EDVS699 - Vocational Studies Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment 2

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Nil

Teaching organisation

Nil

Unit rationale, description and aim

To plan and deliver lessons that promote learner engagement and enhance student learning, intending secondary teachers need knowledge and understanding of the curriculum and its guiding documents, along with theoretical frameworks and pedagogical approaches that are emblematic of teaching in their chosen teaching areas, including teaching/learning that responds to the forms of assessment that are a usual feature of the teaching area in senior secondary schooling.

In this unit, pre-service teachers will consider the place of Vocational Studies education in contemporary Australian society, and the senior secondary Vocational Studies curriculum, in particular. They will explore a range of evidence-based approaches for curriculum development and alignment and to plan for effective teaching and learning, including formative and summative assessment. Pre-service teachers will learn approaches for building knowledge of Vocational Studies and how to provide constructive feedback and reporting. They will learn approaches for engaging senior secondary learners and to meet the learning needs of diverse students in the senior secondary years. They will further develop skills to shape the dialogic talk of the classroom. Pre-service teachers will formulate unit and assessment plans in order to demonstrate a knowledge of curriculum, learning and assessment theory. They will assemble a resource folio to demonstrate capacity to collect, create and critique resources for effective teaching and learning and to link with curriculum. They will investigate issues and considerations of curriculum implementation as found in the practical reality of schools.

The aim of this unit is for the pre-service teacher to develop their pedagogical content knowledge through becoming familiar with the knowledge, understanding and skills necessary for teaching Vocational Studies at a senior secondary level. 

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Graduate Level

On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following industry specific knowledge based on the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Graduate Level standards:

Content

Topics will include:

• Vocational Studies in the Australian curriculum context: historical context and current frameworks and documentation
• Vocational Studies curricula across Australia
• Theoretical frameworks associated with Vocational Studies teaching and learning, especially Applied Learning perspectives
• Pedagogical approaches emblematic of Vocational Studies teaching and learning, especially Applied Learning perspectives
• The Victorian VCE Vocational Major and its components, including Literacy, Numeracy, Work Related Skills and Personal Development Skills
• Planning for effective teaching in Vocational Studies
• Effective senior Vocational Studies teaching and learning
• Differentiated teaching in Vocational Studies
• Needs of learners from diverse cognitive, physical, social, cultural backgrounds
• Digital resources and approaches for senior Vocational Studies education
• Engaging all learners in senior Vocational Studies
• Conversational, questioning and scaffolding techniques to shape dialogic classroom talk in Vocational Studies education 
• Assessing student learning and reporting achievement in senior Vocational Studies education
• Assessment in senior secondary Vocational Studies education, including the specific moderation process and student data interpretation
• Composing assessment items in Vocational Studies education
• An introduction to data-informed teaching in Vocational Studies
• Professional responsibilities and relationships
• Professional associations and continued professional learning 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit applies a social constructivist approach to develop the pre-service teacher’s understanding of effective pedagogies through active engagement and collaborative learning. The pre-service teacher will build an understanding of teaching strategies to consolidate the learning of content, apply knowledge to problem-solving tasks and develop analytical and evaluating skills. The skills of professional communication and ability to work collaboratively will be practised through group work. The teaching skills of planning and assessing, and the ability to locate and synthesise information, will be developed through designing curriculum appropriate for a Vocational Studies education context. The pre-service teacher will continue to gather and reflect upon evidence of attainment of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers: Graduate.

Teaching and learning strategy described above will use an appropriate selection of approach, including, for example:

·        Weekly face-to-face lectures and/or online lectures (synchronous and asynchronous) 

·        Discussions that promote peer learning

·        Microteaching opportunities

·        Self-directed reading and research

·        Collaborative learning opportunities

The unit is hosted on a Learning Management System (LMS) site with resources and online links, announcements, and a discussion board to post questions and reflections that promote connection between content and educational experiences.

Mode of delivery: This unit may be offered in different modes to cater to the learning needs and preferences of a range of participants.

Multi-mode

Learning activities are delivered through a planned mix of online and in-person classes, which may include full-day sessions and/or placements, to enable interaction. Activities that require attendance will appear in a student’s timetable.

Online unscheduled

Learning activities are accessible anytime, anywhere. These units are normally delivered fully online and will not appear in a student’s timetable.

ACU Online

In ACU Online mode, this unit is delivered asynchronously, fully online using an active, guided learning approach. Pre-service teachers are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions and receive regular and timely feedback on their learning. They will have an opportunity to attend facilitated synchronous online sessions with peers. 

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment tasks and their weightings are designed so that the pre-service teacher can progressively achieve the course learning outcomes and the professional standards. The Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment units in this course focus on pre-service teachers acquiring content knowledge and developing the skills to assimilate conceptual knowledge to inform skills that will be applied in practice.

The assessment tasks are sequenced to allow feedback and progressive development. These tasks reflect ‘real world’ school contexts and teaching responsibilities, thereby preparing the pre-service teacher for professional experience placement and their role as a teacher.

Minimum Achievement Standards

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each learning outcome. In order to pass this unit, pre-service teachers are required to demonstrate achievement of all learning outcomes by submitting all assessment tasks and obtaining a combined score of at least 50% and meet the requirements of the Critical Tasks which are core to the demonstration of a number of Australian Professional Teacher Standards:

• Assessment Task 2: Resource folio and critical analysis

A Critical Task is synonymous with a Graded Hurdle Task as defined in Section 3 of the Assessment Policy. As such, failure to pass the Critical Task will mean you are not eligible for a supplementary assessment in this unit (in accordance with Section 1d of the Supplementary Assessment Policy). A student who is otherwise on track to pass the unit but has a result in the range of 45-49% for the Critical Task, may be offered a ‘revisit’ of the Critical Task by the Lecturer in Charge. The revisit is treated as an ungraded hurdle task (pass/fail). The revisit would be an opportunity for the student to address the feedback provided by the marker and make additions or minor alterations to their submission to bring it to a passing standard.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Required text(s)

Australian Curriculum https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/

Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) www.acara.edu.au

Relevant jurisdictional curriculum documents

Recommended references

Blandford, S. & Ovenden-Hope, T. (2017). Understanding Applied Learning: Developing Effective Practice to Support All Learners, Routledge.