EDWB602 - Professional Practice and Wellbeing

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Incompatible

EDFD623, EDFD662

Unit rationale, description and aim

At a time of rapid ongoing change in society and education, the role of an educator or allied professional with specialist knowledge, understanding, and skills in promoting the social-emotional wellbeing of young people is increasingly important. In this unit, within the Wellbeing specialisation of the Graduate Certificate in Education and Master of Education, students will explore the origins and evolution of Catholic Social Teaching and other key traditions as foundations for approaches to professional practice in developing and sustaining the wellbeing of children and young people. Students will compare and contrast current wellbeing practice frameworks for promoting and sustaining wellbeing in schools and other learning contexts. Students will then have opportunities to explore the nature and role of social-emotional learning in empowering children and young people. Finally, students will conduct and in-depth appraisal of a contemporary wellbeing practice framework and curricula relevant to their professional context. Therefore, the aim of this unit is to support students in developing the required advanced knowledge, understanding and skills they need in order to assist in the ongoing transformation of educational and community learning contexts as places where social justice permeates the structures and processes and promotes the wellbeing and learning of children and young people.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Articulate the origins and evolution of Catholic Social Teaching and other key traditions as foundations for approaches to professional practice in developing and sustaining wellbeing, social justice and engagement with learning in schools and other learning contexts (GA1, GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9, GA10; APST 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 4.1, 4.4, 7.1, 7.2)

LO2 - Demonstrate theoretical and applied understanding of professional practice frameworks that promote and sustain wellbeing in schools and other learning contexts in the community and articulate the common elements among these contemporary approaches (GA1, GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9, GA10; APST 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 4.1, 4.4, 7.1, 7.2)

LO3 - Demonstrate theoretical and applied understanding of social-emotional learning (SEL) in empowering children and young people with the knowledge and skills they need to sustain their wellbeing, optimise their engagement with learning, contribute to the wellbeing of others, and understand their role in contributing to social justice within schools or other learning contexts and the wider community (GA1, GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9, GA10; APST 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 4.1, 4.4, 7.1, 7.2)

LO4 - Evaluate a selected contemporary practice framework and curricula for developing and sustaining social-emotional competencies and wellbeing, taking into consideration the foundations, goals, rationale, structure, critical elements, utilisation of evidence-informed approaches, and integration into the teaching and learning processes in a particular context (GA1, GA4, GA5, GA8, GA9, GA10; APST 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 4.1, 4.4, 7.1, 7.2)

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

AUSTRALIAN PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS

On successful completion of this unit, students should have gained evidence towards the following standards:

Content

Topics will include: 

• Review of international, national and local practice frameworks for enhancing the wellbeing and learning of children and young people 
• Origins and evolution of Catholic Social Teaching and other key traditions as foundations for approaches to professional practice in wellbeing  
• Review of contemporary approaches and practice frameworks in promoting and sustaining wellbeing in schools, other educational contexts and community organisations 
• Identification of common elements of contemporary approaches and practice frameworks in promoting and sustaining wellbeing 
• The nature and role of social-emotional learning (SEL) 
• Contemporary approaches to teaching social-emotional learning (SEL) in learning contexts  
• Impact of social-emotional learning (e.g., empowering children and young people with the knowledge and skills to develop their own wellbeing, optimise their engagement with learning, contribute to the wellbeing of others, and understand their role in contributing to social justice within schools or other learning contexts and the wider community) 
• Analysis of contemporary practice framework and curricula for developing and sustaining social-emotional competencies and wellbeing including appraisal of foundations, goals, rationale, structure, critical elements, utilisation of evidence-informed approaches, and integration into the teaching and learning processes in a particular context. 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This unit is offered in multi-mode. Strategies used may include lectures, engagement with the literature, self-directed learning, critical reflection against relevant professional standards, case studies, dialogue and interrogation of concepts, theories and practices, and the application of learning to current professional contexts. 

This is a 10-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 150 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students will find it helpful to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches to support your learning such as reading, reflection, discussion, webinars, podcasts, video, workshops, and assignments etc.  

Assessment strategy and rationale

In order to successfully complete this unit, postgraduate students need to complete and submit two graded assessment tasks. The assessment strategy used allows students to demonstrate their knowledge related to professional practice and wellbeing  

In order to develop this level of creativity, students are required to complete two tasks. The first task involves an analysis of of a whole school context through the lens of wellbeing; the second task is a proposal for ways of developing students social - emotional competencies.  

The total assessment will be equivalent to 5,500 words. In order to pass this unit, students are required to submit and pass both assessment tasks. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Australian Government, Department of Education and Training. (2017b). Student wellbeing hub. https://www.studentwellbeinghub.edu.au/ 

Collie, R. J., Martin, A. J., & Frydenberg, E. (2017). Social and Emotional learning: A brief overview and issues relevant to Australia and the Asia-Pacific. In E. Frydenberg, A. J. Martin, & R. J. Collie (Eds.), Social and emotional learning in Australia and the Asia-Pacific: Perspectives, programs and approaches (pp. 1-13). Singapore: Springer.  

Government of South Australia, Department of Education and Child Development. (2016). Wellbeing for learning and life framework: A framework for building resilience and wellbeing in children and young people.  https://www.decd.sa.gov.au/sites/g/files/net691/f/wellbeing-for-learning-and-life-framework.pdf?v=1475123999 

McLellan, R. (2017). Children and young people’s wellbeing in the school context. In R. Maclean & L. Pe Symaco (Eds.), Life in schools and classrooms: Past, present and future (pp. 455-471). Singapore: Springer.  

New South Wales Department of Education and Communities. (2015). The wellbeing framework for schools.

Powell, M. A.. & Graham, A. (2017). Wellbeing in schools: Examining the policy-practice nexus. The Australian Educational Researcher, 44(2), 213-231. 

Skattebol, J., Hamilton, M., Skryzpiec, G., Burnstock, T., Redmond, G., Jenkins, B., & Dodd, K. (2013). Understanding children’s perspectives on wellbeing: The Australian Child Wellbeing Project – Phase one report.

White, S. C., & Eyber, C. (2017). Positive mental health and wellbeing. In R. G. White, S. Jain, D. M. R Orr & U. M. Read (Eds.). The Palgrave handbook of sociocultural perspectives on global mental health (pp. 129-150). London: Palgrave Macmillan.  

Wrench, A., Hammond, C., McCallum, F., & Price, D. (2013). Inspire to aspire: Raising aspirational outcomes through a student well-being curricular focus. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 17(9), 932-947. 

Wright, K. (2014). Student wellbeing and the therapeutic turn in education. Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 31(2), 141-152.