Unit Outline

EPR360: Advanced Humanities and Social Sciences [HASS] Education will extend your understanding of disciplinary content and pedagogy beyond that which you learned in the introductory unit, EPR260. The Australian Curriculum learning area of Humanities and Social Sciences requires children from Prep to Year 6 to think about and respond to key historical, geographical, political, economic and societal issues, and how these different factors interrelate.

The focus of this unit is on deepening your understanding around engaging teaching and learning strategies to integrate HASS and to make connections with the Australian Curriculum’s Cross-curriculum Priorities and General Capabilities (notably Literacy, Critical and Creative Thinking, Ethical thinking and behaviour, Personal and Social competence and ICT). If you are planning Prep to Year 2 lessons you can use relevant HASS-related learning outcomes from the Early Years Learning Framework.

Emphasis will be on developing discipline-specific skills, key organising concepts, and active teaching approaches. AT1 focuses especially on Civics and Citizenship education. AT2 has a particular focus upon developing your assessment skills in a HASS context. Both develop key professional skills. Assessment tasks aim to broaden your knowledge of research in HASS education, and to develop your skills of critical thinking. You will also be encouraged to use technologies that will re-imagine how History, Geography and Civics and Citizenship can be taught both in and beyond the classroom.

Intended Learning Outcomes

As per the Assessment and Results Policy 1.3, your results will reflect your achievement against specified learning outcomes.

On completion of this unit, you will be able to:


1	integrate HASS content, concepts, and skills with cross-curriculum priorities and general capabilities for teaching, learning and assessment
2	critically evaluate a range of HASS topics, skills and pedagogical approaches, including the work of peers
3	reflect upon working collaboratively with peers and demonstrate adaption of planning and thinking in the light of on-line involvement and feedback
4	plan an assessment instrument that integrates HASS knowledge and skills with cross-curricular elements
5	communicate with parents/carers, learners and academic audiences using professional and academic writing conventions and technologies.

Requisites


REQUISITE TYPE	REQUISITES
Concurrent Pre-requisite	EPR260 or ESH260

Alterations as a result of student feedback

How will I be Assessed?

For more detailed assessment information please see MyLO.

Assessment schedule


ASSESSMENT TASK #	ASSESSMENT TASK NAME	DATE DUE	WEIGHT	LINKS TO INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES
Assessment Task 1:	Blog post for parents/carers	Week 7	50 %	LO1, LO2, LO3, LO5
Assessment Task 2:	Assessing integrated HASS learning	Week 11	50 %	LO1, LO4, LO5

Assessment details

Assessment Task 1: Blog post for parents/carers

Task Description:

Scenario: The Principal and lead teachers in your school want to send a positive message and updates to parents/carers about HASS education by demonstrating the thinking and expertise of teachers and showcasing what the children will be learning in and out of the classroom. They are keen that you highlight active citizenship, education for sustainability and community involvement opportunities and links between the Civics and Citizenship curriculum and other elements of HASS and the General Capabilities/Cross-Curricular Priorities. Your submission will comprise:

Part 1: 3 x 500-word blog posts
Part 2: Peer Feedback (200 words equivalent)
Part 3: Critical Reflection (300 words).

Details will be provided in tutorials.

Task Length:

2,000 words total

Due Date:

Week 7

Weight:

50 %

CRITERION #

CRITERION

MEASURES INTENDED

LEARNING OUTCOME(S)


1	Submits parent-friendly narrative of HASS learning for student engagement across three blog posts. Provides an analytical framework for curricular and pedagogical decisions	LO1
2	Critically appraises research and professional literature in articulating HASS education pedagogical approaches and curricula	LO2
3	Reflects upon the process of collaboration and the value of feedback in planning learning sequences. Submits evidence of responding to the work of peers and of adapting thinking and planning	LO3
4	Blog posts apply accurate use of APA referencing conventions, spelling, grammar and different formats as appropriate for the assignment and employ a structure that is easy to follow	LO5

Assessment Task 2: Assessing integrated HASS learning

Task Description:

Instructions: Choose any year group and any HASS sub-strand and create an assessment pack that will assess children’s learning. Your submission will comprise:

Part 1: Video (600 words equivalent, 4 minutes minimum, 5 minutes maximum)
Part 2: Rubric for teachers (400 words equivalent)
Part 3: Justification (1000 words).

Details will be provided in tutorials.

Task Length:

2,000 words

Due Date:

Week 11

Weight:

50 %

How your final result is determined

To pass this unit, you need to demonstrate your attainment of each of the Intended Learning Outcomes, achieve a final unit grade of 50% or greater, and pass any hurdle tasks.

Academic progress review

The results for this unit may be included in a review of your academic progress. For information about progress reviews and what they mean for all students, see Academic Progress Review in the Student Portal.

Submission of assignments

Where practicable, assignments should be submitted to an assignment submission folder in MYLO. You must submit assignments by the due date or receive a penalty (unless an extension of time has been approved by the Unit Coordinator). Students submitting any assignment in hard copy, or because of a practicum finalisation, must attach a student cover sheet and signed declaration for the submission to be accepted for marking.

Academic integrity

Academic integrity is about acting responsibly, honestly, ethically, and collegially when using, producing, and communicating information with other students and staff members.

In written work, you must correctly reference the work of others to maintain academic integrity. To find out the referencing style for this unit, see the assessment information in the MyLO site, or contact your teaching staff. For more detail about Academic Integrity, see Important Guidelines & Support.

Requests for extensions

If you are unable to submit an assessment task by the due date, you should apply for an extension.

A request for an extension should first be discussed with your Unit Coordinator or teaching support team where possible. A request for an extension must be submitted by the assessment due date, except where you can provide evidence it was not possible to do so. Typically, an application for an extension will be supported by documentary evidence: however, where it is not possible for you to provide evidence please contact your Unit Coordinator.

The Unit Coordinator must notify you of the outcome of an extension request within 3 working days of receiving the request.

Late penalties

Assignments submitted after the deadline will receive a late penalty of 5% of the original available mark for each calendar day (or part day) that the assignment is late. Late submissions will not be accepted more than 10 calendar days after the due date, or after assignments have been returned to other students on a scheduled date, whichever occurs first. Further information on Late Penalties can be found on the Assessments and Results Procedure.

Required Resources

Required reading materials

You will need the following text:
Tudball, L., Brett, P., and Gilbert, R. (eds.) (2025). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences: Teaching & Learning across Australia, (8th ed). Melbourne: Cengage.

This is the 8th edition of the textbook, but you may use the 7th edition if you already purchased it for EPR260. You can secure a 10% discount through using the offer code shared in MyLO. You also have the option of buying an e-book version rather than a hardcopy. Earlier editions of the text can also be helpful but become progressively further distanced from Australian Curriculum updates and recent academic references. Dr Peter Brett's lectures reference material in the 8th edition (2025) of the text. Individual chapters are also available in the 'Reading Lists' tab on the front page of MyLO.

Required readings - ECE students
The above texts are relevant, but in your case the Green and Price text (especially) or Reynolds text are preferable to the Gilbert/Tudball/Brett text (they have a more sustained focus upon HASS with younger children). Also required (you almost certainly have them already).
Arthur, L., Beecher, B., Death, E., Dockett, S., & Farmer, S. (2012). Programming and Planning in Early Childhood Settings (5th ed.). Port Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning.
Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR]. (2009). The Early Years Learning Framework. Canberra, ACT

Recommended reading materials

Recommended Readings will be useful for this Unit to develop your knowledge and understanding of teaching and course-specific content. If you are seeking sources of evidence to support your assessment work, you will find these readings a useful starting point. There is no requirement to buy these texts/materials.

Buchanan, J. (2013), History, Geography and Civics: Teaching and learning in the primary years. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Green, D. and Price, D. (Eds.) (2019). Making Humanities and Social Sciences Come Alive: Early Years and Primary Education. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.

Reynolds, R. (2014). Teaching Humanities and Social Sciences in the Primary School (3rd edn.). Sydney: Oxford University Press.

Taylor T., Fahey, C., Kriewaldt, J. & Boon, D. (2012). Place and Time: Explorations in Teaching Geography and History. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Pearson.

The journal publications listed below are highly recommended for further reading on the topics covered in the unit. You will be advised of additional sources through lectures and tutorials and are expected to refer to policy documents as appropriate:

Brett, P. (2018). Retrieving the civic dimension in history: Creating meaningful and memorable links between History and Civics and Citizenship in primary classrooms. The Social Educator, 36 (2) 15-29.

Heggart, K. R. & Flowers, R. (2019). Justice Citizens, Active Citizenship, and Critical Pedagogy: Reinvigorating Citizenship Education. Democracy and Education, 27 (1), Article 2. Available at: https://democracyeducationjournal.org/home/vol27/iss1/2

Peterson, A. & Bentley, B. (2017). Education for citizenship in South Australian public schools: a pilot study of senior leader and teacher perceptions, The Curriculum Journal, 28:1, 105-122.

Tudball, L. & Henderson, D. (2014) Contested notions of civics and citizenship education as national education in the Australian curriculum. Curriculum and Teaching, 29(2), 5-24.

You are required to read widely as appropriate for this unit. Key readings and chapters will be posted on-line. Journals such as Agora, Teaching Geography, Teaching History, and Social Education are valuable online sources accessible from the University of Tasmania Library Catalogue.

The Social Educator: The Journal of the Social and Citizenship Educators’ Association of Australia (SCEAA) has a strong Civics and Citizenship focus and is highly recommended reading. It is available from the UTAS data bases in A+ Education. For a variety of other texts related to specific teaching sessions see MyLO and the Library Reading List for this unit. I have made sure that there is a really good range of possible readings available to you via the Reading List that you can link to through MYLO.

Other Recommended Readings – ECE students

Ailwood, J., Brownlee, J., Johansson, E., Cobb-Moore, C., Walker, S.,& Boulton-Lewis, G. (2011). Educational policy for citizenship in the early years in Australia. Journal of Education Policy, 26 (5), 641-653

Browett, J. & Ashman, G. (2008). Thinking Globally: Global Perspectives in the Early Years Classroom. Vic: Curriculum Corporation

Brown, J. (2015). ‘Fostering Global Citizenship’. Every Child, Vol. 21 (1).

Davis, M. (Ed) (2010). Young Children and the Environment. Early Education for Sustainability. Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.

Ebbeck, M. (2006). The Challenges of Global Citizenship: Some Issues for Policy and Practice in Early Childhood Education. Childhood Education, 82(6). p. 353-357.

Phillips, L. (2010). Social justice storytelling and young children’s active citizenship. Discourse: S

Other required resources