Engaging and Assessing Learners (ECP) 4 (EDUC91075)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
Overview
| Availability | Semester 2 |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
This subject examines ways in which children (birth to Year 6), childhoods, their families, and communities are constructed in Australian communities and society. This subject will highlight teachers’ professional responsibilities towards children, their families and the community. The focus of this subject is on investigating a strengths-based image of the child, their families, and their communities. Topics include historical and contemporary constructions of the child and childhoods, working with families, equity, inclusion, diversity, policy, curriculum frameworks, ethics, contemporary theories and perspectives, transitions, advocacy, reciprocal relationships with families and communities and professional roles and responsibilities.
The placement component will provide Teacher Candidates with the opportunity to synthesise their learning gained throughout the course with a focus on children, childhood and families. Additionally, Teacher Candidates will have the opportunity of demonstrating their understanding of the characteristics of professional knowledge, clinical praxis and engagement for professional accountability in an early childhood setting. Teacher Candidates will reflect critically on the ways in which educational theory and research informs practice.
This subject includes a Clinical Teaching Practicum (Placement) in an Early Childhood setting. During the placement, Teacher Candidates will demonstrate the nexus between theory and the practice of teaching, drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives and contemporary research to support their teaching practice. Teacher Candidates are supported by experienced Clinical Specialists and Mentor Teachers. A series of seminars will be held which explore Candidates’ developing professional knowledge, practice and engagement.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject, Teacher Candidates should be able to:
- Engage with historical views of children and childhoods to support understandings of contemporary constructions of the child and how they learn.
- Articulate relationships between contemporary society, constructions of childhoods and childhood pedagogies.
- Utilise contemporary theories to inform and develop pedagogical practices that affirm respectful, responsive and reciprocal relationships with children, families and communities.
- Develop an understanding of children's transitions and continuity of learning from early childhood to primary to secondary schooling.
- Conceptualise and articulate the role of the educator in developing strengths-based alternative pedagogies that honour the child.
- Design and implement relevant curriculum pedagogy for a diverse range of children and assessment tools informed by theory and research, and critically reflect on teaching and learning outcomes.
- Demonstrate professional knowledge, professional practice and professional engagement by drawing on a range of theoretical perspectives and contemporary research to support teaching practice.
Generic skills
This subject will develop the following set of key transferable skills:
- Clinical reasoning and evidence-based practice.
- Critical and creative thinking.
- Creativity and innovation.
- Teamwork and professional collaboration.
- Learning to learn and metacognition.
- Responsiveness to a changing knowledge base.
- Reflection for continuous improvement.
- Linking theory and practice.
- Inquiry and research.
- Active and participatory citizenship.
- Ethical and intercultural understanding.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
| Code | Name | Teaching period | Credit Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| EDUC91070 | Engaging and Assessing Learners (ECP) 3 | Semester 1 (Extended) (On Campus - Parkville) |
12.5 |
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Essay: The professional roles and responsibilities of teachers towards children, families and communities
| Mid semester | 30% |
Online Engagement: Reading annotation
| Throughout the teaching period | 15% |
Clinical Teaching Practicum ePortfolio - related resources and documentation
| Throughout the placement | 15% |
Poster on the professional roles and responsibilities of teachers towards children, families and communities
| During the examination period | 10% |
15-minute oral presentation: Individual oral presentation on inquiry learning
| During the examination period | 30% |
Clinical Teaching Practicum (placement) induction requirements Hurdle requirement: Clinical Teaching Practicum (placement) induction requirements must be satisfied (may include seminars, induction modules and placement preparation sessions). | Prior to the commencement of the first placement period | N/A |
Clinical Teaching Practicum (placement): Demonstration of clinical teaching practice against Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the Graduate level
| Throughout the placement | N/A |
Coursework Attendance Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance at synchronous classes. | Throughout the teaching period | N/A |
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Dates & times
- Semester 2
Coordinator John Hughes Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 15 days of Clinical Teaching Practicum in an early childhood education and care setting, 4 hours of practicum preparation activities and 24 hours of coursework comprising one 2-hour on-campus workshop and one asynchronous hour in each of 8 weeks Total time commitment 190 hours Teaching period 28 July 2025 to 26 October 2025 Last self-enrol date 8 August 2025 Census date 1 September 2025 Last date to withdraw without fail 26 September 2025 Assessment period ends 21 November 2025 Semester 2 contact information
John Hughes <hughes.j@unimelb.edu.au>
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
There are no specifically prescribed texts for this subject.Recommended texts and other resources
Arndt, S. (2018). Early childhood teacher cultural Otherness and belonging. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 19(4), 392-403. doi:https://doi.org/10.1177/1463949118783382
Biesta, G. (2016). Improving education through research? From effectiveness, causality and technology to purpose, complexity and culture. Policy Futures in Education, 14, 194-210. doi:10.1177/1478210315613900
Mitchell, L. (2010). Constructions of childhood in early childhood education policy debate in New Zealand. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 11(4), 328-341
Moss, P., & Dahlberg, G. (2008). Beyond Quality in Early Childhood Education and Care – Languages of Evaluation. New Zealand Journal of Teachers’ Work, 5(1), 3-12.
Moss, P. (2010). We cannot continue as we are: the educator in an education for survival. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 11(1), 8-19.
Myers, C. Y. (2016). Becoming “babies” in real time: Temporal emergence in the classroom mangle. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 17(4), 421-430. doi:DOI: 10.1177/1463949116677926
Salazar Perez, M., & Saavedra, C. M. (2018). Black and Chicana feminisms: Journeys toward spirituality and reconnection. In M. Bloch, B. B. Swadener, & G. S. Cannella (Eds.), Reconceptualizing early childhood education and care - A reader: Critical questions, new imaginaries & social activism (pp. 129-138). New York, NY:
Peter Lang. Smith, K., Tesar, M., & Myers, C. Y. (2016). Edu-capitalism and the governing of early childhood education and care in Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Global Studies of Childhood, 6(1), 123-135
Srinivasan, P. (2014). Early Childhood in Postcolonial Australia: Children’s Contested Identities. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
Taylor, A. (2013). Reconfiguring the natures of childhood. Oxon, UK: Routledge.
Tesar, M., & Koro-Ljungberg, M. (2015). Cute, creepy and sublime unnamed childhood monstrosities. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 1-11. doi:10.1080/01596306.2015.1075708
Townsend-Cross, M. (2004). Indigenous Australian perspectives in early childhood education. Australia Journal of Early Childhood, 29(4), 1-6.
Urban, M. (2015). From ‘closing the gap’ to an ethics of affirmation. Reconceptualising the role of early childhood services in times of uncertainty. European Journal of Education, 50(3), 293-306
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Teaching (Early Childhood and Primary) - Links to additional information
Faculty of Education: https://education.unimelb.edu.au/
Last updated: 4 March 2025