Part 1: Professional Philosophy (750 words)  Develop your professional philosophy statement for working with infants and toddlers in an early childhood

Rationale 

Students will reflect on their learning about theoretical perspectives and practices to develop their own  

teaching philosophy for teaching infants and toddlers. Students will reflect on this philosophy and how it may  translate to practice. 

 

Task Description  

Part 1: Professional Philosophy (750 words) 

Develop your professional philosophy statement for working with infants and toddlers in an early childhood  setting. Consider important aspects of infant and toddler learning, health and safety and development.  

Consider unit topics such as relationships, quality, attachment, brain development, routines and the physical  and human environment. You can also include topics that are of interest to you. 

Part 2: Critical Reflection (750 words) 

Critically reflect on your philosophy above and identify 3 anticipated challenges you may face when putting  your philosophy into practice. How do you intend to overcome these challenges? Analyze according to the set  text, and the National Quality Standard and Early Years Learning Framework (V2.0).  

Task Instructions  

• This report consists of two tasks and should be presented in ONE Word document. 

Cover page: 

Include an APA formatted cover page Formatting your assessment for APA 7th (scu.edu.au) 

If you have used Grammarly Premium include the following Acknowledgement Statement on your cover page 

 

I acknowledge the use of Grammarly Premium to provide feedback and suggestions on my writing for  academic tone, written expression, grammar, Australian English spelling, and punctuation on INSERT  

 

DATE.  I have uploaded My draft essay prior to ANY editing with Grammarly Premium to the ‘Pre-editing draft’ portal in Turnitin

• Complete professional philosophy (750 words) and critical reflection (750 words)  

• Complete one APA formatted reference list  

• If you have used Grammarly Premium upload My draft essay prior to ANY editing to the ‘Pre-editing draft’ portal in Turnitin

• Check draft with draft checker on unit site 

• Once complete, submit final task via the Turnitin link in the Assessment and Submission section of the unit site. 

Referencing 

APA7th referencing format is required with a minimum of 5 references. Sources should include relevant early  childhood policy and peer-reviewed literature. Students must use the unit textbook. 

Resources 

• Australian Government Department of Education. (2022) Belonging, being and becoming: The early  

years learning framework for Australia (V2.0).

• Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (n.d.). Developmental milestones and the  

Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Standards. 

• Sims, M., & Hutchins, T. (2020). Program planning for infants and toddlers (3rd ed). Pademelon Press. 

Task Submission 

Assessments should be submitted using the Turnitin link on the Assessments Tasks & Submission section on  the Blackboard site. Only Microsoft Word documents submitted via the Turnitin portal on Blackboard will be  accepted. You must label your submission with your surname and initials and the assessment task’s name. 

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.  

Special Consideration 

Please refer to the Special Consideration section of Policy  

Late Submissions & Penalties 

Please refer to the Late Submission & Penalties section of Policy  

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 7-10 days for marks to  be posted.

 

 

Assessment 1: Report MARKING RUBRIC

Criteria 

High Distinction 

Distinction 

Credit 

Pass 

Marginal Fail 

Fail

Task 1: Professional 

Philosophy (40%) 

Articulation of professional  philosophy statement for  working with Infant and  Toddler age children. Includes important aspects of Infant  and Toddler learning, health  and safety and development.

There is OUTSTANDING 

articulation of the philosophy  statement for working with  Infant and Toddlers.  

OUTSTANDING inclusion of  important aspects of Infant and  Toddler learning, health and  safety and development that  are covered in the unit. 

There is VERY GOOD articulation of the philosophy statement for  working with Infant and  

Toddlers. VERY GOOD inclusion  of important aspects of Infant  and Toddler learning, health  and safety and development  that are covered in the unit. 

There is GOOD articulation of the philosophy statement for  working with Infant and  

Toddlers. GOOD inclusion of  important aspects of Infant and  Toddler learning, health and  safety and development that  are covered in the unit. 

There is BASIC articulation of the philosophy statement for  working with Infant and  

Toddlers. BASIC inclusion of  important aspects of Infant and  Toddler learning, health and  safety and development that  are covered in the unit. 

There is UNCLEAR articulation of the philosophy statement for  working with Infants and  Toddlers. Philosophy includes  unclear or inappropriate aspects of Infant and Toddler learning,  health and safety and  

development that are covered  in the unit.

There is NO articulation of the philosophy statement for  working with Infant and  

Toddlers. Philosophy does not  include aspects of Infant and  Toddler learning, health and  safety and development that  are covered in the unit. 

Task 2: Critical reflection (40%) 

Critical reflection on personal  philosophy to learning &  teaching of Infants and  Toddlers, the challenges and  the learning competencies  needed to achieve success as  a teacher of the infant and  toddler age group. 

OUTSTANDING critical reflection on philosophy to learning &  teaching of Infants and  

Toddlers, the challenges and the learning competencies needed  to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age  group. 

VERY GOOD critical reflection on philosophy to learning &  teaching of Infants and  

Toddlers, the challenges and the learning competencies needed  to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age  group. 

GOOD critical reflection on philosophy to learning &  teaching of Infants and  

Toddlers, the challenges and  the learning competencies  needed to achieve success as a teacher of the infant and  toddler age group. 

BASIC critical reflection on  philosophy to learning &  teaching of Infants and  

Toddlers, the challenges and  the learning competencies  needed to achieve success as  a teacher of the infant and  toddler age group. 

UNCLEAR critical reflection on personal philosophy to  

learning & teaching of Infants  and Toddlers, the challenges and the learning  

competencies needed to  achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age  group.

NO critical reflection on 

personal philosophy to  

learning & teaching of Infants  and Toddlers, the challenges and the learning  

competencies needed to  achieve success as a teacher of the infant and toddler age  group. 

Use of set text, the EYLF,  NQS, the unit’s materials and scholarly readings (10%)

OUTSTANDING use of materials. Philosophy and critical 

reflections are consistently  supported by relevant early  childhood policy, research and  literature. 

VERY GOOD use of materials. Philosophy and critical 

reflection are regularly  

supported by relevant early  childhood policy, research and  literature. 

GOOD use of materials. 

Critical reflection is  

consistently supported by  relevant early childhood  policy, research and literature.  Some aspects of philosophy  are not supported by sources. 

BASIC use of materials. Critical reflection is supported with  literature. 

LIMITED use of materials. References are not relevant or appropriate for the task.

Work is not referenced. 

Academic literacy 

(10%)

Displayed outstanding Academic Literacy, including all of the  following: Correct word count  (+/- 10%), correct writing  conventions, correctly  

formatted reference list. 

Displayed comprehensive Academic Literacy, including all  or most of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%),  correct writing conventions,  correctly formatted reference  list.

Displayed solid Academic Literacy, including some or most of the following: Correct word  count (+/- 10%), correct writing  conventions, correctly  

formatted reference list.

Displayed satisfactory Academic Literacy, including some of the  following: Correct word count  (+/- 10%), correct writing  conventions, correctly  

formatted reference list.

Limited Academic Literacy. Mostly incorrect word count,  writing conventions and  reference list.

Failed to display satisfactory Academic Literacy. Incorrect  word count, incorrect writing  

conventions, incorrectly  formatted reference list. Task is  not readable. 

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, analyzing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows  exceptional ability to synthesize, 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, analyzing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows a  well-developed ability to synthesize, 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, analyzing and applying relevant skills and concepts. The  

a 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.