Learning Area A2

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

170 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject builds on EDUC90596 Learning Area A1 and EDUC90597 Learning Area B1 by further developing participants’ capacity to extend their repertoire of general subject specific practices and teaching resources and deepen their understanding of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment of their specific teaching areas. This subject focuses on participants’ understanding of differentiation as a tool to cater for diverse learners and to promote student engagement. Participants build their capacity to assess and provide feedback on student learning using a variety of tools. They are encouraged to reflect on and refine their practice and identify strategies that are designed to improve learning outcomes.

This subject, along with the Evidence Based Learning & Teaching 2 and Developing Clinical Practice 2 requires participants to implement the Clinical Praxis Project. Participants will be supported to extend on learning from the Clinical Praxis Exam, to focus on the class as a whole and provide differentiated or structured teaching and learning opportunities for all students. The Clinical Praxis Project also includes undertaking an initial inquiry process to identify an area of focus and the development and implementation of a professional learning plan.

On completion of this subject, participants should be able to:

• Demonstrate an enhanced ability to use curriculum and assessment knowledge to establish challenging learning goals and to select and organise content into effective teaching and learning sequences
• Understand and comply with relevant legislative, administrative and organizational policies and processes required for teachers according to school stage
• Demonstrate an enhanced ability to select, develop and use a range of teaching strategies and tools including ICT that engage learners and progress learning
• Demonstrate a capacity to use a variety of assessment strategies to collect evidence of student needs and learning and to use assessment data to plan for future learning
• Reflect critically on their own learning, teaching and assessment practices within their learning area and identify implications for their own professional growth as teachers of their Learning Area.

• Research report on an issue of significance for your learning area, 2000 words, due June, 50%
• Portfolio of differentiated practice (component of the Clinical Praxis Project), 2000 words, due November, 50%

Hurdle requirement – Five online learning area tasks designed to develop your skills, knowledge and understanding in areas not covered during face-to-face sessions, due February, April, August, September, October

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, participants will have the knowledge, skills and understanding to enable them to:

• be skilled communicators who can effectively articulate and justify their practices as knowledgeable agents of change;
• be flexible and able to adapt to change through knowing how to learn;
• understand the significance of developing their practice on the basis of research evidence;
• work in teams with skills in cooperation, communication and negotiation;
• be independent of mind, reasonable, resilient, self-regulating;
• have a conscious personal and social values base.