Unit Synopsis
This unit delves into contemporary research in education, emphasizing the use of critical reflection and action research to enhance teaching practices in one of your approved discipline teaching areas (Secondary) or in the English specialization (Primary and Early Childhood). You will engage with relevant literature and use generative AI tools to identify and synthesize current research developing insights into core educational content. These insights will inform your teaching practice, and you will be required to critically reflect on their impact. Additionally, you will design and pitch a research proposal focused on improving student learning outcomes in your discipline teaching area or English specialization within a school context. This process will build your research and presentation skills, while also requiring you to explore ethical considerations in data collection, analysis and interpretation. You will learn how to professionally share your research with colleagues, parents, carers and students, contributing to the broader educative process.
Details
| Level | Postgraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 9 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 1 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Co-requisite EDFE20037 Professional Praxis 4: Transition to Teaching 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). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Term 1 - 2026 Profile
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 Postgraduate 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.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Written Assessment | 50% |
| 2. Presentation and Written Assessment | 50% |
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%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site .
Term 1 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 68.42% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 21.11% response rate.
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.
Source: SUTE
Importance of critical reflection
Provide more opportunities for students to engage in critical thinking and reflection on teaching practice.
Curriculum refresh addressed this recommendation.
Source: SUTE
Overall unit improvement
Refresh unit content and assessment.
Unit refreshed to better meet student needs and those of the profession.
Source: SUTE
Learning materials
Enhance the practical examples of classroom research.
In Progress
Source: SUTE
Assessment task guidelines
Revise assessment tasks for clarity and purpose.
In Progress
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Justify a focus for research inquiry for the purposes of enhancing professional knowledge and improving student learning and educational outcomes in an area of teaching specialisation
- Plan a research proposal that requires the purposeful and ethical collection of student data
- Identify and apply relevant legislative, administrative and organisation policy and processes in an ethical manner
- Identify implications for teaching practice based on research findings
- Make informed recommendations for a range of audiences including colleagues, students and parents and carers on pedagogical practice for improved student learning in an area of teaching specialisation.
Successful completion of this unit provides opportunities for students to demonstrate the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers focus areas of:
1.2 Understand how students learn
2.1 Content and teaching strategies of the teaching area
3.6 Evaluate and improve teaching programs
3.7 Engage parents/carers in the educative process
6.2 Engage in professional learning and improve practice
6.4 Apply professional learning and improve student learning
7.1 Meet professional ethics and responsibilities
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
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Written Assessment | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Presentation and Written Assessment | • | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Knowledge | • | • | |||
| 2 - Communication | • | • | • | ||
| 3 - Cognitive, technical and creative skills | • | • | • | • | |
| 4 - Research | • | • | • | • | |
| 5 - Self-management | • | ||||
| 6 - Ethical and Professional Responsibility | • | • | |||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | |