Foundations of Physiotherapy Practice
Overview
This unit provides students with the opportunity to gain insight into the Physiotherapy profession and the role of the contemporary Physiotherapist within the health care system. Students will explore and develop a range of attributes sought by industry, which centre on: developing an understanding of the professional workplace, effectively participating and contributing to the workplace, interacting with other professionals, being exposed to the career options students can pursue upon graduation, and growing and developing personally. Students will undertake work experience relevant to their physiotherapy studies.
Requisites
Admission into:
MA-PHYS - Master of Physiotherapy, or
MA-PHYS1 - Master of Physiotherapy
02-November-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Plan for personal and professional career development through critical reflection on university professional and other relevant experience/s
- Exhibit appropriate professional behaviours, scope of practice, workplace behaviours and employability skills essential to working with individuals or teams as a physiotherapist
- Communicate effectively in different formats (i.e., written and oral forms) for different audiences and appropriate to the workplace
- Develop culturally responsive capabilities (respect and self-awareness) so as to understand personal beliefs, assumptions, values, perceptions, attitudes and expectations, and how they impact relationships with groups and individuals including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples
- Critically examine and develop professional capability in technology, digital health and informatics in physiotherapy practice
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Activity Type | Activity | Total Hours | Number of Weeks | Hours Per Week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Live Online | Lecture | 15 | 10 weeks | 1.5 |
| On-campus | Lecture | 6 | 2 weeks | 3 |
| On-campus | Workshop | 22 | 6 weeks | 3.67 |
| Placement | Placement | 80 | 12 weeks | 6.67 |
| Specified Activities | Various | 12 | 12 weeks | 1 |
| Unspecified Activities | Independent Learning | 25 | 12 weeks | 2.08 |
| Total Hours: | 160 | Total Hours (per week): | 17.92 | |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assignment | Individual | 20% | 1,3 |
| Professional Experience Placement | Individual | 20% | 1,2,3,4 |
| e-Portfolio | Individual | 40% | 1,2,3,4,5 |
| Presentation | Group | 20% | 3,5 |
Content
- Professional bodies, their organisational structure and behaviour
- Roles of the contemporary physiotherapist
- Communication (e.g. patient/ team/ family interaction, medicolegal documentation)
- Physiotherapy scope of practice and duty of care, codes of professional conduct and ethical practice
- Reflective practice and life long learning (e.g. evaluative judgement, giving and receiving feedback)
- Resilience and self care
- The roles of colonialism and imperialism in Australian society
- Concepts central to Indigenous culture
- Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Verbal communication
- Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Communicating using different media
- Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Collaboration and negotiation
- Graduate Attribute – Digital Literacies: Information literacy
- Graduate Attribute – Digital Literacies: Technical literacy
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.