Back to Find Units Page

Unit of Study TCH81002 - Play and Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education (2015)

Show me unit information for year

Unit Snapshot

  • Unit typeo

    PG Coursework Unit

  • Credit points

    12

  • AQF level

    8

  • Level of learning

    Introductory

  • Former School/College

    Former School of Education

Unit description

Focuses on students acquiring an understanding of the range of pedagogies and approaches to curriculum utilised in early childhood education and care. Analyses key issues pertaining to the role of play in learning; the relationships between philosophy, theory and pedagogy to learning environments for young children, and develops a personal response to a range of early childhood education issues.

Unit content

This unit is comprised of

  1. Setting the contexts: Early childhood pedagogies
  • ECEC philosophy; guiding principles and key components of early childhood education and childcare pedagogy and programs
  • Theoretical perspectives, and influence on pedagogy and curriculum approaches to children’s learning development (e.g. developmentally appropriate practice; socio-cultural/constructivist theories; behaviouralist theory; postmodern-post-structural theories in ECEC)
  1. Analysing the contexts: Relationships and interactions
  • theories of play and play in contexts: relationships to learning and development of young children in their many environments (planned and unplanned, social, physical, cognitive, commercial, environmental, cultural, economic, educational contexts)
  • justifications for a play-based pedagogy in early childhood education and care
  • pedagogical provision for children with diverse abilities and/or backgrounds
  1. Consolidating and evaluating ECEC philosophy, pedagogy and play:
  • Australian and international curriculum frameworks (e.g. DEEWR Early Years Learning Framework 2009; NSW DOCS ‘Practice of Relationships’ Curriculum Framework for Children’s Services; C&K Building Waterfalls, 2009; Qld DETA Foundations for Success, 2010, NZ Education ‘Te Whariki’)
  1. Reflection:
  • ECEC philosophy of play and ECEC pedagogy.

Availabilities

Not currently available in 2015

Learning outcomes and graduate attributes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

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

GA1: , GA2: , GA3: , GA4: , GA5: , GA6: , GA7:
GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 analyse types of play in learning, theories of, and challenges to, play-based pedagogy
2 demonstrate how a play-based pedagogy can be justified
3 analyse key issues pertaining to the role of play in learning
4 discuss the diversity of approaches to early childhood pedagogy utilised in early childhood education and care, and how they position children, teachers and parents
5 analyse the relationships between philosophy, theory and pedagogy to learning environments for young children (birth–5 years)
6 critically reflect on their personal approach to learning and teaching, the challenges they face and the learning competencies they need to achieve to succeed in their study and career as an early childhood professional.

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

  1. analyse types of play in learning, theories of, and challenges to, play-based pedagogy
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  2. demonstrate how a play-based pedagogy can be justified
    • GA1:
    • GA5:
  3. analyse key issues pertaining to the role of play in learning
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  4. discuss the diversity of approaches to early childhood pedagogy utilised in early childhood education and care, and how they position children, teachers and parents
    • GA1:
    • GA4:
  5. analyse the relationships between philosophy, theory and pedagogy to learning environments for young children (birth–5 years)
    • GA1:
    • GA5:
  6. critically reflect on their personal approach to learning and teaching, the challenges they face and the learning competencies they need to achieve to succeed in their study and career as an early childhood professional.
    • GA4:
    • GA5: