree program and may, on approval of the Dean, be eligible to be counted towards a major or minor.

Caritas Australia development program
We believe that university education should be about more than training for a profession.  Rather, we want Notre Dame students to be ready to change the world.

Students of Arts and Sciences at Notre Dame are eligible to participate in an overseas program we conduct each year in partnership with the aid organisation, Caritas Australia.  Teams of Notre Dame staff and students visit an overseas location such as Cambodia, Uganda or India. In an immersion experience of up to four weeks, the team explores the development work conducted by Caritas and studies, among other things, the intersection of poverty, development, politics and globalisation.

The Caritas program may be available as an elective within a degree program and may, on approval of the Dean, be counted towards a major or minor.

DEGREE PLANNERS

To review the content of a Bachelor of Arts, Behavioural Science, Communications, Counselling or Science, or to download the official course planner for your degree, please click here.

HONOURS

Students who have completed an Arts, Behavioural Science, Communications or Science degree, with at least a distinction average in their major, may be eligible to undertake a fourth year in the School’s Honours program.

Honours in Social Justice provides a professional finish to your undergraduate degree and should make your educational qualifications more competitive in the industry in which you hope to building your career.  Honours in Social Justice is also the normal pathway for higher degree research, including a Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD).

Because of the unique nature of Notre Dame’s School of Arts and Sciences, students completing an Honours degree in Social Justice have the opportunity to develop an inter-disciplinary research project which may combine their work with such other disciplines as Politics, History, Behavioural Science and English Literature.

Students completing an Honours program in Social Justice will undertake a major research project under supervision, complete coursework in related units, participate in a regular interdisciplinary seminar series and contribute to a conference program regarding their research activities.

For further information on Honours please speak with any academic member of staff or contact the Honours coordinators, Dr Dawn Darlaston-Jones or Dr Shane Burke.

INTEGRATED BACHELOR OF ARTS (BA) & DIPLOMA OF EDUCATION (DipEd, Secondary)

Students of Social Justice may be interested in a combined Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Diploma of Education in Secondary Education (DipEd), now available at Notre Dame.  This four year double degree program provides a double major in two Arts disciplines and integrates training in Education, including practical placements, throughout the four years of study.

This is a highly professional and demanding degree which offers the best of both worlds: thorough grounding in two key disciplines of study as well as extensive training in Educational philosophies and practices.

The integrated BA/DipEd provides those studying such disciplines as History, Politics, English Literature and Theatre Studies with an opportunity to seek employment in government, private industry or the education sector, and provides students with even greater options for employment upon graduation.  Better still, students enrolled in the integrated BA/DipEd may be eligible to receive a Commonwealth Support Place.

DOUBLE DEGREES

Social Justice combines well with the study of other degrees at Notre Dame, including Communications (media and journalism), Behavioural Science, Science or Law.  A Bachelor of Arts, Arts (Politics and Journalism), Behavioural Science or Communications is often studied in combination with such professional degrees as Law, Education or Business.

Adding a Social Justice major, or other Arts and Sciences discipline areas, to your professional degree will add to your graduate employment opportunities, increase your learning experience at university and provide you with enhanced writing and research skills.

POSTGRADUATE DEGREES

History, Politics, International Relations, Social Justice, Archaeology, English Literature and a range of other discipline areas are available for postgraduate study at Notre Dame.  A Master of Arts (MA) and Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) are available as postgraduate research degrees by thesis and are completed under supervision by an academic member of staff.