EDF5424

Professional issues 2: a focus on the profession ( 6 points, SCA Band 0, 0.125 EFTSL)

Leader: Dr D Corrigan (Clayton), Dr M Osborn, Dr A Ryan (Gippsland)

Offered:
Clayton Second semester 2006 (Day)
Clayton Second semester 2006 (Evening)
Gippsland Second semester 2006 (OCL)

Synopsis: This unit provides an introduction to the working life of the professional teacher. It is important here to focus on the profession of teaching as this unit will help students to identify what is professional practice particularly in terms of accountability and ethical practices as well as provide them with mechanisms for documenting their professional practice. It is important to prepare new professionals to become active members of their educational community.

Objectives: Upon successful completion of this unit students should be able to recognise the expectations and work commitments of the education profession; identify activities, roles and competencies that are appropriate for use by an educational professional; construct a professional teaching portfolio that documents their professional philosophy, capabilities, expertise, and experience; use a wide variety of tools for documenting their practice for inclusion in a professional teaching portfolio; articulate the multi-faceted nature of the roles and responsibilities that exist within educational settings; justify their ideas about professional teaching in a variety of ways for a range of audiences eg. employment interviews, parent/teacher interviews, peer group reviews, school staff meetings; document their pedagogical content knowledge ie the integration of what they know about teaching and learning, about students in a range of contexts; their foundation discipline knowledge and their teaching strategies, tactics and communication practices; and reflect on their own experiences, including those within the teaching profession, and use these reflections to inform their future professional decision-making.

Assessment: Portfolio (50%) ; and Assignment 2 - Investigation of educational settings: (50%)

Contact Hours: 3 hours per week