Literacy, Assessment and Learning

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2009:

460-503 Foundational English Literacy

460-515 Designing Personalised Learning

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

This subject will highlight the significance of literacy interventions to meet the individual learning needs of primary school students.

Topics will include: the social and cognitive factors that impact on school students’ literacy development and a review related research; the key role of assessment in profiling critical progression points in school students’ learning and effective literacy programming; the importance of targeted interventions in literacy and an evaluation of programmes currently used in primary schools.

Teacher candidates will undertake a comprehensive analysis of the literacy needs of a group of students, detailing their literacy learning needs through a range of assessment data including diagnostic and standardised tests and evaluation of various forms of work samples against state curriculum standards. Teacher candidates will interpret these data sets to plan for differentiated learning within classroom contexts and report on the outcomes of this intervention.

On completion of this subject teacher candidates will be able to:

• Review research studies that highlight literacy interventions designed to target students’ learning needs;
• Develop skills in gathering, analysing and interpreting a range of assessment and diagnostic data to make informed judgements about students’ learning needs;
• Complete a comprehensive analysis school students’ literacy development using assessment data
• Design an appropriate intervention to meet the learning needs of a group of school students;
• Use professional terminology to describe and report school students’ literacy learning outcomes.

The are 2 assessment tasks:

• An analytical paper (2000 words) due mid semester (50%), and
• An intervention report (2000 words) due at the end of the semester (50%).

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

• Understand the significance of literacy interventions on the basis of relevant research evidence;
• Communicate and effectively articulate, in the form of a report, the outcomes of a targeted literacy intervention;
• Be flexible in their literacy teaching to meet students’ learning needs;
• Assume responsibility for supporting all learners.