¾«¶«´«Ã½app

Staffing

Examiner:

Requisites

Pre-requisite: EDM5000 and EDM5002

Rationale

Considering the increasing diversity of students in schools today, pre-service educators need to be equipped with the knowledge and skills necessary to create inclusive and supportive classrooms for all learners. Awareness of learner differences (i.e., cognitive, physical and psychosocial) and the interplay with contextual influences (e.g., socio-economic background) will enhance teacher capacity to identify and address the various learning needs of individual learners in their classrooms.

In order to critically reflect on personal pedagogical practice, pre-service educators must develop an understanding of the diverse learning needs of their students. Professional and legal responsibilities associated with supporting students with special needs are continually changing, and it is imperative that teachers stay abreast of recent developments and changing expectations.

Synopsis

This course will provide pre-service educators, in the Australian context, with an introduction to the guiding legislation, policies and practices of inclusive education. Pre-service educators will also develop knowledge of the characteristics and educational approaches employed to support a range of students with special needs, specifically students with high incidence and low incidence disabilities. In addition, this course will examine the characteristics and educational needs of gifted and talented students. Cognisant of the range of student diversity, this course will focus on effective, evidenced-based approaches to supporting the learning and development of students with special needs and issues related to creating inclusive educational environments. This course will introduce pre-service educators to effective management strategies for those students who exhibit challenging behaviours. The course will require pre-service educators to develop research synthesis skills and will enable pre-service teachers to analyse and evaluate approaches for teaching students with special needs in an inclusive classroom environment.

Objectives

Topics

Text and materials required to be purchased or accessed

Reference materials

Student workload expectations

Assessment details

Important assessment information

1. Attendance requirements:
   
   There are no attendance requirements for this course. However, it is the students’ responsibility to study all material provided to them or required to be accessed by them to maximise their chance of meeting the objectives of the course and to be informed of course-related activities and administration.
   
   
2. Requirements for students to complete each assessment item satisfactorily:
   
   To satisfactorily complete an individual assessment item a student must achieve at least 50% of the marks for that item.
   
   
3. Penalties for late submission of required work:
   
   Students should refer to the Assessment Procedure (point 4.2.4)
   
   
4. Requirements for student to be awarded a passing grade in the course:
   
   To be assured of receiving a passing grade a student must achieve at least 50% of the total weighted marks available for the course.
   
   
5. Method used to combine assessment results to attain final grade:
   
   The final grades for students will be assigned on the basis of the aggregate of the weighted marks obtained for each of the summative items for the course.
   
   
6. Examination information:
   
   There is no examination in this course.
   
   
7. Examination period when Deferred/Supplementary examinations will be held:
   
   Not applicable.
   
   
8. ¾«¶«´«Ã½app Student Policies:
   
   Students should read the USQ policies: Definitions, Assessment and Student Academic Misconduct to avoid actions which might contravene ¾«¶«´«Ã½app policies and practices. These policies can be found at .
   
   

Assessment notes

1. Referencing in assignments must comply with the APA referencing system. This system should be used by students to format details of the information sources they have cited in their work. The APA style to be used is defined by the USQ library's referencing guide. This guide can be found at .
   
   
2. Students are required to demonstrate competence in and appropriate use of academic language and literacy, including spelling, grammar, punctuation, and referencing in all assessment responses. Marks allocated to the aforementioned criteria will be specified in the criteria for assessment of all assessment items.
   
   
3. Students are required to submit ALL assignments to evidence meeting or exceeding the mandatory requirements of the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APSTs).
   
   

Other requirements

1. Students are required to have access to a personal computer, e-mail capabilities and Internet access to UConnect. Current details of computer requirements can be found at .
   
   
2. Students can expect that questions in assessment items in this course may draw upon knowledge and skills that they can reasonably be expected to have acquired before enrolling in this course. This includes knowledge contained in pre-requisite courses and appropriate communication, information literacy, analytical, critical thinking, problem solving or numeracy skills. Students who do not possess such knowledge and skills should not expect the same grades as those students who do possess them.