Course Title: Professional Experience: Caring for and developing early learners

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Professional Experience: Caring for and developing early learners

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
TCHE2634	Bundoora Campus	Undergraduate	360H Education	Face-to-Face	Sem 1 2021, Sem 1 2022, Sem 1 2023, Sem 1 2024

Course Coordinator: Elise Waghorn

Course Coordinator Phone: By Email

Course Coordinator Email: elise.waghorn@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 220.level 3

Course Coordinator Availability: By Appointment

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

Enforced Pre-Requisite Courses 

Successful completion of TCHE2658 Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education AND TCHE2625 Literacy Test for Initial Teacher Education.  

Note: it is a condition of enrolment at RMIT that you accept responsibility for ensuring that you have completed the prerequisite/s and agree to concurrently enrol in co-requisite courses before enrolling in a course. 

For your information go to RMIT Course Requisites webpage. 

Course Description

This course will develop your knowledge of caring for and developing young learners from birth to 35 months of age. A key focus of this course will be on the health, wellbeing and safety of young children. You will explore a developmental and social view of infants and toddlers, including theories of development (brain, psychosocial, physical and cognitive), growth and well-being. 

You will extend your skills in designing learning environments that are safe, stimulating, culturally responsive, socially satisfying and that contain opportunities for multiple modes of communicating with babies and toddlers and families. You will develop an understanding of the importance of diversity, individual difference and the range of contexts families live in, as well as the changing social image of infants and toddlers and expectations of young children’s competencies. 

This course includes a Work Integrated Learning (WIL) professional experience (PX) in which your teaching knowledge and skills will be applied and assessed in a real or simulated workplace context and where feedback from industry and/or community is integral to your experience. This PX is 10 days. 

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

In this course you will develop the following program learning outcomes:  

PLO5 Demonstrate agency and an emerging professional identity through their application of effective learning and teaching practices. 

PLO7 Engage with school communities and professional networks and communicate with diverse stakeholders in a range of contexts.  

PLO8 Draw on evidence-based theory and reflective practice to adapt to the changing needs of the profession and to identify professional learning needs to improve student learning outcomes. 

Course Learning Outcomes 

Upon successful completion of this course, you will be able to:  

		Graduate APST
1.	Critically discuss theories of child development in the first three years	1.1, 1.3
2.	Apply theoretical knowledge of development, growth and well-being to your pedagogical practice	1.2
3.	Design and evaluate learning environments appropriate for infants/toddlers	1.5, 4.1 4.2
4.	Plan, document and evaluate programs for individual infants	5.4

Overview of Learning Activities

You will be actively engaged in a range of learning activities such as workshops, tutorials, seminars, project work, class discussion, individual and group activities. Teaching and learning may be face to face, online, or a combination of both. 

To successfully complete this course, you will need to participate in tutorials and other learning events as well as successfully complete a 10-day professional experience placement. 

You will need to complete regular weekly learning tasks that may involve online activities, reading broadly, analysing video material and case studies, reporting critically on set questions, researching course topics, and completing prescribed assessment tasks. 

You are required to be proactive and self-directed in your learning, asking questions of your lecturer and/or placement mentor, and seeking out information as required, especially from the numerous sources available through the RMIT library, and through links and material specific to this course that is available through myRMIT Studies Course Site. 

Overview of Learning Resources

RMIT will provide you with resources and tools for learning in this course through our online systems. 

There are services available to support your learning through the University Library. The library provides guides on academic referencing and subject specialist help as well as a range of study support services. For further information, please visit the library page on the RMIT University website and the myRMIT student portal. 

Overview of Assessment

You will be assessed on how well you meet the course’s learning outcomes (CLO) and on your development against the program learning outcomes. The assessment is also mapped against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APST).  

Assessment Tasks 

	Title	Weighting	CLOs	APSTs
AT 1	Part A: Learning Story, Part B: Designing a Learning Space	50% (Part A 20%, Part B 30%)	1, 2, 3	1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 4.1, 4.2, 5.4
AT 2	Part A: Observation and Interaction, Part B: Critical Analysis and Reflection	50% (Part A 25%, Part B 25%)	1, 2, 3, 4	1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.5, 4.1, 4.2, 5.4

Assessment in this course is directly connected to your successful participation in professional experience. The end-of-placement report from your supervising teacher(s) on your professional development and participation in professional experience is an important component of your assessment. It will provide evidence of your ability to demonstrate the relevant professional practices and course learning outcomes specifically associated with the assessment tasks in the course. 

Feedback will be given on all assessment tasks. 

If you have a long-term medical condition and/or disability it may be possible to negotiate to vary aspects of the learning or assessment methods. You can contact the program coordinator or Equitable Learning Services if you would like to find out more. 

Your course assessment conforms to RMIT assessment principles, regulations, policies, procedures and instructions.