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EDTS505 to EDTS648
EDTS505/619 Curriculum in Action 10 cp
This unit will focus on the identification and analysis of key factors and issues involved in the implementation of curriculum change and innovation. Emphasis is placed upon developing understandings that may in turn affect curriculum implementation practice in participants' work settings. Awareness of a range of current issues in curriculum in Australia, the forces behind changes associated with these issues, and the implications of these changes for teachers' own educational practices, will also be examined. Approaches to the critique of current issues from a social justice perspective will be developed.
EDTS508 Development of Positive Classroom Behaviour 10 cp
Violence, divorce, drugs and media pressures comprise everyday reality for many children and youth today. A recent review of a number of research studies indicates that peer and school connectedness significantly contributes to the well being of children and youth, especially those children who are at risk (Fuller 1998). This unit aims to enhance teachers’ knowledge, understanding and skills in how they can help students to cope with the complexities of their lives. In particular the unit will enhance teachers’ skills in teaching social competence and developing positive class and school behaviours. The unit will also assist participants to develop whole school welfare policies as well as their own personal philosophy or charter on how to facilitate school and peer connectedness for students.
EDTS509 Interpersonal Communication Skills 10 cp
This unit is designed as the first in a sequence of two on interpersonal and group skills. In this unit students will be encouraged to focus on their own communication processes as they apply in professional and para-professional one-to-one relationships and in group settings. The skills and knowledge acquired will contribute directly to working effectively with others in educational, consultancy, and management settings.
EDTS601 Curriculum Planning and Development 10 cp
In this unit, attention is given to the critical analysis, evaluation and discussion of curriculum documents at national, provincial and local levels in
EDTS602 Teacher Growth and Change 10 cp
The focus of the unit is to assist educators to identify, explore and reflect on issues related to the growth and professional development of teachers. Students will be encouraged to articulate their personal beliefs about teaching and to examine the stage of growth and development they are currently experiencing. The aim of the unit is to provide opportunities for teachers to learn about the stages of growth and professional development for teachers, to reflect upon personal development and to learn about processes that will facilitate desired growth and change. The approaches in this unit will encourage educators to critically review the issues that impact on teacher growth and change, to reflect on personal growth and to set goals for the future.
EDTS603 Contemporary Issues in Learning 10 cp
The unit explores the concept of learning, as described in current literature, and considers the learning process primarily from the perspective of the learner. The concept of learning is presented as a socially constructed and students are assisted to make explicit the referents they use to make sense of their own learning and that of others. Metaphor, particularly the analysis of metaphors used in understanding learning, is introduced as a device for making concepts and beliefs about these concepts explicit. Modern approaches to learning are analysed and theory is placed in an educational context by considering the roles of the teacher and the learner in the learning process. The viability of various theories of learning is explored by examining the effectiveness of the theory in assisting in the understanding of learning. Finally, learning is presented as a life long process, dependant on individual belief and volition. The roles of metacognition, self regulation and direction and the learning community in sustaining life long learning are considered.
EDTS604 Creating Collaborative Learning Communities 10 cp
The vision for inclusive education for the 21st century hinges on the creation of collaborative learning communities where staff and learner diversity is valued and individuals successfully collaborate to achieve outcomes that no one individual could achieve alone. Achieving these outcomes relates to the redefining of learning, including the development of new forms of leadership and the focus on lifelong learning and the call for people to build collaborative relationships with others within their workplace and in the broader community.
This unit explores the theoretical bases and models of cooperative learning and collaborative consultation. The aim of the unit is to develop students' knowledge and understanding of how to create collaborative learning communities in their classrooms and schools so their students experience the positive student gains associated with co-operative learning, and staff develop strong interdependent collegial relationships with each other.
EDTS605 Critical Theories of Education 10 cp
This unit will examine the application of critical theories to social issues, and in relation to the place, process and use of education in modern industrial societies. The group will, in particular, examine: the construction of educational and social categories such as, ‘special education’, ‘special needs’, and ‘disadvantaged student’; the role of marginalised groups in society; the representation of such groups; and the relationship between such groups and the educational system.
The work of a number of key writers in the field of critical pedagogy will be examined in detail. The group will then consider the question: how does critical pedagogy enable us, as educators, to critically examine the fundamental issue of power and its relationship to the greater societal forces which affect educational institutions, and all those associated with them?
EDTS606 Current Issues in Inclusive Education 10 cp
This unit investigates current philosophies, legislation, principles, policies and practices for the inclusion of learners with diverse backgrounds. Students will be required to undertake reading and research in relation to issues such as segregation, integration, inclusion, early intervention, transition programs, gifted education, cultural diversity, Aboriginal education. The unit also examines curriculum implications for developing educational programs and strategies to transform the challenge of inclusive principles to practices in the students’ workplace.
EDTS607 Mentoring for Professional Learning and Development 10 cp
This unit focuses upon extending the knowledge and skills of school leaders and experienced teachers in the areas of supervision and mentoring. The unit is designed to ensure that the participant has an informed understanding of the similarities and differences between supervision and mentoring. The roles and skills for effective mentoring will be explored against the backdrop of the domains of teaching as identified by State and National Institutes of Teachers and current educational practice. Participants will investigate techniques and processed involved in establishing mentoring programs that are based upon informed decision making through the collection and analysis of data, which is then interpreted through integration with research on best practice.
Particular reference will be made to pre-service teachers, induction and retention of beginning and experienced teachers against a standards framework of professional accountability and practice.
EDTS608 Professional Portfolios in Action 10 cp
In this unit course participants will critically analyse the development of a professional learning portfolio as integral to teacher reflection and learning. Participants will consider the research basis for the notion of professional portfolios and the growing perception of these for establishing a professional identity. Within the process of examining criteria for the development and assessment of professional learning portfolios, participants will describe and build an individual portfolio within their own workplace and/or professional context.
EDTS618 Current Issues in Education and Learning 10 cp
This unit explores current issues in education and learning. It engages learners in discourse about beliefs as educators and facilitators for learning at a time of unprecedented change. Theories of learning, pedagogical processes and assessment associated with education as a lifelong process will be examined. Current issues and research in education including professional learning, accountability, catering for diversity, developing autonomous learners and education in a rapidly developing technological world also will be examined.
EDTS619 (see EDTS505) Curriculum in Action 10 cp
EDTS647 Nurturing Connections for Learning in the Early Years of Schooling 10 cp
This unit provides the educator with opportunities to critically reflect on the principles and perspectives that underpin a philosophy of early education that promotes holistic learning that nurtures each child’s continuing development as a lifelong learner. Contemporary learning and child development theories are examined through the making of explicit connections with political, social and cultural contexts that surround the child and that influence learning in the early years of schooling. The holistic view of the child as a lifelong learner provides a frame of reference for the critical review and analysis of contemporary early childhood curriculum directions and trends that influence decision-making and pedagogy. A range of powerful reflective processes and conceptual tools are utilised to assist educators to critically reflect on their own assumptions about learning in the early years of schooling and to align theory with practice. The educator is challenged to name and critique connections between new conceptions of knowledge and practical applications within their own work situations.
EDTS648 Engaging the Learner in the Early Years of Schooling 10 cp
This unit examines approaches to curriculum decision-making and pedagogy that engage young children in quality learning experiences throughout the early years of schooling. It examines contemporary early childhood. It explores the educator’s role in promoting and nurturing young students as lifelong learners and engaging them as active participants in their own learning. The unit explores and critiques contemporary early childhood learning theories and curriculum directions, associated research and evidence based practices within the broader political, social and cultural contexts of teaching in the early years of schooling. Educators are challenged to search for and to create knowledge that may inform and direct curriculum decision-making and approaches to pedagogy that actively engage young students in worthwhile learning experiences, in ways that support and promote each student’s continuing development as a lifelong learner.
