EDEC29003 - Leadership in the Contemporary Early Childhood Policy Landscape

General Information

Unit Synopsis

In this unit, you will develop knowledge and practices that underpin effective leadership in early childhood settings. You will reflect on the qualities of contemporary leadership that are responsive to implementing new and emerging policy for early childhood education and care and that foster the development of professional learning communities committed to the equitable and socially-just practice and the creation of safe and supportive learning environments for children from diverse cultural and social backgrounds. Through analysis of policy documents including the National Quality Framework and Early Years Learning Framework, codes of conduct and codes of ethics for the profession and independent research, you will lead professional learning for early childhood educators that respond to contemporary challenges and dilemmas and models practices for implementing policy that recognises the importance of working in partnership with families to support children’s wellbeing, safety and learning. Throughout the unit, your skills for engaging in leadership activities will be enhanced as you synthesise understandings of the impact of culture, cultural identity and linguistic background on the engagement and learning trajectories of children from culturally diverse backgrounds, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander learners and lead professional learning that enhances the cultural responsiveness of early childhood educators.

Details

Level Postgraduate
Unit Level 9
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 1
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-requisite EDEC28001 Responding to Difference: Children, Families and Communities

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 3 - 2024

Term 3 - 2024 Profile
Online
Term 2 - 2025 Profile
Online
Term 3 - 2025 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. Reflective Practice Assignment 50%
2. Presentation 50%

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

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Previous Feedback

Term 3 - 2023 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 50.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 28.57% 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 discussions
Feedback
Moodle Materials
Recommendation
Continue to refine the Moodle materials
Action Taken
We continued to refine materials for the students.
Source: Student communication
Feedback
Clarity of unit requirements
Recommendation
Ensure greater clarity of unit requirements
Action Taken
In Progress
Unit learning Outcomes

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

  1. Reflect critically on the importance of leadership in responding to new and emerging policy expectations for quality early childhood education and care
  2. Construct responses to the challenges and dilemmas of early childhood practice to lead professional learning for colleagues
  3. Explicate and justify approaches to leadership that create shared understandings of practices that support the wellbeing, safety and learning of children from diverse backgrounds
  4. Interpret policy and research to explain the impact of culture, cultural identity and linguistic background on the participation and learning trajectories of children from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and culturally diverse backgrounds
  5. Design professional learning that fosters inquiry and reflection on practice and models approaches to demonstrating cultural responsiveness in early childhood contexts
  6. Identify sources of learning and engagement with families, external professionals and community representatives that expand teachers’ professional knowledge and advocacy for young children and their families.

Learning outcomes and assessment in this unit provide opportunities for students to engage with content and practices in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Stage) focus areas of:

1.3 Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds

1.4 Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disabilities

2.4 Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians

3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process

4.1 Support student participation

4.4 Maintain student safety

6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice

6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning

7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities

7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements

7.3 Engage with the parents/carers

7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities.

Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Reflective Practice Assignment • • •
2 - Presentation • • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 - Knowledge • •
2 - Communication • •
3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills • •
4 - Research •
5 - Self-management • • •
6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility • • • •
7 - Leadership • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Professional Level
• Advanced Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8