You will expand on your understanding of partnerships within your written analysis. This will allow you to demonstrate your understanding of creating and evaluating the effectiveness of plans with families/carers.

Assignment 2

Assignment Details

This assignment has two components: A video presentation worth 30% of the final grade and a written component worth 70% of the final grade. This assignment builds on your knowledge and skills covered in Weeks 1-3 but focuses on the topics covered in Weeks 4-8 of this unit.

Once you identify a problem or issue facing your current room or service, use this problem or issue as the impetus for change. Then outline a detailed plan for change that involves the development of a partnership with one or several families. Again, we do not want a detailed explanation of the problems or details of what you will do in the room or service. Although the focus of this assessment task is the development of the partnership plan, some links between your plan for partnership and what you do in the room may need to be described.

In this assignment, make sure to include reference to all the topics covered in Weeks 4-8, including the various skills of reflective practice (Weeks 4 and 7), the approach used to develop effective partnerships (Week 5), strategies and expected challenges (Week 6), and your approach to leadership (Week 8). Finally, make sure that you refer specifically to at least one cultural group.

Part A: Presentation

For your video presentation, you need to outline a plan for partnership. In your slides, you must include the objectives of the plan for partners and the major elements of a plan. This needs to include:

• reference to prior knowledge and skills
• identification of key stakeholders
• how to implement change
• need for evaluation
• identification of possible challenges
• clear description of objective(s) of plan for partnership
• leadership opportunities arising out of the plan.

Creating your Narrated PowerPoint Presentation

You can use Canvas Studio for your narrated PowerPoint presentation. Canvas Studio allows for video recording and screen recording. To create your video via Canvas Studio, you have two options:

• Create your slides, record your narrations and export your video all in PowerPoint for PC or Keynote for Mac, then upload your video to Canvas Studio.
• Create your slides in PowerPoint but record your narration in Canvas Studio.
  Please refer to the Canvas Studio instructions section of this page for assistance in creating your presentation in Canvas Studio and details on how to submit it.

Part B: Analysis

You will expand on your understanding of partnerships within your written analysis. This will allow you to demonstrate your understanding of creating and evaluating the effectiveness of plans with families/carers. This includes methods of data collection with a focus on a cultural group. Within your written component you will specifically address:

• A clear and justified description of the topic or issues
• Clearly state the aim of the partnership plan using a SMART goal
• Identify and describe the essential roles of your plan
• Reference relevant policy or legislative documents (at least two)
• Leadership opportunities that arise out of the plan:
  • Are there opportunities for centre policy development? Mentoring peers? Leading meetings?
• Skills and knowledge that you require to create an effective partnership plan. This includes:
  • Cultural consideration
  • Reflective practice
  • Communication
  • Mindsets
  • Engagement
  • Data types and methods of collecting
  • Anticipated challenges.
• Approaches to your plan for family partnership:
  • Collaboration and co-design
  • Strategies to build trust
  • Strategies to enact and maintain trust
  • Identifying possible challenges.

Summary of Assessment Requirements

This assignment consists of two key components:

• Part A: A video presentation (30%)
• Part B: A written analysis (70%)

Students must identify a problem or issue within their current educational room or service and use it as a basis for designing a family partnership plan. The primary focus is on developing the plan, connecting it to course concepts from Weeks 48, including reflective practice, partnership approaches, challenges, leadership, and cultural considerations.

Key Requirements to Be Covered

• Identify a problem/issue that prompts the need for change
• Develop a clear plan for partnership that involves one or more families
• Integrate concepts from Weeks 48:
  • Reflective practice
  • Approaches to partnerships
  • Strategies and expected challenges
  • Leadership and cultural competence
• Address one specific cultural group in the plan
• Part A (Video): Include objectives, key stakeholders, change implementation, evaluation needs, possible challenges, and leadership opportunities
• Part B (Analysis):
  • Justify the issue selected
  • Set a SMART goal
  • Identify essential roles in the plan
  • Reference at least two relevant policies or legislative documents
  • Highlight leadership opportunities
  • Discuss required skills (communication, engagement, cultural knowledge, reflective practice, mindset)
  • Outline partnership approaches: collaboration, co-design, building and maintaining trust
  • Identify anticipated challenges
  • Include data types and collection methods

Mentor-Guided Approach: Step-by-Step Process

The academic mentor facilitated the student’s work by breaking the assignment into manageable, structured steps. Each stage ensured alignment with assessment criteria and course learning outcomes.

Step 1: Understanding the Task and Selecting the Problem

The mentor first clarified the dual nature of the assignment—presentation and analysis.
They helped the student choose a relevant problem within the service, ensuring it:

• Links to daily practice
• Demonstrates a genuine need for partnership
• Connects to course themes from Weeks 48

The mentor ensured the student focused not on operational room details but on the partnership plan.

Step 2: Mapping Required Concepts (Weeks 48)

The mentor guided the student to create a concept map connecting the required weekly themes:

• Reflective practice (Week 4, 7)
• Partnership approaches (Week 5)
• Strategies & challenges (Week 6)
• Leadership opportunities (Week 8)
• Cultural considerations integrated throughout

This mapping helped the student embed all required theoretical components into the plan and analysis.

Step 3: Structuring the Video Presentation (Part A)

The mentor helped outline the presentation by identifying:

• Objectives of the partnership plan
• Key stakeholders
• The rationale behind the identified problem
• The implementation strategy
• Evaluation needs and methods
• Possible challenges
• Leadership opportunities

The mentor also reviewed slide drafts and narration flow to ensure clarity, coherence, and alignment with assessment expectations.

Step 4: Developing the Written Analysis (Part B)

The mentor supported the student in organising the written component into clear sections:

1. Description of the issue grounded with evidence and justification
2. SMART goal aligning the problem with measurable outcomes
3. Essential roles detailing responsibilities of educators, families, and service leaders
4. Policy/legislative references selecting at least two relevant frameworks
5. Leadership opportunities showing how the educator can lead change
6. Skills and knowledge required especially cultural competence, engagement, and reflective practice
7. Approaches to partnership including collaboration, co-design, and trust-building
8. Challenges realistic barriers and mitigation strategies
9. Data collection methods identifying suitable qualitative or quantitative tools

The mentor ensured each section demonstrated critical thinking and applied understanding of partnership practices.