EDEC28006 - Examining the Early Childhood Education and Care Context

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

Early Childhood education and care services have an important role in ensuring that Australia’s vision for all children to thrive in their early years will be accomplished. Enacting curriculum with children to ensure their holistic development requires thoughtful decision making that draws on professional knowledge, knowledge of children and local contexts, and understandings of the relevant learning framework. As you examine approaches to curriculum that are responsive to children, you will consider also how the way we view children impacts our work with them. You will research and apply strategies for gathering data about children’s learning with particular attention given to sharing information with stakeholders. You will analyse the learning of children to document their curiosities, capabilities, discoveries, knowledge skills, theories and involvement in learning. Drawing on your engagement with observing, assessing and documenting learning, you will reflect critically to determine implications for your future learning and practice and your responsibilities in relation to child safety.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 8
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites There are no pre-requisites for the 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).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026

Term 1 - 2026 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Online

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).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Postgraduate 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.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Presentation 40%
2. Written Assessment 60%
3. Online Test 0%

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

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 89.47% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 19% response rate.

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.

Source: Student feedback
Feedback:
 Tutorials

Recommendation:
 Continue to enact tutorials that are interactive and supportive

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Synthesise approaches to curriculum that are responsive to children to create a multimedia presentation
  2. Appraise perspectives of children embedded in the selected policy text/s and explicate how such views impact how teachers work with young children
  3. Research and apply strategies for gathering data about children’s learning with particular attention given to sharing information with important stakeholders (families), including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island families and explain challenges for educators
  4. Analyse the learning behaviour of children to document their curiosities, capabilities, discoveries, knowledge skills, theories and involvement in learning
  5. Generate visual documentation to make visible your analysis of children’s learning
  6. Explicate links to the practices outlined in Belonging, Being and Becoming: Early Years Learning Framework for Australia
  7. Reflect critically on the impact of your observations of children on future learning and practice
  8. Identify and describe the regulatory environment and responsibilities of educators in relation to duty of care and child safety in early childhood education and care settings.

This unit contributes to meeting the curriculum content requirements outlined by the Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority (ACECQA).

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Presentation • •
2 - Written Assessment • • • • •
3 - Online Test •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 - Knowledge • • • • • •
2 - Communication •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • • • • • •
4 - Research • • • • • •
5 - Self-management •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • • • •
8 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 8