Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives Upon successful completion of this subject, students should have developed knowledge and understandings of VCE psychology, Units 1, 2, 3 and 4; the current work requirements intrinsic to VCE psychology; the current Units 3 and 4 assessment task in VCE psychology; the variety of teaching strategies that should be utilised when teaching psychology to secondary school students. Students should have developed skills which will enable them to utilise a variety of teaching and learning strategies such as group work, role play, debate, discussion, chalk and talk, concept mapping, demonstrations, experiments and other data collection activities in order to effectively convey psychological concepts and skills to students.
Synopsis This subject is designed to prepare students to teach psychology throughout post-primary schools. Psychology appears in the curriculum in post-primary school in two ways: (a) as a subject in its own right in middle school and Years 11 and 12 with a science-based, empirical approach; (b) within a range of middle school and junior school subjects such as health, life skills, personal development and social education. Upon completion of this subject, students should be able to design, implement and evaluate effective teaching programs in units of psychology within the curriculum frameworks and study designs. They should also have a wide repertoire of teaching skills and draw upon an understanding of the impact of various resources and strategies on classroom learning. They should be skilled in organising observations, field studies and experiments for classes. Finally, students should have an appreciation of the ethical issues involved, combined with a sense of satisfaction and joy achievable in introducing school students to psychology.
Assessment A precondition for a pass in this method is a pass in practice teaching and 80% attendance at all timetabled classes + A satisfactory level of achievement is also required for each of the following tasks Lesson plan (500 words): 20% + Four groupwork cards, teacher notes and rationale (1500-2000 words): 35% + Design of course overviews (1000 words): 15% + Group development of unit manuals: 30%