Pre-requisites

None.

Co-requisites

None.

Learning Outcomes

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

• Describe the nature and changing contexts of learning in the 21st Century compared to earlier centuries and identify some of the key drivers of these changes

• Discuss the foundational role of worldview, including indigenous and Christian worldviews, in explaining the differences in educational practices and how they influence decision making

• Analyse and apply an understanding of the role of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers in relation to practice and identifying professional learning needs

• Analyse the roles and responsibilities of the Christian educator in preparing students for life in the 21st Century

Unit Description

The practice of education involves making hundreds of educational decisions each day. Good decisions ought to be about wanting to make appropriate, timely responses to support, encourage and guide learning. There are many factors that influence this process. This unit will look in particular at the investigation of our cultural contexts and situation, and how the foundational beliefs we hold interpret and give meaning to our experience and guide our decision making.

Topics

• Worldview and education: A brief introduction to the nature of worldviews and why they need to be addressed if you want to align practice with beliefs.
• Conflicting images of the fully well-educated human: Exploring historically and philosophically various views about being human and the biblical account and applying these to various goals of education.
• What knowledge is of most worth? Exploring modern, postmodern, indigenous and biblical views of reality, truth and knowledge. Using these frameworks taking a closer look at the Melbourne Declaration. Examining the implications for pedagogical practices.
• Understanding our Western traditions of schooling: How did we get here? Examining historically the major paradigm shifts in society and the connection with changes in educational practices.
• What are the images of schooling and teaching in the 21st Century?

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Unit offerings

Face to face: Semester 2, 2025 and Semester 2, 2026 (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.