Students

EDUC264 – Education: The Policy Context

2013 – S1 Day

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit Convenor
David Saltmarsh
Contact via david.saltmarsh@mq.edu.au
Credit points Credit points
3
Prerequisites Prerequisites
EDUC106(P) or (admission to GDipEd or BEd(Prim))
Corequisites Corequisites
EDUC105(P) or (admission to GDipEd or BEd(Prim))
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description
This unit builds on understandings gained in EDUC106. It provides students with a critical understanding of the importance of education in contemporary society. It examines the policy context of education and the ways in which policy is socially constructed. It analyses the importance of policy in the teaching profession and classroom pedagogy, and in the context of a constantly modernising and globalising society. The impact of the markets on symbolic economy of educational institutions (prospectuses, web sites, advertising) is also analysed. Also analysed are the everyday cultures of schooling. A particular focus of this analysis is the spatial and temporal practices of schools, as exhibited in their architecture, timetabling, and so on. Finally, the unit examines what education ought to be like according to liberal (Plato), libertarian (A S Neill) and liberatory (Paulo Freire) educational theorists.

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 key ideas and theories underpinning contemporary educational theory and practice
  • Understand the genealogy of modern educational practices
  • Appreciate the importance of social justice discourses in education
  • Apply critical thinking and research skills in education
  • Apply appropriate levels of ITC and writing skills
  • Display ability to communicate ideas in oral, screen and written modes
  • Work collaboratively, respectfully in teams
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Due
Short essay 10% Week 3
Essay 30% 2 April 2013
Group presentation 30% Weeks 5-13
Exam 30% Exam period

Short essay

Due: Week 3
Weighting: 10%

A 500 word essay on the purposes of education as low-risk, early assessment task, conducted in tutorials of week 3


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understand key ideas and theories underpinning contemporary educational theory and practice
  • Display ability to communicate ideas in oral, screen and written modes
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

Essay

Due: 2 April 2013
Weighting: 30%

A 1200 word essay, written on one of 4 topics, to demonstrate ability to analyse educational ideas and concepts


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understand key ideas and theories underpinning contemporary educational theory and practice
  • Understand the genealogy of modern educational practices
  • Apply critical thinking and research skills in education
  • Display ability to communicate ideas in oral, screen and written modes
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

Group presentation

Due: Weeks 5-13
Weighting: 30%

Group tutorial presentation with individually written 800 word paper. Provide feedback to other presenters


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Appreciate the importance of social justice discourses in education
  • Apply appropriate levels of ITC and writing skills
  • Display ability to communicate ideas in oral, screen and written modes
  • Work collaboratively, respectfully in teams

Exam

Due: Exam period
Weighting: 30%

An exam comprising multiple choice questions, short & long answers questions covering the content of the entire unit


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • Understand key ideas and theories underpinning contemporary educational theory and practice
  • Understand the genealogy of modern educational practices
  • Appreciate the importance of social justice discourses in education
  • Apply critical thinking and research skills in education
  • Display ability to communicate ideas in oral, screen and written modes
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

Delivery and Resources

The text for the unit is:

Symes, C. & Preston, N. (1997) Schools and classrooms: A cultural analysis of education, South Melbourne, Vic: Addison Wesley Longman

In addition to updating literature used in the unit, the main changes to 2013 iteration of EDUC264 are the staff teaching the unit. With the retirement of Colin Symes, convenor from 2001 – 2012, David Saltmarsh has taken on the role of convenor, Norman McCulla continues and Mitch Parsell joins the lecturing team. The assessment pattern for the unit is largely the same. However, a peer assessment element has been added to the tutorial presentation task. The required text for the unit has been changed from the custom publication to the second edition of the original text and the readings have been placed on e-reserve.

Students are expected to use the iLearn unit website to submit assessments and communicate with staff.

Learning and Teaching Activities

Lectures

Two lectures per week

Tutorials

One tutorial per week

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://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/academic_honesty/policy.html

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

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

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

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

Special Consideration Policy http://www.mq.edu.au/policy/docs/special_consideration/policy.html

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

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of Academic Student Support Services. Details of these services can be accessed at: http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

UniWISE provides:

  • Online learning resources and academic skills workshops http://www.students.mq.edu.au/support/learning_skills/
  • Personal assistance with your learning & study related questions.
  • The Learning Help Desk is located in the Library foyer (level 2).
  • Online and on-campus orientation events run by Mentors@Macquarie.

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

Details of these services can be accessed at http://www.student.mq.edu.au/ses/.

IT Help

If you wish to receive IT help, we would be glad to assist you at 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 and it outlines what can be done.

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 the genealogy of modern educational practices
  • Appreciate the importance of social justice discourses in education
  • Apply appropriate levels of ITC and writing skills
  • Work collaboratively, respectfully in teams
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

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

  • Apply appropriate levels of ITC and writing skills
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

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 key ideas and theories underpinning contemporary educational theory and practice
  • Understand the genealogy of modern educational practices
  • Appreciate the importance of social justice discourses in education
  • Apply critical thinking and research skills in education
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

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 key ideas and theories underpinning contemporary educational theory and practice
  • Apply critical thinking and research skills in education
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

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

  • Apply critical thinking and research skills in education
  • Work collaboratively, respectfully in teams
  • Reflect upon and have the ability to articulate their learning accomplishments

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 outcomes

  • Display ability to communicate ideas in oral, screen and written modes
  • Work collaboratively, respectfully in teams

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

  • Apply appropriate levels of ITC and writing skills
  • Display ability to communicate ideas in oral, screen and written modes
  • Work collaboratively, respectfully in teams

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 key ideas and theories underpinning contemporary educational theory and practice
  • Appreciate the importance of social justice discourses in education
  • Apply critical thinking and research skills in education

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 outcomes

  • Appreciate the importance of social justice discourses in education
  • Apply appropriate levels of ITC and writing skills