Unit rationale, description and aim
Senior secondary presents a complex landscape shaped by jurisdictional curriculum authorities, high?stakes assessment regimes, diverse learner pathways and evolving conceptions of evidence-informed practice. Preservice teachers need strong knowledge of the curriculum, assessment and pedagogical expectations that guide teaching in the senior years, alongside a capacity to design learning that supports students’ transition to further study, training and employment. This unit develops preservice teachers’ deep understanding of senior secondary systems, frameworks and professional responsibilities, enabling them to engage ethically and effectively with the rigour, equity considerations and disciplinary demands of this context.
Learning experiences engage preservice teachers in analysing curriculum documents, subject?specific pedagogies and assessment practices within their first teaching area. Through seminars, guided activities and investigation, they compare curriculum and assessment designs, explore evidence?informed pedagogies for senior learners, and evaluate approaches to differentiation, moderation, feedback and the use of data to progress learning. They critically examine the alignment between senior syllabuses/study designs, assessment tasks, reporting structures and professional standards, while producing evidence?informed learning and assessment resources.
The aim of this unit is to develop preservice teachers’ capability to apply and evaluate curriculum, assessment and pedagogical principles that enhance senior secondary students’ learning, engagement and achievement within their first teaching area.
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.
Examine the key principles and practices that info...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically analyse the implications of senior year...
Learning Outcome 02
Apply evidence informed pedagogical principles and...
Learning Outcome 03
Appraise the effectiveness of pedagogical approach...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
Module A: Senior Secondary Curriculum and Assessment in Selected Jurisdiction
- State-based curriculum bodies and their role in senior years
- Curriculum/syllabus in the senior years
- Differentiation and pathways for senior students
- Data, appraisal and feedback for promoting learning
- High stakes and external assessment in the senior years
- School based assessment requirements in the senior years
- Moderation and feedback in senior years
- Working and communicating with colleagues, including moderation processes
Module C: Senior Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment in First Teaching Area
- Overview of senior secondary curriculum for first teaching area
- Auditing knowledge and skills against the senior curriculum
- Professional Associations for first teaching area, including opportunities for professional learning and development
- Assessment tasks, tools and practices for first 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 first 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. The unit includes two complementary tasks that together integrate theory, research and practice. Both tasks explicitly scaffold ethical and effective use of generative AI 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.
Task 1 develops preservice teachers’ ability to analyse senior secondary curriculum and assessment frameworks by producing a research paper comparing their local jurisdiction’s senior years system with either junior secondary approaches or the senior structures of another Australian jurisdiction. This task supports deep engagement with policy, critical comparison and an understanding of equity, rigour and system level design. Task 2 is a portfolio in an open 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, students need to complete and pass both assessment tasks and receive a passing grade of 50% overall.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Comparative Analysis: Senior Y...
Assessment Task 1: Comparative Analysis: Senior Years Curriculum and Assessment
Using your first teaching area as the focus, prepare a research paper that draws on policy documents and scholarly literature to compare the design and practices of curriculum and assessment in the senior years (Years 11-12) in your local jurisdiction with either (1) curriculum and assessment practices in junior secondary (Years 7-10), or (2) senior years practices in another Australian jurisdiction. Evaluate similarities and differences to present a critical analysis of the implications of senior years curriculum, including syllabuses and/or study designs, on teachers, teaching and learners.
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 first 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
Learning and teaching strategies in this final year unit emphasise autonomy, professional judgement and readiness for the transition into senior secondary teaching. The design mirrors the demands of professional practice to independently analyse jurisdictional policies, interpret syllabus and study design requirements, and evaluate assessment structures. Workshops provided across the two interrelated modules will model evidence informed pedagogies such as explicit instruction, worked examples, modelling and scaffolded practice, with pre-service teachers then examining how these approaches apply to senior learners. Collaborative seminars and case-based discussions support pre-service teachers to interrogate authentic scenarios, apply disciplinary knowledge, and make informed pedagogical decisions.
Learning activities prioritise reflective practice, analytical reasoning and the iterative development of resources suited to senior secondary contexts. Microteaching, peer feedback and structured critique enable pre-service teachers to trial and refine subject specific strategies, evaluate the impact of their pedagogical choices, and strengthen professional communication. The unit acknowledges the diverse needs of adult learners and provides accessible materials and reasonable adjustments for activities involving complex curriculum documents, digital tools or multimodal communication. Pre-service teachers are supported to use generative AI responsibly as a professional tool for organising ideas, analysing policy and reviewing written work, while applying academic integrity and critical evaluation principles.
Australian Professional Standards for Teachers - Graduate Level
In connection to the learning outcomes, on successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following industry specific knowledge based on the :
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students and how these may affect learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge and understanding of the concepts, substance and structure of the content and teaching strategies of the teaching area.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toUse curriculum, assessment and reporting knowledge to design learning sequences and lesson plans.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toKnow and understand literacy and numeracy teaching strategies and their application in teaching areas.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toSet learning goals that provide achievable challenges for students of varying abilities and characteristics.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toPlan lesson sequences using knowledge of student learning, content and effective teaching strategies.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2
Relating toInclude a range of teaching strategies.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate broad knowledge of strategies that can be used to evaluate teaching programs to improve student learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2
Relating toDemonstrate understanding of assessment strategies, including informal and formal, diagnostic, formative and summative approaches to assess student learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate an understanding of the purpose of providing timely and appropriate feedback to students about their learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO3, LO4
Relating toDemonstrate understanding of assessment moderation and its application to support consistent and comparable judgements of student learning.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2
Relating toDemonstrate the capacity to interpret student assessment data to evaluate student learning and modify teaching practice.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2
Relating toUnderstand the relevant and appropriate sources of professional learning for teachers.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2
Relating toUnderstand and apply the key principles described in codes of ethics and conduct for the teaching profession.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Relating toUnderstand the relevant legislative, administrative and organisational policies and processes required for teachers according to school stage.
Relevant Learning OutcomeLO1, LO2, LO3, LO4
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) Core Content
On successful completion of this unit, pre-service teachers should have developed the following industry specific knowledge based on the AITSL Core Content:
Relating toThe features of biologically primary vs biologically secondary knowledge acquisition and the importance of teacher-led instruction for biologically secondary knowledge acquisition.?
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toThe most effective teaching practices to reduce cognitive overload, including explicit instruction, scaffolding, and clearly structured content that connects new information to prior learning.?
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toWhy teaching practices must adapt as a student’s familiarity with the knowledge of a subject increases, including when to move from scaffolded practice to independent practice, and why this is important.?
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toHow to develop and use worked examples for students who are unfamiliar with a subject, followed by more challenging problem-solving activities as students become more familiar with the knowledge of a subject.?
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toHow to plan a sequence of lessons that incorporate spacing and retrieval practice, build upon each other, meet students where they are in their learning and help students retrieve past learning and consolidate it in long-term memory.?
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toThe research base that shows explicit teaching, modelling and scaffolding practices are highly effective and attend best to how a student’s brain learns.?
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toHow to explicitly model new skills and content through ‘worked examples’ that clearly demonstrate how to complete the task, followed by a progressive removal of scaffolding as students become more proficient.
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toHow to use formative assessment practices to gather and interpret information about student learning as learning is taking place – for example, use of simple, low-key assessments such as exit slips, quick quizzes or targeted oral questioning to prompt students to articulate their reasoning and identify common student misconceptions.?
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toHow to provide feedback as learning is taking place that is specific, honest, constructive, and clear, and uses explicit teaching strategies to re-teach concepts, scaffold, or correct misconceptions as necessary.
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Relating toPractices should include the use of structured lessons, clear and explicit instruction, effective questioning that encourages participation, reducing cognitive load and use of specific and positive feedback that acknowledges student effort.?
Relevant learningLO3, LO4
Representative texts and references
Recommended texts and documents
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.
Wyatt-Smith, C., Klenowski, V., & Colbert, P. (2021). Achieving consistency in teacher judgement: Scaffolds for moderation. Assessment Matters, 13, 45–68.
Ziebarth, S., & O'Neill, M. (2023). High-stakes assessment and equity in senior secondary schooling. Australian Journal of Education, 67(2), 178–195.