EDF5692 · Advanced practice in inclusive education

Overview

This unit consolidates and extends your prior learning in inclusive education by focusing on the deliberate design, enactment and critical reflection of professional practice. In the first half of the unit, you will refine and extend the planning and instructional skills developed in earlier units by learning how to design accessible whole-class teaching plans that fully include students with complex disability profiles, including those with significant intellectual and developmental disabilities and complex communication support needs. Drawing on cognitive load theory, universal design for learning and the thoughtful use of assistive technologies, you will learn to plan the teaching of grade-level curriculum that is taught at an appropriate level of complexity for all students, and to adjust achievement standards where necessary while still promoting the development of independent academic skills. In the second half of the unit, you will draw together your learning from the preceding units to curate a professional portfolio that captures your vision and capabilities in implementing inclusive education. You will critically examine a coherent set of school-based practices you have selected, showing how these align to support students’ right to inclusive education and uphold schools’ legislative and policy obligations. In doing so, you will synthesise evidence for these practices and consider what is required for skillful, high-fidelity implementation within real-world constraints and enabling conditions, reflecting on your own current competence and your role in leading and supporting others to use these practices.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. design and justify inclusive Tier 1 lessons that apply cognitive load principles and universal design (including emerging technologies) for learning so that teaching and assessment are accessible to all students
2. use assessment data to plan and implement curriculum and achievement-standard adjustments for students with complex disability profiles, while supporting the development of independent academic skills
3. critically analyse practice in a case-study school, using research and legislation to identify priorities for school and system leaders to strengthen inclusive education
4. collaborate with students, families, teacher assistants, colleagues and allied health professionals to plan, enact and review inclusive teaching and support
5. curate a professional portfolio that articulates a personal philosophy of inclusive education and evidences professional capabilities through critical reflection on practice and its impact on student participation and learning.

Workload

The minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 288 hours per teaching period comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Usually, you can expect to engage with: • 12 hours of scheduled learning delivered on campus via weekly/regular directed learning activities, 24 hours of scheduled learning delivered online via a combination of synchronous and asynchronous directed learning activities and the remaining hours to be allocated towards self-directed/independent study OR • 36 hours of scheduled learning delivered online via a combination of synchronous and asynchronous directed learning activities and the remaining hours to be allocated towards self-directed/independent study^ ^ International students studying in Australia are not permitted to undertake this scheduled learning delivery mode. Scheduled learning activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.