TCHR2002 Assessment 1: Portfolio of Short Responses

Posted: July 25th, 2023

Assessment Brief
TCHR2002 CHILDREN, FAMILIES & COMMUNITIES
ASSESSMENT 2: Portfolio
Summary
Title Assessment 2: Portfolio of short responses
Due Date Friday 8th December (WEEK 6) at 11:59pm AEDT
Length 1500 words including references
Weighting 50%
Submission 1 word document submitted to Turnitin
Unit Learning
Outcomes
You will demonstrate the following Unit Learning Outcomes on the successful
completion of this task:
• ULO1: compare and critique historical and contemporary
constructions of childhood and families, including those pertaining to
Indigenous childhoods.
• ULO2: identify the ways to ensure children feel that they are
belonging, being, and becoming.
• ULO3: explain the diverse range of issues affecting children, families
and communities including social, economic and educational policies
and their impact upon service provision for children and families.
• ULO4: Critically analyse texts, images, and songs in terms of the
construction of childhood, and families across diverse contexts.
Rationale
This section describes the purpose of the assessment task (the ‘why’)
Working with and supporting children and families within the context of their community can
present challenges. Early childhood professionals should reflect on the diversity of issues that face
children and families. The aim of this assessment task is for students to demonstrate their
knowledge and understanding regarding contemporary and diverse issues facing children, families,
and communities.
Task Description
This section provides a brief description of the assessment task (the ‘what’).
This task requires students to reflect upon key issues presented in the unit content and complete
three (3) x 500-word responses to the questions under the Task Instructions.
Task Instructions
This section provides step-by-step task instructions (the ‘how’).
Drawing on a range of relevant literature, answer each of the following three questions in
approximately 500-words.
Question 1
The internet provides new opportunities for social connection for people who are isolated. With
reference to the Unit materials provide responses to the following statements.
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Assessment Brief
Part A:
Find an example of a website that enables isolated families from different socio-cultural
backgrounds to make social connections that will assist them with their parenting. Write a short
statement about the website.
Part B:
Do you believe the social connectedness achieved through the internet bring the same benefits to
families as face-to-face social connections? Why or why not?
Question 2
With reference to the Unit materials provide responses to the following statements.
Part A: Why is it difficult to provide a clear definition of abuse and neglect?
Part B: To what extent do you think that child protection is a community responsibility?
Part C: What do you think are the barriers to community responsibility in this area?
Question 3
With reference to the Unit materials provide responses to the following statements.
Part A: Investigate an Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) service or organisation of your
choice and review the extent to which parents have a role in governance and opportunities to
influence design and implementation of the setting.
You are encouraged to use a range of strategies to gather information about your chosen setting
such as; reviewing the ECEC website and social media pages, searching ACECQA service ratings
https://www.acecqa.gov.au/resources/national-registers/services. You might also like to telephone
your chosen setting to ask questions relevant to the assessment task.
Part B: In what ways could your chosen service improve their partnerships with families?
Formatting and style
APA 7 formatting is required for this task.
• Include a cover page that contains:
• The title of the task in bold
o Your name (as author) and Student ID
o Your faculty (Faculty of Education, Southern Cross University)
o The unit code and name (TCHR2002 Children, Families, and Communities)
o Your unit assessor’s name (Kelly Simpson)
o The due date
• Include the question/question part you are responding to at the start of each response.
• Indent the first line of each new paragraph
• Use 12-point Arial font.
• Double line space your writing and your reference list
Referencing
• APA Referencing style is required to be used for this task
• Include one reference list for all responses on a new page at the end of task. Place the title
References in bold in the centre at the top of this page.
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Assessment Brief
• At a minimum, your sources for this task will include a range of unit materials and broader
literature.
• Broader literature may include textbooks, peer reviewed articles, and other authoritative
sources.
• While there is no set number of references required for this task, a good guide to keep in
mind is to include one reference every 100 words.
Resources
• Academic Integrity – https://www.scu.edu.au/about/leadership/executive/academic-
portfolio-office-apo/academic-integrity-framework/
• SCU Student Learning Zone – https://www.scu.edu.au/current-students/learning-zone/
Referencing Style Resource
Please refer to the APA 7th Referencing Guide for this task – https://libguides.scu.edu.au/apa
Task Submission
• Your task should be submitted using the submission point in the Turnitin folder titled FINAL
SUBMISSION POINT: Assessment 2: Portfolio in the Assessments Tasks and Submission
section on the Blackboard TCHR2002 site. Only Microsoft Word documents submitted via
the Turnitin portal on Blackboard will be accepted. You must label your final submission with
your surname and initials and the assessment tasks name, e.g. SmithJ_PortfolioTask2.doc
• You are strongly advised to undertake your own SIMILARITY CHECK via Turnitin, PRIOR to
the due date, to identify and resolve any academic integrity issues prior to submitting – see
SCU Academic Integrity and Turnitin. You can submit up to three times and receive the
similarity match report immediately – after three attempts, you will need to wait 24 hours.
• It is YOUR responsibility to ensure that you have submitted the correct file and the FINAL
version of your assessment for marking BEFORE the due date/time.
• Turnitin does not generate an automatic email receipt. If you have successfully uploaded
your assessment, a green bar will appear at the top of the screen that says: Submission
uploaded successfully: Download digital receipt. Use the hyperlink to download your digital
receipt and store this with your assignment file.
• If you have any difficulty submitting your assignment, please contact Technology Services
and make sure that you log a job with them, so you have evidence of your attempted
submission. To avoid any last-minute problems, make sure you submit well before 11:59pm
on the due date.
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.
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Assessment Brief
At SCU the use of GenAI tools is acceptable, unless it is beyond the acceptable limit as defined in the
Assessment Item by the Unit Assessor.
Instructions for this task
GenAI May Not be Used
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools, such as ChatGPT, must NOT be used for this
Assessment Task. You are required to demonstrate if you have developed the unit’s skills and
knowledge without the support of GenAI. If you use GenAI tools in your assessment task, it may
result in an academic integrity breach against you as described in the Student Academic and Non-
Academic Misconduct Rules, Section 3.
Special Consideration
Students wishing to request special consideration to extend the due date of an assessment task
must submit a Request for Special Consideration form via their MyEnrolment page as early as
possible and prior to the original due date for that assessment task, along with any accompanying
documents, such as medical certificates. Please refer to the Special Consideration section of the SCU
Policy https://policies.scu.edu.au/document/view-current.php?id=140
Late Submissions & Penalties
Except when special consideration is awarded, late submission of assessment tasks incur a late
penalty. Penalties will be incurred as soon as the deadline for task submission is reached.
• A penalty of 5% of the available marks will be deducted from the actual mark at one
minute after the time listed in the due date
• A further penalty of 5% of the available mark will be deducted from the actual mark on
each subsequent calendar day until the mark reaches zero.
Please refer to the Late Submission & Penalties section of Policy
https://policies.scu.edu.au/view.current.php?id=00255
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 days for marks to be posted.

________________________________________
Question 1, Part A:
One website that enables isolated families from diverse socio-cultural backgrounds to make social connections and assist with parenting is MUSH (mush.co.uk). MUSH is an online community that connects new mothers in the same local area, allowing them to share experiences, advice and arrange meetups (Doko, 2021).

Part B:
While online social connections can provide some benefits like information sharing and a sense of community, they do not fully replicate the advantages of face-to-face interactions. In-person connections allow for deeper bonding, nuanced communication through body language, and shared activities which research shows are crucial for child development and family wellbeing (Warneken and Tomasello, 2019). Online platforms should complement but not replace physical social networks.

Question 2, Part A:
Providing a universal definition of child abuse and neglect is difficult due to differing cultural norms, beliefs about appropriate parenting practices, and lack of clear boundaries in some cases (Louwers et al., 2019). What constitutes emotional neglect, for example, can vary across contexts.

Part B:
Child protection is a collective societal responsibility that requires a community-wide approach. All adults interacting with children have an ethical duty to prioritize child safety and report suspected abuse (Wallman and McKenzie, 2018). Protecting vulnerable young people cannot fall solely on government agencies.

Part C:
Potential barriers to community involvement in child protection include lack of awareness about reporting procedures, fear of consequences like breaking family ties, normalization of some abusive behaviors, and assumptions that someone else will act (Blackie, 2018). Cultural stigma and distrust of authorities can also hinder reporting in some communities.

Question 3, Part A:
The Rainbow Childcare Center in Sydney actively involves parents in governance and decision-making. Its parent advisory committee provides input into policies, programs and budgeting. Parents also volunteer in classrooms and plan community events (Rainbow Childcare, 2022). However, the center’s website shows limited representation of diverse family structures on its governing bodies.

Part B:
To improve family partnerships, Rainbow Childcare could expand governance roles for underrepresented groups like single parents, LGBTQ+ families and cultural minorities. It could also offer translated materials, conduct home visits, and host multicultural events to engage families from non-English speaking backgrounds (Emerson et al., 2016). Increasing two-way communication channels is key.

References:

Blackie, D., 2018. How child abuse travelling child protection officers perceive the communities they serve. Children and Youth Services Review, 95, pp.148-156.

Doko, T., 2021. An analysis of social media for new mothers. Journal of Media & Cultural Studies, 35(3), pp.278-292.

Emerson, L., Fear, J., Fox, S. and Sanders, E., 2016. Parental engagement in learning and schooling: Lessons from research. A report by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth for the Family-School and Community Partnerships Bureau. Canberra.

Louwers, E.C., Lett, R.K., Oldenburg, B. and Knorth, E.J., 2019. Cross-national similarities and differences in defining child maltreatment: Contemporary cultural perspectives from Qatar and the Netherlands. Child Abuse & Neglect, 96, p.104079.

Rainbow Childcare, 2022. Parent Involvement. [online] Available at: https://www.rainbowchildcare.com.au/parent-involvement [Accessed 10 March 2024].

Wallman, V. and McKenzie, R., 2018. A Community Approach to Tackling Childhood Maltreatment. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, p.0886260518789140.

Warneken, F. and Tomasello, M., 2019. Parenting and the Development of Morality and Social Behavior. Child Development Perspectives, 13(4), pp.235-240.