| CODE | EDS5027 | ||||||||
| TITLE | Social contexts and inclusive conditions of teaching and learning in primary schools | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 7 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Education Studies | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The primary school provides a particular context for teaching and learning. Throughout the study unit the students will learn to think sociologically about complex issues present in the primary school context, and which may impede or promote students’ entitlement to a quality education. This study unit explores topics such as educational equality and inequality, poverty, families and educational preparedness for primary schooling, different forms of instructional and social segregation within an educational system, racism, religious pluralism, gender differences and health inequality. This study unit will also discuss the principles that guide inclusion and the challenges within an inclusive environment. Through this unit the students will be exposed to the multicultural and multilingual primary classroom and to planning for addressing the diversity that such environments create. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit aims to equip students with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes to be able to critically analyse and address situations arising from particular contexts in the primary schools in which they would be teaching. The lectures and school-based tasks will help students become aware of, and understand how structures - such as market and spatial segregation, and policies- such as compensatory programmes, as well as practices in primary schools, impact teachers’ teaching as well as students’ learning. This study unit encourages an attitude of critical reflection which contests deficit thinking, and guides students to recognise structures, policies and processes that would guarantee equitable educational entitlements for learners. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Identify the social and structural conditions which impact teaching and learning in primary school environments. • Engage with theories grounded in empirical realities which provide robust explanations of what takes place within the contexts of the diverse learning communities. • Analyse and evaluate how policies and practices in primary schools provide for just/unjust practices that may ensure or hamper students’ educational entitlement. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: • Apply their experiences of placement in primary schools as student-teachers to reflect on the social embeddedness of teaching and learning; • Apply their knowledge base to solve professional problems in their daily practices in school; • Apply the ideals of justice and fairness in their dealings with primary school students and their families; • Analyse policy texts from a critical perspective, and creatively come up with alternative solutions to perceived problems; • Explore the complex relationships between issues discussed and develop a plan of action; • Synthesise the theories discussed in lectures to create their own theories of teaching and learning ; • Value their role as a change agent in schools. • Identify the relation between the social positioning of learners and their access to forms of education by engaging with a set of concepts and knowledge of empirical research. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: Moore, R. (2004). Education and society. Issues and explanations in the sociology of education. Polity Press Ballantine, J. H., Spade, J. Z., Stuber, J. (Eds.) (2018). Schools and society: a sociological approach to education. Sage Mara Sapon-Shevin (2014). How we Respond to Differences – And the Difference It Makes. In Diana Lawrence-Brown and Mara Sapon-Shevin Condition Critical: Key Principles for Equitable and Inclusive Education, pp. 17-32. Disability, Culture, and Equity Series. Teacher College, Columbia University. New York and London. A set of required readings shall also be provided. These will be available through HyDi or on VLE. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Colin Calleja Louise Chircop (Co-ord.) Phyllisienne Gauci Francois Mifsud Milosh Raykov |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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