Teaching for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Duration
- One Semester or equivalent
Contact hours
- 24 hours face to face + Blended and Swinburne Online
On-campus unit delivery combines face-to-face and digital learning. For Online unit delivery, learning is conducted exclusively online.
Prerequisites
Aims and objectives
This unit critically examines how education systems both reproduce and challenge social inequalities. The unit highlights a teacher’s professional responsibility to provide children and young people with an equitable education in line with political and legislative priorities. Pre-service teachers will critically reflect on their educational experiences and assumptions to more effectively engage all students. Pre-service teachers will explore the diverse needs, strengths, interests, and backgrounds of students, especially in relation to social class, disability, culture, ethnicity, language, religion, gender, and sexuality. Pre-service teachers will formulate critically-informed and socially-just teaching strategies that value the diversity of students.
1. Critically reflect upon and challenge their own perspectives, experiences, assumptions, and influences regarding the education system.
2. Critically examine the role of education as a site for inclusion and exclusion and the teacher’s potential to both reproduce and overcome social inequalities for students across the full range of abilities.
3. Critically examine the educational experiences of students with disabilities and additional needs (incl. neurodiverse students) and formulate inclusive, differentiated, and strength-based strategies for engaging these students and their families.
4. Critically examine the educational experiences of students from diverse socioeconomic, cultural, linguistic, and religious backgrounds (incl. students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds) and formulate inclusive strategies for engaging these students and their families
5. Critically examine policy and legislation concerning diversity, disability, equity, and inclusion in education and the role of the community and external organisations in supporting student participation.
Unit information in detail
- Teaching methods, assessment and content.
Teaching methods
Type | Hours per week | Number of Weeks | Total |
Live Online Lecture | 1 | 12 | 12 |
| On Campus Class (Seminar) | 2 | 12 | 24 |
Specified Activities Various | 4 | 12 | 48 |
Unspecified Activities Independent Learning | 5.5 | 12 | 66 |
TOTAL | 150 hours |
Swinburne Online
Type | Hours per week | Number of Weeks | Total |
Online Contact Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning | 12.5 | 12 | 150 |
TOTAL | 150 hours |
Assessment
|
|
| Types | Individual or Group task | Weighting | Assesses attainment of these ULOs |
| Project - Multimedia Project | Individual | 60% | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Report - Advisory Report | Individual | 40% | 2, 3, 5 |
Content
- Key sociological tools for examining the explicit and implicit work of educators and education systems
- The ethics, theory, and practice of inclusion
- The philosophy, purpose and political nature of education
- Equity vs equality in education
- The representation and language of diversity, equity and inclusion in education
- The persistent myth of meritocracy, colourblindness, and deficit discourses in relation to educational access, participation, and achievement
- The role of schools in debating, reinforcing, and challenging classism, racism, sexism, and ableism
- The perspectives and experiences of marginalised students
- Characteristics of common additional needs
- Strategies for implementing reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities
- Strength-based and valuing approaches for diversity, equity and inclusion
- Learning environments that promote diversity, equity and inclusion
- The importance of collaborating with families and other professionals to access support, resources, and additional services
- Codes of ethics and conduct, relevant legislative, administrative and organisational policies and processes
Study resources
- Reading materials.