Students

ECH 315 – Management and Leadership 1 - The Socio-Political Context of Teaching

2014 – S2 External

General Information

Download as PDF
Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor
Marianne Fenech
Contact via marianne.fenech@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
(39cp including ECH120) or (39cp and admission to BTeach(ECS)) or (admission to GDipECTeach or GDipEarlyChildhood)
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit introduces students to the macro context in which they teach. Students will critically consider the socio-political context of early childhood education; management and governance structures of schools and prior-to-school settings; and the legal and professional accountabilities of early childhood teachers. From studying this unit students will develop foundational understandings of effective management and leadership, an awareness of their professional and legal responsibilities, skills in policy development, and critical understandings of children's rights and quality early childhood education.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a critical awareness of diverse early childhood and school management structures, and the implications of each for teachers’ organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Develop a sound working knowledge of teachers’ legal and professional accountabilities, as per federal and state government legislation and professional standards
  • Critique organisational policies, and understand how centre/school policies play a critical role in supporting teachers to meet their legal and professional accountabilities
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context
  • Consider systems or political advocacy as a professional responsibility

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Due
Study Guide Blogs 30% Weekly submissions
Leading a learning community 30% As per registration
Exam 40% Exam period

Study Guide Blogs

Due: Weekly submissions
Weighting: 30%

This assessment task requires students to complete weekly readings and post short answer responses to Study Guide questions for weeks 2-9 and 13 inclusive. 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a critical awareness of diverse early childhood and school management structures, and the implications of each for teachers’ organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Develop a sound working knowledge of teachers’ legal and professional accountabilities, as per federal and state government legislation and professional standards
  • Critique organisational policies, and understand how centre/school policies play a critical role in supporting teachers to meet their legal and professional accountabilities
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context
  • Consider systems or political advocacy as a professional responsibility

Leading a learning community

Due: As per registration
Weighting: 30%

Co-chair one tutorial (internals) or one on campus session (externals)


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a sound working knowledge of teachers’ legal and professional accountabilities, as per federal and state government legislation and professional standards
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context
  • Consider systems or political advocacy as a professional responsibility

Exam

Due: Exam period
Weighting: 40%

8 short answer questions


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a critical awareness of diverse early childhood and school management structures, and the implications of each for teachers’ organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Develop a sound working knowledge of teachers’ legal and professional accountabilities, as per federal and state government legislation and professional standards
  • Critique organisational policies, and understand how centre/school policies play a critical role in supporting teachers to meet their legal and professional accountabilities
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context

Delivery and Resources

Lectures:in weeks 1- 9 and week 13. Wednesday 1-2pm, Y3A T1.

Weekly tutorials in weeks 1-9 and week 13.

On campus Sep 25 and 26.

 

Unit Schedule

Topics covered in this unit are:

Introduction to Management & Leadership

Socio-political context of EC settings

Management Structures

Policy development

Law I: Employment and industrial legislation

Law II: Child protection

Children’s rights

Regulatory environment specific to ECE services

Regulatory environment specific to schools

Professional leadership: Quality, ethics, and advocacy



 

Learning and Teaching Activities

Weekly tutorials

Active discussion of lecture and readings

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central. Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Academic Honesty Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

Assessment Policy  http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/assessment/policy.html

Grading Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grading/policy.html

Grade Appeal Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/gradeappeal/policy.html

Grievance Management Policy http://mq.edu.au/policy/docs/grievance_management/policy.html

Disruption to Studies Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/disruption_studies/policy.html The Disruption to Studies Policy is effective from March 3 2014 and replaces the Special Consideration Policy.

In addition, a number of other policies can be found in the Learning and Teaching Category of Policy Central.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/support/student_conduct/

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

Learning Skills

Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to improve your marks and take control of your study.

Student Services and Support

Students with a disability are encouraged to contact the Disability Service who can provide appropriate help with any issues that arise during their studies.

Student Enquiries

For all student enquiries, visit Student Connect at ask.mq.edu.au

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://informatics.mq.edu.au/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Graduate Capabilities

Capable of Professional and Personal Judgement and Initiative

We want our graduates to have emotional intelligence and sound interpersonal skills and to demonstrate discernment and common sense in their professional and personal judgement. They will exercise initiative as needed. They will be capable of risk assessment, and be able to handle ambiguity and complexity, enabling them to be adaptable in diverse and changing environments.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a critical awareness of diverse early childhood and school management structures, and the implications of each for teachers’ organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Critique organisational policies, and understand how centre/school policies play a critical role in supporting teachers to meet their legal and professional accountabilities
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context
  • Consider systems or political advocacy as a professional responsibility

Assessment tasks

  • Study Guide Blogs
  • Leading a learning community
  • Exam

Commitment to Continuous Learning

Our graduates will have enquiring minds and a literate curiosity which will lead them to pursue knowledge for its own sake. They will continue to pursue learning in their careers and as they participate in the world. They will be capable of reflecting on their experiences and relationships with others and the environment, learning from them, and growing - personally, professionally and socially.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context
  • Consider systems or political advocacy as a professional responsibility

Assessment tasks

  • Study Guide Blogs
  • Leading a learning community

Discipline Specific Knowledge and Skills

Our graduates will take with them the intellectual development, depth and breadth of knowledge, scholarly understanding, and specific subject content in their chosen fields to make them competent and confident in their subject or profession. They will be able to demonstrate, where relevant, professional technical competence and meet professional standards. They will be able to articulate the structure of knowledge of their discipline, be able to adapt discipline-specific knowledge to novel situations, and be able to contribute from their discipline to inter-disciplinary solutions to problems.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a critical awareness of diverse early childhood and school management structures, and the implications of each for teachers’ organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Develop a sound working knowledge of teachers’ legal and professional accountabilities, as per federal and state government legislation and professional standards
  • Critique organisational policies, and understand how centre/school policies play a critical role in supporting teachers to meet their legal and professional accountabilities
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context
  • Consider systems or political advocacy as a professional responsibility

Assessment tasks

  • Study Guide Blogs
  • Leading a learning community
  • Exam

Critical, Analytical and Integrative Thinking

We want our graduates to be capable of reasoning, questioning and analysing, and to integrate and synthesise learning and knowledge from a range of sources and environments; to be able to critique constraints, assumptions and limitations; to be able to think independently and systemically in relation to scholarly activity, in the workplace, and in the world. We want them to have a level of scientific and information technology literacy.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a critical awareness of diverse early childhood and school management structures, and the implications of each for teachers’ organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Critique organisational policies, and understand how centre/school policies play a critical role in supporting teachers to meet their legal and professional accountabilities
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context
  • Consider systems or political advocacy as a professional responsibility

Assessment tasks

  • Study Guide Blogs
  • Leading a learning community
  • Exam

Problem Solving and Research Capability

Our graduates should be capable of researching; of analysing, and interpreting and assessing data and information in various forms; of drawing connections across fields of knowledge; and they should be able to relate their knowledge to complex situations at work or in the world, in order to diagnose and solve problems. We want them to have the confidence to take the initiative in doing so, within an awareness of their own limitations.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a critical awareness of diverse early childhood and school management structures, and the implications of each for teachers’ organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Develop a sound working knowledge of teachers’ legal and professional accountabilities, as per federal and state government legislation and professional standards
  • Critique organisational policies, and understand how centre/school policies play a critical role in supporting teachers to meet their legal and professional accountabilities
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children

Assessment tasks

  • Study Guide Blogs
  • Leading a learning community
  • Exam

Creative and Innovative

Our graduates will also be capable of creative thinking and of creating knowledge. They will be imaginative and open to experience and capable of innovation at work and in the community. We want them to be engaged in applying their critical, creative thinking.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context

Assessment task

  • Leading a learning community

Effective Communication

We want to develop in our students the ability to communicate and convey their views in forms effective with different audiences. We want our graduates to take with them the capability to read, listen, question, gather and evaluate information resources in a variety of formats, assess, write clearly, speak effectively, and to use visual communication and communication technologies as appropriate.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a critical awareness of diverse early childhood and school management structures, and the implications of each for teachers’ organisational roles and responsibilities
  • Develop a sound working knowledge of teachers’ legal and professional accountabilities, as per federal and state government legislation and professional standards
  • Critique organisational policies, and understand how centre/school policies play a critical role in supporting teachers to meet their legal and professional accountabilities
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Critically reflect on the importance a leader’s professional values, judgement and vision play in the ways they and their school/early childhood setting engages with the socio-political and legal context

Assessment tasks

  • Study Guide Blogs
  • Leading a learning community
  • Exam

Engaged and Ethical Local and Global citizens

As local citizens our graduates will be aware of indigenous perspectives and of the nation's historical context. They will be engaged with the challenges of contemporary society and with knowledge and ideas. We want our graduates to have respect for diversity, to be open-minded, sensitive to others and inclusive, and to be open to other cultures and perspectives: they should have a level of cultural literacy. Our graduates should be aware of disadvantage and social justice, and be willing to participate to help create a wiser and better society.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcomes

  • Understand and critically engage with the ever changing socio-political and legal context within which schools and early childhood settings operate
  • Develop a sound working knowledge of teachers’ legal and professional accountabilities, as per federal and state government legislation and professional standards
  • Demonstrate a commitment to managing and leading ethically and professionally, with due regard for children’s rights
  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children
  • Consider systems or political advocacy as a professional responsibility

Assessment tasks

  • Study Guide Blogs
  • Leading a learning community
  • Exam

Socially and Environmentally Active and Responsible

We want our graduates to be aware of and have respect for self and others; to be able to work with others as a leader and a team player; to have a sense of connectedness with others and country; and to have a sense of mutual obligation. Our graduates should be informed and active participants in moving society towards sustainability.

This graduate capability is supported by:

Learning outcome

  • Appreciate the impact of effective management and leadership on the provision of quality education for young children