QCAA Philosophy & Reason case studies
QCAA Philosophy & Reason · Put your knowledge to work in context.
Philosophy & Reason is a General senior syllabus published by the Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority (QCAA) for Queensland senior secondary students. The current syllabus is the Philosophy & Reason General senior syllabus 2025 (v1.3), and the QCAA states it is for implementation with students who will complete their study of the course in 2026 or beyond. The QCAA Philosophy & Reason case studies are 5 cases and about 3,509 words.
1The Ethics Committee and the Mandatory Volunteer Scheme
A regional hospital's ethics committee must rule on a proposal: all nursing students on placement must complete 40 hours of unpaid 'wellness visiting' at aged-care facilities, or their clinical placement is marked incomplete. The committee chair argues this is justified because (a) the facilities are understaffed and residents benefit, (b) students gain empathy, and (c) the students consented by enrolling in the course.
777 words, about 4 min2The Historian's Footnote and the Exam Question
A Year 12 philosophy student, Mira, is writing an analytical essay on whether historical testimony can be a source of knowledge. Her teacher supplied a source sheet containing a 1974 oral-history interview in which a retired factory inspector recalls a safety dispute 'in about 1952'.
687 words, about 3 min3The Trolley Problem Meets the Hospital Generator
A hospital's emergency plan has one backup generator serving two wings. During a prolonged outage the generator can power only one wing.
724 words, about 4 min4The Student Journal and the Limits of Free Expression
A university student philosophy journal has accepted an essay arguing that a controversial public policy is justified. The essay is carefully argued but reaches a conclusion many students find offensive.
702 words, about 4 min5The Data Analyst's Dashboard and the Appearance of Objectivity
A city council uses a dashboard to allocate youth-services funding across 12 suburbs. The dashboard ranks suburbs by 'need index', computed from reported incidents, service wait times, and population.
619 words, about 3 min