Overview
Education as a Profession examines the history and philosophy underpinning educational theory as a basis for understanding the role of education in contemporary society. Students investigate the impact of social, cultural and economic change on the professionalism of educators and concepts of quality and effective practice in educational settings to understand the role of “teacher as learner”. They critically reflect on the contextual factors that influence what it means to be an educator in 21st century society and use Professional Standards and Codes of Ethics and/or Conduct relevant to the work of educators to develop an understanding of the relationship between social justice, ethical practice and professional identity. Students evaluate ways in which their own beliefs about teaching and learning affect professional practice and use ethical and professional standards to explain the rationale for ongoing professional learning and the implications for improved student learning. Students develop an understanding of the purpose of e-portfolios for documenting evidence of professional learning and create a personal response to key ideas about the purpose of contemporary education in the form of a digital artefact which is used to start the reflection process of maintaining and adding to the e-portfolio over the course of the course.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
There are no requisites for this unit.
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 3 - 2021
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes – in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University’s Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure – International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback – Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Unit Evaluation
Quantity of readings
Review weekly reading expectations.
Feedback from Unit Evaluation
Unit content
Maintain the current topics as it provides a broad overview of this profession.
Feedback from Unit Evaluation
Second assignment
Review the wording of the second assignment to clarify relevant elements.
- Identify social, cultural and economic changes that impact on the purposes and outcomes of education in 21st century Australian society
- Reflect on self as learner and discuss the relevance of personal and professional lifelong learning for educational professionals
- Reflect on the impact of personal perspectives of race, class, gender and identity formation on the professional role of educators
- Evaluate contemporary perspectives on social justice and their relationship to Professional Standards and Codes of Ethics and Conduct for professional educators
- Assess ways in which knowledge of educational contexts such as socioeconomic background, culture, identity and gender shape the decision-making of educators.
Successful completion of this unit provides opportunities for students to engage with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Career Stage) focus areas of:
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
4.4 Maintain student safety
6.1 Identify and plan professional learning needs
6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice
6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning
7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities
7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements
In addition, competency elements from the Diploma of Children's Services (Early Childhood Education and Care) are taught and assessed in this unit.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 50% | |||||
| 2 - Portfolio - 50% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Portfolio - 50% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
Teaching: Making a difference
Edition: 4th (2019)
Authors: Churchill, Godinho, Johnson, Keddie, Letts, Lowe, Mackay, McGill, Moss, Nagel, Shaw & Rogers
Wiley
ISBN: 9780730355120
Binding: eBook
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
h.costello@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Perceptions of educators
Chapter
Corrigan, 2016
Ewing et al., 2020, pp. 2-8
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Identities of educators
Chapter
Churchill et al., 2019, Chapter 1 and pp. 69-73
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Educators as learners
Chapter
Churchill et al., 2019, pp. 518-522
Mohamed, Valcke & De Wever, 2017
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Education and social change
Chapter
Churchill et al., 2019, pp. 40-52; 592-599
Mission Australia annual reports
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Diversity in the educational context
Chapter
Churchill et al., 2019, pp. 149-158; 166-173
Hyry-Beihammer et al., 2019
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Schools and educational equity
Chapter
Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration
Churchill et al., 2019, pp. 158-166; 559-562; 581-592
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Teaching as professional work
Chapter
Churchill et al., 2019, pp. 545-554
Stone, 2020 (chapter 3 in Bower)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Expectations of education and educators
Chapter
Churchill et al., 2019, pp. 53-68
Sahlberg, 2020
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Professional standards for educators
Chapter
Australian Professional Standards, 2017
Churchill et al., 2019, pp. 554-558
Clarke & Pittaway, 2014, Chapter 20
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Code of ethics and conduct for educators
Chapter
Code of Ethics from your State authority
Code of Conduct from your State authority
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Ethical and legal issues relevant to educators
Chapter
Churchill et al., 2019. pp. 536-571; 600-607
Professional Boundaries: A guide for Queensland teachers (2017)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Unit review and assignment workshop
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
In 2000 words, elaborate on your developing views of teaching in the following way:
a) summarise selected learning experiences as a school student and beyond. For each one, analyse how your experiences have influenced your beliefs about teaching and learning,
b) identify recent social, cultural, and economic changes within Australia that have impacted educational and care contexts. Elaborate, with examples, how knowledge of these changes shapes your future role as an educator,
c) list several specific professional learning goals for yourself that show how you intend to respond to the identified social, cultural, and economic changes. Give reasons for each goal, and
d) select an image or symbol that depicts your metaphor of a professional educator. Using the metaphor, explain your interpretation of the complex role of educators in 21st century Australian society.
Please note:
· Each section has equal weighting.
· The submission can be structured as an essay or by using subheadings.
· Include a brief introduction and conclusion regardless of the structure.
· It is expected that you will embed references from the weekly readings found on the Moodle site into your discussion.
· First person (e.g., “I remember”, “my teachers”, etc) is appropriate for this assignment.
· While COVID-19 can be mentioned, it is one of many examples of recent impactful change.
· Any image or symbol can be used except book/movie/etc characters. Upload the metaphor image as an appendix. Copyright laws must be adhered to when using images.
The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.
Week 5 Friday (17 Dec 2021) 11:45 pm AEST
Feedback on this assignment response will be provided in sufficient time to inform students' responses of the next assessment task.
Ability to choose and analyse personal educational experiences that underpin the formation of beliefs about teaching and learning.
Identification of recent social, cultural, and economic changes in Australian society that may shape an educator's role.
Selection of appropriate professional learning goals for contemporary educational contexts.
Demonstration of the complex role of contemporary educators through the chosen metaphor.
Demonstration of professional levels of personal literacy.
- Identify social, cultural and economic changes that impact on the purposes and outcomes of education in 21st century Australian society
- Reflect on self as learner and discuss the relevance of personal and professional lifelong learning for educational professionals
- Reflect on the impact of personal perspectives of race, class, gender and identity formation on the professional role of educators
- Assess ways in which knowledge of educational contexts such as socioeconomic background, culture, identity and gender shape the decision-making of educators.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Portfolio
Respond to the question: What does it mean to be a professional educator in the 21st century? You are required to use a multimodal approach that combines images or symbols with words.
Part A: You will create an original representation that illustrates the expectations and professional obligations of Australian educators in the 21st century.
Key documents studied this term (Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration, the AITSL Professional Standards, plus the Code of Ethics and Code of Conduct for teachers published by your State Authorities) need to be featured.
Any concise format can be used such as drawings, images from the internet, photos, etc. Copyright laws must be adhered to when using images.
Part B: 1500-word essay that:
(a) examines educational purposes and outcomes in 21st century Australia which are impacted by recent social, economic, and cultural change,
(b) explains how the ethical decision-making of professional educators is shaped by social justice, diversity, and equity considerations with the support of current examples and,
(c) evaluates how effectively the Professional Standards and Codes of Ethics and Conduct guide the work of educators and contribute to ongoing professional learning that improves outcomes for all learners as promoted by the Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration.
References from weekly readings to support your argument are expected throughout the essay. Any ideas used in Part A can be mentioned in the essay.
Please note: The word count is considered from the first word of the introduction to the last word of the conclusion. It excludes the cover page, abstract, contents page, reference page and appendices. It includes in-text references and direct quotations.
Week 12 Friday (11 Feb 2022) 11:45 pm AEST
The task will be returned to students once moderation processes has been completed.
Original multimodal representation of expectations and professional obligations of educators in the 21st century
Knowledge and understanding of the range of factors influencing the current purpose and outcomes of education
Explanation of the impact of social justice, diversity and equity, and ethical decision-making on educators’ practice
Evaluation of the role of professional standards and codes of ethics and conducts in guiding educators’ practice and their ongoing professional learning
Application of academic conventions and personal literacy competence
- Identify social, cultural and economic changes that impact on the purposes and outcomes of education in 21st century Australian society
- Reflect on the impact of personal perspectives of race, class, gender and identity formation on the professional role of educators
- Evaluate contemporary perspectives on social justice and their relationship to Professional Standards and Codes of Ethics and Conduct for professional educators
- Assess ways in which knowledge of educational contexts such as socioeconomic background, culture, identity and gender shape the decision-making of educators.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
