Rationale
This section describes the purpose of the assessment task (the ‘why’)
Working with and supporting children and families within the context of their community can present challenges. Early childhood professionals should reflect on the diversity of issues that face children and families. The aim of this assessment task is for students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding regarding contemporary and diverse issues facing children, families, and communities.
Task Description
This section provides a brief description of the assessment task (the ‘what’).
This task requires students to reflect upon key issues presented in the unit content and complete three (3) x 500-word responses to the questions under the Task Instructions.
Task Instructions
This section provides step-by-step task instructions (the ‘how’).
Drawing on a range of relevant literature, answer each of the following three questions in approximately 500-words.
Question 1
The internet provides new opportunities for social connection for people who are isolated. With reference to the Unit materials provide responses to the following statements.
Part A:
Find an example of a website that enables isolated families from different socio-cultural backgrounds to make social connections that will assist them with their parenting. Write a short statement about the website.
Part B:
Do you believe the social connectedness achieved through the internet bring the same benefits to families as face-to-face social connections? Why or why not?
Question 2
With reference to the Unit materials provide responses to the following statements.
Part A: Why is it difficult to provide a clear definition of abuse and neglect?
Part B: To what extent do you think that child protection is a community responsibility? Part C: What do you think are the barriers to community responsibility in this area?
Question 3
With reference to the Unit materials provide responses to the following statements.
Part A: Investigate an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) service or organisation of your choice and review the extent to which parents have a role in governance and opportunities to influence design and implementation of the setting.
You are encouraged to use a range of strategies to gather information about your chosen setting such as; reviewing the ECEC website and social media pages, searching ACECQA service ratings https://www.acecqa.gov.au/resources/national-registers/services. You might also like to telephone your chosen setting to ask questions relevant to the assessment task.
Part B: In what ways could your chosen service improve their partnerships with families?
Formatting and style
APA 7 formatting is required for this task.
• Include a cover page that contains:
• The title of the task in bold o Your name (as author) and Student ID
o Your faculty (Faculty of Education, Southern Cross University) o The unit code and name (TCHR2002 Children, Families, and Communities) o Your unit assessor’s name (Kelly Simpson) o The due date
• Include the question/question part you are responding to at the start of each response. • Indent the first line of each new paragraph
• Use 12-point Arial font.
• Double line space your writing and your reference list
Referencing
• APA Referencing style is required to be used for this task
• Include one reference list for all responses on a new page at the end of task. Place the title References in bold in the centre at the top of this page.
• At a minimum, your sources for this task will include a range of unit materials and broader literature.
• Broader literature may include textbooks, peer reviewed articles, and other authoritative sources.
• While there is no set number of references required for this task, a good guide to keep in mind is to include one reference every 100 words.
Resources
• Academic Integrity – https://www.scu.edu.au/about/leadership/executive/academicportfolio-office-apo/academic-integrity-framework/
• SCU Student Learning Zone – https://www.scu.edu.au/current-students/learning-zone/
Referencing Style Resource
Please refer to the APA 7th Referencing Guide for this task – https://libguides.scu.edu.au/apa
Task Submission
• Your task should be submitted using the submission point in the Turnitin folder titled FINAL SUBMISSION POINT: Assessment 2: Portfolio in the Assessments Tasks and Submission section on the Blackboard TCHR2002 site. Only Microsoft Word documents submitted via the Turnitin portal on Blackboard will be accepted. You must label your final submission with your surname and initials and the assessment task’s name, e.g. SmithJ_PortfolioTask2.doc
• You are strongly advised to undertake your own SIMILARITY CHECK via Turnitin, PRIOR to the due date, to identify and resolve any academic integrity issues prior to submitting – see SCU Academic Integrity and Turnitin. You can submit up to three times and receive the similarity match report immediately – after three attempts, you will need to wait 24 hours.
• It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you have submitted the correct file and the FINAL version of your assessment for marking BEFORE the due date/time.
• Turnitin does not generate an automatic email receipt. If you have successfully uploaded your assessment, a green bar will appear at the top of the screen that says: Submission uploaded successfully: Download digital receipt. Use the hyperlink to download your digital receipt and store this with your assignment file.
• If you have any difficulty submitting your assignment, please contact Technology Services and make sure that you log a job with them, so you have evidence of your attempted submission. To avoid any last-minute problems, make sure you submit well before 11:59pm on the due date.
Academic Integrity
At Southern Cross University academic integrity means behaving with the values of honesty, fairness, trustworthiness, courage, responsibility, and respect in relation to academic work.
The Southern Cross University Academic Integrity Framework aims to develop a holistic, systematic, and consistent approach to addressing academic integrity across the entire University. For more information see the SCU Academic Integrity Framework
NOTE: Academic Integrity breaches include poor referencing, not identifying direct quotations correctly, close paraphrasing, plagiarism, recycling, misrepresentation, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, fabricating information.
At SCU the use of GenAI tools is acceptable, unless it is beyond the acceptable limit as defined in the Assessment Item by the Unit Assessor.
Instructions for this task
GenAI May Not be Used
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools, such as ChatGPT, must NOT be used for this Assessment Task. You are required to demonstrate if you have developed the unit’s skills and knowledge without the support of GenAI. If you use GenAI tools in your assessment task, it may result in an academic integrity breach against you as described in the Student Academic and NonAcademic Misconduct Rules, Section 3.
Special Consideration
Students wishing to request special consideration to extend the due date of an assessment task must submit a Request for Special Consideration form via their MyEnrolment page as early as possible and prior to the original due date for that assessment task, along with any accompanying documents, such as medical certificates. Please refer to the Special Consideration section of the SCU Policy https://policies.scu.edu.au/document/view-current.php?id=140
Late Submissions & Penalties
Except when special consideration is awarded, late submission of assessment tasks incur a late penalty. Penalties will be incurred as soon as the deadline for task submission is reached.
• A penalty of 5% of the available marks will be deducted from the actual mark at one minute after the time listed in the due date
• A further penalty of 5% of the available mark will be deducted from the actual mark on each subsequent calendar day until the mark reaches zero.
Please refer to the Late Submission & Penalties section of Policy https://policies.scu.edu.au/view.current.php?id=00255
Grades & Feedback
Assessments that have been submitted by the due date will receive an SCU grade. Grades and feedback will be posted to the ‘Grades and Feedback’ section on the Blackboard unit site. Please allow 7 days for marks to be posted.
Assessment Criteria
See the marking rubric for the marking criteria and grading standards.
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Assessment Rubric
Marking criteria and % allocation High
Distinction
+ (100%) High Distinction (85-99%) Distinction (75-84%) Credit
(65-74%) Pass
(50-64%) Marginal Fail (35-49%) Fail
(1-34%) Not addressed (0%)
Criteria 1
Identifies a suitable website for isolated families and explains how the website helps families establish social connections. Provides a professional perspective on the benefits of internet-based social
connectedness compared to faceto-face interactions for families, as well as reasons for each perspective. /15 Achieves all the criteria for a high distinction to an exemplary standard. Identifies a suitable website and thoroughly describes its features and benefits. Provides a wellreasoned professional perspective on internet-based social
connectedness versus face-toface interactions and their advantages and disadvantages for families. Each viewpoint is supported by current academic literature. Identifies a suitable website and provides a clear and concise description of its features and benefits. Provides an insightful professional perspective on internet-based social
connectedness versus face-toface interactions and their advantages and disadvantages for families. Each viewpoint is supported by current academic literature.
Identifies a suitable website and provides a description of its features and benefits.
Provides a sound professional perspective on internet-based social
connectedness versus face-toface interactions and their advantages and disadvantages for families. Some current academic
literature is used to support each viewpoint. Identifies an appropriate website and provides a general description of its features and benefits. Provides a satisfactory professional perspective on internet-based social
connectedness versus face-toface interactions and their advantages and disadvantages for families. Minimal current academic literature is used to support each viewpoint.
Identifies an appropriate website and provides little description of its features and benefits. Provides a limited professional perspective on internet-based social
connectedness versus face-toface interactions and their advantages and disadvantages for families. Little to no current
academic
literature is used to support each viewpoint.
Does not identify an appropriate website or an adequate
description of its features and benefits. Does not provide an adequate professional perspective on
the social connectedness achieved through internet-based interactions versus face-toface interactions, and the advantages and disadvantages for families. Not attempted
5
Criteria 2
With reference to the unit materials explain why defining abuse and neglect is difficult and specifies the extent to which child protection can be regarded as a community responsibility. Identify and describe potential barriers to community child protection responsibility.
/15
Achieves all the criteria for a high distinction to an exemplary standard, with outstanding integration of the unit materials. Provides an insightful and well-articulated explanation of the difficulties that arise in defining abuse and neglect and uses a variety of relevant examples to support their discussion. Provides a comprehensive
justification for considering child
protection as a community
responsibility and exhibits a deep understanding of the potential barriers to
community
responsibility for child protection.
Provides a thorough explanation of the difficulties that arise in defining abuse and neglect and uses relevant examples to support the discussion. Provides a solid justification for considering child protection as a community
responsibility and exhibits a comprehensive understanding of the potential barriers to
community
responsibility for child protection. Provides a sound explanation of the difficulties that arise in defining abuse and neglect and uses some examples to support the discussion. Provides a sound justification for considering child
protection as a
community
responsibility
and exhibits a sound understanding of some of the potential barriers to
community
responsibility for child protection. Provides a general explanation of the difficulties that arise in defining abuse and neglect and uses few examples to support the discussion. Provides a satisfactory justification for considering child
protections as a community
responsibility and exhibits a satisfactory understanding of the potential barriers to
community
responsibility for child protection.
Provides a limited explanation of the difficulties that arise in defining abuse and neglect and uses very limited/one example/s to support the discussion. Provides a limited justification for considering
child protections as a community
responsibility and exhibits a limited understanding of the potential barriers to
community
responsibility for child protection.
Does not provide an adequate explanation of the difficulties that arise in defining abuse and neglect. Does not provide a justification for considering child
protection as a community responsibility. Does not identify or describe potential barriers to community
responsibility for child protection.
Note attempted
Criteria 3 Selects an appropriate Early Childhood
Education and Achieves all the criteria for a high distinction to an Provides wellarticulated evidence of the extent to which parents and Provides solid evidence of the extent to which parents and children are Provides sound evidence of the extent to which parents are involved in the Provides satisfactory evidence of the extent to which parents are Provides limited evidence of the extent to which parents are Fails to provide evidence of the degree to which parents are involved in the Not attempted
Care service. With reference to the Unit materials examines the extent to which parents and children
participate in governance and their opportunities to influence design and
implementation; and identifies ways in which the service can improve its partnership with families. /15 exemplary standard, with outstanding integration of the unit materials. children are involved in the governance of their chosen ECEC service. Demonstrates an in-depth understanding of how parents and children can contribute to the ECEC service. Provides insightful suggestions for how the service can improve its partnership with families supported by academic literature. involved in the governance of their chosen ECEC service. Demonstrates a good understanding of how parents and children can contribute to the ECEC service. Provides clear suggestions for how the service could improve its partnership with families supported by academic literature. governance of their chosen ECEC service. Demonstrates an appropriate understanding of how parents and children can contribute to the ECEC service. Provides suggestions for how the service could improve its partnership with families with some reference to academic literature.
involved in the governance of their chosen ECEC service.
Demonstrates a satisfactory understanding of how parents and children to the design and implementation of the ECEC service. Provides suggestions for how the service could improve its partnership with families with satisfactory reference to academic literature.
involved in the governance of their chosen ECEC service. Demonstrates a limited understanding of how parents and children to the design and implementation of the ECEC service. Provides limited suggestions for how the service could improve its partnership with families with little or no reference to academic literature.
governance of their chosen ECEC service. Lacks an understanding of how parents and children can contribute to the design and implementation of the ECEC service.
Criteria 4
Academic Literacy including correct word count, correct writing conventions, use of professional language and academic referencing (APA Achieves all the criteria for a high distinction to an exemplary standard, Excellent standard of writing and presentation with no errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, paragraph Very good standard of writing and presentation with very minor and very inconsistent errors in spelling and Good standard of writing and presentation with some minor and inconsistent errors in one or two areas of spelling or Satisfactory standard of writing and presentation with errors in most areas of spelling, punctuation, grammar, Poor standard of writing and presentation with consistent errors in most/all areas
of spelling, punctuation, Significant
improvement needed in writing and presentation with consistent errors in spelling, punctuation, grammar, paragraph structure, and Not attempted
7th style) and a
minimum of 10 academic references. /5 without any errors. structure, or APA 7th referencing.
Word count within +/- 10% of the set word count. punctuation and grammar and paragraph structure and APA 7th referencing.
Word count within +/- 10% of the set word count. punctuation or grammar or paragraph structure, or APA 7th referencing.
Word count within +/- 10% of the set word count. paragraph structure, APA 7th referencing
Or
Consistent errors in one or two of the
above areas
and/or
Word count over/under +/- 10% of the set word count. grammar, paragraph structure, and APA 7th
referencing
and/or
Word count significantly under or over +/- 10% of the set word count for the task APA 7th referencing
Description of SCU Grades
High Distinction:
The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements, demonstrates distinctive insight and ability in researching, analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows exceptional ability to synthesise, integrate and evaluate knowledge. The student’s performance could be described as outstanding in relation to the learning requirements specified.
Distinction:
The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements, demonstrates distinctive insight and ability in researching, analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows a well-developed ability to synthesise, integrate and evaluate knowledge. The student’s performance could be described as distinguished in relation to the learning requirements specified.
Credit:
The student’s performance, in addition to satisfying all of the basic learning requirements specified, demonstrates insight and ability in researching, analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts. The student’s performance could be described as competent in relation to the learning requirements specified.
Pass:
The student’s performance satisfies all of the basic learning requirements specified and provides a sound basis for proceeding to higher-level studies in the subject area. The student’s performance could be described as satisfactory in relation to the learning requirements specified.
Fail:
The student’s performance fails to satisfy the learning requirements specified.