Curriculum and Pedagogy for Primary: Practicum 3P

Overview

The pre-service teachers will undertake 20 days of professional experience in an upper primary school setting under the supervision of a registered teacher mentor. In this unit pre-service teachers involve themselves in the life of the school and reflect on their practice and performance in discussion with their school mentor teacher and university staff. Pre-service teachers will take a large percentage of full class teaching. In preparation for their placement in schools, they will engage with material relating to pedagogy and curriculum for a primary school setting and assessment for learning in the primary classroom and establishing professional relationships from the onset and demonstrate competence against all the Australian professional standards for teachers at graduate level.

Learning outcomes

Teaching methods

Swinburne Online

Assessment

Students must achieve a minimum overall score of 70% for the Professional Experience Placement Report, including meeting the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership Focus Areas 4.4 (Maintain student safety), 7.1 (Meet professional ethics and responsibilities) and 7.2 (Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements):

• Not met (0%-49%)

• At risk (50%-69%)

• Met (70%-89%)

• Exceeding (90%-100%).

Students who achieve an ‘At Risk’ result will be offered one opportunity to improve their assessment through an appropriate supplementary task determined by the Unit Convenor. This hurdle requirement is in line with Initial Teacher Education Accreditation and meets the National Program Standard 5.4 (Professional Experience-Providers work with their placement school(s)/systems to achieve a rigorous approach to the assessment of pre-service teachers’ achievements against the Graduate Teacher Standards) set by the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership that partner with State Teacher Education registration organisations to register all qualified Teachers.

Content

• Engagement in a professional practicum under the guidance of a mentor teacher
• Upper primary school (Grades 3 to 6) relevant national and/or state or territory curriculum policies and documents
• Pedagogy
• Introduction to assessment practices and their relationship to effective learning
• Lesson and unit planning and documentation
• Forming professional relationships
• Self-assessment of teaching performance
• Creating and maintaining a safe and challenging learning environment
• Using a range of teaching practices and resources
• Strategies for supporting students’ well-being and safety, including policy and legislative requirements
• Code of Conduct
• Australian Professional Standards for Teachers 
• Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Verbal communication
• Graduate Attribute – Communication Skills: Communicating using different media
• Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Collaboration and negotiation
• Graduate Attribute – Teamwork Skills: Teamwork roles and processes
• Graduate Attribute – Digital Literacies: Information literacy
• Graduate Attribute – Digital Literacies: Technical literacy