Professional Practice: Organising for Learning

All forms of cheating and dishonest practice are taken seriously and penalties will result. Students should refer to Regulation J of the General Course and Examination Regulations. Work submitted may be analysed by the software Turnitin, to check for plagiarism. Where there is evidence that cheating or plagiarism has occurred students will be awarded an X grade and the matter will be referred to the year level coordinator, and/or the Head of the School of Teacher Education.

Professional Practice Folder containing all PP documentation: observations, planning, assessment, evaluation, work samples, reflection and associate teacher assessment. Students are expected to document evidence of having worked towards teaching in all essential learning areas of the New Zealand Curriculum (2007) and have met the specified learning outcomes of the course through the following assessed tasks.

There are three assessed tasks:
• Professional Practice folder and professional documentation set out accordingly to give guidelines (LOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
• Professional Practice task which uses the design process to observe, plan for, implement, assess and evaluate a series of lessons, including the unit of work approach, in at least four essential learning areas (LOs 1, 2)
• Full management of the learning of a whole class for at least six consecutive days. (LOs 2, 3, 4)

As this is a professional degree a passing grade will be required for each of the above tasks.

Due date:  First working day following the conclusion of professional practice placement

Assessment procedures will follow the established policies of the UC College of Education Assessment Guidelines.


Grading Scale
Grade    GPA      Marks
A+          9      90 – 100
A            8      85 – 89.99
A-           7      80 – 84.99
B+          6      75 – 79.99
B            5      70 – 74.99
B-           4      65 – 69.99
C+          3      60 – 64.99
C            2      55 – 59.99
C-           1      50 – 54.99
D            0      40 – 49.99
E           -1       0 – 39.99

The score for each assessment item will be aggregated for the final grade. Normally a student will need to pass all assignments in a course. However, at the time of the examiner’s meeting when one of the grades for an assignment is just below the passing grade and the other grades are at a satisfactory level, the examiner may also consider factors such as attendance, engagement and the tertiary literacy standard of the assignment. In consultation, the examiner may decide to award the aggregated scores/grades. Assessment procedures will follow the policies of the UC College of Education Assessment Guidelines. Final grades will be calculated and reported using the UC Common Grading Scale.

Students will be expected to conduct at least one pre-placement visit at their allocated school.
Full attendance in school for the duration of the practicum, from at least 8.00am - 4.00pm each day, is a requirement.
Students will attend a debriefing interview with their PP lecturer after the placement concludes. This interview wil be conducted at a University of Canterbury campus or via flexible delivery mechanisms.

A student seeking credit in any course must attend such lectures, and perform satisfactorily such oral, practical, written and other work as the Head of Department/School concerned may require. (University of Canterbury Calendar 2014, p.43)
Students are expected to attend all scheduled course sessions, actively engage with course content and actively participate in course activities in order to meet the learning outcomes of the course. Students are expected to notify lecturers prior to their absence with an explanation. Extended absences must be accompanied by a medical certificate or similar (as for aegrotat provisions).

Students with less than 80% attendance are at-risk of not meeting the criteria for seeking credit in the course. The course lecturer may require evidence that they have actively engaged with the content and activities of the missed sessions.

On Campus students –attendance and active participation at lectures, workshops, labs and/or Adobe Connect (webinar) sessions, accessing of ECHO360 recordings, completion of forum tasks, participation in educational setting/school visits and other requirements specified by the course coordinator.

Formal and informal evaluation will take place in accordance with the relevant Course Evaluation Policy, to provide feedback to staff about the relevance and validity of what has been learned as well as the quality of course delivery.

The courses will be internally moderated in accordance with the processes adopted by the College of Education. An examiners’ meeting will be held at the end of the course to determine the final grades and to ensure fairness and consistency.

All assignments must be submitted on or before the due date. If an assignment is late (without a prior arranged extension) then it will normally not be marked. However, if the course lecturer is notified within 24 hours of the due date and there is a genuine issue, for which evidence must be given, it may be considered but the assignment grade is usually restricted to a minimum passing grade (50%) for that assessment. If the assessment is late it is automatically excluded from a resubmission opportunity unless there   are exceptional circumstances.

Tertiary literacy standard

Assignments that do not meet a tertiary literacy standard will be marked but that mark will be sanctioned. The student will be given one opportunity to correct the assignment so that it demonstrates tertiary technical writing skills. These skills include the correct use of spelling (including the appropriate use of macrons when spelling Māori words), sentence structure, punctuation, paragraphing and the appropriate use of APA referencing. The corrected work must be resubmitted within seven calendar days.

Once the work is at an appropriate tertiary literacy standard the sanction on the mark will be removed.