Pre-requisites

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Learning Outcomes

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

Unit Description

This introductory unit is designed to orient pre-service teachers to schools and education in the 21st century. They will discuss the changing role of schools and teachers in the wider contexts of developments in the 20th century and projections for the 21st century including: globalisation of communication, travel and trade; rapid development of technologies; climate change and environmental sustainability; population growth; increasing world poverty; social inclusion and diverse spiritualities. They will review contemporary society’s expectations of schools from the perspective of key stakeholders such as children, parents, teachers, schools, churches, governments and the wider community.

Pre-service teachers will examine the impact of technologies including: personal technologies such as mobile phones, ipods and personal computers; internet, social networking systems and online learning communities; and school-based intranets, the Ultranet and the MySchool website. They will address the safe, responsible and ethical use of technologies in teaching and learning including strategies to deal with cyber-bullying.

Pre-service teachers will appreciate that all teachers have a responsibility for developing context specific literacy and numeracy and need to set high expectations for student learning in these areas. They will discuss a teacher’s requirement for proficiency in literacy, numeracy and a range of technologies and plan to develop their personal proficiencies, especially those that directly impact learning and teaching.

Pre-service teachers will become familiar with the impact of government policies and processes on schools and classrooms. They will develop an understanding of current educational trends such as: Australian Curriculum; National Professional Standards for Teachers; inclusive practices such as integration of students with disabilities; and system-wide assessment.

Pre-service teachers will consider broad concepts in education such as:
- teaching and learning;
- teacher and learner;
- education;
- school;
- curriculum;
- assessment;
- reporting;
- learning environment; and
- diversity and individual need.

They will explore the nature of school environments and their role in it.

Pre-service teachers will develop an understanding of themselves as learners and how their own learning profiles impact their approach to teaching students. They will explore their own learning preferences styles through a variety of tools.

Pre-service teachers will begin to examine the Victorian Teaching Profession Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics, Mandatory Reporting and ethical thinking and behaviour. These issues will be further developed in ED242.406 Effective Learning Environments.

Pre-service teachers will review Christian perspectives on education. They will reflect on their personal strengths and challenges as Christian teachers.

Teaching Strategies

Pre-service teachers’ learning in this course will involve a variety of approaches including: lectures; observations; responding to educational scenarios; critical reflections; discussions; tutorials; workshops; assessment tasks; assessment feedback; guest speakers; reflective journals; contact with professional associations; oral presentations; and online activities.

Unit offerings

Face to face: (Every Year, Semester 1)
Face to face: (Every Year, Semester 2)

Please note

The Unit Offerings listed above are a guide only and the timetable for any year is the final authority. The College may vary offerings based on demand, regulatory requirements, continual improvement processes or other conditions.

This unit may be available in different modes of delivery i.e. online and face-to-face as listed above. The unit content will not differ between these modes of delivery. There will possibly be a difference in the schedule and/or the prescribed assessment tasks, however both will cover and assess the same content.