UNMC502 - Managing Critical Incidents in Educational Settings

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

UNMC501 Managing Confronting Behaviours in Educational Settings

Unit rationale, description and aim

Teachers, especially those new to the profession, consistently perceive classroom management as a serious challenge. Dealing with students who demonstrate challenging and confronting behaviour is a major cause of teacher stress, burnout, job dissatisfaction. In addition, many teachers feel their training in classroom management is lacking particularly in their preparedness for responding appropriately to students who may be unpredictable, unco-operative and potentially violent.

This microcredential builds on the participant’s existing knowledge and skills in managing potentially stressful and confronting classroom behaviours that were explored in the prerequisite microcredential, UNMC501Managing Confronting Behaviour in Educational Settings. Through this microcredential participants will examine the philosophies and practical strategies for:

• the short-term de-escalation of potentially critical incidents involving challenging and confronting behaviour in classrooms or other educational settings and,
• long-term approaches for engaging students who regularly display challenging behaviour in classrooms or other educational settings.

This unit will provide opportunities for participants to apply and practice their knowledge and skills in the areas listed above through the examination of scenarios that involve confronting and challenging behaviour.

The aim of this microcredential is to build the participant’s skills and self-efficacy for managing potentially stressful and confronting classroom environments and individual students.

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 - Critically analyse strategies for engaging students who regularly display challenging behaviours. (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA5)

LO2 - Apply and critically appraise a range of philosophies and strategies that support the de-escalation of potentially critical incidents that are responsive to student well-being and safety. (GA1, GA2, GA3, GA4, GA5)

Graduate attributes

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

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA3 - apply ethical perspectives in informed decision making

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

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

Content

Topics will include:

• Critical incidents in classroom/school contexts.
• Philosophies and practical strategies for the short-term de-escalation of potentially critical incidents.
• Philosophies and practical strategies for engaging learners who regularly display unproductive, unco-operative and challenging behaviour in classroom settings (including trauma-informed pedagogical theories and practices).
• Networks of support and collaboration to manage challenging and confronting behaviour.
• Communication strategies following a critical incident.
• Self-care and managing personal safety.
• Teacher wellbeing and mental health.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

This microcredential will be delivered online through a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities. The unit’s purpose is to build the participant’s skills and self-efficacy for managing potentially stressful and confronting situations.

ACU uses a constructivist model of learning that recognises that participants assimilate new knowledge with their individually distinct pre-existing understandings and then can apply this new learning to tasks and problems to demonstrate competence. The learning and teaching strategy adopted in this unit reflects the constructivist model by encouraging participants to adopt a reflective approach that involves the critical analysis of their existing understandings and preferences in relation to the content of the unit. Active participation in the learning process will be encouraged through self-directed and problem-based learning experiences and scenarios. Participants will be encouraged to consider how the theories and strategies encountered in this unit might be assimilated with their existing practices and contexts in ways that lead to greater confidence for managing potentially stressful and confronting situations.

Teaching and learning approaches may include:

• Asynchronous online activities
• Reading materials – includes both directed reading for the unit as well as self-directed study materials
• Forums and discussion boards
• Recorded mini-lectures, presentations or podcasts
• Analysis of critical incidents
• Synchronous online activities
• Seminars – which include analysis of critical incidents, student-led discussions, role play
• Simulated critical incidents and interactions with students
• Collaborative and co-operative learning opportunities.

This is a 5-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 75 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.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The purpose of this microcredential is to build the participant’s skills and self-efficacy for managing potentially stressful and confronting behaviour and classroom environments. A blend of formative and summative assessment will be used build the participant’s self-efficacy for managing potentially stressful and confronting classroom environments and individual students who may be unpredictable, unco-operative and potentially violent.

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Charles, C. M. (2014). Building classroom discipline (11th ed.). Pearson.

Grenny, J. (2021). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking with stakes are high (3rd ed.). McGraw-Hill.

Porter, L. (2014). A comprehensive guide to classroom management. Taylor & Francis.

Rogers, W. A. (2015). Classroom behaviour: A practical guide to effective teaching, behaviour management and colleague support (4th ed.). Sage.