Education –

Order Description
Description Length Wtg (%) Due date
Assessment 1
Written scenario response
2000 words (including
in-text references)
50.00% Monday,
5 September 2016
(Week 9)
Assessment Scenario
You are a special education teacher in a primary school that has a full inclusion policy; all students
identified with additional learning needs are fully included in regular classrooms. In your role you
work with classroom teachers to develop and implement inclusive teaching and learning programs to
ensure all students are able to successfully access and participate in the curriculum. You also manage
the planning process for students with disability in your school, and as such have recently facilitated
a number of individual education plan (IEP) meetings with school staff and families/carers.
Last week you facilitated an IEP meeting with a parent and their child’s classroom teacher and
teacher aide. At that time you felt that the meeting had gone well and were pleased with the support
and cooperation you had received from the classroom teacher in regards to the development of
academic and behavioural goals and strategies for this student. Today, the parent arrives to see you,
saying that they are unhappy with their child’s IEP goals and feel as though their feelings and input
as this child’s parent, was not considered during the meeting.
The parent is clearly upset, and is saying things like “no one ever listens to me around here” and
“maybe I should take my child to another school where they value parent input”.
Assessment Instructions
Using an academic essay format (e.g. formal tone and structure), writing in 3rd person voice and
considering the course learning with particular focus on listening skills, verbal and non-verbal
communication and interviewing skills, explain and justify the process you will go through to
ascertain this parent’s true concerns (e.g. that they weren’t being listened to during the IEP process),
ensure this parent’s concerns are addressed (e.g. how to ensure that their views and expectations are
fully considered in the IEP process), and resolve the current discontent so that the parent leaves the
meeting feeling happy with the outcome.
SPE3008 – 2016
Assessment 1
© University of Southern Queensland
In your essay response, with explicit reference to the scenario context, firstly describe how
knowledge of self-perception and one’s perception of others, as well as one’s own interpersonal
communication skills can impacts communication. Secondly explain and justify how understanding
the value of, and implementing high quality listening, verbal and non-verbal communication, and
interviewing skills can be utilised to ensure a successful outcome to this communication experience
for both the teacher and the parent. Note – the focus of the essay is on the processes involved, it is
not necessary to describe a final outcome.
Finally, explain how the Johari Window can be used to improve one’s self-awareness and
communication, using this scenario as a context (i.e. how could using the Johari Window have
avoided the situation in the first place and/or contribute to a more effective communication outcome
between the parent and special education teacher).
Assessment preparation and writing
Carefully read the assessment instructions and ensure that these are adhered to. Additionally, refer to
the marking rubric for further clarification in assessment expectations. It is important that
conventions of academic writing and a scholarly approach are utilised. Academic writing is
structured, concise, formal and objective; writing is from a third person perspective (do not use first
person language). Evidence and support through citation of current (i.e. as much as possible use
literature published since 2006) and relevant academic literature for all points and arguments must be
used to eliminate unsubstantiated opinion. Ambiguous language as well as metaphor, colloquial
expressions, emotive language and unsubstantiated generalisations must be avoided.
Essay and References Formatting
For ease of reading and marking, use either Arial or Times New Roman 11pt or 12pt font, 1.5 to 2
line spacing, left hand justified alignment, and 2 to 2.5cm margin on all four sides of document.
APA 6th Edition style should be used for all referencing (i.e. in-text citations and reference listing).
Support for APA style can be accessed through the APA Toolkit within FYI Education Study &
Research on StudyDesk as well as through the APA website.