CQUniversity Unit Profile
EDED13434 Learning and Wellbeing in Middle School
Learning and Wellbeing in Middle School
All details in this unit profile for EDED13434 have been officially approved by CQUniversity and represent a learning partnership between the University and you (our student).
The information will not be changed unless absolutely necessary and any change will be clearly indicated by an approved correction included in the profile.
General Information

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

Career Level: Undergraduate
Unit Level: Level 3
Credit Points: 6
Student Contribution Band: 7
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load: 0.125

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 - 2020

Bundaberg
Cairns
Mackay
Noosa
Online
Rockhampton

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).

Class and Assessment Overview

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

Bundaberg, Cairns, Emerald, Gladstone, Mackay, Rockhampton, Townsville
Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney

Assessment Overview

1. Written Assessment
Weighting: 50%
2. Written Assessment
Weighting: 50%

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.

Previous Student Feedback

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

Feedback

Moodle navigation

Recommendation

Review the structure of the Moodle site and implement changes that facilitate 'user-friendly' access to key materials.

Unit Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
  1. Identify and critique relevant policies, relationships, organisations and networks that support the wellbeing of individuals and communities
  2. 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
  3. Evaluate strategies and processes that can support and maximise individual and community wellbeing, belonging and safety in physical, social and cyber environments
  4. Identify strategies that contribute to the maintenance of personal and professional wellbeing of educators
  5. Discuss the role of educators in the promotion of social, emotional and mental wellbeing to enhance student learning in rapidly changing 21st century contexts
  6. 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 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

3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process

4.4 Maintain student safety

6.1 Identify and plan professional learning needs

6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice

7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities

7.3 Engage with the parents/carers

7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities

Alignment of Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Graduate Attributes
N/A Level
Introductory Level
Intermediate Level
Graduate Level
Professional Level
Advanced Level

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 and Resources

Textbooks

There are no required textbooks.

IT Resources

You will need access to the following IT resources:
  • CQUniversity Student Email
  • Internet
  • Unit Website (Moodle)
Referencing Style

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.

Teaching Contacts
Madonna Elsmore Unit Coordinator
m.elsmore@cqu.edu.au
Schedule
Week 1 - Middle School Students: Wellbeing, Safety & Resilience Begin Date: 13 Jul 2020

Module/Topic

  • Who are the Middle Years Students? 
  • What is wellbeing, safety and resilience?
  • What is the link between wellbeing & learning for students?

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 2 - Vulnerability of Middle Years Students and why is this such a concern? Begin Date: 20 Jul 2020

Module/Topic

  • What is happening for Middle Years Students? 
  • What makes Middle School Students vulnerable?
  • Potential sources of risks.
  • What does the data say about Middle Years Students wellbeing & learning? 

Chapter

Young Minds Matter: The Mental Health of Australian Children & Adolescents

Student Wellbeing, Engagement & Learning Across the Middle Years 

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 3 - Australian Education Contexts: What is Australia's Response? Begin Date: 27 Jul 2020

Module/Topic

  • What responsibilities do we have as teachers to support, promote and maintain student wellbeing and safety? 
  • Schools response to student wellbeing.


Chapter

Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration

ACARA & QCAA

National & State Wellbeing Frameworks

Education Resources - Trauma, Mental Health and Bullying

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 4 - The Role of External Resources & Organisations - Community Network, Physical & Online Services Begin Date: 03 Aug 2020

Module/Topic

  • What is the role of external resources and how can they assist with Middle Years students wellbeing, resilience and safety? 
  • External Resource Scan

Chapter

Be You

Headspace

E-Safety Commission

Resilience Project

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 5 - Resiliency Builders: Risk Mitigating & Protective Factors and the Role of Teachers Begin Date: 10 Aug 2020

Module/Topic

  • What does mitigate risk and protective factors look like for Middle Years students? 
  • Evaluation of resources using the Resiliency Wheel Framework in different environments

Chapter

Resiliency Wheel Framework

Events and Submissions/Topic

Break Week Begin Date: 17 Aug 2020

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 6 - Personal & Professional Resiliency Begin Date: 24 Aug 2020

Module/Topic

  • What is the importance of personal and professional resiliency? 
  • Being self aware

Chapter

Teacher Resilience Model

Events and Submissions/Topic

Assessment Task 1 - Wellbeing Context: literature, policy and community resource scan Due: Week 6 Monday (24 Aug 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Week 7 - Pre-service Teacher & Graduate Teacher Resiliency Begin Date: 31 Aug 2020

Module/Topic

  • Self-care strategies
  • Support networks for teachers

Chapter

Be You for Pre-service Teachers

BRITE

Teacher Wellbeing Australia

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 8 - Exploring Wellbeing Frameworks Begin Date: 07 Sep 2020

Module/Topic

  • Comparing Wellbeing Frameworks against Resiliency Builders 


Chapter

Circle of Courage

PERMA & PERMA+

Social & Emotional Learning (SEL)

Resilience Doughnut

ARACY Nest

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 9 - Whole School & Classroom Environments Begin Date: 14 Sep 2020

Module/Topic

  • Establishing Learning Environment Culture
  • Curriculum & Pedagogy Strategies
  • Relationships Building/Partnerships
  • Policies & Procedures

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 10 - Whole School Initiatives: Wellbeing & Learning Resources and Strategies Begin Date: 21 Sep 2020

Module/Topic

  • Wellbeing initiatives and the development of strategies for whole school and classroom contexts

Chapter

Growth Mindset

Institute of Positive Education

Be You Schools

Positive Behaviour for Learning (PBL)

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 11 - Communication and Justification of the Wellbeing and Safety of Students Begin Date: 28 Sep 2020

Module/Topic

  • Education Stakeholders
  • Australian Professional Standards
  • Council of Parents & Citizens Association

Chapter

Parents as Partners

Events and Submissions/Topic

Week 12 - Sharing & Review Week Begin Date: 05 Oct 2020

Module/Topic

  • Sharing Frameworks, pedagogical strategies and self-care strategies

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic

Review/Exam Week Begin Date: 12 Oct 2020

Module/Topic

Chapter

Events and Submissions/Topic



Assessment Task 2 - Educator Context: Personal meets Professional Reflection & Creation of School Wellbeing Framework Due: Review/Exam Week Monday (12 Oct 2020) 11:45 pm AEST
Assessment Tasks

1 Written Assessment

Assessment Title
Assessment Task 1 - Wellbeing Context: literature, policy and community resource scan

Task Description

This is an individual written task with three parts. (word count included in each section – note that word count does not pertain to Part B).

Part A: Written Report/Essay (1500 words)

Present your understandings, using relevant research, about student wellbeing, resilience and safety as they relate to middle years students and to the educational context in which you learn and teach.

Focus particularly on:

  • defining and describing the importance of wellbeing, resilience and safety for young people
  • describing the current Australian Educational Context in which wellbeing promotion is positioned
  • identifying and discussing characteristics, environments and backgrounds of young people that make them vulnerable to wellbeing impacts and potentially being students ‘At Risk’.

Part B: Resource Package

Construct a resource package that shows your understanding of the range of contemporary issues that are potential sources of risk for middle school students. This will be a valuable resource for yourself and people supporting students in the Middle School Years. Your package must include:

  • One page “At A Glance” representation of the broad range of potential sources of risk for middle school students (you may like to use a concept map to present your understanding)
  • Resource Bank of external community resources, that would be suitable for supporting middle school students wellbeing and safety, for 4 of the potential sources of risk (e.g. domestic violence, cyber bullying, drug use etc) that you have identified. Including active hyperlinks to exact pages that relate to the source of risk, where possible, is necessary as well as a brief annotation describing how this may be used to support, promote or maintain middle years students wellbeing and safety.
  • Education curriculum, policies and relevant legislation links (e.g. ACARA, QCAA, Education Department Frameworks, Codes of Conduct & Ethics, Child Protection etc) that demonstrate how schools support and maintain students wellbeing and safety within curriculum and legislative requirements that are relevant to your chosen sources of risk.

Part C: Alignment of External Resource to Resiliency Wheel & Written Evaluation (800 words)

  • Choose one of particular key resource/support material from the Resource Scan (Part B) and align this to the six resiliency builders presented in the Resiliency Wheel (Henderson, 2007), identifying how the resource provides both opportunities to mitigate risk factors and build resilience for the aligned risk. You can present this through a visual representation or table format.
  • Include an 800 word evaluation of the effectiveness of this resource in relation to the Resiliency Builders and how this resource could be used to mitigate the identified risk factor and promote resilience for Middle School students by teachers.

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.


Assessment Due Date

Week 6 Monday (24 Aug 2020) 11:45 pm AEST


Return Date to Students

Assessments will be marked, moderated and returned to students in a timely manner that provides sufficient feedback for the completion of Assessment Task 2.


Weighting
50%

Assessment Criteria

  1. Research informed examination that demonstrates understandings about the vulnerability of middle years students and the factors (characteristics and diverse backgrounds) that could impact their well-being, resilience and safety within school and community systems. (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 1.1, 1.3 & 4.4)
  2. Demonstration of a broad range of potential sources of risk for middle years students and explicit identification and description of both external resources (professionals, community representatives and organisations) and school based resources (curriculum, legislative and personnel) that could be used to maintain and support students wellbeing and safety. (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 4.4 & 7.4)
  3. Evaluation of a key resource for one source of contemporary risk (identified in Part B) using the Resiliency Wheel to identify how the resource provides both opportunities to mitigate risk factors and build resilience for middle years students. (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 4.4)
  4. Personal written competencies that communicate the ‘student well-being’ context, using knowledge of academic practices and conventions


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • 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


Graduate Attributes
  • Communication
  • Critical Thinking
  • Information Literacy
  • Team Work
  • Information Technology Competence
  • Cross Cultural Competence
  • Ethical practice

2 Written Assessment

Assessment Title
Assessment Task 2 - Educator Context: Personal meets Professional Reflection & Creation of School Wellbeing Framework

Task Description

This is an individual written task & there are two parts (word count included in each section – note that word count does not pertain to the Wellbeing Framework).

Part A: Journal Entries – Personal meets Professional: Wellbeing & Resilience Reflection (1000 words)

Being a Teacher in the 21st Century brings many challenges both personally and professionally. Critically reflecting on your own wellbeing, resilience, support networks and self-care strategies that you use personally, will help you to identify how these link to your future work as a teacher and developing teacher resilience.

  • You will write four to five journal entries (approximately 200-250 words each), critically reflecting on your personal wellbeing, resilience and self-care strategies and consider how these contribute to your preparedness as a future classroom teacher. 
  • You may draw upon the use of the Resilient Teacher Model to identify dimensions that your personal strategies are aligned with, to identify the types of strategies you may find helpful as a future teacher. 
  • Journal entries are to be written in first person and does not require academic referencing. 

Part B: Wellbeing Framework and Justification - (1000 Word Justification – no word count for Wellbeing Framework)

You are a senior teacher on the Student Wellbeing committee at your school and are wanting to establish a School-Wide Wellbeing initiative that includes the development of a Wellbeing Framework for your school. To do this you will need to create a whole school model and write a justification to share with your Parents and Community Members Association before implementation. You are wanting to articulate specific strategies/activities for both whole school and classroom initiatives and engaging all stakeholders. To do this you may need to consider Wellbeing Frameworks (e.g. Circle of Courage, Resiliency Wheel, PERMA etc) shared within this Unit and use these as your base OR you may wish to create your own Wellbeing Framework.

You must include:

  • One-page Wellbeing Model that could be displayed throughout the school to communicate this effectively to all stakeholders
  • Specific strategies for both whole school and classroom environments
  • Strategies need to consider a) learning environments; b) curriculum and pedagogy; c) relationship building; and d) policies and procedures for each environment.


The written justification for your Wellbeing Framework should make links to contemporary research/literature and include:

  • justification of the need for the framework, including how and why you have chosen/created this framework;
  • articulation of the ways in which the frame can be used to support the work of teachers by discussing Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (especially Standard 4);
  • justification of how the model promotes student wellbeing and safe, supportive learning environments;
  • consideration of how this framework could be communicated and shared with parents and caregivers, building productive partnerships.

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.


Assessment Due Date

Review/Exam Week Monday (12 Oct 2020) 11:45 pm AEST


Return Date to Students

Assessment Task 2 will be returned to students within appropriate time-frames that accommodate marking, moderation and the finalisation of grades.


Weighting
50%

Assessment Criteria

  1. Critical reflection and self-study about the shaping of personal resilience to identify and discuss potential professional resilience, self-care strategies and professional learning needs as a future teacher. (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 6.1)
  2. Presentation of a whole school wellbeing framework that identifies strategies that support students wellbeing and safety within both the whole school and classroom environments and considers the learning environment, curriculum and pedagogy, relationship building and relative policies and procedures (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 4.4)
  3. Justification of the created whole school framework, using contemporary research and the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, to communicate the choice of framework, embedded whole school and classroom strategies and the commitment to the promotion of student wellbeing and safety through productive partnerships with students, parents/carers and community. (Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Standard 4)
  4. Personal written competencies that demonstrate knowledge of academic practices and conventions


Referencing Style

Submission
Online

Learning Outcomes Assessed
  • 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.


Graduate Attributes
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Critical Thinking
  • Ethical practice

Academic Integrity Statement

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?