Part 1: Professional Philosophy (750 words) Develop your professional philosophy statement for working with infants and toddlers in an early childhood
Rationale
Students will reflect on their learning about theoretical perspectives and practices to develop their own
teaching philosophy for teaching infants and toddlers. Students will reflect on this philosophy and how it may translate to practice.
Task Description
Part 1: Professional Philosophy (750 words)
Develop your professional philosophy statement for working with infants and toddlers in an early childhood setting. Consider important aspects of infant and toddler learning, health and safety and development.
Consider unit topics such as relationships, quality, attachment, brain development, routines and the physical and human environment. You can also include topics that are of interest to you.
Part 2: Critical Reflection (750 words)
Critically reflect on your philosophy above and identify 3 anticipated challenges you may face when putting your philosophy into practice. How do you intend to overcome these challenges? Analyze according to the set text, and the National Quality Standard and Early Years Learning Framework (V2.0).
Task Instructions
• This report consists of two tasks and should be presented in ONE Word document.
• Cover page:
Include an APA formatted cover page Formatting your assessment for APA 7th (scu.edu.au)
If you have used Grammarly Premium include the following Acknowledgement Statement on your cover page
I acknowledge the use of Grammarly Premium to provide feedback and suggestions on my writing for academic tone, written expression, grammar, Australian English spelling, and punctuation on INSERT
DATE. I have uploaded My draft essay prior to ANY editing with Grammarly Premium to the ‘Pre-editing draft’ portal in Turnitin.
• Complete professional philosophy (750 words) and critical reflection (750 words)
• Complete one APA formatted reference list
• If you have used Grammarly Premium upload My draft essay prior to ANY editing to the ‘Pre-editing draft’ portal in Turnitin.
• Check draft with draft checker on unit site
• Once complete, submit final task via the Turnitin link in the Assessment and Submission section of the unit site.
Referencing
APA7th referencing format is required with a minimum of 5 references. Sources should include relevant early childhood policy and peer-reviewed literature. Students must use the unit textbook.
Resources
• Australian Government Department of Education. (2022) Belonging, being and becoming: The early
years learning framework for Australia (V2.0).
• Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (n.d.). Developmental milestones and the
Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Standards.
• Sims, M., & Hutchins, T. (2020). Program planning for infants and toddlers (3rd ed). Pademelon Press.
Task Submission
Assessments should be submitted using the Turnitin link on the Assessments Tasks & Submission section on the Blackboard site. Only Microsoft Word documents submitted via the Turnitin portal on Blackboard will be accepted. You must label your submission with your surname and initials and the assessment task’s name.
Academic Integrity
At Southern Cross University academic integrity means behaving with the values of honesty, fairness,
trustworthiness, courage, responsibility, and respect in relation to academic work.
The Southern Cross University Academic Integrity Framework aims to develop a holistic, systematic, and
consistent approach to addressing academic integrity across the entire University. For more information see the SCU Academic Integrity Framework
NOTE: Academic Integrity breaches include poor referencing, not identifying direct quotations correctly, close paraphrasing, plagiarism, recycling, misrepresentation, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, fabricating
information.
Special Consideration
Please refer to the Special Consideration section of Policy
Late Submissions & Penalties
Please refer to the Late Submission & Penalties section of Policy
Grades & Feedback
Assessments that have been submitted by the due date will receive an SCU grade. Grades and feedback will be posted to the ‘Grades and Feedback’ section on the Blackboard unit site. Please allow 7-10 days for marks to be posted.
Assessment 1: Report MARKING RUBRIC
Criteria
High Distinction
Distinction
Credit
Pass
Marginal Fail
Fail
Task 1: Professional
Philosophy (40%)
Articulation of professional philosophy statement for working with Infant and Toddler age children. Includes important aspects of Infant and Toddler learning, health and safety and development.
There is OUTSTANDING
articulation of the philosophy statement for working with Infant and Toddlers.
OUTSTANDING inclusion of important aspects of Infant and Toddler learning, health and safety and development that are covered in the unit.
There is VERY GOOD articulation of the philosophy statement for working with Infant and
Toddlers. VERY GOOD inclusion of important aspects of Infant and Toddler learning, health and safety and development that are covered in the unit.
There is GOOD articulation of the philosophy statement for working with Infant and
Toddlers. GOOD inclusion of important aspects of Infant and Toddler learning, health and safety and development that are covered in the unit.
There is BASIC articulation of the philosophy statement for working with Infant and
Toddlers. BASIC inclusion of important aspects of Infant and Toddler learning, health and safety and development that are covered in the unit.
There is UNCLEAR articulation of the philosophy statement for working with Infants and Toddlers. Philosophy includes unclear or inappropriate aspects of Infant and Toddler learning, health and safety and
development that are covered in the unit.
There is NO articulation of the philosophy statement for working with Infant and
Toddlers. Philosophy does not include aspects of Infant and Toddler learning, health and safety and development that are covered in the unit.
Task 2: Critical reflection (40%)
Critical reflection on personal philosophy to learning & teaching of Infants and Toddlers, the challenges and the learning competencies needed to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age group.
OUTSTANDING critical reflection on philosophy to learning & teaching of Infants and
Toddlers, the challenges and the learning competencies needed to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age group.
VERY GOOD critical reflection on philosophy to learning & teaching of Infants and
Toddlers, the challenges and the learning competencies needed to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age group.
GOOD critical reflection on philosophy to learning & teaching of Infants and
Toddlers, the challenges and the learning competencies needed to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age group.
BASIC critical reflection on philosophy to learning & teaching of Infants and
Toddlers, the challenges and the learning competencies needed to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age group.
UNCLEAR critical reflection on personal philosophy to
learning & teaching of Infants and Toddlers, the challenges and the learning
competencies needed to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age group.
NO critical reflection on
personal philosophy to
learning & teaching of Infants and Toddlers, the challenges and the learning
competencies needed to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age group.
Use of set text, the EYLF, NQS, the unit’s materials and scholarly readings (10%)
OUTSTANDING use of materials. Philosophy and critical
reflections are consistently supported by relevant early childhood policy, research and literature.
VERY GOOD use of materials. Philosophy and critical
reflection are regularly
supported by relevant early childhood policy, research and literature.
GOOD use of materials.
Critical reflection is
consistently supported by relevant early childhood policy, research and literature. Some aspects of philosophy are not supported by sources.
BASIC use of materials. Critical reflection is supported with literature.
LIMITED use of materials. References are not relevant or appropriate for the task.
Work is not referenced.
Academic literacy
(10%)
Displayed outstanding Academic Literacy, including all of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%), correct writing conventions, correctly
formatted reference list.
Displayed comprehensive Academic Literacy, including all or most of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%), correct writing conventions, correctly formatted reference list.
Displayed solid Academic Literacy, including some or most of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%), correct writing conventions, correctly
formatted reference list.
Displayed satisfactory Academic Literacy, including some of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%), correct writing conventions, correctly
formatted reference list.
Limited Academic Literacy. Mostly incorrect word count, writing conventions and reference list.
Failed to display satisfactory Academic Literacy. Incorrect word count, incorrect writing
conventions, incorrectly formatted reference list. Task is not readable.
Description of SCU Grades
High Distinction: The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements, demonstrates
distinctive insight and ability in researching, analyzing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows exceptional ability to synthesize, integrate and evaluate knowledge. The student’s performance could be
described as outstanding in relation to the learning requirements specified.
Distinction: The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements, demonstrates
distinctive insight and ability in researching, analyzing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows a well-developed ability to synthesize, integrate and evaluate knowledge. The student’s performance could be described as distinguished in relation to the learning requirements specified.
Credit: The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements specified,
demonstrates insight and ability in researching, analyzing and applying relevant skills and concepts. The
a student’s performance could be described as competent in relation to the learning requirements specified.
Pass: The student’s performance satisfies all of the basic learning requirements specified and provides a sound basis for proceeding to higher-level studies in the subject area. The student’s performance could be described as satisfactory in relation to the learning requirements specified.
Fail: The student’s performance fails to satisfy the learning requirements specified.
