TCHR2002 Children, Families & Communities Assessment 2: Portfolio Term 3, 2025 | SCU

TCHR2002 Submission

• 1 Microsoft Word document or PDF, only if you have included images or graphics
• Submit to Turnitin in the Assessment 2 folder on Blackboard
• Complete and include the unit cover sheet with copies of any special consideration approval – you can cut and paste the text into your assignment
• No resubmissions of assignments are permitted in this unit

TCHR2002 Unit Learning Outcomes

You will demonstrate the following Unit Learning Outcomes on the successful completion of this task:

• ULO3: Explain the diverse range of issues affecting children, families and communities, including social, economic and educational policies and their impact upon service provision for children and families.
• ULO4: Critically analyse texts and images in terms of the construction of childhood and families across diverse contexts.

Assessment Rationale

Early childhood professionals experience a range of issues that affect children and families in contemporary society. They need to use critically reflection to work in partnership with families to resolve and work with some of these issues, and this requires deep knowledge, effective communication to problem solve and understand how these issues affect policy and practice.

Assessment Description

The aim of this assessment is for pre-service teachers to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding regarding some of the diverse issues facing children and families in contemporary communities and consider links to policy and practice. This assessment aligns with the unit learning modules 4-6 and requires you to reflect upon key issues presented in the unit content and complete three (3) x 500-word responses to the following topics.

Topic 1: Critical text analysis

Find a relevant article from a newspaper, educational journal, social media or the Internet focusing on an early childhood issue for children aged birth to six years.

Please note we do not want you to write about digital technologies for this assessment, so make sure you do not write about issues related to do with technology, or you will not pass the assessment.

Pay attention to the ideas expressed in the article and how they might link to the unit content about family diversity, social justice and construction of childhood, family and community explored in the unit. You do not need to cover all of these topics, but you do need to align your discussion to the unit content.

• Write a summary, critical analysis and evaluation of why the topic in this article is important and relevant to families with young children.
• Analyse what works or does not work in the article
• Pay close attention to the article choice as you will continue to use the same topic ideas from the article in your topic 2 and topic discussions, and you will lose marks if the article is not relevant to families of young children.
• Add a hyperlink to the article and include it in the reference list
• Your choice of topic does not need approval, as this choice is part of your assessment 

Topic 2: Family newsletter (500 words).

• Write about the children’s issue/topic for a family newsletter, outlining the ideas from the critical text analysis you explored in topic 1.
• You can write this in a newsletter style and use images and communication strategies that we explore in module five, but you do not have to. If you use images and/or graphics, reference these after you reference list, and you are then permitted to save as a PDF, so the images and text in the newsletter do not move around
• Pay attention to how you communicate your topic to families in an ECE education setting. Even though the newsletter will be written in everyday language, the article needs to show an understanding of the unit content and readings. It should cite evidence of research and other significant literature and critically analyse the ideas presented around the issue.
• This isn’t about giving your opinion, but rather an overview of the chosen article to communicate these ideas with families.

Topic 3: Impact of educational policies and practices

Now use the issues and understandings you have developed from your chosen text and newsletter article to consider how they align with early childhood policy and practice in an education setting (500 words).

• How might some of the ideas be reflected in policy and practices in an early childhood education setting?
• What broader polices, such as those outlined in module 6, might be relevant to your issue?
• Give examples of what this could look like in practice, as highlighted in module six.

TCHR2002 Assessment Instructions

Formatting and style

APA 7 formatting is required for this task.

• Include the TCHR2002 Assessment 2 cover page that can be found in the Assessment 2 folder
• Acknowledge if and how you have used GenAI in the assessment
• Include clear headings for the topics you are responding to
• Indent the first line of each new paragraph.
• Use 12-point font.
• Use a 1.5 or double-line space for your writing and your reference list, as this gives spaces for the markers to write feedback.

Referencing

• APA 7 Referencing style is required to be used for this task.
• Create a reference list on a new page at the end of the task with a minimum of ten references, although you may use more. These are not counted in the overall word count.
• At a minimum, your sources for this task will include the unit required text, unit readings, EYLF V.2.0 (AGDE, 2022) and broader literature.
• Broader literature may include textbooks, peer-reviewed articles, and other authoritative sources.

TCHR2002 Assessment Submission

• Submit using the submission point in the Assessment Task folder and Submission section on the Blackboard TCHR2002 site.
• Label your final submission with your surname and initials and the assessment task's name, e.g. SmithJ_PortfolioTask1.doc
• You are strongly advised to undertake your SIMILARITY CHECK via the Turnitin draft checker, before the due date, to identify and resolve any academic integrity issues before 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, log a job with Technology Services by email so you have evidence of your attempted submission. To avoid any last-minute problems, make sure you submit well before 11:59 pm on the due date.

TCHR2002 Academic Integrity

Southern Cross University's academic integrity means behaving with the values of honesty, fairness, trustworthiness, courage, responsibility, and respect concerning 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 information in Blackboard, the recorded assessment overview and refer to the SCU Academic Integrity Framework.

Generative A1

For the assessments in this unit, students are permitted to use Generative AI (e.g., ChatGPT) to:

• clarify concepts, theories, ideas, etc., discussed in class
• generate preliminary ideas for writing
• edit a working draft of the assessment
• Read and summarise research and supporting evidence for the assessment

Students are not permitted to use Generative AI to:

• generate definitions or writing used in their final submission.
• produce arguments or refine thinking on their final submission

Any of these actions will constitute and be treated as a breach of academic integrity.

Do not post confidential, private, personal, or otherwise sensitive information into these tools. If you use these tools, you must be aware of their limitations, biases, and propensity for fabrication. Your use of AI tools must adhere to the SCU Academic Integrity Framework, including upholding honesty, ethics, professionalism, and academic integrity.

Assessment Rubric

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 concerning 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, with 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 about 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 concerning the learning requirements specified.

Fail:

The student’s performance fails to satisfy the learning requirements specified.