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Faculty of Arts and Education
Assessment Guide
ECE404 Inclusive Education for Young Children
ASSESSMENT TASK 1 – Literature Review
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ASSESSMENT TASK 1 – LITERATURE REVIEW
- DETAILS –
WORD COUNT XXXXXXXXXX% above or below)
WEIGHTING 40%
REFERENCES Minimum 6 – Harvard Style
AT1 DESCRIPTION
Students will write a literature review, which should include a critique of contemporary research, cu
ent
legislation, policies and teaching practices relating to a specific issue/topic of inclusive education.
Students need to demonstrate an understanding of the issues and challenges that children and families
from vulnerable backgrounds may experience in the education system and the implications upon
teaching practice, supported by scholarly literature.
Students need to conclude the literature review by making recommendations for inclusive teaching
strategies that are considered appropriate to their topic/issue.
NOTE: Assignment requirements
o Include a cover letter or header including name, student ID and Unit Code Word Doc or PDF
o Spacing – 1.5
o Font Size - 12
o Accurate use of Harvard referencing style throughout
o Academic writing style, sentence structure and grammar
o Marking criteria addressed
________________________________________________________________________________________________
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AT1 STEP BY STEP GUIDE
STEP 1 - Decide on a topic/issue for your literature review
You need to choose one particular issue/topic to focus on – and it must relate to inclusive education. Each
issue/topic of focus will have various aspects to explore and examine, and you need to decide which aspect
of your chosen issue/topic you wish to focus on.
Consider what you have been learning about in ECE404 and reflect on your own
understandings/experiences with inclusive education. What is of interest to you? What would you like to
learn more about? What knowledge would you like to share with others?
Choose your topic/issue and think of a particular aspect to focus on in this space. Remember your
literature review will only focus on a small aspect of a larger issue, so avoid making it too
oad!
* Some suggestions to get you started . . . diverse family structures; gender; indigenous families;
poverty; homelessness; disability; abuse; asylum seekers/immigrants; mental health etc.
STEP 2 – Source & review the literature
Find relevant and contemporary articles using the Deakin Li
ary Data Base (A+ Education or
ERIC are both great databases) or Google Scholar (use ‘advanced search’ and enter key words related to
your topic).
You must also include relevant government policy and legislation documents, snapshots or reports –
these are available in the Cloud resource folders and via Google.
* While you are required to provide a minimum of 6 references in your literature review, remember that more is better!
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STEP 3 - Write a succinct and informative literature review
Using the articles
eports/snapshots etc. start to map out the ‘flow’ of your literature review.
Consider what you should write about first to introduce your topic, and then what the logical order should
e as you review the literature, and how you should conclude your work. Remember that you are
informing the reader of the topic – imagine your marker knowns nothing about this topic!
INTRODUCTION
Your introduction should ‘signpost’ your literature review. Start by introducing your topic (for
instance, children with a disability), and then describe its importance in education (use legislation or
policy) and the various aspects that su
ound the issue (challenges for teachers, children & families) .
Conclude your introduction with a
ief mention that you will provide recommendations for
teaching.
PARAGRAPHS/BODY
Star by providing a definition of the topic (for example, if looking at children with Downs
Syndrome, describe what this is medically. Draft concise paragraphs that summarise the research and
the relevant findings, and then compare and contrast with other research findings. Now
ing it all
together and make your writing flow logically. Your literature review should provide details,
evidence and offer a stance on your topic/issue that serves to inform the reader. You should also
include appropriate teaching strategies that will support includsive education practice, as relevant to
your chosen topic/issue.
CONCLUSION
Conclude your Literature Review by
iefly summarizing the key points you discussed, and then
describe the teaching strategies you recommend.
REFERENCE LIST
You must ensure to include a reference list at the end of your work. Be sure to follow co
ect Harvard
Referencing procedures (Guide located online) and double check your work to make sure that all sources cited
in your work appear in your reference list, and vice versa.
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AT1 STUDY TIPS
When writing a literature review, your aim is to critique, compare, contrast and summarise
contemporary research and government documents that relate to a specific issue/topic. You need to
adopt a na
ow lens in order to delve deeply into the issue, thereby providing an informative snapshot
that contributes to knowledge in that space.
Preparation is key to writing a quality literature review. You can do this by keeping notes and
summary of each article that you read, and then mapping out your review so that you can write your
literature review with ease!
Each summary of an article should give a sense of the research aims, methods and size of the project
as well as the finding(s) that are relevant to your case study. So you will end up with paragraphs
something like the following:
Pe
y et al XXXXXXXXXXused 10 pre-school sites with significant numbers of Indigenous children to identify successful transition
programs and the reasons for their success. Through interviews, research conversations, drawings, photographs,
observations and document analysis, the researchers found that high quality programs involve and engage families and
communities in a meaningful, relevant and challenging cu
iculum. They noted, however, that ‘A program deemed to be
successful in one location is not necessarily going to be successful in another location’ (Pe
y et al. 2006, p. 7).
You should begin this journey by finding out some of the basics – follow the links below for guidance
and advice on what a literature review is and how to go about writing one.
WATCH:
Writing the Literature Review - https:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=70n2-gAp7J0
READ:
Literature Review - https:
li
ary.unimelb.edu.au/ data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1924109/Literature_Review.pdf
As you embark on your first assessment task, you are likely to have questions and I encourage you to
ask these in the ECE404 Discussion Forum in the ‘Questions about AT1’ folder. Questions will be
esponded to promptly, and the information provided will be seen by all students thereby ensuring that
everyone has access to the same information!
http:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=70n2-gAp7J0
http:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=70n2-gAp7J0
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Once you have gathered a collection of literature, read through each one carefully and note down important
details, finishing with a 100 word summary paragraph for each of your sources. It must include the aim,
subjects, methods and 1-3 key findings.
*The following table provides an example of how you could keep these notes & return to them when writing
Example
ARTICLE 1
AIM Briefly Describe the aim of the project
SUBJECTS Write down who and how many participants (e.g. teachers/parents/children)
METHOD Write how the data was collected (e.g. interviews/survey/observations etc)
FINDING #1 Write one key findings from the project
FINDING #2 Write a second key finding
FINDING #3 Write a third key finding
SUMMARY Critically reflect on the project and consider the details you have noted. Write a 100 word paragraph to summarise the
article. Finish by making a note of the implications on policy/practice etc
* Note: This is a suggestion to help your writing – you do not need to submit this with your assignmen
REFERENCE Write the reference in this space, refe
ing to the Deakin Harvard Referencing Guide
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o Read widely! Find scholarly sources of literature and find out as much as you can about your
selected topic/issue.
o A literature review is not an opinion piece – this means you must not state your own opinions, but
ather present information using research as evidence to support your claims.
o The aim of a literature review is not to restate the findings of each article you read. Rather, it aims to
critique and analyse the issue by describing what is known, what has changed, what is yet to be
known etc.
o If the findings are similar, use words like “Similarly, xxx found that . . . ” or “xxx also focused on
…” or “xxx also found …”.
o If the findings are different, use words like “In contrast, xxx found that …” or “On the other hand
xxx found that . . .”.
o Your literature review should have a
ief introduction to your chosen topic/issue, several
paragraphs that examine the critical or key components of the topic/issue, and a succinct
conclusion.
o Your literature review should be succinct, informative and offer a critical analyse of the literature
you have complied.
o You must reference throughout your work, and provide a reference list at the end – all literature
eferenced in text must be in your reference list, and vice versa.
o A good piece of advice is to aim to finish your literature review 2-3 days before it is due for
submission. This way, you can have a final read of your work with fresh eyes and a clear mind,
thereby enabling you to consider if your work reads well and meets the marking criteria. It will
also help you to find possible grammatical or referencing e
ors.
o If possible, have someone proof read your literature review and ask them what it tells them about
your issue … reflect on their response and ask yourself ‘is that what I intended the reader to
understand?’. Having your work proofread may also highlight grammatical e
ors.
o Stick to the work limit – if you find you are over the word limit refer back to the aforementioned
study tips and work on reducing the word count of each paragraph.
I wish you the best of luck on your path of discovery and successful completion of AT1!
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AT3 – STUDY TIPS
Engage with your study guides and readings