TCHR5009: THEORY TO PRACTICE: EDUCATION AND CARE FOR INFANTS AND TODDLERS
Assessment 1 Professional Philosophy and Critical Reflection

Title:	Assessment Task 1: Professional Philosophy and Critical Reflection
Due Date	Sunday 25th of January 2026 at 11:59PM AEDT (Beginning of Week 3)
Length	1500 words
Weight	50%
Submissions	Word document (not PDF) submitted to Turnitin
Resubmissions	Assessment resubmissions are not permitted in this unit.
Academic Integrity	Descriptor Level 2 – Students are permitted to use GenAI only for specific assessment tasks or purposes (outlined under Academic Integrity heading).
Unit Learning Outcomes	You will demonstrate the following Unit Learning Outcomes on the successful completion of this task: 1. Understand and apply historical and contemporary theoretical perspectives of infant and toddler learning and development including contexts of infant and toddler Early Childhood Education and Care 2. Critically reflect on the philosophies of learning and teaching for infants and toddlers in early childhood settings to develop your approach to working with infants and toddlers 3. Demonstrate the ability to engage in the planning cycle that includes to observe, document, develop, implement, evaluate and reflect upon an appropriate early childhood educational program for infants and toddlers to understand children’s learning 4. Critically analyse the role of the environment, teacher attributes and capabilities, and regulations in enhancing quality education and care for infants and toddlers.

Rationale

This task allows students to reflect on theoretical perspectives and practice to develop a professional philosophy for teaching infants and toddlers. By engaging with topics such as attachment, routines, and responsive environments, students will connect research and theory to their beliefs about quality early childhood learning. Through critical reflection, students will explore how their philosophy may be translated to practice, identify potential challenges and propose strategies for overcoming them.

Task Description

Part 1 - Professional Philosophy Statement (750 words)

As an Early Childhood Teacher, you are to develop a philosophy statement outlining your beliefs and values that will inform your practice with infants and toddlers in an early childhood education and care setting. In the development of your philosophy statement:

1) Select two (2) topics. The topics could include but are not limited to:

• Relationships,

• Attachment,

• Interactions with infants and toddlers,

• Image of the child,

• Holistic development,

• Routines and transitions,

• Learning environment, and

• Partnerships with families

The topics you choose should be ones that you most value, reside with you as an Early Childhood Teacher and you feel passionate about. Topics could derive from Modules 1-6 of the unit.

2) Clearly outline how each of your topics would look in your teaching practice with infants and toddlers.

3) In your statement, draw on theoretical perspectives, academic and professional sources to explain and justify the value of your topics as they support infant and toddler learning, development and wellbeing.

You must support your philosophy with reference to:

• The unit textbook: Programme planning for infants and toddlers (3rd ed),

• The Early Years Learning Framework (V2.0),

• The National Quality Standard, and

• Relevant early childhood academic and professional sources

Part 2 - Critical Reflection (750 words)

Critically reflect on your professional philosophy statement and identify two (2) potential challenges you may face when putting your values from your philosophy into practice in an infant and toddler learning environment. You could choose to discuss a challenge for each topic of your philosophy statement, or you could choose to discuss two challenges for one topic.

For each challenge:

1) Clearly outline the challenge (ensure it links directly to your philosophy topic/s),

2) Justify why the challenge may arise, and

3) Describe how you plan to overcome the challenge by identifying teaching strategies informed by theory, policy and your professional values.

You must support your critical reflection with reference to:

• The unit textbook: Programme planning for infants and toddlers (3rd ed),

• The Early Years Learning Framework (V2.0),

• The National Quality Standard, and

• Relevant early childhood academic and professional sources

Formatting, style, and referencing

• You are required to use the headings outlined above to structure your report; these have been provided in a template for you in the task folder

• All parts of this task should be written in first person (“I” statements) – this is your report.

• The cover sheet and declaration in the task template must be completed in full

• Your task MUST be submitted in word format (not PDF)

• APA 7 formatting is required for this task. For guidance on APA 7 formatting requirements, please refer to the information provided in your workshops and at this link - https://libguides.scu.edu.au/apa

Referencing

• APA Referencing style is required to be used for this task.

• Include one reference list for all responses under the References heading in the provided task template

• At a minimum, your sources for this task will include:

o the EYLF V2.0 (AGDE, 2022)

o the National Quality Standards (ACECQA, 2025)

o at least six (6) unit reading literature sources in addition to the EYLF V2.0 and NQS

• Broader scholarly literature may be used, and could include textbooks, peer reviewed articles, and published newspaper and/or media articles by reputable sources (for example, the ABC, The Conversation, Early Childhood Australia)

• In total, you need to include at least 8 current scholarly references in your response to this task, including the EYLF V2.0, the NQS, and 6 unit literature reading sources

Resources

• Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority (n.d.). Developmental milestones and the Early Years Learning Framework and the National Quality Standards.

• Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority. (2022). The national quality standard. https://www.acecqa.gov.au/nqf/national-quality-standard

• Australian Government Department of Education. (2022) Belonging, being and becoming: The early years learning framework for Australia (V2.0).

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

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 Assessment 1: Report in the Assessments Tasks and Submission section on the Blackboard TCHR5009 site. Only Microsoft Word documents submitted via the Turnitin portal on Blackboard will be accepted.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 via email prior to the required time for submission, so you have evidence of your attempted submission. Alternatively, you may email a final version of your task prior to the due date and time to your unit assessor with an outline of why you have been unable to upload this yourself.

• To avoid any last-minute problems, make sure you submit well before 11:59pm on the due date.

Academic Integrity

Adherence to SCU's academic integrity policies is mandatory. Breaches may result in severe penalties, including failing the assessment or the unit. Examples of academic misconduct include plagiarism, collusion, and the use of unauthorised tools or materials. Refer to SCU’s academic integrity policies and guides for detailed information on what constitutes a breach, and the consequences involved.

Academic Integrity breaches include poor referencing, not identifying direct quotations correctly, close paraphrasing, plagiarism, recycling, misrepresentation, collusion, cheating, contract cheating, fabricating information.

You cannot include content generated by AI in your assessment (even if you have paraphrased, summarised or quoted the output). You are only permitted to use Grammarly Premium to help edit and improve the quality of your written work. If you choose to use this, you must provide a draft of your task before it was entered into Grammarly. Attach your draft as an appendix.

Note:

Under the Rules - Student Academic and Non-Academic Misconduct Rules (Section 3) students have the right to Appeal against the Academic Integrity Officers academic misconduct Determination, to the Executive Dean, with that determination being final and conclusive, and not subject to further Appeal within the University. Students are not able to appeal against academic misconduct via the Unit Assessor or unit staff.

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.

Proof of Special Consideration Approval letter must be supplied to avoid delay in grades being released. Proof must be provided in Template document.

Please refer to the Special Consideration section of Policy https://policies.scu.edu.au/document/view-current.php?id=140

Late Submissions and Penalties

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. Dates for grades release of on-time assessment submissions for each task are provided within the assessment folders for this unit.

Resubmissions

There are NO resubmissions available for either of the tasks in this unit. Requests for resubmission of either task will be declined in line with the SCU Assessment, Teaching and Learning Procedure - https://policies.scu.edu.au/view.current.php?id=00255

Assessment Rubric

Marking Criteria and % allocation	High Distinction 100% +	High Distinction (85-99%)	Distinction (75-84%)	Credit (65 74%)	Pass (50-64%)	Marginal Fail (35 – 49%)	Fail (1-34%)	Absent Fail 0%
rticulation of professional philosophy demonstrates knowledge and values that support infant and toddler’s learning, development, and wellbeing 35%	Achieves all the criteria for a high distinction to an exemplary standard, without any errors.	Professional philosophy statement has explored topics that are insightful and personalised for the infant and toddler’s learning, development and wellbeing. The philosophy statement provides exceptional use of examples to explain teaching practice in the infant and toddler learning environment. Philosophy statement topics are exceptionally well justified for infants and toddlers	Professional philosophy statement has explored topics that are well developed for the infant and toddler’s learning, development and wellbeing. The philosophy statement provides distinctive, very detailed examples to explain teaching practice in the infant and toddler learning environment. Philosophy statement topics are well justified for infants and toddlers.	Professional philosophy statement has explored topics that are relevant for the infant and toddler’s learning, development and wellbeing. The philosophy statement provides good, detailed examples to explain teaching practice in the infant and toddler learning environment. Philosophy statement topics are justified and relevant for infants and toddlers	Professional philosophy statement has topics that are relevant for the infant and toddler’s learning, development and wellbeing. The philosophy statement provides examples of teaching practice in the infant and toddler learning environment. Philosophy statement topics are justified and relevant for infants and toddlers.	Professional philosophy is limited or vague. It shows limited understanding of infant and toddler learning, development, and wellbeing. Philosophy statement topic/s are vaguely justified.	Professional philosophy is unclear or overly vague. It shows little to no understanding of infant and toddler learning, development, and wellbeing. Philosophy statement topic/s are unclear or very limited in justification.	Not attempted.
Critical reflection on philosophy, challenge identification, justification and informed strategies 35%	Achieves all the criteria for a high distinction to an exemplary standard, without any errors.	The critical reflection shows strong alignment between philosophy and practice. Each challenge is clearly identified, deeply analysed, shows sophisticated understanding of infant and toddler practice. Strategies to overcome challenges are highly relevant and clearly justified.	The critical reflection shows a very good links between philosophy and practice. Each challenge is clearly identified. Strategies are relevant and justified	The critical reflection shows a good understanding of the philosophy-to practice link. generally well structured reflection. Challenges are identified and explained with some depth, and strategies are appropriate.	The critical reflection shows a sound link between philosophy and practice. Challenges are identified and explained in some detail. Strategies are included and mostly appropriate.	The critical reflection shows limited coherence between philosophy to practice. Challenges are underdeveloped or only partly relevant. Strategies are unclear or minimally justified.	The critical reflection is very limited in the link between philosophy and practice. Very limited to no identification or explanation of challenges or challenges are irrelevant. Strategies are absent, inappropriate or unjustified.	Not attempted.
Reference to theoretical perspectives, unit textbook, the EYLF V2.0, National Quality Standards, academic and professional source 20%	Achieves all the criteria for a high distinction to an exemplary standard, without any errors	Thoroughly addressed all of the below: links to and synthesised use of theoretical perspectives, set text, EYLF V2.0, NQS, and a wide range of high quality, current and relevant academic and professional sources. Sources are seamlessly embedded to strengthen and compliment both the professional philosophy and critical reflection.	Addressed all or most of the below: links to and very good use of theoretical perspective/s, set text, EYLF V2.0, NQS, and a wide range of high-quality, current and relevant academic and professional sources. Sources enhance the professional philosophy and critical reflection.	Addressed some or most of the below: links to use of theoretical perspective/s, set text, EYLF V2.0, NQS, and a wide range of high quality, current and relevant academic and professional sources. Credible integration of sources in professional philosophy and critical reflection.	Addressed some of the below: links to theoretical perspective/s, set text, EYLF V2.0, NQS, and current and relevant academic and/or professional sources. Sound links to sources in professional philosophy and critical reflection.	Limited links to set text, EYLF V2.0, NQS, and current and relevant academic and/or professional sources. Little integration of literature in both professional philosophy and critical reflection.	Little to no links to set text, EYLF V2.0, NQS, and current and relevant academic and/or professional sources. Inappropriate or incomplete links to literature in professional philosophy and critical reflection.	Not attempted.
Academic literacy 10%	Achieves all the criteria for a high distinction to an exemplary standard, without any errors	Displayed outstanding Academic Literacy, including all of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%), correct writing conventions, correctly formatted APA7th in-text citations and reference list.	Displayed comprehensive Academic Literacy, including most or all of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%), correct writing conventions, correctly formatted APA7th intext citations and reference list.	Displayed credible Academic Literacy, including some or most of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%), correct writing conventions, correctly formatted APA7th in-text citations reference list.	Displayed satisfactory Academic Literacy, including some of the following: Correct word count (+/- 10%), correct writing conventions, correctly formatted APA7th in-text citations and reference list.	Limited Academic Literacy. Mostly incorrect word count, writing conventions and APA7th in-text citations and reference list	Very limited to no Academic Literacy skills. Incorrect word count, incorrect writing conventions, incorrectly formatted APA7th in-text citations and reference list	Not attempted.

 

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, analysing and 5 applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows exceptional ability to synthesise, 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, analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts, and shows a well-developed ability to synthesise, 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, analysing and applying relevant skills and concepts. The 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.