Overview
In the unit "Students with Special Needs", pre-service teachers gain awareness of their professional obligations, roles and responsibilities in relation to the Disability Standards for Education and the way that these standards inform policy and procedures for meeting the needs of students with disabilities in inclusive school settings. They build knowledge of the definitions and criteria used to categorise disabilities in educational environments and explore the concept of “person first” approaches to meeting the needs of learners with disability in the middle years of schooling. Students take an holistic view of supporting the access and participation of learners with special needs and evaluate specific differentiation, accommodation and management strategies to make recommendations that support inclusion, wellbeing, safety and learning of all students in inclusive mainstream settings. They research and document examples of good practice for consulting with students, parents, specialist services and wider community support agencies and demonstrate knowledge of how to access and facilitate partnerships that improve the educational outcomes for individuals with disabilities.
Details
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites
Prerequisite:- EDED11457
Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).
Offerings For Term 2 - 2024
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Class Timetable
Assessment Overview
Assessment Grading
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of 'pass' in order to pass the unit. If any 'pass/fail' tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully ('pass' grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the 'assessment task' section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%). Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades.
All University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
You may wish to view these policies:
- Grades and Results Policy
- Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework)
- Review of Grade Procedure
- Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - Domestic Students
- Monitoring Academic Progress (MAP) Policy and Procedure - International Students
- Student Refund and Credit Balance Policy and Procedure
- Student Feedback - Compliments and Complaints Policy and Procedure
- Information and Communications Technology Acceptable Use Policy and Procedure
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of University policies are available on the CQUniversity Policy site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
Feedback from Email, forum and survey
Guest speakers were excellent.
Continue to invite guest speakers from a range of backgrounds.
Feedback from Forum and phone conversations.
Assignments combined theoretical with practical application.
Continue to emphasise how the theoretical and practical knowledge combine in the assignments.
Feedback from Survey and drop-in sessions.
Assignment feedback.
Continue to ensure markers provide feedback and feed-forward.
- Appraise the roles and responsibilities of educational stakeholders under legislation and policy for students with disabilities
- Propose processes that overcome barriers to successful inclusion of students with disabilities
- Evaluate strategies that support the psychological wellbeing, behaviour, accessibility and learning of students with special needs within whole class groups
- Explain the rationale for accommodations and modifications that support the learning and social needs of students with disability
- Interpret research literature and primary data sources to make recommendations that support the needs of students with disabilities.
Successful completion of this unit provides opportunities for students to engage with the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (Graduate Career Stage) focus areas of:
1.1 Physical, social and intellectual development and characteristics of students
1.5 Differentiate teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities
1.6 Strategies to support full participation of students with disability
2.6 Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
4.1 Support student participation
4.3 Manage challenging behaviour
4.4 Maintain student safety
6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice
6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning
7.2 Comply with legislative, administrative and organisational requirements
7.3 Engage with the parents/carers
7.4 Engage with professional teaching networks and broader communities
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 50% | |||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 50% | |||||
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | |||||
| 2 - Problem Solving | |||||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | |||||
| 4 - Information Literacy | |||||
| 5 - Team Work | |||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | |||||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | |||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | |||||
| 9 - Social Innovation | |||||
| 10 - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures | |||||
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
| 2 - Written Assessment - 50% | ||||||||||
Textbooks
There are no required textbooks.
IT Resources
- CQUniversity Student Email
- Internet
- Unit Website (Moodle)
All submissions for this unit must use the referencing style: American Psychological Association 7th Edition (APA 7th edition)
For further information, see the Assessment Tasks.
s.murket@cqu.edu.au
Module/Topic
Topic 1: Stats and facts about different abilities
Chapter
Honeybourne (2018, chapter 2)
Australia's children report (2020)
Australian Network on Disability website (2024)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 2: Our professional obligations
Chapter
Disability Standards for Education 2005 Act
Summary Document - 2020 Review of the Disability Standards for Education 2005
Sharp et al., (2020)
Inclusive education policy (Department of Education (2021) or equivalent from your State Education Department)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 3: Identification and assessment
Chapter
Student diversity section of ACARA's website (2024)
Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on school students with disability (NCCD) website (2022)
About giftedness (AAEGT, 2021)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 4: Taking a team approach
Chapter
Allied Health Professionals website (2024)
Roy & Armstrong (2019)
Mofield (2020)
Burkett-McKee et al. (2021)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 5: Formal adjustments
Chapter
Support for students with disability (Department of Education (2024) or equivalent from your State Education Department
Selecting the level of adjustment - NCCD document (Australian Government Department of Education, 2022)
Cumming (2017)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 6: Informal adjustments
Chapter
Universal Design for Learning guidelines graphic (CAST, 2024)
Salinger (2020)
Students with diverse needs [or equivalent section] from your State Education Department’s website (2024)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 7: Students with academic needs
Chapter
What is ADHD? webpage (n.d.)
Jarvis (2018)
Alloway & Carpenter (2020)
Australian Dyslexia Association (2023)
Vodickova et al. (2023)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 8: Students with communication or sensory needs
Chapter
Lowe et al. (2019)
Cain & Fanshawe (2019)
Autism Spectrum Australia's website (n.d.)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 9: Students with wellness needs
Chapter
Gilmour (2021)
Australia's children web report - Health section (2022)
Ronald McDonald Learning Program (2018)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 10: Students with physical needs
Chapter
Cerebral Palsy Alliance website (2023)
Tait (2022 - chapter 15 in Hyde et al.)
Pinquart & Behle (2021)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 11: Students with multiple or complex needs
Chapter
Clark & Wormald (2018)
Maes et al. (2020)
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Topic 12: Review of the unit
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
Module/Topic
Chapter
Events and Submissions/Topic
1 Written Assessment
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows:
- Gen AI may only be used as specified in the assignment instructions in Moodle.
You are to develop an information product which applies recommendations from the 2020 Review of the Disability Standards for Education 2005.
The information product is to be based on Talia, Nozomi or Marigold’s stories found inside the Resources and Tools portal of the NCCD's website. The audience will be the stakeholders at your selected student’s next school in your own State/Territory.
a) Using your selected student’s story, extrapolate appropriate transition strategies to support inclusive student participation and engagement in classroom activities and transition processes best suited to their psychological wellbeing, behaviour, accessibility and learning needs. Justify how these strategies reflect your State or Territory's Inclusive Education Policy. [APST 1.1 & 4.1]
b) Construct a list of strategies the staff at the new setting could implement in a sensitive and confidential manner to maintain the interrelated involvement of key stakeholders including parents/carers in the educative process. Explain why these strategies could enhance your selected student’s participation in learning opportunities on the same basis as their peers. [APST 3.7 & 7.3]
c) Summarise legislation and systemic policies plus teaching and learning resources that may assist with the successful inclusion of your selected student. Defend your choices. [APST 1.5, 1.6 & 7.2]
d) Recommend professional development avenues for stakeholders in the new setting. Discuss the relevance and positive impact of each avenue on the selected student’s wellbeing and learning. [APST 6.4 & 7.4]
Please note:
• Report style formatting is recommended including the use of sub-headings and dot points.
• Tone of the report should be a professional conversation rather than an academic discussion.
• Each section has equal weighting.
• References from unit content are expected in every section.
• No appendices are to be included.
Weighting: 50%
APST Descriptors demonstrated: 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 3.7, 4.1, 6.4, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4
Vacation Week Monday (12 Aug 2024) 11:45 pm AEST
Assignments are returned once the moderation process has been completed.
- Selection and justification of relevant inclusive transition strategies applicable to the selected student's psychological wellbeing, behaviour, accessibility and learning needs. [APST 1.1 & 4.1]
- Compilation of strategies designed to maintain parent/carer and other stakeholder involvement sensitively and confidentially in the educative process. [APST 3.7 & 7.3]
- Defence of selected legislation, policies and resources relevant to the successful inclusion of your selected student. [APST 1.5, 1.6 & 7.2]
- Recommendation and justification of professional development avenues related to the selected student's wellbeing and learning needs. [APST 6.4 & 7.4]
- Application of academic conventions and professional literacy competence.
- Appraise the roles and responsibilities of educational stakeholders under legislation and policy for students with disabilities
- Propose processes that overcome barriers to successful inclusion of students with disabilities
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Ethical practice
2 Written Assessment
Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence agents (Gen AI)
Within this assessment, the use of Gen AI agents is as follows:
- Gen AI may only be used as specified in the assignment instructions in Moodle.
Part A (1500-2000 words)
Create a profile of two fictitious students drawn from two different student groupings covered this term. One must be a student with special needs. For each student:
- Using the current literature, summarise the student's possible academic, biological, and social functioning. Ensure both positive and challenging aspects are considered. [APST 1.1 & 6.2]
- List assistive aids or other ICT resources the student might use. State the relevance of each. [APST 2.6]
- Describe a range of strategies for involving parents/carers in the educative process. List collaborative strategies with stakeholders, including parents/carers as well as external professionals and community representatives including a range of service providers in broadening your professional knowledge and practice in supporting students with a range of needs. Explain how working effectively, sensitively and confidentially with parents/carers could be maintained throughout the educative process. [APST 3.7, 7.3 & 7.4]
Part B (1500-2000 words)
- Using a previously taught lesson and transition as a basis, provide brief contextual information about a hypothetical class, outlining demographic details, year level, subject and curriculum focus. The profiled students from Part A are both in this class.
- Propose inclusive accommodations and modifications which show your ability to promote student wellbeing, learning, and safety while managing social participation and practical approaches to managing challenging behaviour of all students in your hypothetical class including these specific students. Specifically, identify strategies you would use to support inclusive student participation and engagement in the planned classroom activities. Aim for quality over quantity. Justify these adjustments and show how they comply with school and/or system, curriculum and legislative requirements. [APST 1.5, 1.6, 4.1, 4.3 & 4.4]
- Document how you will take ownership of your professional learning and your mental health when interacting with a group of students like your hypothetical class. [APST 6.4]
Please note:
- Report style formatting is recommended including the use of sub-headings and dot points.
- Where possible, draw on your professional and/or personal experiences with people who have similar needs.
- Each section has equal weighting.
- References from unit content are expected in every section.
- No appendices are to be included.
Weighting: 50%
APST Descriptors demonstrated: 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2.6, 3.7, 4.1, 4.3, 4.4, 6.2, 6.4, 7.3, 7.4
Review/Exam Week Monday (7 Oct 2024) 11:45 pm AEST
Assignments are released after moderation is completed.
- Creation of profiles showing students' individuality. [APST 1.1 & 6.2]
- Identification of aids and resources for use by the student. [APST 2.6]
- Compilation of collaborative strategies with internal and external stakeholders, including parents/carers. [APST 3.7 & 7.4]
- Explanation of how sensitivity and confidentiality towards the students and their family will be maintained throughout the educative process. [APST 7.3]
- Documentation of adjustments which address student well-being, learning, safety, social participation, and challenging behaviour. [APST 1.5, 1.6, 4.1 & 4.3]
- Justification of adjustments and demonstration of compliance with educational and legal requirements. [APST 4.4]
- Reflection on ways of engaging in professional learning and attending to your own mental health. [APST 6.2 & 6.4]
- Application of academic conventions and personal literacy competence.
- Appraise the roles and responsibilities of educational stakeholders under legislation and policy for students with disabilities
- Propose processes that overcome barriers to successful inclusion of students with disabilities
- Evaluate strategies that support the psychological wellbeing, behaviour, accessibility and learning of students with special needs within whole class groups
- Explain the rationale for accommodations and modifications that support the learning and social needs of students with disability
- Interpret research literature and primary data sources to make recommendations that support the needs of students with disabilities.
- Communication
- Problem Solving
- Critical Thinking
- Information Literacy
- Team Work
- Information Technology Competence
- Cross Cultural Competence
- Ethical practice
As a CQUniversity student you are expected to act honestly in all aspects of your academic work.
Any assessable work undertaken or submitted for review or assessment must be your own work. Assessable work is any type of work you do to meet the assessment requirements in the unit, including draft work submitted for review and feedback and final work to be assessed.
When you use the ideas, words or data of others in your assessment, you must thoroughly and clearly acknowledge the source of this information by using the correct referencing style for your unit. Using others’ work without proper acknowledgement may be considered a form of intellectual dishonesty.
Participating honestly, respectfully, responsibly, and fairly in your university study ensures the CQUniversity qualification you earn will be valued as a true indication of your individual academic achievement and will continue to receive the respect and recognition it deserves.
As a student, you are responsible for reading and following CQUniversity’s policies, including the Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure. This policy sets out CQUniversity’s expectations of you to act with integrity, examples of academic integrity breaches to avoid, the processes used to address alleged breaches of academic integrity, and potential penalties.
What is a breach of academic integrity?
A breach of academic integrity includes but is not limited to plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, and academic misconduct. The Student Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure defines what these terms mean and gives examples.
Why is academic integrity important?
A breach of academic integrity may result in one or more penalties, including suspension or even expulsion from the University. It can also have negative implications for student visas and future enrolment at CQUniversity or elsewhere. Students who engage in contract cheating also risk being blackmailed by contract cheating services.
Where can I get assistance?
For academic advice and guidance, the Academic Learning Centre (ALC) can support you in becoming confident in completing assessments with integrity and of high standard.
What can you do to act with integrity?
