¾«¶«´«Ã½app

Staffing

Examiner:

Rationale

The transition from teacher to principal is challenging. Experience as a teacher does not necessarily develop the required knowledge, skills and leadership abilities needed for the new demands in their new position (Jensen, Hunter, Lambert, & Clark, 2015). Studies in Australia and overseas have suggested that principals, in the context of school management, now work in complex and increasingly uncertain and challenging environments. As the roles and responsibilities of principals change to meet new demands and capabilities, especially for dealing with safety and child protection, so too does the rights and responsibilities of school leaders, in addition to the implications of policy issues in schools such as the impact of court orders; duty of care in an educational context; overall responsibilities in relation to compliance; managing QCT requirements; working with children with disabilities; policy development and interpretation; and managing ethical considerations in schools.

Synopsis

This course aims to assist students to understand what rights and responsibilities are placed on principals, deputy principals, Heads of Departments and other aspiring leaders, (as well as 'Compliance Managers' in schools) to effectively perform their duties as the leader of their school community. Central to these rights and responsibilities are the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, and considerations as to how to apply knowledge of these expectations specifically in a school context. That is to say that students will not only learn some of their ethical and legislative obligations in contemporary education, but more importantly, will also understand how to apply this acquired knowledge in their school community and what supports and protections are available to assist them. Students will learn what is, and how far, their duty of care extends in a school context, what their duties are when working with the teacher regulatory body, how to abide by and comply with court orders, how to remain compliant with mandatory reporting of child protection matters, ensure that they meet their privacy responsibilities, and examine what their rights are in relation to restriction of access of parents and others from the school campus. Students will also explore what conditions they must meet to comply with the Disability Standards in Education in their school. They will consider their rights and responsibilities for decision making and investigations in regard to when they should involve or defer to other supports, agencies and officials.

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 on-campus requirements for this course. There is, however, an expectation that students will participate in online tutorial sessions and / or access the recordings of the sessions. 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. Depending upon the requirements in Statement 4 below, students may not have to satisfactorily complete each assessment item to receive a passing grade in this course.
   
   
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 .
   
   

Evaluation and benchmarking

In meeting the ¾«¶«´«Ã½app’s aims to establish quality learning and teaching for all programs, this course monitors and ensures quality assurance and improvements in at least two ways. This course:
• conforms to the USQ Policy on Evaluation of Teaching, Courses and Programs to ensure ongoing monitoring and systematic improvement; and forms part of the postgraduate suite of Education programs and is benchmarked against the internal USQ accreditation/ reaccreditation processes which include (i) stringent standards in the independent accreditation of its academic programs, (ii) close integration between business and academic planning, and (iii) regular and rigorous review.

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.