TCHR5001: Play and Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education Assessment 1 Brief 2025 | SCU

TCHR5001 Unit Learning Outcomes

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

ULO1: identify and analyse the role of play in learning and examine the challenges pertaining to play and pedagogies.
ULO2: discuss the diversity of approaches to pedagogies utilised in early childhood education and care, and how they position children, teachers, and parents/carers.
ULO3: analyse the relationships between philosophy, theory, and pedagogy to the learning environment for all young children (birth – 5 years).
ULO4: critically reflect on personal philosophy to play and pedagogies for learning and teaching as an early childhood professional. 

Assessment Rationale

The foundation of your teaching and learning will be centered around play-based pedagogy.  As an early childhood teacher,  you  have a key role in enabling children’s learning, development and wellbeing through intentionality, planning and extensions and enrichment of children’s play (Australia Government Department of Education, 2022). Teachers also need to have a thorough understanding of diverse theoretical and philosophical foundations of play-based pedagogy to be able to critically consider the possibilities and challenges associated with incorporating play into practice. Teachers must advocate for the recognition and significance of play as a fundamental right for all children.  We must strive to create learning environments that welcome diverse perspectives and allow for the development of a shared understanding of what 'play' entails and what it looks like. This assessment task requires you to critically engage with Modules 1-3 and the theoretical underpinnings and create a digital presentation.

TCHR5001 Task Instructions

Imagine you are working in an early childhood education and care setting and have been asked to present at the family information night. The information night is for parents/guardians  who  have  had their child newly start in the kindergarten program. Some families of children aged 4-5 years voice their concerns about the play-based approach used in your setting. They believe their children should be engaged in more formal, academic approaches to prepare them for school. Other families are interested in the play-based approach but would like to know more about the potential value and benefits of play.

For  Assessment  One,  your task is to prepare a ‘pitch’ to explain and  justify the importance of a play-based pedagogical approach for children now and in their future at kindergarten. You will need to follow two steps in order to successfully complete your ‘pitch’. 

Step One: Develop your Pitch

The task is to create a digital presentation that visually supports and enhances your Pitch. You may use Microsoft PowerPoint, Prezi or Canva to create your presentation. Resources on how to prepare the digital presentation are provided in the Assessment 1 Folder on Blackboard.

Your presentation slides need to: 

• Use an easy-to-read font for the text on the slides (e.g., Arial, Times New Roman),
• Font that is size 20 for each slide,
• Use and cite images,
• Include clear headings,
• Include in-text citations on each slide and a separate reference list (following APA 7th Guidelines),
• Use limited to no animation for the presentation, and
• Do not embed videos into the digital presentation.

To ensure your pitch is well-organised and addresses all necessary elements, you need to identify and justify the following elements:

1. Introduction: Introduce yourself to the early childhood educational setting and briefly address the concerns raised by families (40 seconds approx).
2. Role of play: Explain the role of play in children’s learning, development and wellbeing, including an example of a play-based experience/activity. Remember to address different developmental domains and link to two theoretical perspectives (2 minutes approx).
3. Challenges and solutions: Identify potential challenges when incorporating play into early childhood teaching and how to overcome them. Provide example/s (1.5 minutes approx).
4. Personal philosophy on play: Share your personal philosophy regarding play and how it influences your approach to teaching and learning.  Detailed examples of translating philosophy into practice (2 minutes approx).
5. Successful play-based learning environment: Discuss what contributes to a successful play-based learning environment, including physical, social, and temporal elements (1.5 minutes).
6. Summary and farewell: provide a brief  summary and farewell note (20 seconds approx).

Please note: the approximate timing for presenting each element is ONLY indicative to help you better plan the presentation.

The time allocated may look slightly different for each student, depending on the presentation organisation.  

Your pitch needs to be supported and informed by:

• At least 2 contemporary theoretical perspective presented in Module 2. 
• Academic sources such as  peer-reviewed literature  including  readings,  journal articles, book chapters, unit material etc. 
• Professional sources and ECEC policies, including the Early Years Learning Framework, National Quality Standard, United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Code of Ethics, Developmental Milestones, Early Childhood Australia’s Statement on Play, and unit material.

Step Two: Record your Presentation

Record yourself delivering your 8-minute presentation. You may use Zoom or Microsoft PowerPoint to capture your presentation delivery and slides.

Save the transcript of the video recording and paste it into the Template Microsoft Word document provided in the Assessment 1 folder on Blackboard.

Save your recording as an MP4 file and submit the MP4 file to VoiceThread. 

TCHR5001 Assessment Rubric