Preparing for Teaching: Early and First Level Education (U04434)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : EDU-1-U04434

The Early Years Preparing for Teaching Course begins by encouraging students to reflect upon their prior learning and to use it to feed forward into the learning ahead of them in their PGDE year. The initial weeks of the course also encourage students to form support networks by engaging them in collaborative, problem based learning tasks that form the foundation for their future professional development. The course therefore helps the students begin the process of constructing their professional identities as teachers.
This course also begins the development of student understanding of learning theory. It aims to begin the process of critically examining the most significant of American and European learning theories for Primary school teachers. It therefore aims to introduce and develop understandings of cognitive, emotional, social and societal dimensions of learning that are extended in later courses within the PGDE Programme.
The course takes account of recent policy changes that present the curriculum for the pre-school sector and the early years of primary school together as one level. While acknowledging the importance of continuity, coherence and progression in learning for all children across the diversity of settings that exist in early education provision in Scotland, it also embraces the new curriculum principles, that underpin a Curriculum for Excellence.

? Keywords : Preparing for Teaching Early First Level Education

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Education, (The Moray House School of Education, Schedule C)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 1st year

? Delivery Period : Not being delivered

? Contact Teaching Time : 35 hour(s) per week for 7 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Monday	09:00	09:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course students are able to:
Knowledge and Understanding
- articulate a sense of professional identity
- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of theories of child development and childhood 3-8years
- demonstrate knowledge of the early and first levels of a Curriculum for Excellence in all curriculum areas
- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the health, education and childcare agencies that support children and families in the local community
- demonstrate knowledge and understanding of techniques and research methodologies used to inform and develop Early Years policy and practice

Practice Knowledge and Understanding
- contribute to, help execute and present a collaborative, problem based learning research project

Generic Cognitive Skills
- critically identify, define, conceptualise and analyse complex professional level problems and issues
- make judgements where data information comes from a range of sources

Communication, ICT and Numeracy Skills
- Contribute to a group presentation
- Interpret and use numerical and graphical data to achieve goals
Autonomy, accountability and working with others
- Practise in ways which show a clear awareness of own and others' roles and responsibilities

Assessment Information

These learning outcomes are achieved through study in all the Curriculum Professional Studies strands that feed into the Preparing for Teaching: Early and First Level course. The learning outcomes are assessed both formatively and summatively. Students are expected to use all forms of assessment to develop metacognitive capacity in relation to the learning outcomes for the course.Summative assessment assignment (3,000 words):
Present a fictionalised case study of a child’s life experience and learning. The child should be aged 5-7 years. The case study should be typical of the experience of the children you have worked with in your Early Years placements.