Overview
In this unit the focus is on students in the pre-adolescent and adolescent years. In this unit you will develop further understandings about the ways in which educators create supportive learning environments that are responsive to students needs. In particular, you will identify strategies to promote positive wellness and mental health for yourself and for your students. You will articulate a developed understanding of the links between risk and protective factors, wellness and learning, and use examples from your environment and community to develop analytical and practical knowledge of the notion of wellbeing and mental, emotional and social health as a community concern. Throughout this unit you will reflect upon the ways in which learning and wellbeing are linked and how a learner’s individual, school and community experiences can impact on wellbeing. You will also consider your own wellbeing and explore enabling strategies that will support the efficacy of your own professional practice.
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 2 - 2018
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 Student evaluation
Moodle site structure and materials could be reviewed.
Further review of the Moodle site and actives will occur.
Feedback from Student evaluation
Scaffolding of assessment tasks
Explicit scaffolding will be provided for each assessment task.
- Identify and critique relevant policies, relationships, organisations and networks that support the wellbeing of individuals and communities.
- Examine the range of risk and protective factors that impact on the wellbeing of pre-adolescent and adolescent individuals from diverse social and cultural backgrounds.
- Evaluate strategies and processes that can support and maximise individual and community wellbeing, belonging and safety in physical, social and cyber environments.
- Identify strategies that contribute to the maintenance of personal and professional wellbeing of educators.
- Discuss the role of educators in the promotion of social, emotional and mental wellbeing to enhance student learning in rapidly changing 21st century contexts.
- Communicate an explicit commitment to the wellbeing of learners through defence of socially just classroom practice and strategies for building productive partnerships with students, parents and carers and communities.
Successful completion of the unit Learning and Wellbeing in Middle School provides opportunities for students to demonstrate the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers focus areas of 1.1, 1.3, 3.7, 4.1, 4.4, 6.2, 6.4, 7.1, 7.3 and 7.4. Assessment tasks for this unit may be included in a portfolio and used as evidence of progress towards meeting the standards at Graduate career stage and as the focus for identifying professional learning needs.
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| 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 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 6th Edition (APA 6th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.richardson@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Your students and well-being
Chapter
Gen Z - characteristics of middle school students (physical, emotional, intellectual) and their world
Concepts of well-being and resilience
Neuroscience and resilience
Australian schooling contexts: Gen Z
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Resiliency builders: risk mitigating and protective factors
Chapter
Resiliency builders: risk mitigating and protective factors
Contemporary issues - sources of risk
Protective factors in the school and community
Resilience framework: The Resiliency Wheel - identifying risk mitigating and protective factors
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
"At risk" students
Chapter
"At risk" students
Contemporary influencers on sources of potential risk: developmental, physical, emotional, intellectual, cultural, economic, linguistic, religious
GRIP process: identifying and responding to those at risk
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Role of Schools and Community: Education Queensland Learning and Well-being Framework
Contemporary issues that present as potential sources of risk for our young people
Chapter
Education Queensland's Learning and Well-being Framework
Role of schools and community/community organisations
Bullying
Family dysfunction
Depression and anxiety
Diversity and difference
Substance abuse
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Contemporary issues that present as potential sources of risk for our young people
Chapter
Bullying
Family dysfunction
Depression and anxiety
Diversity and difference
Substance abuse
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Resilience/Wellbeing frameworks
Chapter
Circle of Courage
PERMA model
SEL framework
Resilience Doughnut
Resilience framework: CHILD framework
Learning and Wellbeing Framework, Education Queensland
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Teacher resilience: personal and professional
The role teachers and schools play
Chapter
Events that shaped your personal capacities for resilience
Teacher resilience - personal and professional
Model for teacher resilience
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment Task 1 is due this week. It is due on MONDAY, 27 AUGUST. Your task must be submitted through Moodle by 11pm.
Well-being Context: literature, policy and community resource scan Due: Week 7 Monday (27 Aug 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Pre-service teacher resilience, teacher resilience, teacher work
Chapter
Pre-service teacher program: BRITE
Education Queensland's Learning and Well-being Framework
Teacher resilience
Whole school approaches to well-being promotion
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Whole-school approaches to staff and student well-being
Chapter
Whole-school approaches
Positive education
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Teacher work that is informed by Australian Professional Standards for Teachers
Chapter
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (focus on Standard 4)
Australian Curriculum and Assessment Reporting Authority (informing teacher work)
Academic resilience
Positive thinking dispositions
Engaging teacher pedagogy
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Academic resilience: thinking dispositions and teacher pedagogy
Your own well-being classroom frame
Chapter
Academic resilience
Positive thinking dispositions
Strategies to include in your classroom frame
Reviewing key elements underpinning your frame
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Review
Chapter
Review
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Assessment Task 2 is due this week. It is due on MONDAY, 8 OCTOBER. Your task must be submitted through Moodle by 11pm.
Educator Context: strategies for personal/professional well-being and student well-being Due: Review/Exam Week Monday (8 Oct 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers identified for Assessment Task 1 include:
- Standard 1.1 (Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students);
- Standard 1.3 (Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds);
- Standard 4.4 (Maintain student safety); and
- Standard 7.4 (Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities).
ASSESSMENT TASK 1: This is an individual written task. There are two parts to this task.
Part 1: Present your understandings about student well-being and resilience as they relate to the middle years students with whom you may work.
Focus particularly on:
- defining and describing well-being and resilience for young people;
- the types of risk mitigating and protective factors that support middle years' student well-being and safety; and
- the diverse developmental, social, cultural and economic background characteristics of young people that make them vulnerable to resilience and well-being impacts.
Part 1 should be approximately 1500 words.
Part 2: Then, consider the broad range of contemporary issues that are potential sources of risk for middle school students. Scan research literature, policy, community networks, physical and online services, organisations and available resources to identify areas of advocacy and support for the well-being and safety of young people with respect to these sources of potential risk. The aim is to get you thinking about the issues and the range of supporting resources that are available. Identify and list the contemporary sources of risk along with relevant and appropriate support mechanisms, programs, organisations and resources that could be accessed by students at risk or by those wanting to support them through the risk.
Then choose one particular source of risk (eg: domestic violence, cyber bullying, drug use) that students in the middle years of schooling might encounter. Examine that one source of risk in more detail, noting the impacts of that risk source on young people. Review the support programs, mechanisms, organisations, resources that are specifically available at both school and community level to mitigate that risk source. Choose one well-being framework and use it to identify the ways in which those programs, resources, organisations draw on enabling protective factors and risk mitigating factors to support young people.
Your response to Part 2 might draw on tables, diagrams and/or concept maps to show the critical connections, and should be supported by a written explanation of no more than 1500 words.
Week 7 Monday (27 Aug 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
The assignments will be marked, moderated and returned to students in timely ways that provide sufficient feedback for the completion of Assessment Task 2.
1.Synthesis of research that demonstrates understandings about students' well-being and safety within school and community systems
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 4.4)
2.Examination and discussion about the ways in which physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of middle school students impact on students' well-being and safety
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 1.1)
3. Examination and discussion about the ways in which diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds of middle school students impact on students' well-being and safety
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 1.3)
4 Demonstration of understandings about the role of external professionals and community representatives through the identification of strategies (resources, supports, personnel, programs) that support students' well-being and safety
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 7.4, 4.4)
5. Identification of strategies (resources, supports, personnel, programs) that support students' well-being and safety working within schools, curriculum and legislative requirements
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 4.4)
6. Use of a 'well-being' framework to identify the ways in which protective and risk mitigating factors are foregrounded within the strategies used to support students' well-being and safety
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 4.4)
7.Demonstration of personal written competencies that communicate the 'student well-being' context, using knowledge of academic practices and conventions
- Identify and critique relevant policies, relationships, organisations and networks that support the wellbeing of individuals and communities.
- Examine the range of risk and protective factors that impact on the wellbeing of pre-adolescent and adolescent individuals from diverse social and cultural backgrounds.
- Evaluate strategies and processes that can support and maximise individual and community wellbeing, belonging and safety in physical, social and cyber environments.
- Identify strategies that contribute to the maintenance of personal and professional wellbeing of educators.
- Communication
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
2 Written Assessment
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers identified for Assessment Task 2 include:
- Standard 3.7 (Engage parents/carers in the educative process)
- Standard 4.4 (Maintain student safety); and
- Standard 6.1 (Identify and plan professional learning needs)
- Standard 6.2 Engage in professional practice and improve learning
- Standard 7.1 (Meet professional ethics and responsibilities)
- Standard 7.3 (Engage with the parents/carers)
ASSESSMENT TASK 2: This is an individual written task. There are two parts to this task.
Part 1: The first part asks you to critically reflect on your own well-being and resilience, making links to your future work as a teacher.
Through a series of four to five journal entries (each approximately 200 - 250 words long), written ideally over time as you engage with the unit content, critically reflect on your personal preparedness for your future as a classroom teacher. Present a self-study of your own well-being and resilience. This self reflection should take the form of a personal biography and be written in the first person. Academic referencing is not necessarily required in Part 1.
Think about the following to guide your reflections:
- How resilient are you?
- What are the significant events and/or people in your life who have shaped your capacity for resilience and your views about resilience?
- How have these events and/or people shaped your resiliency?
- What are the significant resiliency builders that have impacted on the risk mitigating and/or protective factors that you have experienced in your life so far?
- What is teacher resilience and why is it important?
- What is it about your own resilience that you will draw on as a teacher in the 21st century classroom?
- What are the challenges presented through your own capacities for resilience?
- What are the key wellness and self-care strategies that you might draw on to improve your professional practice in the rapidly changing 21st century educational context?
- How will your understandings about your own resilience help and/or hinder your work as a teacher?
It is important to make the links between your personal resilience and your potential teacher resilience. It is important to make the links between your past, your present and your future work. Part 1 should be approximately 1000 words.
Part 2: A commitment to students' well-being and safety through socially just classroom practices and strategies
Document a 'Classroom learning and well-being frame' through which you articulate specific strategies/activities that can be used at your classroom and school level to support students' well-being and safety working within school, curriculum and legislative requirements (including the relevant Code of Ethics for Teachers). The strategies and the use of the frame in the classroom context should:
- guide your professional practice, engagement and relationship-building with students and other stakeholders in educational and community environments;
- inform your decision-making about learning environments, curriculum and pedagogy to respond to, and to support the diversity and needs of middle years learners;
- facilitate relationship building in educational and community environments;
- promote the personal and social capabilities of your students;
- promote student well-being; and
- develop safe, supportive learning environments.
You might use a well-being framework (eg: Circle of Courage, Resiliency Wheel, PERMA) that we have already considered in this unit so far, or you might develop a frame of your own based on your own understandings of positive well-being promotion.
As well, you must include a written justification for the frame you have chosen (or developed yourself) and articulate the ways in which the frame can be used to support your work of the teacher. In particular, you should consider teacher work as described in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST, Standard 4) and make links to contemporary research/literature about student well-being. Discuss the ways in which you might communicate your professional view about well-being promotion to parents and caregivers. You must also provide a justification for the specific strategies that promote students' well-being and safety that you have identified within your frame. You should specifically consider APST 4.4.
Your justification should be approximately 1500 words.
Review/Exam Week Monday (8 Oct 2018) 11:45 pm AEST
Assessment Task 2 will be returned to students within appropriate time-frames that accommodate marking, moderation and the finalisation of grades.
1. Identification of professional learning needs through critical reflection and self-study on well-being and resilience with respect to the future professional educator’s role
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 6.1)
2. Identification of strategies that support students' well-being and safety within school, curriculum and legislative requirements.
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 4.4)
3. Justification of the use of the well-being frame with reference to the research/literature on students' well-being and safety and to the work of educators as described in Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Standard 4.
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Standard 4)
4. Justification of the specific strategies identified within the frame with respect to students' well-being and safety and to the role of educators as described in Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Standard 4.4.
(Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, Standard 4.4)
5.Use of personal written competencies that demonstrate knowledge of academic practices and conventions
- Identify strategies that contribute to the maintenance of personal and professional wellbeing of educators.
- Discuss the role of educators in the promotion of social, emotional and mental wellbeing to enhance student learning in rapidly changing 21st century contexts.
- Communicate an explicit commitment to the wellbeing of learners through defence of socially just classroom practice and strategies for building productive partnerships with students, parents and carers and communities.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- 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?
