EDF4028 - Understanding place, space and education - 2018

This unit develops students to engage critically with the concepts of space and place, and research the relevance of the spatial in early years' educational theory and practice. Emphasis is given to critical engagement with place-based pedagogies, and post-human and post-colonial perspectives as pathways into research with a focus on places and spaces. The relationships between places, spaces and identities are examined, including place as a significant concept in Indigenous knowledges. Students have the opportunity to undertake a small research project to investigate new perspectives of place in early years' education.

Upon successful completion of this unit students should be able to:

1. appreciate and understand their own communities through local history, culture and environment
2. plan, implement and evaluate experiences that connect educational settings and communities
3. engage children in place making in their own educational settings and communities
4. consider how places affect relationships to other people and other places.

Group work: Critical review of place-based, post-human, post-colonial perspectives of place and space (1600 words, 40%)

Individual research project: New perspectives of place in early years' education (2400 words, 60%)

Minimum total expected workload equals 144 hours per semester comprising:

1. Contact hours for on-campus students:
   • 3 hours per week
2. Requirements for on-campus block City-based students:
   • one intensive weekend block
   • at least 4 hours of active online engagement in Moodle activities per term
3. Additional requirements:
   • 9 hours of independent study including readings, completion of set tasks and self-directed learning

See also Unit timetable information

Early years education