023111 Practicum 1: Beginning Teaching

This subject provides the broad conceptual basis for understanding that the study of primary schooling integrates, both implicitly and explicitly, a number of disciplinary perspectives, which in turn influences the educational practices conducted therein. Further practicum curriculum subjects focus on the requisite skills required of the practitioner. This subject lays the foundation which allows such skills to evolve in reflective ways which transcend the technical. Field-based experience provides the basis for examination of the roles of the primary school teacher, the relationship of teacher to learner, and the diversity of learning experiences offered by the different disciplinary areas.

The field component of this subject is a series of distributed half-day visits to a regular primary classroom, with an observational focus.