Project
Assessment item 1 back to top Project Value: 40% Due Date: 17-Aug-2018 Return Date: 07-Sep-2018 Length: 2000 words Submission method options: EASTS (online) Task back to top Consider the development of a project for organisational change that demonstrates your leadership. You may choose your present place of work or another early childhood service to which you have access. Decide on an area for change that relates to either social, economic or environmental sustainability. You should start small and not necessarily have a clear outcome/s in mind as the process of change is evolutionary. Some examples of organisational change, based on ideas of sustainability, can be found in Chapters 3 and 4 of the Davis (2015) text where the Sustainable Planet Project is discussed. Your Project should be written as a report based on the following headings: • Introduction: (approximately 800 words) In this section, discuss the importance of issues of global leadership and sustainable futures in ECEC (as addressed in modules 1- 3). • Context for the project: Briefly describe the workplace context and the community in which the service operates. Discuss the impetus for the project that includes a discussion of the conditions/events that you consider bring about a need for change and have subsequently led to the project. For instance, Gibson (as cited in Davis, 2015, pp. 55-62) identifies conditions for change that led to the Sustainable Planet Project. Other conditions may include ideas or issues raised by yourself, other staff, parents, children or community members that relate to the development of a project for sustainability. Draw on the research literature (the texts and other readings) to identify and discuss key aspects of pedagogical leadership in the development of your project. • Outline of the project: In this section describe the project, what you hope to achieve and how you will go about implementing the project using pedagogical leadership or other relevant leadership approaches from the subject readings. Refer to relevant subject readings to inform and support your plan and goals for the project. • Challenges: Identify any barriers you may have encountered along the way and explain how you have managed them. Support your explanations with reference to the subject readings (refer to the pedagogical leadership literature). • Preliminary outcomes of the project: Discuss the project that you have implemented to date and any practical mini projects that may have resulted from the project. This could be represented as a diagram if needed. Link your outcomes with the EYLF and draw on other sources to inform and support your discussion (the sustainability literature, leadership literature). • Future possibilities: Reflect and evaluate the project to date and provide a brief discussion about future plans for the continuation of the project, including changes and modification made along the way. Draw on the subject readings to inform and support your discussion. Assessment 1: Project Include a title page: Name: Student number: Subject title: Subject code: Assessment title: Word count: Contents page: The importance of issues of global leadership and sustainable futures........... Context for the project…………………………………………………………………………………. Project outline................................................................................................... Challenges......................................................................................................... Preliminary outcomes of the project................................................................ Future possibilities............................................................................................ References........................................................................................................ Some suggestions for each section:- Introduction: In this section, discuss the importance of issues of global leadership and sustainable futures. I would recommend you dedicate at least one paragraph to the introduction of your assignment in which you include a broad discussion of what sustainability is and why it is important. Remember that there are many aspects to the concept of sustainability - environmental, social, economic and political. Module 1, the readings referred to there are helpful for developing your discussion in this section. You could go on to develop a discussion framed around why sustainability is important for young children, why early childhood is an ideal time to have these discussions and how these issues might be relevant for early childhood educators and their practices. Context for the project: In this section outline your workplace context – briefly, describe your service and the community in which your service operates. Discuss the impetus for your project- include a discussion on the process of change – that is, any conditions/events that have led to developing the project. For instance, Area 3 of the National Quality Standards (NQS) focuses on caring for the physical environment. The project could be developed to demonstrate how your service supports environmental sustainability (e.g. re-cycling, re-using materials/equipment, reducing waste, and using natural, re-cycled and found materials). You could draw on the literature to support how pedagogical leadership involves creating a vision and supporting staff curriculum decisions in the development of the project – these are just a few ideas here. Project Outline: Describe the project, what you hope to achieve and how you will go about implementing the project using pedagogical leadership or other relevant leadership concepts/approaches from the subject readings. You can link your project goals to the EYLF and to the sustainability literature and support your discussion with reference to these sources. Challenges: In this section identify any barriers you encountered along the way and how you managed them. Draw on the pedagogical leadership readings to help you explain and support how you managed the challenges or worked toward overcoming barriers (why you took the approach that you did given what you know about leadership for change). Some possible examples of barriers may include: · Staff reluctance to engage in the project – possibly due to limited knowledge or little interest in issues of sustainability · Financial considerations · Practical issues associated with implementing the project Preliminary outcomes of the project: In this section outline how the project is progressing – what aspects of the project have been implemented to date, what goals have been achieved. Remember, the project is likely to be ongoing. This section can be represented as a diagram if needed and can include a discussion of any mini projects that may have resulted from the project. Perhaps there have been other outcomes from the project, such as new or renewed interest in ideas that spring from the project (e.g. renewed interest in re-cycling, re-using materials/equipment, reducing waste, using natural re-cycled and found materials or thinking about how to embed long-term sustainable practices at your service) by staff or children. Perhaps you’ve noticed some changes in the way staff or children think about issues of sustainability – again these are just a few guiding suggestions here. Remember to refer to relevant readings and research to inform and support your discussion. For example, if outcomes or initiatives reflect those from the readings or relate to something you have read about sustainability in ECE and/or leading for organisational change then you can link your experiences in implementing the project with that literature. This strengthens your work. Future possibilities: In this section reflect on and evaluate the project to date. Your evaluations may include long-term goals that have been set at your service for implementing sustainable practices that can be embedded in service operations – again these are just suggestions here and you may have other ideas here. Again, as with the other sections of your assignment, you should be looking to inform and support your discussion with reference to relevant readings and research. For example, you may have read ideas in the text or subject readings that could be used in the future given what you have achieved thus far. You may determine that a different leadership approach could be used, or additional strategies, given the challenges faced or what you want to achieve next. Please be aware this example is a guide and while it can be drawn upon as a basis for your assignment you are not required to follow this example. The examples here tend to focus on environmental sustainability, however, your project may be focused on social sustainability, political or economic sustainability and in this case you will be drawing on the literature relevant to these pillars of sustainability as well as the leadership for organisational change and pedagogical leadership literature. The Role of Early Childhood Education for a Sustainable Society; The Contribution of early childhood education to a sustainable society; 2009 Edited by Ingrid Pramling Samuelsson and Yoshie Kaga Paris, UNESCO 2008 The contribution of early childhood education to a sustainable society The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or area or