This task contains two parts: Part A and Part B as described below. You must complete both parts of the task.

Part A: Throughout the period of your final professional experience placement and Internship, collect evidence that illustrates your understanding of the nature of Catholic schools as particular places of learning. The evidence should identify the roles and responsibilities of the people involved in effective religious education in Catholic schools and include artefacts that illustrate the defining features of Catholic schools.

The evidence you include should demonstrate your knowledge of Church and local documents related to teaching religion and highlight the ways in which the nature and purpose of religious education as outlined in the Teaching and Learning Framework (Rockhampton Diocese) are enacted and made visible at your placement school.

Suitable evidence could include images, photographs of icons, extracts from the school mission statement as well as records of staff meetings, professional development sessions, observation notes from school liturgies and other school / community practices and experiences, or interviews and discussions with key staff involved in the design and delivery of religious education (e.g. the APRE). Your selected artefacts should be organised and presented as a single file (e.g. document in word or pdf format, PowerPoint, or any other suitable electronic format)

Part B
Maurice Ryan (1997, p. 2) in “Foundations of Religious Education in Catholic Schools” poses the question: “Is the (Catholic) school meant to be a place of nurture for people in the Christian faith, or is it meant to teach an understanding of Christianity in particular and religion in general?”

Write a critical reflection that explains and evaluates your understanding of the role and responsibilities of teachers in the Catholic Education system. Your reflection should be written to include your emerging personal professional philosophy as a future teacher within this system.

The reflection should answer / respond to the question framed by Ryan and make specific reference to the evidence you have included in Part A and the guidance provided for teachers in the Teaching and Learning Framework and Church documents that shape the identity and purpose of contemporary Catholic schools.

Length: Word limits do not apply to the collection of evidence given the multimodal format. The reflection should be 750 – 800 words in length.

This task provides opportunities for you to demonstrate the following Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at Graduate Level: 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3 and 7.4

Understanding of teachers’ professional roles in achieving the purposes of Catholic education (APST 6.4, 7.1)

Knowledge of human, physical and information resources and networks that support teachers’ professional learning and contribute to improved teaching practice and engagement with Catholic school communities (APST 6.2, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4)

Critical reflection on the ethical, institutional, collegial and community responsibilities of teachers in the Catholic schooling system (APST 6.3, 7.1, 7.2, 7.4)

Task Description

Professional Practice 5 comprises a 5 week (25 day) continuous internship completed under an “Internship Authorisation” issued by the Queensland College of Teachers. Throughout the placement, negotiate with the Supervising Teacher to adopt up to but not exceeding 50% of the teaching load for his/her allocated class and engage in co-planning, team teaching, assisting, observing and other professional experiences for the remaining 50% of the placement.

Self-Reflective Statement

Using the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Career Stage) as a guide for meeting the professional responsibilities of an effective educator, submit evidence of the impact of your practice on student outcomes and the school community in the form of a self reflective statement (maximum 1000 words) to your supervising teacher / mentor in Week 3 of the Internship.

(The statement may integrate self reflection on your role and responsibilities within the Catholic Education system that you are developing for Assessment Task 1 for this unit, but must also include reflection on classroom practice and your professional role by making explicit links to all aspects of Professional Knowledge, Professional practice and Professional Engagement as outlined in the Standards.)

Verification of Practice

The supervising teacher / mentor will verify the self-reflective statement using the verification form in the Internship Guidelines booklet by the end of Week 4. An electronic copy of the Verification form will be provided to the Supervising Teacher.

At the end of the Internship, the Supervising Teacher will complete the Internship Statement. An electronic copy of the Internship Statement of Completion will be provided to the Supervising Teacher. Full details of the placement are outlined in the Information and Guidelines Booklet for Professional Practice 5.

Submission of evidence of Completion

Interns are responsible for ensuring that the reporting forms for the Self-reflective Statement, Mentor Teacher Feedback (verification of the self-reflective statement) and the Statement of Completion are signed by themselves, mentor teachers and site coordinators as required.  Follow the steps below for submission of evidence of completion of the Internship.

1. Obtain a copy of the reporting documents at the conclusion of the placement. (The report should be signed by the mentor teacher, the pre-service teacher and the site coordinator and should be given to you in electronic form, or as a hard copy.)
   
   
2. Upload a copy of all reporting forms including the self-reflective statement to the moodle site using the link for Assessment Task 2.  Ensure that the document contains all signatures as listed in step 1 and is scanned as a pdf file. The pdf file should be named using the following format: SURNAME, First name – Internship Report 2019.  (e.g. SMITH, Tom - Internship Report 2019).
   
   
3. Email the university coordinator who was responsible for supervising the placement at your school site to advise that the report has been uploaded to the Moodle site.  On receipt of the email the university coordinator will sign the report and return the final copy to you as a feedback file for your records and employment applications.

This task provides opportunities for reflection on all focus areas of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Level).

Assessment criteria are outlined in detail in the Professional Practice 5 Internship Information and Guidelines booklet.

Prepare a final ePortfolio that demonstrates evidence against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST) (Graduate Career Stage).

The ePortfolio should address all focus area of the APST and should be a carefully considered selection of key materials and examples directly related to demonstrating the practical application of the Standards and the impact of your practice on student learning and engagement.  Please note that a single piece of evidence may demonstrate more than one focus area of the APST e.g. a single lesson plan may demonstrate 1.5, 2.1, 3.1, 3.4, etc.  Relevant annotations / commentary should clearly show how your chosen examples link to and demonstrate achievement of specific focus area of the APST.

The ePortfolio will be created using iTunesU. You must ensure that the eportfolio is accessible to a marker by checking all boxes required to allow enrolment in your iTunesU course. The access code for your course should be recorded on a word document that includes your name, student number and the unit code and uploaded into the assessment task 3 Moodle link.

This task provides opportunities for consolidating evidence of achievement of all focus areas of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Level).

Knowledge of the purpose of Standards frameworks for critical reflection on practice and improved outcomes for student learning (APST 6.1)

Knowledge and understanding of the professional knowledge, professional practice and professional engagement domains of the APST (All focus areas at Graduate level)

Selection of evidence that demonstrates impact of teaching practice on student learning and engagement  (APST graduate level standards)

PLEASE NOTE:  Submission of evidence for this task is only relevant for students who enrolled in and completed Professional Practice 3 prior to Term 1, 2018.

If you completed PP3 in 2018 or later, you will already have submitted evidence of passing LANTITE and your grade will be automatically recorded as a Pass for this task.

To receive a final grade of Pass for this unit, you must supply evidence of successful completion of the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE).

This task requires you to upload your result file (PDF) into the assessment upload function on Moodle for Assessment Task 4. The results must indicate that you have demonstrated “Standard Achieved” for both Literacy and Numeracy.

Demonstration of personal and professional literacy and numeracy for teaching.