Welcome to Professional Experience 1: Introduction to Educators' Practice.

Congratulations on your decision to be a teacher and on securing a place in the Bachelor of Primary Education (Honours) program (LHPE/MHPE) OR the Bachelor of Secondary Education (Honours) program (LHSE) OR for continuing in the MBET program (ECE, primary, primary/middle).

Professional Experience 1 includes both course work with the university and placement in a school setting.

This concept is referred to as 'theorised practice' and acknowledges the tight connection between your university studies and your school placement.

 

All pre-service teachers will engage in comprehensive course work, as preparation for placement in a school.

The course work is structured around three integrated themes (units), each addressing three topics, with an introductory session to begin and a debrief session to conclude.

 

The course work includes participation in a range of learning tasks accessed via the online course site.

In preparation for each topic you will need to complete all online readings and tasks before participating in the workshops.

 

Those enrolled as internal pre-service teachers will attend a series of eleven by two hour on-campus workshops.

Your engagement will be monitored and supported by peers and tutors, and the expectation is that you will stay up to date with all the requirements in the course, in preparation for placement.

 

In Professional Experience 1 there are 10 days of placement in a school site, configured as:

5 whole day visits on specified Thursdays and a 5 day block.

Please see the calendar for scheduled dates.

 

In order to be on an education site as a pre-service teacher, there are very stringent pre-requisite conditions that you must meet.

It is your personal/professional responsibility to track your own placement information through InPlace and to ensure that you have met the pre-requisite conditions.

All of the information needed to successfully undertake Professional Experience 1 is in this Course Outline and on the Learnonline site.

 

Colleagues involved in Professional Experience 1 are looking forward to sharing your learning journey.

 

Shaan Gilson (Course Coordinator)

Internal mode includes face to face/in person components such as lectures, tutorials, practicals, workshops or seminars that may be offered at a University campus or delivered at another location. Courses delivered in internal mode may also be offered intensively allowing them to be completed in a shorter period of time. There is an expectation that students will be physically present for the delivery of face to face/in person teaching and learning activities.

Lecture

Student information

A lecture is delivery of course content either in person, or online in a virtual classroom, that builds on the course readings and pre-lecture requirements for you and other students in the course. The primary purpose of the lecture is to comprehensively describe and explain course content, ideas or skills to provide a foundation on which students build understanding through extended study. Lectures may also be pre-recorded and embedded in online courses.

All students are expected to have undertaken required readings and assigned activities prior to the lecture.

Workshop

Student information

A workshop is a structured activity, delivered either in person or online in a virtual classroom in which the student is required to actively contribute. Your instructor will facilitate guided activities that relate to course content previously covered in a lecture and/or seminar and/or tutorial.

All students are expected to be familiar with relevant lecture seminar and/or tutorial content prior to a workshop in preparation for undertaking the activities in the workshop.
 

Demonstration/Practical class

Student information

A demonstration/practical class is a session with the primary purpose of demonstrating skills and practising those skills in a supported and guided environment. These classes are critical in developing skills through the application of theory and acquired knowledge in a practical setting.

All students are expected to be familiar with prerequisite knowledge from their program of study, relevant lecture and/or seminar and/or tutorial content, and materials provided and assessments relevant to the demonstration, prior to a demonstration/practical class.All students are expected to actively participate and contribute to the demonstration/practical class where required.

 

 

There are no prerequisite courses to be completed before this course can be undertaken.

Complete the UniSA Literacy and Numeracy Self-evaluation and the Responding to Abuse and Neglect (RAN) 7-hour training (by approved providers) and designated first aid training (by approved providers) to be eligible to proceed to Field Placement (Professional Experience Placement). The 7-hour RAN training must be completed whilst enrolled within the Initial Teacher Education program.

To enable students as pre-service teachers to develop awareness of the social and community contexts of educational settings; awareness of students as learners, the roles of teachers, in providing for childrens learning and welfare.

On completion of this course, students should be able to:

CO1. Relate effectively and professionally to children and staff in education and community sites

CO2. Apply relevant legal and ethical guidelines and behaviours

CO3. Research the site, community, cultural contexts, and their interrelationships

CO4. Reflect on themselves as learners and on their experiences of learning

CO5. Work collaboratively with peers, professional colleagues and parents/caregivers in educational settings

CO6. Assess their interest in and commitment to teaching as a career

Upon completion of this course, students will have achieved the following combination of Graduate Qualities and Course Objectives:

A graduate of UniSA:

GQ1. operates effectively with and upon a body of knowledge of sufficient depth to begin professional practice

GQ2. is prepared for life-long learning in pursuit of personal development and excellence in professional practice

GQ3. is an effective problem solver, capable of applying logical, critical, and creative thinking to a range of problems

GQ4. can work both autonomously and collaboratively as a professional

GQ5. is committed to ethical action and social responsibility as a professional and citizen

GQ6. communicates effectively in professional practice and as a member of the community

GQ7. demonstrates international perspectives as a professional and as a citizen

The students will develop their knowledge of themselves as learners, the social, community, economic and political contexts of educational service provisions; the role of teacher and the organisation, policies and practices and relationships that are central to educational learning environments, including child protection and well-being issues. They will begin to develop skills in relationship building, observation, teaching individuals and small groups, and reflecting on learning and practice on their supervised placement.

4.5 units

Students must seek permission prior to recording any  UniSA learning activity. See A-56 Policy Student recording of learning activities  

Breaches of this Policy contravene the principles of academic integrity, and attract the penalties provided in Section 9 of the Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual.

There will be 10 days of placement in an assigned school. The 10 days will consist of 5 Thursdays and a 5 day block:

• Thursday May 5
• Thursday May 12 
• Thursday May 19
• Thursday May 26
• Thursday June 2
• Monday June 6 to Friday June 10 (inclusive) 

These are 10 full-time days and (depending on particular school arrangements) may be from 8:15 am to 4:30 pm.

Insurance for Pre-service Teachers:
For any further information on insurance in relation to incidents occurring while on professional experience go to the university’s insurance website: http://www.unisa.edu.au/fin/insurance/student_placements.asp

TIME COMMITMENT FOR PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 1:

The amount of time you will need to commit to Professional Experience 1 is approximately 150 hours over the fifteen weeks of Study Period 2.

The time is broken down as follows:

• For internal pre-service teachers: Workshop attendance  at 11 workshops x 2 hours (22 hours)
• For external pre-service teachers: Forum  tasks posting and responding to peers on learning task forums for 11 sessions x 2 hours (22 hours)
• Tasks in each of the nine topics = 9 x 5 hours (45 hours)
• 10 days of placement = 10 x 8 hours (80 hours).

Note: As you begin each topic in the modules you need to plan where in the week ahead you will fit in the 5 or so hours needed to complete all the learning tasks and fill out your Course Workbook which is part of your assessment.
You will also need to include additional hours required for each of the assessment items.

Note: the expected time commitment for each of the 10 days day you are in school is 8.15 am to 4:15 pm (or as specified by the school). There will be some preparation and follow up tasks required during placement.

 

Before you decide to continue with this course you need to think about whether you can commit to the required time.
Having had numerous discussions with pre-service teachers who have struggled to be successful with their courses we share with you the following common challenges:

• attempting to undertake too many hours of paid work in addition to study
• difficulty balancing complexity of personal life situation with study load
• difficulty transitioning from high school with more individualised study support to independent adult focused university study
• difficulty in general with managing independent learning, time management, and organisation and leaving university work to the last minute

INTERNAL (ON CAMPUS) PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS: PARTICIPATION IN ON CAMPUS UNIVERSITY BASED COMPONENTS.

• Participation in all on-line preparatory tasks and in university based workshops (on-campus) is required
• Preparatory learning tasks and readings must be completed prior to sessions
• The professional folio and course workbooks with the required learning tasks must be brought to workshops
• Punctual arrival at workshops is a professional courtesy and will enable the class to utilise the allocated time most effectively

EXTERNAL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS: PARTICIPATION IN UNIVERSITY BASED COMPONENTS

• For those PSTs enrolled externally, there is no expectation of attendance at on-campus classes
• Preparatory learning tasks and readings must be completed and Course Workbooks submitted by the due date
• However, participation in, and completion of, all on-line tasks and posting to the discussion forums within the specified time lines is expected
• To mirror the on-campus workshops, participation in the on-line forums by dues dates is essential

If online forums and online tasks are not completed and up to date, the pre-service teacher will need to meet with the Course Co-Coordinators to discuss if the pre-service teacher has the resources (i.e.time) and commitment to continue with the course. This may mean preclusion from participation in the professional experience placement.

 

ATTENDANCE/ PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENTS

• All tutors mark an attendance roll which is shared with the Course Co-Coordinators weekly
• Unavoidable absence (e.g. due to sickness) must be communicated via email (with the already completed learning tasks attached) to the Course Co-Coordinators and Workshop Tutor prior to the workshop 
• Unexplained absence from a scheduled session will be recorded as an "unsatisfactory absence"

If two or more workshops are missed, the pre-service teacher will need to meet with the Course Co-Coordinators to discuss if the pre-service teacher has the resources (i.e.time) and commitment to continue with the course. This may mean preclusion from participation in the professional experience placement.

You will need continual access to the following text(s) to complete this course. Where possible the Library will make the book available for student use. Please check the Library catalogue before purchasing the book(s). The Library will always seek to purchase resources that allow an unlimited number of concurrent users, however availability is dependent on license arrangements with book publishers and platforms. http://www.library.unisa.edu.au

Ewing, Robyn; Kervin, Lisa; Glass, Gobby, Brad; Le Cornu, Rosie; Groundwater-Smith, Susan (2020). Teaching: Dilemmas, Challenges and Opportunities (6th edn). Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited.

All course related materials are available on your learnonline course site which you will be able to access from the ‘my Current Studies’ section in myUniSA (https://my.unisa.edu.au).

Access to Previous Courses
You will have access to your previous course sites for a period of 4 years. After this time, the course sites will be archived and will be unavailable.

Details of assessment submission and return are listed under each assessment task. Assessment tasks will be returned to you within 15 days of submission.

 

Cover sheets

 

A cover sheet is not required for assessment tasks submitted via learnonline, as the system automatically generates one.

 

If the Course Coordinator allows submissions in hard copy format, you will be required to attach an Assignment Cover Sheet which is available on the learnonline student help (https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=1843&chapterid=567) and in myUniSA.

 

Note: This is a non-graded course and your result will be a pass or fail.

The feedback proforma is available on your course site.

Further information on re-marking and re-submission is available in the APPM, Chapter 5

ASSESSMENT TASK 1: This assessment has two parts:

PART 1A: PROFESSIONAL FOLIO (INCLUDES ORGANISATION OF FOLIO & PLACEMENT TASKS)

DUE: Internal PSTs:

• The Folio will be progressively assessed in workshops throughout the course to ensure you are organised
• The Folio will be assessed formatively using the Assessment 1A Professional Folio checklist prior to placement - Topic 9 workshop
• Whilst on placement you will arrange for a peer and/or Supervising Teacher to review your Folio on two occasions, as detailed in the placement checklist
• There will be a final summative assessment at the debrief workshop on Monday 20th June

DUE: External PSTs:

• Prior to placement, you are expected to share your folio organisation with your tutor and peers (way to share to be negotiated)
• Email your self assessment of the 1A Professional Folio checklist to your tutor by the Wednesday of Topic 9
• Whilst on placement you will arrange for a Supervising Teacher/ University Supervisor to review your Folio on two occasions, as detailed in the Placement checklist and sign it. You will then upload this or email to your tutor.

You will be assessed using the 1A Professional Folio checklist which reflects what you need to include in your folio prior to placement (in being prepared and organised) and post placement (as documentation of your participation and learning on placement). You will be assessed on the contents of your Professional Folio. The folio will be using One Note and will mainly be an electronic folio.

    

 

ASSESSMENT TASK 1B: PLACEMENT SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY CONTEXT

Part 1B is an overview of research you have undertaken about your placement school and community context, presented in the form of a handout - 4 x powerpoint slides with notes of approximately 400 words.
DUE: External PSTs will post their hand-out (with the 4 slides) to a discussion forum together with a 400 word written commentary or verbal commentary with the slides, as negotiated with your tutor, and certainly no later than Friday 6th May @ 11.00 pm.

DUE: Internal PSTs will give a 10 minute presentation based on their hand-out to a group of 3 colleagues (So you are not presenting on an actual Powerpoint, but have your 4 slides on a one page handout with a 400 word summary included) in the workshops in the week on Monday May 2. Your tutor will require a hard copy of your handout.

Further information on re-marking and re-submission is available in the APPM, Chapter 5

ASSESSMENT 2 - UNIT COURSE WORKBOOKS (Non-Graded)

During the course you will complete learning tasks for each of the 9 topics in your Topic 1 - 9 Workbooks.

These tasks are on the Learn Online site and there are 3 topics in each unit. Therefore you will have 3 Workbooks to submit (Assessment #2- Project):

Unit 1- Topics 1, 2 and 3

Unit 2- Topics 4, 5 and 6

Unit 3- Topics 7, 8 and 9

These tasks will be assessed and this will incorporate self assessment, peer assessment and tutor assessment.

 

You will be required to upload each Workbook to Learnonline by the due date. The Workbook completion is a pre-requisite to be able to proceed to your 5 day Placement Block. 

PLACEMENT REPORT

1. Completion of 10 scheduled placement days at allocated school
2. Satisfactory inclusion of all documentation required for the professional experience in accord with guidelines provided in the Report, Course Outline and Placement Requirements document.
3. Satisfactory completion of all placement tasks, comprehensively recorded in your Professional Folio and marked off on your placement checklist
4. Satisfactory level of development in teaching in accord with criteria detailed in reporting documents and guidelines in the Course Outline and Placement Requirements document.
5. At the conclusion of placement, school staff will enter your report via a URL link to InPlace provided to the Site Coordinator by the PEO.
6. You will have the opportunity to enter a brief comment via InPlace once your report has been received by the Professional Experience Office. (500 characters includes letters/ spaces)
7. You will be graded as either SATISFACTORY or UNSATISFACTORY
8. This report is not intended to be used for employment purposes.

Please note: Whilst the aim is for schools to submit the report within two weeks of completion of placement, this is not within the control of the pre-service teacher.

 

                      The Professional Experience Office will follow-up on issues relating to reports.

Assignment submission requirements- Education Futures

 

1. All assignment submissions are to be made through the ‘Moodle Learn Online’ site unless otherwise stated in the Course Outline.

    

2. Unless an extension has been requested by the student and granted by the Course Coordinator due to exceptional circumstances*, assignments can be submitted up to three exact days after the due date and time but will be marked at a 50% maximum grade. After 3 days the assignment will receive a zero grade.

    

3. All extension requests must be made to the Course Coordinator using ‘Moodle Learn Online’ site.

    

4. Extensions must be requested at least 2 working days prior to the submission date. (Exceptional* circumstances will be considered by the Course Coordinator. Supporting evidence must be provided).

 

*NB: Unexpected or Exceptional circumstances will be considered by the Course Coordinator. Supporting evidence must be provided. Refer to the Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual (APPM), sections 7.3.1 and 7.8 to 7.11.

 

Re-submission of failed assignment:

Assessment policies and procedures manual p. 22

https://i.unisa.edu.au/siteassets/policies-and-procedures/docs/manual/2022/appm-2022.pdf?1644296441050

5.2.2 Students who pass a re-submission will receive a maximum mark of 50 per cent unless:

a. the course coordinator allows the full range of marks on the basis of exceptional circumstances, or,

 

b. the re-submission results from an academic misconduct inquiry. An academic integrity officer will then determine the range of marks available, in consultation with the course coordinator.

 

5.2.3 A re-submitted assessment task cannot be re-marked.

 

Also note:

• Re-submission is only available to students who receive an F1 or above on first submission.
• An assignment can only be re-submitted once.
• A due date for the re-submission must be set by the tutor / course coordinator, in consultation with the student.

Extension requests

During your time at UniSA, we are here to support your study success. We recognise that sometimes things happen that are out of our control which impact on study. This is where extensions may be helpful to assist you to manage extenuating or unexpected circumstances.

However before applying for an extension please make the following considerations to check you are being consistent with the extension policy.

• Are you making this extension request 2 working days prior to the due date and time? 
• Will the extension request place more pressure on the due dates for your other courses?
• Do you have supporting documentation ready? Examples may include the following;

• Medical certificates
• Notice of death
• Court summons
• Access plan

• If you do not meet the criteria above, this means you will be applying for an extension on  compassionate grounds and you should make the following considerations;                  
• Do you have a genuine reason for applying for an extension that would not be seen to be unfair to another student?
• You are aware that the coordinator may ask to see any progress you have made on the assessment to date. This allows the coordinator to make a decision on the duration of any extension awarded.

All extension requests must be lodged via Learnonline.

Please be aware that failure to meet the criteria above may result in the extension request being denied.

Note that this extension policy is consistently applied across all Education courses and in line with the provisions outlined in the UniSA Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual. A copy of this PDF can be found here 

Late submission, missed workshops, failure to engage online could result in the Placement being withdrawn. 

This course does not have an exam.

Supplementary assessment or examination has not been approved for this course.

All students must adhere to the University of South Australia's policies about assessment:
http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/.

This course comprises campus based activities, and off-campus activities in education settings (professional experience). Students must successfully complete all three assessment tasks to achieve a non-graded pass. These tasks include satisfactory completion of the required days of placement. Attendance and participation in workshops is mandatory in order to complete assessment requirements. External students will complete a series of online lectures and accompanying online tasks, and placement days.

Students with disabilities or medical conditions or students who are carers of a person with a disability may be entitled to a variation or modification to standard assessment arrangements.  See Section 7 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual (APPM) at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/ and Policy C7 Students with Disability at: https://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/university-policies/corporate/c-7/

Students who require variations or modifications to standard assessment arrangements must first register for an Access Plan with the UniSA Access & Inclusion Service. It is important to contact the Access & Inclusion service early to ensure that appropriate support can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner. 

Students who wish to apply for an Access Plan must book an appointment with a UniSA Access & Inclusion Advisor by contacting Campus Central or via the Online Booking System in the Student Portal. For more information about Access Plans please visit: https://i.unisa.edu.au/students/student-support-services/access-inclusion/

Once an Access Plan has been approved, students must advise their Course Coordinator as early as possible to ensure that appropriate supports can be implemented or arranged in a timely manner.

Students are advised there are also strict deadlines to finalise Access Plan arrangements prior to examinations. Further information is available at:  http://i.unisa.edu.au/campus-central/Exams_R/Before-the-Exam/Alternative-exam-arrangements/

Deferred assessment or examination is not available for this course. APPM 7.6.5

Special consideration is not available for this course. APPM 7.6

Details for which variation may be considered are discussed in section 7 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual. Variation to assessment in unexpected or exceptional circumstances should be discussed with your course coordinator as soon as possible.

More information about variation to assessment is available in section 7 of the Assessment Policy and Procedures Manual. http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/

 

Students with disabilities or medical conditions please refer to Students with disabilities or medical conditions.

Academic integrity is the foundation of university life and is fundamental to the reputation of UniSA and its staff and students. Academic integrity means a commitment by all staff and students to act with honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, respect and responsibility in all academic work.

An important part of practising integrity in academic work is showing respect for other people's ideas and being honest about how they have contributed to your work. This means taking care not to represent the work of others as your own. Using another person's work without proper acknowledgement is considered Academic Misconduct, and the University takes this very seriously.

The University of South Australia expects students to demonstrate the highest standards of academic integrity so that its degrees are earned honestly and are trusted and valued by its students and their employers. To ensure this happens, the University has policies and procedures in place to promote academic integrity and manage academic misconduct. For example, work submitted electronically by students for assessment will be examined for copied and un-referenced text using the text comparison software Turnitin http://www.turnitin.com.

 

It is an offence for any person or company to provide academic cheating services to students of Australian universities, irrespective of whether the service is provided by an Australian or overseas operator (see Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Amendment (Prohibiting Academic Cheating Services) Bill 2019 - https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2020A00078). “Academic cheating services” includes providing or undertaking work for students, where that work forms a substantial part of an assessment task.

More information about academic integrity and what constitutes academic misconduct can be found in Section 9 of the Assessment Policies and Procedures Manual (APPM): http://i.unisa.edu.au/policies-and-procedures/codes/assessment-policies/.

To learn more on academic integrity and how to avoid academic misconduct, please refer to the Academic Integrity Module: https://lo.unisa.edu.au/mod/book/view.php?id=252142

PSTs must gain a satisfactory level in each of the components of Professional Experience 1 in order to satisfy the requirements of the course.

  

The course is assessed with a final grading of Non-Graded Pass (NGP).

 

In order to obtain a Pass in this course students must meet all the following requirements:

• satisfactorily complete all the required on-line and forum activities (external) and all the required on-line and workshop activities (internal)
• attend all school based activities during the 10 days of placement
• complete all components of assessment at a satisfactory level
• submit each item by the specified due date

       

Note: Assessments of development in teaching performance are made cooperatively by the Supervising Teacher, Site Professional Experience Coordinator and University Supervisor.
          Final responsibility for grading in this course resides with the University.

General criteria applied across all written material:

• presentation, correct spelling and grammar (poor spelling, incorrect grammar, or unsatisfactory English expression will incur a penalty; in severe cases a grade of FAIL will be given)
• coherent and accessible structure in all assignments
            

Student feedback on the course is valued in supporting ongoing improvement of the course.

You will be asked to evaluate this course and provide feedback on teaching.

These are confidential questionnaires and are accessed through the myCourseExperience process.

 

We take your comments seriously when we are preparing the course for the following year.

Therefore, we encourage you to take the time to complete these questionnaires when you are notified that they are open.

Thanks everyone.