Primary Humanities Education

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

85 hours

Admission to the Master of Teaching (Primary)

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 aims to build teacher candidates’ capacities for teaching in Primary Humanities. Teacher candidates will be introduced to the Humanities as a broad, complex and dynamic field concerned with people as social beings who interact with one another and with natural and social environments through time. They will explore social and environmental issues that school students need to understand to participate in the world as informed citizens in socially just and sustainable ways. Through the experience of an excursion to a site linked to school students’ Humanities learning, teacher candidates will further consider how the Humanities can be linked with other curriculum areas in contexts outside the school classroom.

Emphasis will also be placed on effective teaching and learning practices in the Humanities, with a particular emphasis on inquiry, problem solving and decision making strategies. Teacher candidates will apply their understanding of these processes in a critical inquiry project on an issue of interest for Humanities teaching.

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

• become familiar with some of the contemporary themes and debates within Humanities as they relate to the primary school setting;
• demonstrate knowledge of the Humanities learning area in the VELS and personally evaluate this;
• be able to identify the ways in which Humanities can be integrated across the curriculum in primary schools;
• begin to critically analyse their own values, attitudes and beliefs especially about issues of social and ecological concern;
• demonstrate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours they intend to teach in the Humanities;
• have applied a critical inquiry to classroom practice.

There are 2 assessment tasks:

• A report based on an inquiry project (or negotiated equivalent) of 1000 words. Due mid semester, 50%
• Inquiry project of 1000 words (or equivalent), incorporating an excursion venue expo and inquiry-based unit of work. Due end of semester, 50%

Attendance at all classes (tutorial/seminars/practical classes/lectures/labs) is obligatory. Failure to attend 80% of classes will normally result in failure in the subject.

Collection of readings.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, teacher candidates 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 changes.
• 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, responsible, resilient, self-regulating;
• Have a conscious personal and social values base.