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.

Content

Topics will include: 

Core legislation, national frameworks, policies, curriculum documents as well as theories, principles, research and practice relevant to supporting students with complex needs and challenging behaviour 

• Factors that may contribute to children and adolescents’ complex needs and challenging behaviours in schools and educational or community settings 
• Collaborative planning and conducting of assessments to obtain information about the social-emotional/behavioural functioning and learning of young people with complex needs 
• Importance of multidimensional assessment and “functional behaviour assessment” to examine factors potentially contributing to a young person’s complex needs including aggressive behaviours 
• Establishing the validity of a multidimensional functional assessment by involving the collaborative team in interpreting the findings of the assessment  
• Collaborative development of personalised learning plans and positive behaviour support strategies to proactively respond to the needs students with diverse learning needs and backgrounds (i.e., direct intervention), prevent further difficulties and maintain positive changes 
• Collaborative development of personalised learning plans that support students’ mental health and promote belonging, achievement, engagement, wellbeing and quality of life within an inclusive school or educational setting 
• Collaboration, communication and team work in educational settings to involve families/carers, community services and agencies in establishing a support network and inproviding needed support for young people with complex needs and challenging behavior. 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is offered in multi-mode and will be supported by a Canvas site. Engagement for learning is the key driver in the delivery of this curriculum. The unit will facilitate active participation in pedagogical approaches that demonstrate alignment of teaching, learning and assessment and may incorporate a combination of strategies including individual and group work, activity-based workshops, formal presentations and online activities and engagement; for example: 

• Active learning to promote analysis, synthesis and evaluation of class content. 
• Case Studies for students to explore how what they have learned applies to real-world situations. 
• Collaborative learning in purposeful critical discourse and reflection to construct personal meaning and mutual understanding. 
• Enquiry-based learning to identify students’ own issues and questions. 
• Peer learning is an effective means for students to gain deeper understanding of new concepts through informal and formal means. 
• Problem-based learning uses authentic, loosely structured problems for students to solve. 
• Project-based learning involves deep learning, as it focuses on real-world problems and challenges and relies on problem-solving, decision-making and investigative skills. 

This unit has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches to support your learning such as reading, reflection, discussion, webinars, podcasts, video, workshops, and assignments, etc.