Graduate Level: Understand and apply the key principles described in codes of ethics and conduct for the teaching profession.

My understanding of this focus area is that it is important as a teacher to understand and apply the principles from the code of ethics in my teaching practice. These need to be seen when interacting with children, families, teachers, leadership and other staff in educational settings. It involves having a integrity, respect and responsibility while recognising that these are the core values that underpin the teaching profession. 

This evidence piece comes from my fourth year professional experience and it is an email from my supervising teacher stating that I meet the code of ethics principles and core values. In the email my supervising teacher stated that I have engaged in professional learning through attending a professional development staff meeting on feedback for children. The email also states that I acted in a respectful manner when interacting with families, children and staff and valued diverse backgrounds. 

The email says that I acted with integrity and honesty during my professional experience four. This evidence piece demonstrates that I meet the graduate level for this focus area because it shows that I applied the core principles of integrity, respect and responsibility in my teaching practice.  

Graduate Level: Understand the relevant legislative, administrative and organisational policies and processes required for teachers according to school stage.

This evidence piece includes the Responding to abuse and neglect Education and care
Foundation (7 hours) training (RAN) that I completed in 2019 and my Child-Related Employment Screening (DCSI) that was cleared in 2019. The RAN certificate and training comes with a legal responsibility to report children who are suffering from abuse or neglect and the DCSI means that I have been cleared based on my history and am not a risk to children. These documents are needed to ensure that I adhere to the policies and legislations that teachers require. All schools and early childhood sites that I have attended throughout my degree have been different so I had to ensure that I met their administrative processes, obtained necessary certification in correlation with legislation.

This evidence shows that I meet the graduate level for this focus area (7.2) because it demonstrates that I have completed my RAN training and mandatory working with children check. This means that I am meeting the legislation requirements put in place by the Government of South Australia.

Graduate Level: Understand strategies for working effectively, sensitively and confidentially with parents/carers.

My understanding for this focus area is that it is important for teachers to form respectful, reciprocal and collaborative partnerships with children's families. This means that teachers need to communicate effectively through regular communication, ensure confidentiality is upheld in regards to situations, information and sensitive needs and respond to parents in a sensitive way which displays compassion and empathy.

This evidence piece comes from my third and fourth professional experiences and it is a list of strategies I implemented when working with children's families. These strategies

The evidence for this standard was collected on my third year professional experience. The evidence shows that I invited parents/family members to a 'show an share' morning where the children displayed their work and I interacted positively with family members about their child's learning and development. An inserted piece about the morning was also written by my supervising teacher and included in my final report.

This evidence shows that I meet this standard because my supervising teacher states that I communicated effectively with parents through written and verbal approaches. She also commented on the fact that I followed up on parents' requests throughout the time I was there and displayed a welcoming attitude so parents felt comfortable communicating with me. 

Graduate Level: Understand the role of external professionals and community representatives in broadening teachers' professional knowledge and practice.

The first evidence piece includes teaching and early childhood education groups that I am a member of on Facebook. Being a member of these groups provides me with opportunities to be an active participant in the wider community, engage with other community professional and develop my knowledge, understanding and practice. These are community teaching networks with other pre-service teachers, qualified teacher, student support officers and early childhood educators.

The second evidence piece is daily reflections I completed at the end of two days from my professional experience four when external professionals visited the site to work with the child who had cerebral palsy in my class. The speech pathologist and occupational therapist came and I had conversations with them about what I can do to support their goals for this child while I was teaching in the classroom. 

This evidence piece shows that I meet the graduate level for this focus area because it demonstrates that I am a member to wider community networks and working effectively with external professionals to improve my professional knowledge. Being a member of the gorups helps me to continue reflecting and developing my teaching practice, learn from other professionals and continue broadening my knowledge.