Teachers as Professionals (9918.2)

Please note these are the 2019 details for this unit
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Teachers as Professionals
Available teaching periods Delivery mode Location
View teaching periods Flexible
 Bruce, Canberra
EFTSL Credit points Faculty
0.25 6 Faculty Of Education
Discipline Study level HECS Bands
Academic Program Area - Education Level 4 - Undergraduate Advanced Unit Band 1 2021 (Commenced After 1 Jan 2021)
Band 1 2021 (Commenced Before 1 Jan 2021)
This unit builds on prior learning within the degree course. It focuses on what it means to be a professional teacher and how to develop the requisite skills, knowledge and practices. This includes teachers' capacity to:
- identify own learning needs,
- work individually and collegially to meet those needs, and
- demonstrate respect and professionalism in their interactions with the school community.

Equally important is managing one's health and well-being through good life management skills.

Knowledge of the National Graduate Teacher Standards is required in addition to an understanding that this represents a beginning phase in one's professional growth.

The unit is the culmination of this course's Professional Experience and involves a 30 day placement. Upon completion, pre-service teachers need to demonstrate the level of teaching proficiency required of a Graduate teacher.

Evidence of passing both components of LANTITE must be provided before this unit can be passed.

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, students will demonstrate:
1. Skills in identifying their own professional learning needs;
2. Learning about the benefits of professional learning and the identification of sources of development in the wider learning community;
3. Understanding of their legal and ethical responsibilities as a teacher;
4. Strategies for balancing their school/home responsibilities in productive ways; and
5. Understanding of professional engagement with colleagues, students and the wider community.


Graduate attributes

1. UC graduates are professional - employ up-to-date and relevant knowledge and skills
1. UC graduates are professional - communicate effectively
1. UC graduates are professional - use creativity, critical thinking, analysis and research skills to solve theoretical and real-world problems
1. UC graduates are professional - take pride in their professional and personal integrity
2. UC graduates are global citizens - think globally about issues in their profession
2. UC graduates are global citizens - adopt an informed and balanced approach across professional and international boundaries
2. UC graduates are global citizens - behave ethically and sustainably in their professional and personal lives
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - reflect on their own practice, updating and adapting their knowledge and skills for continual professional and academic development
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - be self-aware
3. UC graduates are lifelong learners - adapt to complexity, ambiguity and change by being flexible and keen to engage with new ideas


Prerequisites

Students must have passed 72 credit points AND 10453 Engaging with LANTITE.

Students must also be taking this unit as the FINAL professional experience placement unit in their course of study.

Corequisites

None.

Incompatible units

None.

Equivalent units

None.

Assumed knowledge

None.
Year Location Teaching period Teaching start date Delivery mode Unit convener
2024 Bruce, Canberra Semester 1 05 February 2024 Flexible Miss Emily Hills
Not available

Required texts

All required weekly readings can be accessed via the Reading List on the unit Canvas site. 

Submission of assessment items

Extensions & Late submissions

Approval of extenuating circumstances will be dependent upon the production of supporting documentation and at the discretion of the unit convener.

All assessment items required to be submitted online must be submitted via the appropriate Canvas drop box. It is the student's responsibility to upload the correct and corresponding draft or assessment item to the right submission section. Assignments must be submitted in a format accessible to the assessor(s), as stated on the relevant canvas site. If the unit convener and/or tutor are unable to access a submission, a standard late penalty of 5% of the total marks possible for the task may be applied per day until the assignment is made accessible.

Special assessment requirements

Due to the professional nature of this unit, a pass grade requires an aggregate mark of 50% for the coursework components and passes in both placement and the TPA. 

Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA)

All preservice teachers are required to pass all four elements of the AfGT to demonstrate that the Australian Professional Standards for Graduate Teachers are met. Meeting the Graduate Teacher Standards enables the preservice teacher to graduate from the respective accredited programs of learning. The preservice teacher cannot graduate unless they have satisfactorily completed the AfGT and all other course assessment tasks.

It may be necessary for academics to make ‘on balance' judgements about whether each Element has been passed – that is, judgements about whether the preservice teacher has achieved below, at or above the Standard. To make on-balance judgements, assessors draw on assessment data to make defensible judgements about the preservice teacher's learning (Queensland Curriculum & Assessment Authority, 2019; Australian Curriculum Assessment & Reporting Authority, 2019; AITSL, 2017)

If, on balance, preservice teachers do not meet the Graduate Standard for any or all Elements of the TPA, following moderation, they will be given one chance to resubmit requested elements to demonstrate their achievement of the Standards required. After this, if the Graduate Standards have not been satisfactorily met on balance, preservice teachers will receive a ‘fail' grade for the TPA and be referred to the Program Director and/or the ADE for guidance as to next steps.

Submission of assessment items: All assessment items must be uploaded to Canvas.

Academic integrity

Students have a responsibility to uphold University standards on ethical scholarship. Good scholarship involves building on the work of others and use of others' work must be acknowledged with proper attribution made. Cheating, plagiarism, and falsification of data are dishonest practices that contravene academic values. Refer to the University's Student Charter for more information.

To enhance understanding of academic integrity, all students are expected to complete the Academic Integrity Module (AIM) at least once during their course of study. You can access this module within UCLearn (Canvas) through the 'Academic Integrity and Avoiding Plagiarism' link in the Study Help site.

Use of Text-Matching Software

The University of Canberra uses text-matching software to help students and staff reduce plagiarism and improve understanding of academic integrity. The software matches submitted text in student assignments against material from various sources: the internet, published books and journals, and previously submitted student texts.

Provision of valid documentation

Please note that the University takes student conduct very seriously. All documentation provided to University staff must be valid and the provision of fraudulent documentation carries with it potentially serious consequences, including suspension and/or exclusion from the University. Note that all allegations of student misconduct will be referred to the Associate Dean for Education (ADE) as a prescribed authority for investigation.

Learner engagement

You can expect to be engaged in the following:

Lectures: 10 hours

Tutorials: 20 hours

Personal study, tutorial preparation & assessment : 130 hours

Professional experience placement: 30 Days 

Participation requirements

Successful engagement with all learning activities in this accredited Initial Teacher Education course is necessary to demonstrate that you have met the Graduate career stage of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL, 2011). It is recognised that sometimes absence is unavoidable. If you are absent for more than two sessions, however, your engagement with the unit could be considered unsatisfactory.

Successful completion of the professional experience component is critical to success in the whole unit.  Refer to assessment (5a) on the Canvas site for further details. Students must make themselves familiar with the processes and policies of professional experience.

Required IT skills

This unit involves online lectures and tutorials in real time using the Virtual Room in your UCLearn teaching site. The Virtual Room allows you to communicate in real time with your lecturer and other students. To participate verbally, rather than just typing, you will need a microphone. For best audio quality we recommend a microphone and speaker headset. For more information and to test your computer, go to the Virtual Room in your UCLearn site and 'Join Course Room'. This will trigger a tutorial to help familiarise you with the functionality of the virtual room.

Students will need to be recorded during two teaching episodes whilst on placement and then upload this as part of the TPA assessment task. Therefore, access to a recording device of some description is required.

Artificial intelligence services must not to be used for assessment or assessment preparation by students unless explicitly allowed in the assessment instructions for an assessment task published with the assessment task and/or in the unit outline.
 
That is, an artificial intelligence services may only be used if:
  • its use is authorised by the unit convener as part of a specified assessment task, and
  • it is used in the way allowed in the assessment instructions and/or unit outline, and 
  • its use is appropriately referenced, meaning that students must reference the use of AI in their assessment in the same way as they reference other source material.

In-unit costs

N/A

Work placement, internships or practicums

WWVP: You are required to have a current Working with Vulnerable People card in order to participate in placements in the ACT. You will need to check the requirements of other states and jurisdictions if you wish to complete your final placement outside of the ACT. 

Students must adhere to University policy during WIL activities, including the Student Conduct Rules 2018, the WIL policy and WIL procedure, and the Assessment policy, and Assessment procedure. For teaching degrees, students need to ensure they have their WWVP or for NSW, their Working with Children, COVID vaccination status and evidence of PSTR uploaded to InPlace.

Canvas: Please refer to the Professional Experience section on the Teacher Education Canvas site for full information on the Professional Experience requirements.

Please note: This unit involves professional practicum and therefore additional student responsibilities are required in addition to those described in section 6. Work-place learning requires strict adherence to professional practice principles and ethics. Students and staff confidentiality must always be maintained, including for assessment items such as e-portfolios, reports or essays. The professional nature of this unit also requires 100% participation at all learning activities (lectures, tutorials etc as scheduled – see section 3) for the successful completion of this unit (also see section 6c). If attendance requirements cannot be satisfied (e.g., timetable clash), it is recommended that you contact the Academic Programs Team to discuss re-scheduling this unit.

Additional information

Theoretical foundations:  This unit is based on constructivist principles (Piaget 1937, Glaserfeld 2005, Dykstra 2005), on the assumption that students learn best when encouraged to actively create meaning from practical and theoretical experience.

Research led Units: This unit involves research-led education and work-integrated learning. There are active researchers delivering this unit who are able to engage students in deep and active learning and transmit to students their passion for the research they are carrying out.