EUB445 Professional Experience: Transition to Professional Practice

Unit Outline: Semester 1 2024, Kelvin Grove, Internal

Overview

This final professional experience will strengthen your professional practice at the Graduate level of the APSTs. A 25 day professional experience provides you with an opportunity to gather evidence, reflect, focus and synthesise your knowledge as you prepare to enter the teaching profession. Your emerging teacher identity will be further developed as you move from pre-service teacher to a beginning teacher. This mastery level unit will also focus on developing skills and practices for professional resilience, specifically, managing emotions.

If you are an early childhood or primary student your chosen primary specialisation will relate to this final professional experience.

From 2023, early childhood pre-service teachers in the QTPA Kindy Pilot will complete their 25-day professional experience in a kindergarten where they will collect data for their QTPA. 

This is a designated unit which is essential to your course progression. Designated units include professional experience units, units requiring the development of particular skills, and units requiring demonstration of certain personal qualities. If you fail to achieve a satisfactory level of performance in a designated unit, you may be excluded from enrolment or will be put on academic probation. If you fail a designated unit twice within your course, you may be excluded. Supplementary assessment is not available on designated units.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:

1. Demonstrate comprehensive professional knowledge of learners and how they learn, knowledge of content and how to teach it, and how to communicate verbally and non-verbally as well as knowledge of how to plan for, implement, and assess teaching and learning that impacts positively on learners. (Relates to CLO 1; APST 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5)
2. Reflect critically on the ways in which educational theory and contemporary research informs and impacts on your teaching practices. (Relates to CLO 2; APST 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5)
3. Synthesise various knowledges to create safe, supportive, caring, inclusive and positive learning environments that positively impact on learners. (Relates to CLO 3; APST 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5)
4. Demonstrate responsiveness to a wide diversity of learners, contexts, policy and practice environments. (Relates to CLO 4; APST 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5)
5. Demonstrate contemporary teaching and learning practices that engages learners. (Relates to CLO 5; APST 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 3.7)
6. Engage in professional dialogues and reflection on your practice to support your ongoing professional learning through collaboration with teaching professionals, peers, partners/carers and the broader community. (Relates to CLO 6; APST 6.1, 6.3, 6.4, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4)
7. Demonstrate the ability to reflect on experiences and reframe challenges into opportunities for capacity building and learning to improve your professional practice. (Relates to CLO 7; APST 1.1, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5)
8. Engage ethically and respectfully with colleagues, parents/carers, learners, and the wider community from diverse backgrounds. (Relates to CLO 8; APST 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4)
9. Demonstrate professional communication through articulation of your teaching performance and how you positively impact on learners. (Relates to CLO 9; APST 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.6, 3.7, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.5, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4)

Content

Learning Approaches

To achieve an authentic and meaningful balance between theory, research, and practical real world experiences, the learning approaches in this unit incorporate on-campus tutorials and lectures (recorded), online tutorials, and asynchronous learning resources in addition to a 25-day professional experience placement. 

The tutorials are designed for a high level of pre-service teacher participation and interaction involving short peer presentations and participative small and large group discussions and activities. Pre-service teachers are expected to prepare for each session in order to actively engage in activities designed for critically reflecting on the unit materials, sharing insights and ideas, and building the professional knowledge, understanding, and skills required to demonstrate the unit learning outcomes. Proactive preparation for the professional experience placement and collaborative critical reflection on teaching and experiences immediately after the placement are key learning approaches integrated into this unit.

In this unit you will learn through engaging in the following:

• Collaborative workshops and inquiry sessions with industry professionals, academics and peers (in person and online);
• Professional dialogues with external education stakeholders on professional experience;
• Online materials tailored to the capstone learning experience;
• A 25-day professional experience in an educational site;
• Integration with materials and subject content in EUB406 to prepare for the QTPA;
• Engagement with online discussion board topics through the unit Canvas site; and
• Online and blended learning and the use of technology and tools for learning.

Please refer to your course information. Non-compliance with course requirements relating to professional experience may prevent you from undertaking your professional experience placement.

If you are enrolled in a Professional Experience unit in any teaching period and your studies are ongoing after the census date, you may note a grade of AT (Assessment continuing) will appear on your academic record. Should you need to withdraw from the unit after the Census Date, you will need to contact the Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice Faculty Student Support Office because you will not be able to withdraw yourself via eStudent. Please note that your grade will be finalised as normal by the Faculty at the end of the teaching period.

There may be other reasons that will require you to withdraw from the unit earlier than expected after consultation with the Professional Experience Manager and the Academic Director (Professional Experience). In such cases, you will still need to contact the Student Support Office to request withdrawal.

The Faculty is adopting this strategy to maintain our current positive working relationships and to manage our professional experience units with our partners at professional experience sites.

Literacy and numeracy standards as required by the profession are an inherent requirement of this unit.

Feedback on Learning and Assessment

You will gain critical formative feedback in this unit that will assist in the preparation of your QTPA. Feedback will be provided through engagement with academics and peers in teaching time and throughout your professional experience.

Assessment

Overview

Assessment in this unit prepares you to maximise the professional experiences you have engaged with throughout your course and extend these as you assume higher teaching responsibilities. Reflection on your teaching performance is designed to make visible your knowledge, skills and abilities and how you are meeting the Graduate level of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

The assessment items include your professional experience placement performance, and the presentation of evidence in relation to the APSTs at a graduate level, which mirrors employment processes in the field. This assessment builds your capacity to engage in articulating your practice as a beginning teacher.This assessment directly prepares you for your QTPA in your concurrent unit EUB406.

You must receive a passing grade (Satisfactory) on each assessment task to successfully pass this unit. Since this is a Professional Experience unit, special conditions of assessment apply to the second assessment task in the unit— Reflection on Practice. Assessment criteria for Assessment Task 2 number five. You must pass all five assessment criteria to pass the second assessment task. Where an attempt fails to meet any one (1) assessment criterion, a resubmission of the assessment task within 72 hours of the release of results for that task may be permitted. It is your responsibility as a student to (i) resubmit your complete assignment should your unsatisfactory attempt fall within this margin of insufficiency (i.e., of one criterion) and (ii) notify your Unit Coordinator via email of your submission. 

Unit Grading Scheme

S (Satisfactory) / U (Unsatisfactory)

Assessment Tasks

Assessment: Placement Performance

25 continuous days of supervised professional experience in an educational setting where you will work to assuming a minimum of 10 continuous days of a full teaching load. Professional experience settings include P-3 for early childhood pre-service teachers, P-6 for primary pre-service teachers, and 7-12 for secondary pre-service teachers. If you are an early childhood pre-service teacher in the QTPA Kindy Pilot, you will undertake your professional experience in a kindergarten.

This professional experience will involve observing classroom practice and planning, teaching and assessing experiences for learners combined with creating safe and supportive learning environments for all learners. You will demonstrate broad knowledge of strategies that can be used to evaluate teaching programs to improve student learning. You will conduct yourself in an ethical manner and understand all legislative requirements.

You are required to reach Graduate level of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers in all areas of the Queensland Professional Experience Reporting Framework to be successful in this professional experience.

This task will assess your:

1. Knowledge of the Graduate Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
2. Application of the Graduate Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

Relates to learning outcomes
Course Learning Outcomes
CLOs - 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

Threshold Assessment:

You must receive a passing grade (satisfactory) on each assessment task to successfully pass this unit.

Assessment: Reflection on Practice

This assessment requires you to create two 400 word reflective submissions with accompanying evidence of impact. The reflections will focus upon the teaching, learning and assessment cycle undertaken on a final placement and aligned with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. In this task you will reflect on and link to unit content and readings.

This is an authentic assessment because you are using experiences, data and documents drawn from professional experience and you are engaging in reflections and professional conversations that teachers in real world practice also engage with.

You will receive feedback on your critical reflection skills in preparation for the QTPA in EUB406.

This task will assess your:

1. Knowledge of the Graduate Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
2. Application of the Graduate Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
3. Understanding of evidence that supports your achievement of the Graduate Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.

This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.

Threshold Assessment:

You must receive a passing grade (satisfactory) on each assessment task to successfully pass this unit. Resubmission of Assessment Task 2 may be permitted. See 'Assessment Overview' above.

Academic Integrity

Students are expected to engage in learning and assessment at QUT with honesty, transparency and fairness. Maintaining academic integrity means upholding these principles and demonstrating valuable professional capabilities based on ethical foundations.

Failure to maintain academic integrity can take many forms. It includes cheating in examinations, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, and submitting an assessment item completed by another person (e.g. contract cheating). It can also include providing your assessment to another entity, such as to a person or website.

You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.

Further details of QUT’s approach to academic integrity are outlined in the Academic integrity policy and the Student Code of Conduct. Breaching QUT’s Academic integrity policy is regarded as student misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.

Requirements to Study

Requirements

Meet, and show evidence of, the public health or employment vaccination mandates/requirements of your state jurisdiction. 

Blue Card

A blue card is required to complete this unit. A blue card confirms that you have passed a screening of your criminal history (the Working with Children Check) and have been approved to work with children and young people. For more information on the blue card and how to apply please visit the QUT website.

Costs

There may be costs related to immunisations. 

Resources

Resource Materials

Prescribed text(s)

Churchill, R., Godinho, S., Johnson, N. F., Keddie, A., Letts, W., Lowe, K., . . . Shaw, K. (2019). Teaching Making A Difference. John Wiley & Sons.

Recommended text(s)

Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2015). Teaching Challenges & Dilemmas (5th ed.). Cengage Learning Australia: Victoria.

Other

Professional Experience Handbook

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

Queensland College of Teachers. Elaboration: Domestic and family violence

Risk Assessment Statement

There are no out-of-the-ordinary risks associated with the general conduct of this unit. Workplace Health and Safety protocols in relation to computer use will apply.

The Commission for Children and Young People Act 2000 (Qld) requires that all students undertaking a professional experience as part of this unit will need a valid blue card or suitability card which has been registered with QUT before they can commence their placement. Please refer to blue card for full details and appropriate forms.

Managing the risk associated with your professional experience is bound in an agreement with the systemic employment bodies and individual sites where necessary. The Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) places duties of care on everyone to ensure the health and safety of themselves and others in the workplace.

Students should be aware of and comply with the QUT work integrated learning policy under QUT's Assessment Policy is at MOPP C/4.4.

Standards/Competencies

This unit is designed to support your development of the following standards\competencies.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers

1 Professional Knowledge: Know students and how they learn

1. Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
   Relates to: Placement Performance
2. Students with diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
   Relates to: Placement Performance
3. Strategies for teaching Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students
   Relates to: Placement Performance
4. Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
   Relates to: Placement Performance
5. Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
   Relates to: Placement Performance

2 Professional Knowledge: Know the content and how to teach it

1. Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
   Relates to: Placement Performance
2. Content selection and organisation
   Relates to: Placement Performance
3. Curriculum, assessment and reporting
   Relates to: Placement Performance
4. Understand and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to promote reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
   Relates to: Placement Performance
5. Literacy and numeracy strategies
   Relates to: Placement Performance
6. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
   Relates to: Placement Performance

3 Professional Practice: Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning

1. Establish challenging learning goals
   Relates to: Placement Performance
2. Plan, structure and sequence learning programs
   Relates to: Placement Performance
3. Use teaching strategies
   Relates to: Placement Performance
4. Select and use resources
   Relates to: Placement Performance
5. Use effective classroom communication
   Relates to: Placement Performance
6. Evaluate and improve teaching programs
   Relates to: Placement Performance
7. Engage parents/carers in the educative process
   Relates to: Placement Performance

4 Professional Practice: Create and maintain supportive and safe learning environments

1. Support student participation
   Relates to: Placement Performance
2. Manage classroom activities
   Relates to: Placement Performance
3. Manage challenging behaviour
   Relates to: Placement Performance
4. Maintain student safety
   Relates to: Placement Performance
5. Use ICT safely, responsibly and ethically
   Relates to: Placement Performance

5 Professional Practice: Assess, provide feedback and report on student learning

1. Assess student learning
   Relates to: Placement Performance
2. Provide feedback to students on their learning
   Relates to: Placement Performance
3. Make consistent and comparable judgements
   Relates to: Placement Performance
4. Interpret student data
   Relates to: Placement Performance
5. Report on student achievement
   Relates to: Placement Performance

6 Professional Engagement: Engage in professional learning

1. Identify and plan professional learning needs
   Relates to: Reflection on Practice
2. Engage with colleagues and improve practice
   Relates to: Placement Performance, Reflection on Practice
3. Apply professional learning and improve student learning
   Relates to: Reflection on Practice

7 Professional Engagement: Engage professionally with colleagues, parents/carers and the community

1. Meet professional ethics and responsibilities
   Relates to: Placement Performance, Reflection on Practice
2. Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements
   Relates to: Placement Performance
3. Engage with the parents/carers
   Relates to: Placement Performance
4. Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities
   Relates to: Placement Performance

Course Learning Outcomes

ED39 Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood)

1. Knowledgeable: Demonstrate comprehensive professional knowledge of learning areas, learners and learning.
   Relates to: ULO1, Placement Performance
2. Scholarly: Reflect critically on the ways in which educational theory and research informs and impacts teaching practice.
   Relates to: ULO2, Placement Performance, Reflection on Practice
3. Inclusive: Synthesise various knowledges to create culturally secure, supportive, caring, inclusive and positive learning environments.
   Relates to: ULO3, Placement Performance
4. Responsive: Understand and respond to a diversity of learners, contexts, policy and practice environments.
   Relates to: ULO4, Placement Performance
5. Innovative: Lead and create innovative future-focused learning.
   Relates to: ULO5, Placement Performance
6. Collegial: Collaborate and connect with professional networks and the wider community.
   Relates to: ULO6, Placement Performance, Reflection on Practice
7. Resilient: Reframe challenges into opportunities for capacity building and learning.
   Relates to: ULO7, Placement Performance
8. Ethical: Engage ethically and respectfully with learners, colleagues and parents/carers and community from diverse backgrounds
   Relates to: ULO8, Placement Performance
9. Communicative: Engage and communicate effectively and professionally.
   Relates to: ULO9, Placement Performance, Reflection on Practice

ED49 Bachelor of Education (Primary)

1. Knowledgeable: Apply professional knowledge of learning areas, learners and learning.
   Relates to: ULO1, Placement Performance
2. Scholarly: Consider the ways in which educational theory and research inform and impact teaching practice.
   Relates to: ULO2, Placement Performance, Reflection on Practice
3. Inclusive: Plan for culturally secure, supportive, caring, inclusive and positive learning environments.
   Relates to: ULO3, Placement Performance
4. Responsive: Interpret data, policy and legislative requirements to inform professional decisions about practice.
   Relates to: ULO4, Placement Performance
5. Innovative: Create innovative future-focused learning.
   Relates to: ULO5, Placement Performance
6. Collegial: Collaborate and connect with professional networks and the wider community.
   Relates to: ULO6, Placement Performance, Reflection on Practice
7. Reflective: Reframe challenges into opportunities for capacity building and learning.
   Relates to: ULO7, Placement Performance
8. Ethical: Engage ethically and respectfully with learners, colleagues, parents/carers and community from diverse backgrounds.
   Relates to: ULO8, Placement Performance
9. Communicative: Engage and communicate effectively and professionally.
   Relates to: ULO9, Placement Performance, Reflection on Practice