DIPLOMA OF SOCIAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE

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2026 TUITION FEES: A$26,500

Non-Tuition Fees: Refer to Incidental Fees.

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This content is for domestic students. If you are not a domestic student, please switch from domestic to international content.

CREDIT ELIGIBILITY FOR OTHER PROGRAMS

Progression:
Students will progress to their bachelor degree upon completion of their Griffith College diploma with a GPA equivalent to Griffith University’s admission rank requirement for entry to the bachelor program. Contact Griffith College for GPA to rank equivalencies. Diploma students who do not meet the progression requirements for their pathway to Griffith University can apply for a place in their preferred degree via QTAC, and be considered along with other external applicants subject to QTAC admissions requirements and processes.

80 credit points is equivalent to one year of full-time study. Completion of degrees where students obtain less than 80 credit points of advanced standing in the degree, may take additional time.

^There are placements associated with this program and graduates will be required to satisfy a number of specific criteria. Students should refer to the checklist of pre-placement and placement requirements for their Health discipline on the Placement Essentials website for full details of the requirements regarding clinical placement to ensure that they meet eligibility for placement.

†If student numbers exceed the quota, places in each degree will be awarded on the basis of the highest GPA and the highest average mark across completed Diploma courses.

# The Brisbane South (Nathan) offering of this program is scheduled to be delivered at the Treasury Building at Griffith University’s Brisbane City campus in 2027. If scheduled opening is delayed, courses may be delivered all or in part at our other Brisbane locations.

*Provided required elective courses have been completed at Griffith College.

HUMAN SERVICES STRUCTURES (1006HSV)

This course introduces human services within its broader historical, socio-cultural, political and economic contexts. It examines the Australian post – welfare state and the contested ideas, philosophies, theories, institutional forms and professional identities associated with it. The course provides a set of frameworks and concepts for analysing historical, present and future changes in the structures and content of human service provision. The purpose is to familiarise students with the language, key concepts, tensions and trajectories of the diverse human services field, whilst assisting students to use such concepts in analysis of specific areas of human service pertinent to their professional interests.

PSYCHOLOGY IN PROFESSIONAL CONTEXTS (1011PSY)

Students learn what core skills are gained through the study of psychology or counselling, and how these are used in the various professional contexts that psychology or counselling graduates are qualified to work in. Relevant careers in counselling, community and welfare, human resources, justice, marketing, policy, professional psychology, and social research are described.

Students also gain skills in selecting a suitable study pathway, selecting appropriate elective courses, and identifying paid and volunteer work opportunities that will enhance employability in these areas. Additional skills are gained in building a professional profile, including through LinkedIn and other public portfolios.

This course enables students to consider human services work with people from diverse cultural and minority group backgrounds who represent a truly unique combination of traits, cultures, experiences, and backgrounds. Within this diversity, some identities come to be socially, culturally, and politically privileged and accepted as “normal” while others are marginalised and oppressed. This creates significant gaps in marginalised persons’ experiences of equity, health, wellbeing, and social justice. The course examines points of tension between the norms and traditions of other cultures and those of Australian society. In particular, students will develop an understanding of diverse groups who currently experience social marginalisation in Australia and elsewhere.

ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL SKILLS DEVELOPMENT (1201QBT)

The course offers students a broad introduction to the skills involved in acquiring information and in displaying knowledge to others. It includes the basic knowledge and skills required to successfully participate in an undergraduate degree program and to operate effectively in a professional context.

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT AND BEHAVIOUR (1020HSV)

This course examines biological, psychological, and social explanations for human behaviour. It has a focus on developmental theories and examines human development across the entire life course from infancy to ageing. Students will engage critically with theories to understand how theories relate to each other, the broader socio-cultural context, and to the empirical evidence base. Students will apply theory and evidence to understand and explain a wide range of human behaviour across the life course.

Students progressing into programs in the social science stream will take this program.

INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY 1 (1011GRC)

This course provides a foundation for understanding the cognitive and biological bases of human behaviour, including the role of the brain and neural processes in behaviour, perception (how the senses allow you to see, hear, taste, touch and smell the world around you), conditioning and learning (how humans and other animals
learn about their environment), cognition and memory (how people think, solve problems and remember).

Drawing on various research traditions in experimental psychology, this course demonstrates how cognitive and biological psychology contributes to our knowledge of human well-being and performance. Students apply this knowledge through a series of practical in-class exercises.

This course provides an introductory-level overview of several fields within psychology. It focuses on developmental and social processes and their relationships to individual differences in behaviour. It also provides a broad introduction to the areas of developmental, personality, abnormal and social psychology.

This course aims to expose students to the wider social and cultural context in which health and human services operate, including an understanding of culture, globalisation, environmental sustainability and issues surrounding disadvantage.

This course is designed to facilitate, guide and stimulate your interest and commitment to an increased understanding of what constitutes effective communication and to develop your ability to communicate effectively. To assist with your skills acquisition, this course has been designed using an active learning approach. Learning actively will provide you with the opportunity to develop both a theoretical understanding and a practical ability to communicate and interact interpersonally. In preparation for your role as a professional in the field, you will be encouraged in this course to think of yourself as a practitioner-in-training. One of the implications of this, is that we expect you to be self-managing in terms of your own learning and the learning of your colleagues.

HUMAN SERVICES PROCESSES (1007HSV)

This course sets out the foundations for human services processes and practices, establishing students as ’emerging practitioners’ and providing the knowledge, skills and values framework for development of professional identity. In particular, it tracks the identification of need, service delivery models and systems, and the organisational context in which assessment and intervention processes take place across the domains of practice. The course also explores the influences of knowledge and theory, and uses case analysis to identify the perspectives of service users, as well as the challenges for practice. This course is structured around the idea that human service practitioners are decision makers and that their decisions can affect the lives of many people. Students are encouraged to develop a critical awareness of the characteristics of different human service systems and processes. The ‘helping process’ is introduced and discussed including stages of engagement, assessment, intervention, termination, and review.

†Required for students articulating to Bachelor of Social Work, Bachelor of Human Services and Bachelor of Child and Family Studies.

RESEARCH METHODS & STATISTICS IN PSYCHOLOGY (1003PSY)

This course introduces students to the core concepts of statistical analysis. It is introductory in nature and provides materials across a broad range of statistical techniques and methods. The focus of this course is to provide students with the ability to recognise situations in which statistical analysis may be useful, and the relevant techniques and methods that apply in those situations.