This assessment task includes a written assessment AND a mandatory pre-placement component.  The mandatory component is designed to ensure you are registered for a placement and that you are familiar with all requirements for participation in this unit. You will complete an electronic form in Sonia for this part of the task. Please read the details and instructions provided below carefully and complete this mandatory component prior to Census date. The task description for the written assessment for Assessment Task 1 follows directly below these instructions.

Mandatory pre-placement component

The university’s Work Integrated Learning Policy and Procedure requires all students to complete a Student Placement and Confidentiality Agreement on an annual basis. The Agreement outlines expectations for the appropriate conduct of students when representing the university in professional workplaces and requires your acknowledgement of these expectations.

You are required to complete the 2024 Agreement prior to Census Date for this unit. You will access the electronic agreement called “Student Placement and Confidentiality Agreement 2024” under the Forms tab in Sonia. You will need to locate the form in the dropdown menu at the top of the Forms page and click the Add button to be able to edit the form. 

You should respond to all statements and submit the form by the due date (Friday, 26th July, 2024).  Failure to submit the form by this date may result in cancellation of your enrolment in this unit.

You will be able to save a copy of the completed form to your desktop by clicking on the printer icon at the top of the form and selecting “Save as pdf”. A copy of the completed form should be added as an appendix to Assessment Task 1 and uploaded to the Moodle site for EDFE20035 Professional Praxis 2 through the link for submission of Assessment Task 1.

Response to Scenario Written Assessment - Assessment Task 1

The written assessment task builds your knowledge of practical strategies for creating and maintaining a safe, orderly learning environment. There are three parts to the task (Parts A, B and C) as outlined below. You must complete all parts of the task.

Part A

Access the Classroom Management Scenario and accompanying Responsible Behaviour Plan/Centre Policy relevant to your professional learning context (School or Kindergarten setting) on the Moodle site for this unit.

Prepare a written response that addresses steps 1 – 3 outlined below. The response for Part A should be no more than 1000 words.

1. What challenges to creating and maintaining safe and supportive learning environments are evident in the teaching and management practices illustrated in the scenario?
2. Propose two or more hypotheses to explain the causes or antecedents to the behaviours of learners described in the scenario and identify strategies that could be used to guide appropriate learning behaviour and support student engagement and motivation in the setting. Support your hypotheses and proposed solutions through reference to evidence-based practices for effective classroom management and theories of motivation and engagement for learning.
3. Discuss the impact of teacher expectations on student behaviour in the scenario and explain your understanding of ways in which whole school/centre policies and relationship-building contribute to positive behaviours for learning and safe supportive classroom environments.

Part B

Using the template provided, construct a classroom/environmental management plan that could be used to support the creation and maintenance of a safe and supportive learning environment for all learners in the classroom described in the scenario. Your plan should record the following:

• a brief statement of your personal philosophy of behaviour and learning referenced to relevant theory
• proposed classroom rules consistent with the principles and practices detailed in the sample school or centre policy that accompanies your selected scenario for Part A above
• Specific strategies for preventative, supportive and corrective behaviour management and identification of classroom routines to support student safety, wellbeing and safe and responsible use of ICTs. This section of the classroom/environmental management plan should include strategies you would embed within lessons and learning experiences to promote on-task learning behaviour, strategies for managing movement, transitions and the distribution and use of resources, and ICTs and learning materials to create an orderly well-organised learning environment. Your plan should clearly indicate when and how you will respond to off-task or challenging behaviour with strategies that reduce escalation and disruption to the learning.

Part C

In no more than 1000 words (maximum), write a justification of your classroom/environmental management plan that includes:

1. Evidence of alignment with the sample school/centre policy provided
2. Explanation of the influence of the selected strategies on student behaviour and the creation of a positive and supportive learning environment that encourages the participation and learning of all students
3. Justification of your approach to identifying and responding to challenging behaviours

The written statement for Part C must refer to discipline, behaviour/classroom management and engagement theories and other relevant research on strategies for creating a safe, supportive and inclusive classroom environment for learners at the focus stage of development (early childhood, primary school-aged, adolescent or junior secondary school-aged) in order to justify your point of view.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows: 
•  No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.

Analysis of behaviour antecedents and strategies for creating and maintaining safe, supportive learning environments

Knowledge and understanding of practical strategies for classroom organisation and management and the safe and responsible use of ICTs

Application of whole school approaches to behaviour and classroom management

Understanding of the teacher’s role in creating a safe, supportive and inclusive learning environment

Knowledge and understanding of essential skills for classroom management and their impact on student learning

Professional levels of personal literacy and referencing

You will complete a 20 day placement structured as a 4 week continuous block in a school (Primary & Secondary) or kindergarten (Early Childhood) under the mentorship of a supervising teacher and complete set tasks for this placement as outlined in the relevant Information and Guidelines for the Supervision and Assessment of Pre-Service Teachers booklet.

The placement will be organised by the relevant WIL Placement Officer within the Professional Experience Office.

Throughout the placement, you will build your level of engagement in the day-to-day organisation and management of teaching and learning to include planning and delivery of at least one learning sequence leading to assessment of student learning in a culminating task.

An up-to-date working portfolio must be maintained throughout the placement to record all planning, teaching, assessment, evaluation and reflection tasks undertaken.

Your daily critical reflection will be framed by a series of self-devised questions that examine the nature of ethical practice in diverse educational settings and that evaluate your teaching practice, feedback and professional learning by making explicit links to the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Career Stage).

Assessment for this task will be completed by supervising teachers using an electronic report with the same standards and criteria as the sample report shown in the Information and Guidelines for the Supervision and Assessment of Pre-Service Teachers booklet.

Full details of specific tasks for this placement are outlined in the Information and Guidelines for the Supervision and Assessment of Pre-Service Teachers booklet.

Assessment criteria are outlined in detail in the Professional Praxis 2 Information and Guidelines for the Supervision and Assessment of Pre-Service Teachers booklet.

This task contains two parts (Part A and Part B) as outlined below. You must complete both parts of the task.

Part A: Evidence and commentary

In this section of the task, you will select artefacts (samples of evidence) from the working portfolio that you maintained throughout your professional experience placement to describe and explain your teaching practice and analyse the impact of this practice on student learning.

The artefacts that you select should be annotated to identify the ways in which they exemplify each of the four practices outlined below. The selected examples should be embedded within a commentary of no more than 250 words for each practice that responds to the guiding self-reflection statements provided.

Practice 1: Planning

Using excerpts of your planning and teaching from a learning sequence implemented during your placement (and other artefacts where relevant), explain how you:

• planned for alignment between curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment in the sequence of lessons or learning experiences
• collected assessment and/or profiling information on students’ learning needs and prior knowledge of the content of the learning sequence to inform your planning
• set learning goals and planned instructional steps throughout the lessons to cater for learners with different abilities and characteristics
  
  

Practice 2: Teaching

Using selected artefacts (e.g. excerpts or examples from lessons you planned and taught during the placement), describe and explain how you:

• used a range of teaching strategies to scaffold learning and support student engagement
• selected and used resources, including ICTs, to support engagement and learning
• reflected on the impact of your planning decisions on student learning to make ‘in the moment’ adjustments to lessons or learning experiences and plan for ‘next steps’ teaching throughout the learning sequence (i.e. What changes did you make to your planned lessons during teaching and why did you make these changes? How did you use information from one or more lessons in the sequence to adapt or modify follow-up lessons?)
  
  

Practice 3: Assessing and recording learning

Using selected artefacts (e.g. samples of student work, examples of formative assessment or checks for learning in lessons, lesson reflections, records of student responses to questioning, etc), explain how you:

• embedded checks for learning or formative assessment strategies into your planning and teaching to monitor student learning
• interpreted data and assessment information to adjust or modify lessons to improve learning outcomes for students of different abilities and characteristics
• provided feedback to students on their progress and achievement of learning goals
  
  

Practice 4: Managing the learning environment

Using artefacts from your placement (e.g. classroom management plan, excerpts from lesson plans or reflections, supervising teacher feedback, etc), explain how you:

• used classroom rules, routines and strategies that supported the inclusive participation and engagement of all students to create a safe, supportive and organised classroom environment
• established expectations and provided clear direction to students about their learning and participation in classroom activities
• used strategies to support student safety and well-being and respond to off-task or challenging behaviours
  
  

Part B: Reflection on teaching practice and its impact on student learning

In this part of the task, you will write a reflective statement that evaluates your current progress towards demonstrating the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate career stage) and identifies professional learning needs and sources of professional learning that you will use to improve your practice and have a positive impact on student learning.

The statement should be no more than 750 words in length and must make specific reference to focus areas of the Standards, your own self-evaluation and feedback received throughout your placement. Structure your reflection to evaluate the following areas:

• Your current strengths. (Discussion of your strengths could include strategies that worked well during your placement and confirm why these strategies were effective in promoting student learning and engagement)
• Aspects of your practice that are in need of improvement. (This aspect could outline changes you would make to classroom management and/or the planning, teaching and assessment processes described in Part A to improve student learning.)
• Strategies and sources of professional learning that will help you to enhance your current strengths and address the professional learning needs you have identified throughout your reflective statement.

Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows: 
•  No Gen AI use at any point during this assessment.

Use of teaching strategies and resources that engage students and support learning

Knowledge of assessment strategies for giving feedback, monitoring student learning and modifying teaching practice

Knowledge and understanding of classroom management strategies that create and maintain safe, supportive learning environments

Critical reflection on teaching practice and the implications for student learning

Use of standards, self-evaluation and feedback to identify professional learning strengths and needs and sources of professional learning to improve practice

Personal and academic literacy