Imagine you are working in an early childhood education and care setting and have been asked to present at the family information night. The information night is for parents/guardia

Assessment Rationale

The foundation of your teaching and learning will be centered around play-based pedagogy. As an early childhood teacher, you have a key role in enabling children’s learning, development and wellbeing through intentionality, planning and extensions and enrichment of children’s play (Australia Government Department of Education, 2022). Teachers also need to have a thorough understanding of diverse theoretical and philosophical foundations of play-based pedagogy to be able to critically consider the possibilities and challenges associated with incorporating play into practice. Teachers must advocate for the recognition and significance of play as a fundamental right for all children. We must strive to create learning environments that welcome diverse perspectives and allow for the development of a shared understanding of what ‘play’ entails and what it looks like. This assessment task requires you to critically engage with Modules 1-3 and the theoretical underpinnings and create a digital presentation.
 

Task Instructions

Imagine you are working in an early childhood education and care setting and have been asked to present at the family information night. The information night is for parents/guardians who have had their child newly start in the kindergarten program. Some families of children aged 4-5 years voice their concerns about the play-based approach used in your setting. They believe their children should be engaged in more formal, academic approaches to prepare them for school. Other families are interested in the play-based approach but would like to know more about the potential value and benefits of play.

For Assessment One, your task is to prepare a ‘pitch’ to explain and justify the importance of a play-based pedagogical approach for children now and in their future at kindergarten. You will need to follow two steps in order to successfully complete your ‘pitch’.

Step One: Develop your Pitch

The task is to create a digital presentation that visually supports and enhances your Pitch. You may use Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi or Canva to create your presentation. Resources on how to prepare the digital presentation are provided in the Assessment 1 Folder on Blackboard.

Your presentation slides need to:

• Use an easy-to-read font for the text on the slides (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman),
• Font that is size 20 for each slide,
• Use and cite images,
• Include clear headings,
• Include in-text citations on each slide and a separate reference list (following APA 7th Guidelines),
• Use limited to no animation for the presentation, and
• Do not embed videos into the digital presentation.

To ensure your pitch is well-organised and addresses all necessary elements, you need to identify and justify the following elements:

1. Introduction: Introduce yourself to the early childhood educational setting and briefly address the concerns raised by families (40 seconds approx).
2. Role of play: Explain the role of play in children’s learning, development and wellbeing, including an example of a play-based experience/activity. Remember to address different developmental domains and link to two theoretical perspectives (2 minutes approx).
3. Challenges and solutions: Identify potential challenges when incorporating play into early childhood teaching and how to overcome them. Provide example/s (1.5 minutes approx).
4. Personal philosophy on play: Share your personal philosophy regarding play and how it influences your approach to teaching and learning. Detailed examples of translating philosophy into practice (2 minutes approx).
5. Successful play-based learning environment: Discuss what contributes to a successful play-based learning environment, including physical, social, and temporal elements (1.5 minutes).
6. Summary and farewell: provide a brief summary and farewell note (20 seconds approx).

Please note: the approximate timing for presenting each element is ONLY indicative to help you better plan the presentation. The time allocated may look slightly different for each student, depending on the presentation organisation.

Your pitch needs to be supported and informed by:

• At least 2 contemporary theoretical perspective presented in Module 2.
  • Academic sources such as peer-reviewed literature including readings, journal articles, book chapters, unit material etc.
  • Professional sources and ECEC policies, including the Early Years Learning Framework, National Ǫuality Standard, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Code of Ethics, Developmental Milestones, Early Childhood Australia’s Statement on Play, and unit material.

Step Two: Record your Presentation

Record yourself delivering your 8-minute presentation. You may use Zoom or Microsoft PowerPoint to capture your presentation delivery and slides.

Save the transcript of the video recording and paste it into the Template Microsoft Word document provided in the Assessment 1 folder on Blackboard.

Save your recording as an MP4 file and submit the MP4 file to VoiceThread.

Referencing

APA 7th referencing is required for this assignment. Sources should include relevant and current academic sources, professional sources, early childhood policy, and unit material. A minimum of 8 references must be included. Please refer to the APA 7th edition. See the SCU Library Guides for detailed instructions on APA formatting.
 

Submissions

You are required to submit the following items for grading:

1. Template (as a Microsoft Word Document with the Transcript of the video presentation) submitted to Turnitin.
2. Video Presentation (MP4) uploaded to VoiceThread.

Submission portal can be accessed from the ‘Assessment Tasks and Submission’ section of the unit learning site (Blackboard).

Please label the Template and Video Presentation by including: the unit code, the assessment item, your first name and surname and ID.

For example: TCHR5001_A1 Presentation_StudentSURNAME_ID123456.pdf

Academic Integrity

Adherence to SCU’s academic integrity policies is mandatory. Breaches may result in severe penalties, including failing the assessment or the unit. Examples of academic misconduct include plagiarism, collusion, and the use of unauthorised tools or materials. Refer to SCU’s academic integrity policies and guides for detailed information on what constitutes a breach, and the consequences involved.

You are permitted to use Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools responsibly and ethically. Please do not post confidential, private, personal, or otherwise sensitive information into Gen AI tools. If you use these tools, you must be aware of their limitations, biases, and propensity for fabrication.

If you use of GenAI, you must adhere to the SCU Academic Integrity Framework, which includes upholding honesty, ethics, professionalism, and academic integrity. All use of Gen AI must be explicitly documented and acknowledged in your submission. If you use generative AI tools without acknowledgment, it may result in an academic integrity breach against you, as described in the Student Academic and Non-Academic Misconduct Rules, Section 3. To find out how to reference generative AI in your work, consult the referencing style for your unit via the library referencing guides.

All students must declare if they have or have not used GenAI to assist with assessment completion (for example, brainstorming, understanding concepts, generating examples, summarising readings, proofreading text).

Permitted use of GenAI

Students are permitted to use GenAI to:

• Provide you with feedback on your writing for academic tone, written expression, grammar and punctuation,
• Clarify concepts, theories, ideas, etc., discussed in class, and
• Generate preliminary ideas for writing.

Prohibited use of GenAI

Students are not permitted to use GenAI to:

• Generate definitions or writing used in their final submission.,
• Produce arguments or refine thinking on their final submission, and
• Read and summarise research and supporting evidence for the assessment that will be used in final submission.

Any of these actions will constitute and be treated as a breach of academic integrity.

Special Considerations

Students wishing to request special consideration must submit a Request for Special Consideration form via their ‘MyEnrolment’ page as early as possible and prior to the due date for that assessment task, along with any accompanying documents, such as medical certificates.

Late Submissions G Penalties

Except when special consideration is awarded, late submission of assessment tasks will lead automatically to the imposition of a penalty. Penalties will be incurred as soon as the deadline is reached.

• A penalty of 5% of the available marks will be deducted from the actual mark one minute after the time listed on the due date.
• A further penalty of 5% of the available mark will be deducted from the actual mark achieved on each subsequent calendar day until the mark reaches zero.

Grades G Feedback

Assessments that have been submitted by the due date will receive an SCU Grade and written feedback from the marker. Grades and feedback will be posted to the ‘Grades C Feedback’ section on the Blackboard unit site. Please allow up to 7-10 days for marks to be posted. Works submitted by the due date will be evaluated against the marking criteria outlined below in the ‘Assessment Rubric’. For more information regarding SCU grades and standards, visit Final Grades.

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, analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows exceptional ability to synthesise, 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, analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows a well-developed ability to synthesise, 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, analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts. The 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.

Assessment Rubric