Assessment 2: Professional Portfolio.

Equivalent to 4200
words, 70%
A Professional Portfolio is a record of your understanding and practical
experiences throughout the course, but most notably in this last year of
your Bachelor of Early Childhood Education.

The Portfolio, MUST be prompted by the three domains of the Graduate

Standards for Early Childhood Teachers.  It will provide systematic and
documented evidence of your competence, reflection on practice and of
your considered philosophical position of teaching and learning as a
beginning teacher. 

Through the Portfolio you will be able to present evidence of your

competence in planning for learning, teaching and reflecting for
improvement and change. 

 The Professional Portfolio will be used extensively in the graduating

Interviews at the conclusion of Semester 2 and when you are seeking
employment in early childhood services. You will include evidence of
your skills, successful activities, lessons learned and experiences collected
through participation in recent placements and interactions with peers.   
The Professional Portfolio will consist of four parts:

 Part 1 - Philosophy (in-text citations are required)

 Part 2 - Inquiry Approach Project (In-text citations are
required)
 Part 3 - Achievement of the Australian Professional Standards
of Teaching - APST (in-text citations are required)
 Part 4 - Reference list according to the Harvard Style of
Referencing

 
Part 1 - Philosophy (in-text citations are required)

Your professional portfolio should include your philosophical views as a

graduate teacher. Please include your philosophy, created in Assessment 1.
This will need to be included in your portfolio but will not be re-marked. 

PART 2: Inquiry Approach Project

You will undertake an inquiry approach to develop your practice and
collect evidence that you meet the Australian Professional Standards for
Teachers (APST) at the Graduate Teacher level.

Your Inquiry Approach Project will include the following five steps:

1. Establish content and context: Introduce the background. You will

include observations and discussions with staff to justify the
reason of choosing your inquiry. 
2. Question for inquiry: Based on the content and context provided in
step 1, develop your inquiry question. Implement research, seek
professional advice and discuss with your mentor to gain
information about your question.
3. Apply knowledge to practice: Create an action plan for three
weeks based on the information gained in step 2. For each week
include a goal for the week, list the activities planned and state the
materials you will need for each activity. At the end of each week
evaluate the effectiveness of the activities provided and modify for
the next week accordingly.
4. Implement action: Implement the action plan over a period of three
weeks when you are in full responsibility.
5. Evaluate effectiveness: Evaluate the effectiveness of the action
plan. Was there some improvement? Did you find some answers
for your inquiry question?

Write a summary describing what you did in each of the above steps. Don't
forget to include in-text citations for your research (no more than 1500
words for part 2).

Part 3: Achievement of the Australian Professional Standards (APST)

Through this section you will be able to demonstrate your level as a

graduate teacher against each of the Australian Professional Standards of
Teaching (APST).

For each of the seven standards you will repeat the following steps:

 Take a blank page and type the domain (e.g. Professional

knowledge), the standard (e.g. Standard 1: Know the children and
how they learn) and the chosen indicators (e.g. 1.1..., 1.3.... 1.4....)
at least 2 indicators.
  Write approximately half a page narrative about a) your progress in
achieving this standard since you started the course b) the
importance of the standard to your teaching profession. Refer to
theory, research and/or literature
 Display 3 artefacts that provide strong evidence for achieving the
standard. Evidence should emerge from your recent practice and it
should not be your mentor's.
 Write one paragraph creating strong links between the artefacts and
the standard by explaining how they demonstrate your
achievement of the standard.
 Repeat the above steps for all seven standards.

Part 4: Reference List according to the Harvard Style of Referencing

Include a comprehensive reference list for all in-text references used

throughout the portfolio.

Both in-text and reference list should be written according to the Harvard
Style of Referencing