Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unitPrerequisites
NilUnit rationale, description and aim
At a time of rapid ongoing change in society and education, the role of an educator or allied professional with specialist knowledge, understanding, skills, related to supporting and protecting children and young people in educational and institutional contexts is of critical importance. In this unit, within the Safeguarding Children and Young People specialisation of the Graduate Certificate in Education and Master of Education, students will examine legal and welfare issues that underpin contemporary policies, practices and challenges within the realm of safeguarding children in institutional contexts, particularly schools, both locally and globally. The context of law in Australia and internationally is investigated in relation to wellbeing and safety of children and young people. The theoretical framing of law and welfare issues will be critically analysed and the implications for policy examined. Students will also analyse and critique current policy/policies and implications for practitioners, with a specific focus on the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Australia. Therefore, the aim of this unit is to support students in developing the required advanced knowledge, understanding and skills they need in order to support and protect all children and young people in educational and institutional contexts.
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.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description |
|---|---|
| LO1 | Analyse and synthesise effective ways to inform teams about the broad range of legislation and policy that impact and shape the safeguarding of children and young people in institutional contexts, particularly schools, both locally and globally (APST: HA/L 4.4, 7.1) |
| LO2 | Critique the fundamental principles that are central to law, welfare and education that inform team members so that they can implement effective safeguarding to support children and young people in institutional contexts, particularly schools (APST: HA/L 4.4, 7.1, 7.2) |
| LO3 | Interpret Catholic moral and social teaching, child protection law, legislation and welfare policies in Australia and international contexts and effective strategies to assist teams to develop such understanding (APST: HA/L 4.4, 7.1, 7.2) |
AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS
On successful completion of this unit, students should have gained evidence towards the following standards:
4.4 Maintain student safety (Highly Accomplished/Lead) |
7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities (Highly Accomplished/Lead) |
7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organizational requirements (Highly Accomplished/Lead) |
Content
Topics will include:
Module One: Law, legislation and policy that impact and shape of the safeguarding of children
Module Two: Interdisciplinary interrelationships amongst Catholic social and moral teaching, child protection law, legislation and welfare policies in Australia and international contexts
Module Three: Identifying and managing high order risks for children, families, educators, and welfare workers implicit in child protection work from legal, welfare, and educational and religious perspectives
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit may be offered in online, on campus or in multimodal learning modes. The use of Canvas will be integral to the unit in exploring concepts and testing understandings and propositions. Strategies used may include lectures and reading, self-directed learning, participant critical reflection against relevant professional standards with particular reference to the Australian Professional Standards for Principals and Leadership and appropriate standard descriptors from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, case studies, engagement with the literature, dialogue and interrogation of concepts, theories and practices, and the application to current professional contexts.
This is a 10 credit point unit and 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.
Assessment strategy and rationale
The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for you to demonstrate your achievement of each of the learning outcomes listed above. In addition, these tasks represent an opportunity to align with the particular needs of participant cohorts and their professional contexts. The total assessment will be equivalent to 5,500 words. In order to pass this unit, students are required to submit and pass both assessment tasks.
The two tasks are linked within a position paper: the first part focuses on legislations and the second task identifies areas for focus and application in a specific context.
In order to successfully complete this unit, postgraduate students need to complete and submit two graded assessment tasks. The assessment strategy used allows students to demonstrate their knowledge and skill related safeguarding children: law and welfare. The first task is a position paper related to current legislation and the second task develops the position paper into a plan of action
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Assessment Task 1 Select two current pieces of legislation relating to the wellbeing and safety of children and young people in schools. Prepare a Position Paper (Part 1) for school leadership and/or colleagues that:
| 50% | LO1, LO2 |
Assessment Task 2 Based on the analyses undertaken in Assessment Task 1, prepare Position Paper (Part 2) for school leadership and/or colleagues that details a possible plan that:
| 50% | LO2, LO3 |
Representative texts and references
Australian Government, Australian Institute of Family Studies. (2014). Australian child protection legislation. Retrieved from https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/australian-child-protection-legislation
Australian Government, Australian Institute of Family Studies. (2017). Reporting child abuse and neglect: State and territory departments responsible for protecting children. Retrieved from https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/reporting-abuse-and-neglect
Australian Children’s Commissioners and Guardians (2013). Submission to Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Issues Paper 3 – Child safe institutions. Principles for child safety in organisations. Retrieved from http://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/getattachment/b35a65c0-70e4-48bb-a215-d679892ec014/36-Australian-Childrens-Commissioners-and-Guardian
Australian Government, Department of Education and Training (2017a). National safe schools framework. Retrieved from https://www.studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/educators/national-safe-schools-framework#/
Australian Government, Department of Education and Training. (2017b). Student wellbeing hub. Retrieved from https://www.studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/
Commissioner for Children, Tasmania. (2015). Strengthening child safe organisations. Retrieved from http://www.childcomm.tas.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/SCSO_Report_2015_low-res_20150907.pdf
Doidge, J. C., Higgins, D. J., Delfabbro, P. & Segal, L. (2017). Risk factors for child maltreatment in an Australian-based birth cohort. Child Abuse and Neglect, 64, 47-60.
Swain, S. (2014). History of child protection legislation. Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Sydney. Retrieved from https://www.childabuseroyalcommission.gov.au/sites/default/files/file-list/Research%20Report%20-%20History%20of%20child%20protection%20legislation%20-%20Institutional%20responses.pdf
Victorian Government Department of Human Services Melbourne. (2013). Child sexual abuse: Understanding and responding: For professionals working with children who have experienced sexual abuse. Retrieved from: http://www.dhs.vic.gov.au/for-individuals/children,-families-and-young-people/child-protection/about-child-abuse/what-is-child-abuse/understanding-child-sexual-abuse-and-responding/Child-sexual-abuse_0813.pdf