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Module Specifications

Archived Version 2022 - 2023

Module Title
Module Code
School

Online Module Resources

NFQ level 9 Credit Rating 10
Pre-requisite None
Co-requisite None
Compatibles None
Incompatibles None
Description

This module’s rationale is to provide participants with space and structures within which to explore their personal and personally-professional development. Self-awareness, confidence, comfort, criticality and self-efficacy are known foundations of being effective SPHE/RSE teachers (UNESCO, 2021/WHO, 2017) and of inclusive teaching (GEMR, 2020/EADSNE, 2012). Participants will consider their own identity-formation and ongoing evolution/wellbeing while building their competence as agentic, assured professionals equipped to navigate inclusive implementation of SPHE/RSE. Reflection in/on attitudes, values, feelings and experiences in the construction and enactment of SPHE/RSE are an important part of the journey to being knowledgeably robust, agile practitioners/leaders who can acknowledge and embrace change/uncertainty as predictable eventualities/opportunities. Attuning to their own personal and teacher voices/views is integral to preparation for listening to and hearing the diverse young people with whom participants work to co-construct valuable education for living healthy, fulfilling lives. Aims of Module are to: ● Develop awareness of and personally-professional reflection on participants’ own attitudes, values, feelings, biases and experiences considering intersections/separations of these with one’s professional role as SPHE/RSE teacher; ● Enable critical-reflection on the role of societal values and norms (e.g. gender/ability/ sexuality/race/ethnicity/social-class/religious-belief/language norms/expectations) in SPHE/RSE; ● Build knowledge and skills in the four core values of inclusive-teaching to enhance confidence for being diversity-aware/responsive; ● Develop confidence for integrating theory, research and practice knowledge in context; ● Build change-readiness to sustain participants’ wellbeing throughout curriculum comprehensiveness and developments; ● Foster culture of dialogue/relationship among teachers as they develop competence for sustaining ongoing connections/communities of learning/teaching in SPHE/RSE.

Learning Outcomes

1. Explicate awareness of their own attitudes, beliefs, values, feelings, biases and experiences and the relevance of these in context as teachers of SPHE/RSE.
2. Deliberate their roles as agents in collaborative practice/leadership for SPHE/RSE in schools.
3. Appreciate the centrality of their relationships: with selves, with each other; with young people, with whole-school community; with parents/carers and with other education partners in enacting SPHE/RSE curriculum and hidden curriculum.
4. Use personal and critical reflexivity to apply integrated knowledge of theory, research and practice findings to engage comfortably in SPHE/RSE with young people and with other education partners in SPHE/RSE.
5. Explain the salience of student voice and harvest their experiences of co-constructing learning in SPHE/RSE for implications arising from the complexities of these lived realities.
6. Illustrate the meaning of inclusive-teaching drawing on examples of their experiences in navigating inclusivity (and the uncertainty this requires) within current curriculum specifications and guidance for teaching SPHE/RSE.
7. Demonstrate capacity for integrating/separating their personal positionalities in their professional roles as SPHE/RSE teachers.
8. Articulate their analysis of the impact that societal values and norms can have on educators, on young people, on parents/carers and on other partners in terms of expectations and implications for SPHE/RSE. .
9. Locate themselves within current SPHE/RSE developments and implications for them within historic and policy contexts in Ireland and elsewhere.
10. Synopsise and articulate their identity as SPHE/RSE teacher, at a point in time, incorporating theoretical, policy, research and experiential journey events to date



Workload Full-time hours per semester
Type Hours Description
Seminars40Class Engagement Participation in Lectures/Seminars In Person and/or online
Group work30Professional Learning Community Engagement Engagement with PLC outside formal contact hours
Directed learning80Engagement with assigned stimuli (8) and reflective expression thereof
Independent Study100Individual Study, Identity Formation Explication and Representation Engagement with Recommended and Personally Selected Sources and Preparation of Final Assignment
Total Workload: 250

All module information is indicative and subject to change. For further information,students are advised to refer to the University's Marks and Standards and Programme Specific Regulations at: http://www.dcu.ie/registry/examinations/index.shtml

Indicative Content and Learning Activities

Indicative Content/Syllabus:
Indicative Content/Syllabus: Teacher Identity (construction, deconstruction, experiential articulation, tracing, theoretical constructs and research (national and international) findings) Role of SPHE/RSE teacher (personal experiences, national guidelines, national context, international context, research findings (national and international), positionality) Context of SPHE/RSE teacher role (history, experience, influences, policy/political/social/educational factors) Teaching Relationships (Relational Contexts for this Work; Relationship concepts to be taught; Relationship awareness, building and navigating; various relationships/partnerships in role; communicating; Inclusivity (Meaning; interrogating Diversity, Inclusion and Equality discourses; assumptions; preconceptions; common misconceptions; All means All; case studies; relationality; pedagogies; frameworks; Core Competences) Inclusivity in SPHE/RSE teaching context (curriculum; teachers; students; partners in education; meaning) SPHE/RSE Teacher Identity (construction, deconstruction, development/evolution, use of international stories, tracing current status before, during and at close of module (assessment point in time within lifelong trajectory)

Indicative Teaching and Learning Activities:
The overall orientation of the module is to model/mirror methodological and pedagogical approaches that are conducive to/facilitative of personal development for SPHE/RSE in schools. We will begin by acknowledging participants’ existing knowledge of/experience of these. The how of what we do and co-construction of approaches that work best for the participants in each cohort is intentionally flexible, within the full range of participative and experiential approaches. Participants have the opportunity to experience universal design in sessions and on assessment (especially the choice aspect) Dialogue, i.e. expression through talking/other means and listening, will be a feature within all component approaches; Whole-Class and Group (as Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) at two levels) organisation will be used throughout the contact hours. It is recommended that participants engage with their PLC for some of their independent study time to capture the cumulative /expansive learning possibilities; Professional Problem-Based-Learning approach where participants’ questions/ideas will form the connection point for theoretical, research and practice knowledge application. Indicative Approaches: ● engagement with scenarios, case-studies and relevant current affairs; ● considering tricky questions, potential concerns/objections and possibilities for working collaboratively with all partners (PLC/role play choices) ● Normativity analysis exercises ● Power of listening (triad work) ● Strengths based approaches ● Engagement with Research (Living and Written/Documented) ● Seminar, lecture, use of artistic representation of content and supplementary reading.

Assessment Breakdown
Continuous Assessment% Examination Weight%
Course Work Breakdown
TypeDescription% of totalAssessment Date
Reassessment Requirement
Resit arrangements are explained by the following categories;
1 = A resit is available for all components of the module
2 = No resit is available for 100% continuous assessment module
3 = No resit is available for the continuous assessment component
Unavailable
Indicative Reading List

  • Mockler, N.: 2022, Constructing Teacher Identities: How the Print Media Define and Represent Teachers and Their Work., Bloomsbury Publishing.,
  • Ollis, D., Coll, L., Harrison, L., & Johnson, B.: 2022, Pedagogies of possibility for negotiating sexuality education with young people., Emerald Group Publishing.,
  • Lyle E. (Ed.): 2020, Identity Landscapes: Contemplating Place and the Construction of Self., Brill,
  • Alsup, J.: 2019, Millennial teacher identity discourses: Balancing self and other., Routledge,
  • Schutz, P. A., Hong, J., & Francis, D. C. (Eds.).: 2018, Research on teacher identity: Mapping challenges and innovations.., Springer,
  • Lyle, E. (Ed.).: 2017, At the intersection of selves and subject: Exploring the curricular landscape of identity., Springer,
  • Rasmussen, M. L.: 2015, Progressive sexuality education: The conceits of secularism., Routledge,
  • Allen, L., Rasmussen, M. L., & Quinlivan, K.: 2014, The politics of pleasure in sexuality education., Routledge,
  • Ball, A. F., & Tyson, C. A. (Eds.).: 2011, Studying diversity in teacher education., Rowman & Littlefield,
  • Quinlivan, K., Boyask, R., & Kaur, B.: 2009, Educational Enactments in a Globalised World: Intercultural Conversations., Brill,
  • Alsup, J.: 2006, Teacher identity discourses: Negotiating personal and professional spaces., Routledge,
Other Resources

0, Website, EADSNE, 2012, TBC, https://www.european-agency.org/sites/default/files/Profile-of-Inclusive-Teachers.pdf, 58756, Website, EASNIE, 2022, Profile for Inclusive Teacher Professional Learning Including all education professionals in teacher professional learning for inclusion (TPL4I), https://www.european-agency.org/sites/default/files/Profile_for_Inclusive_Teacher_ProfessionalLe, 58846, Website, 0, OECD (2022) Teacher Professional Identity: How to Develop and Support it in Times of Change. https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/b19f5af7-en.pdf?expires=1666707364&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=4F8724B8C19D045B2914495E5183A4E6, 58847, Teaching Council, 0, Teaching Council (2020) Céim: Standards for Initial Teacher Education (Identity threads), 58848, EU, 0, European Commission (2017). Preparing Teachers for Diversity, 58849, UN, 0, UNESCO (2021) The Journey Towards Comprehensive Sexuality Education: Global Status Report. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379607, 58850, UN, 0, UNESCO (2021) Reimagining Our Futures Together: A New Social Contract for Education: https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000379707.locale=en, 58851, UN, 0, UNESCO (2020). Global Education Monitoring Report 2020: Inclusion and Education. https://gem-report-2020.unesco.org/, 58852, WHO, 0, WHO (2017) Training Matters: A Framework for Core Competencies of Sexuality Educators (Cologne: BZgA). https://www.euro.who.int/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/337593/BZgA-training-framework.pdf, 58853, Journal, 0, Teacher Education Quarterly Special Edition Teacher Identity 2008 Issue 35(3). https://web-p-ebscohost-com.dcu.idm.oclc.org/ehost/results?vid=1&sid=a3799edb-4ad8-4f57-9bc2-36fda74ba115%40redis&bquery=JN+%22Teacher+Education+Quarterly%22+AND+DT+20080701+, 58854, Journal, 0, Sex Education Journal 2020 (Issue 4) Cripping Sex Education Features,
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