Unit rationale, description and aim
Teaching in senior secondary contexts requires a deep understanding of curriculum expectations, evidence-informed pedagogies and assessment practices that support diverse learners. As senior students transition towards further study, training and employment, teachers require strong capability in designing learning that develops advanced disciplinary knowledge, higher-order skills, and subject-specific literacy and numeracy. This unit supports preservice teachers to consolidate their pedagogical content knowledge and refine their professional judgment for senior years teaching.
Through analysis of senior curriculum documents, subject-specific pedagogies and contemporary research, preservice teachers will examine strategies that promote effective learning within a second and/or additional teaching area. Subject-specific pedagogical strategies and approaches will be considered, including instructional design, evidence-informed strategies for progressing learning with senior students, assessment design, and differentiation to support diverse learners. Learning activities engage preservice teachers in evaluating pedagogical approaches and developing evidence-informed resources.
The aim of this unit is to develop preservice teachers’ capacity to apply and evaluate pedagogical principles and practices that enhance senior secondary students’ learning, engagement and achievement in selected teaching areas.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.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 糖心原创 with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Apply evidence-informed pedagogical principles and...
Learning Outcome 01
Evaluate the effectiveness of pedagogical approach...
Learning Outcome 02
Content
Topics will include:
Module C1: Senior Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment in Second Teaching Area
- Overview of senior secondary curriculum for second teaching area
- Auditing knowledge and skills against the senior curriculum
- Professional Associations for second teaching area, including opportunities for professional learning and development
- Assessment tasks, tools and practices for second teaching area
- Subject-specific pedagogies and approaches to learning for senior students
- Developing senior students’ subject-specific literacy and numeracy capabilities
- Subject-specific differentiation, including adjustments and modifications in alignment with senior curriculum and assessment expectations
- Evidence-informed teaching and learning of content and skills in second teaching area, e.g. teacher-led instruction, clear and explicit instruction, effective questioning, scaffolded to independent practice, spacing and retrieval practice, worked examples and modelling, reducing cognitive load and feedback
Module C2: Senior Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment in an additional Teaching Area
- Overview of senior secondary curriculum for additional teaching area
- Auditing knowledge and skills against the senior curriculum
- Professional Associations for additional teaching area, including opportunities for professional learning and development
- Assessment tasks, tools and practices for additional teaching area
- Subject-specific pedagogies and approaches to learning for senior students
- Developing senior students’ subject-specific literacy and numeracy capabilities
- Subject-specific differentiation, including adjustments and modifications in alignment with senior curriculum and assessment expectations
- Evidence-informed teaching and learning of content and skills in additional teaching area, e.g. teacher-led instruction, clear and explicit instruction, effective questioning, scaffolded to independent practice, spacing and retrieval practice, worked examples and modelling, reducing cognitive load and feedback
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessment in this unit is designed to build preservice teachers’ capability to interpret, evaluate and apply senior secondary curriculum, assessment and pedagogical principles. Preservice teachers will complete a similar task that is differentiated through a focus on specific senior secondary teaching areas. Ethical and effective use of generative AI is supported for brainstorming, document comparison, idea organisation, editing and enhancing clarity. Students must demonstrate original analysis, professional judgement and correct attribution, with transparency and academic integrity modelled throughout the unit.
The assessment task is a portfolio in an open?lane format, enabling preservice teachers to demonstrate their capacity to apply evidence?informed pedagogical principles, justify planning and assessment decisions, and evaluate teaching approaches for senior learners. The portfolio encourages authentic engagement with professional artefacts and the creation of classroom?ready resources.
To pass this unit, preservice teachers need to complete and pass both assessment tasks and receive a passing grade of 50% overall.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1 Portfolio of Pedagogical Pract...
Assessment Task 1
Portfolio of Pedagogical Practices
Develop a multimedia portfolio demonstrating evidence informed pedagogical strategies for senior secondary in your second teaching area. Include teaching materials, exemplars, plans or resources across a range of senior level topics. Critically analyse how these artefacts support diverse learners, including the development of subject specific knowledge and skills, and literacy, numeracy and ICT capabilities. Justify pedagogical choices using contemporary research and curriculum requirements and informed pedagogical strategies for senior secondary learning in the selected teaching area.
50%
Assessment Task 2 Portfolio of Pedagogical Pract...
Assessment Task 2
Portfolio of Pedagogical Practices
Develop a multimedia portfolio demonstrating evidence informed pedagogical strategies for senior secondary in your additional teaching area. Include teaching materials, exemplars, plans or resources across a range of senior level topics. Critically analyse how these artefacts support diverse learners, including the development of subject specific knowledge and skills, and literacy, numeracy and ICT capabilities. Justify pedagogical choices using contemporary research and curriculum requirements and informed pedagogical strategies for senior secondary learning in the selected teaching area.
50%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit is grounded in active, inquiry?oriented learning approaches that support adult learners to connect theory, research and practice. Workshops model evidence?informed pedagogies such as explicit instruction, worked examples, modelling and scaffolded practice before applying these to senior secondary contexts. Collaborative activities enable preservice teachers to analyse curriculum requirements, trial subject?specific strategies, and evaluate the impact of pedagogical choices on diverse learners.
Teaching strategies prioritise learner agency, reflective practice and iterative resource development. Case studies, micro?teaching, peer feedback and constructive critique support preservice teachers to evaluate and refine pedagogical decision?making. Online activities provide flexibility while ensuring structured opportunities for engagement with research and professional standards. Reasonable adjustments will be provided to ensure equitable participation, particularly for activities involving digital tools, communication tasks or multimedia creation. Digital platforms and assistive technologies are embedded where appropriate.
Representative texts and references
Recommended texts and references
Senior syllabus/curriculum documents as per local jurisdiction.
Recommended references
Alonzo, D., & Gearhart, M. (2019). Teacher assessment literacy: A review of international research and implications for teacher education. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 26(3), 263–279.
Archer, A. L., & Hughes, C. A. (2018). Explicit instruction: Effective and efficient teaching. Guilford Press.
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority. (2020). National report on schooling in Australia 2020. ACARA.
Barrett, S., & Heffernan, A. (2022). Teacher judgement, workload and curriculum reform: Implications for assessment policy. Australian Educational Researcher, 49(5), 875–893.
Brady, L. (2019). Curriculum reform in Australian senior secondary education: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 51(4), 523–538.
Carter, M., & Luke, A. (2020). Assessment, standards and teacher professionalism in Australian schooling. Curriculum Journal, 31(2), 204–221.
Cumming, J., & Cormack, P. (2018). Reforming senior secondary assessment: Insights from Queensland. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 25(5), 573–589.
Hardy, I. (2017). Data-driven improvement and its effects on teacher professionalism. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 29(1), 73–89.
Hattie, J. (2023). Visible learning: The sequel. Routledge.
Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J., & Clark, R. E. (2018). The case for explicit instruction. Educational Psychologist, 53(3), 169–184.
Klenowski, V., & Wyatt-Smith, C. (2018). Moderation and teacher judgement in a standards-referenced system. Oxford Review of Education, 44(1), 55–70.
Lingard, B., Thompson, G., & Sellar, S. (2016). National testing, accountabilities, and the reshaping of Australian schooling. Journal of Education Policy, 31(6), 685–699.
Lingard, B., & Lewis, S. (2020). Digital data infrastructures and teacher work. Learning, Media and Technology, 45(4), 383–395.
Masters, G. N. (2020). Reforming assessment: A global perspective. Australian Council for Educational Research.
Priestley, M., & Drew, V. (2019). Curriculum design and enactment in secondary schooling. Curriculum Perspectives, 39(1), 5–18.
Rosenshine, B. (2017). Principles of instruction. International Academy of Education.
Sahlberg, P. (2021). Finnish lessons 3.0: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland? Teachers College Press.
Van der Kleij, F., & Adie, L. (2022). Feedback practices in upper secondary education. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 29(5), 599–617.