Edfx 267 Community Engagement

EDFX 267 Community Engagement
Assessment Task 3: Reflecting on the Experience

Name of Pre-Service Teacher: Lauren Cocks Student ID: S00153943
Community Engagement Placement(s): Edmund Rice Camps Victoria (Family Camp)

Due Date: 30.01.2015
Submission: To be submitted via the LEO Assignment link. Please make sure that this is typed
not handwritten.
This task requires you to reflect on your Community Engagement Placement (CEP) and its impact on:
1. Your understanding of engaging with community
2. Your development as a teacher.
In completing your Reflecting on the Experience you should draw on your approved proposal for
Community Engagement Placement both Parts A and B together with your discussion postings
1. Your understanding of engaging with community
Complete the chart below by rating each statement taken from the unit outlines description and learning
outcomes. The rating is from 1 5 with 1 representing strong agreement and 5 representing strong
disagreement. You must add an explanatory comment (this is not optional). You may wish to give an
example here too.
Page 1 of 8
To what extent has your

placement (s)
assisted you to understand and value

diversity in its many forms therefore
enabling you to cater for diversity
more effectively
enhanced the development of your

understanding of the contextual
factors that impact on the way in
which people live their lives
enhanced your critical examination,

promoted reflective practices and
challenged established beliefs
Explanatory comment
In working alongside a diverse range of
families, cultures and personalities this
experience allowed me to gather the
skills in which I can effectively cater for
the needs and wants of these families
and individual people. In having little to
no experience with diverse families and
cultures, engaging with families for a
week helped me to listen and engage
with them on a deeper level.
In being provided with a chance to talk

to not only the children, but the
parents, this gave me an insight into
their lives and provided them with
having a chance to have someone to
listen to them and their background
stories and lives. This allowed me to
gather a deeper understanding of the
diverse contextual factors that impact
on the way people live their lives.
This whole experience helped me to
challenge my established beliefs
through being put into situations that I
have not been placed into before and
having to change my personal views
Page 2 of 8
and thinking in order to enter the

situation with an open mind which
allowed me to cater for these situations
as best as I could.
encouraged open and flexible
thinking, and responsiveness to
change
During the camp the volunteers, in

order to keep the children busy whilst
waiting for buses or dinner, had to
have open and flexible thinking in order
to be able to keep the children
occupied. Responsiveness to change
occurred a lot due to activities being
planned but due to weather some
changes had to occur last minute
meaning that we had to be prepared
for change as quickly as possible.
enabled you to listen to the voices of

marginalised people and, through
reflection, allow such experiences to
impact on your personal and
professional lives as engaged citizens
I was fortunate enough to be able to

talk to the parents quite a number of
times and listen to their experiences
and life stories. This time allowed me
to impact on my personal and
professional lives through being able to
view certain experiences as a benefit
and not a consequence and the
positive attitudes and morals that
these families held strongly helped to
impact and challenge my own beliefs
and morals.
Page 3 of 8
provided opportunities for you to

contribute to the life of the
community through the sharing of
personal expertise and time
In providing families a break from their

everyday lives, especially giving
parents a break from their children
gave parents personal time as well as
giving parents the opportunity to spend
individual time with their children
whilst on the camp. Giving the families
this opportunity enhanced their
personal lives whilst also helping the
parents by suggesting strategies that
were used on camp that the parents
can also use at home to help care for
and calm their children.
2. Your development as a teacher

In the following chart identify two changes in your views about learning or your intentions for teaching
because of your participation in your Community Engagement Placement(s).
My views
about
(identify the
issue or
aspect of
teaching and
learning)
Before my
involvement in
this Community
Engagement
Placement I
thought
1)Building
and
That there was

not a high need
After my
involvement I
think
Give evidence
and indicate from
which source
(e.g. wiki posting,
reflective journal
entry)
Significance of
outcome/achievement
for you
That it is
important for
Assessment task
two gave me
I now strongly believe

that it is important for
Page 4 of 8
maintaining
successful
relationships
with the
wider
community
for this within a

school or early
learning centre.
children to be
involved in a
diverse range of
cultures and
activities whilst
also interacting
with different
people in order to
understand more
about their
community and
to not be
sheltered, as I
was, in thinking
that all families
lived like mine.
time to reflect on
this issue and in
experiencing this
for myself whilst
on community
engagement, it
impacted my
views even more.
all children to be
exposed to creating
relationships with the
wider community and
to understand that
there is much to learn
from those that are
from a variety of
cultures and
backgrounds.
2) You can
learn just as
much from
the children,
as you teach
them.
Teacher held most

of the knowledge
and passed this
onto the children.
That every child

brings something
different to every
experience and
this will include
the classroom. As
I teacher I will
want to allow
these differences
to enhance the
classroom
environment and
I spoke about my
worries about
being exposed to
a variety of
children and by
being
overwhelmed by
this in
assessment task
one. Whilst being
on camp though,
I learnt not to be
I strongly believe now

that this will be an
important aspect
within my classroom
environment in
allowing the children
and what they bring to
the classroom to have
an effect on the
classroom
environment and my
Page 5 of 8
not hinder it or
try to hide it.
afraid of this, but

by allowing it to
teach me about
certain aspects of
life and it was
able to change
my personal
views and beliefs.
professional life.
Summing up the experience:

Looking back on your Community Engagement Placement experience, how would you describe
your experience overall? What were the highlights and challenges? What advice would you
offer others undertaking Community Engagement Placement(s) in the future?
In reflecting on my community engagement placement it was one of the most challenging experiences,
both emotionally and physically, I have ever encountered, whilst also being one of the best experiences.
The highlights for me were pushing myself out of my comfort zone, allowing me to have interactions with
parents that I never thought I would, this enhanced my experience in listening to their background stories
which allowed me to gather a deeper understanding of their family life which helped me to gather a better
understanding of the needs of their individual children. Interacting with a diverse range of families,
children and parents was another highlight for me, because it exposed me to a variety of cultures, beliefs
and morals that not only enhanced my established beliefs and morals but also challenged a few of them
prompting change. I enjoyed being exposed to a variety of people, not only the families that were on camp
but also the other volunteers. The other volunteers were able to help give advice, strategies and were
there to help in troubling situations, and in receiving this support from others, you were able to quickly do
the same for others around you. Part of the Edmund Rice Camps culture is team work and looking out for
those around you, I believe this experience has enhanced my notion of team work and just how important
Page 6 of 8
it is in challenging environments and that others are just as willing to help you out. This was also another
highlight for me because it was amazing to see young people giving up their time to help others and being
so lovely and helpful when you were struggling with different situations, from this I have created and
maintained friendships that I know will last me a long time and these friendships have also encouraged me
to do other camps provided by Edmund Rice.
Whilst on camp there were some challenges in involving one of the families, and this experience I believe
has allowed me to learn to deal with different challenges that may arise within an early learning centre or
school environment. Through this challenge I experienced following protocols and processes that I believe
you can only truly learn how to use once you have experienced them, which has provided me with more
confidence in knowing what needs to be done in these situations if they were to ever arise again within
another environment. Through this challenge I have learnt what works well in these processes and what
did not work as well and which needs to be looked at if this situation were to arise again. From this I was
able to voice my opinions and concerns as to what did not work well in this situation, which hopefully
benefits other volunteers within the Edmund Rice community if this challenge or something similar were to
happen again. Other challenges for me were the long hours spent with the children, and the constant
chasing and attempting to keep the children occupied. Although from this challenge, I have also had
highlights in learning many strategies and various songs and dances that I will continue to use within the
classroom environment as these were important in keeping the children happy whilst also helping them to
follow the rules and directions of other volunteers. I also learnt the importance of being fully immersed in
the camp experience and not worrying about what you look like, sound like or how silly you feel. There
were times on camp where it was required of volunteers to be really silly with the children to have fun and
I learnt to let loose and so that the children can have a fun and enjoyable experience it was ok for me to
sing at the top of my lungs and even if I looked silly whilst dancing that that was ok. All the volunteers
became heavily involved in these activities and once the children saw all of us being involved they all
became involved too, even the shy and timid children began having some silly fun, which taught me the
importance of being committed and fully immersed in songs and dances no matter how silly you think you
look, that the children do not actually care about that, and that it is even more fun the sillier you are.
Page 7 of 8
The advice I would give to others doing community engagement in the future is to go in with an open
mind. Quite often we were faced with experiences I was not prepared for and I was left thinking on my feet
a lot. I believe if you have too much expectation and prepare yourself for what you think it might be like,
you may not be ready for the responsiveness to change and flexibility that is required. As well as keeping
an open mind with the people you are engaging with and not judging them because of what they look like
and assuming to know where they come from, this experience really assisted me in that regard, especially
because I was fortunate enough to have an opportunity to talk with the parents as they shared their stories
with me, giving me an insight into their struggles and family life.
Before starting community engagement I was sheltered into thinking that all families lived like mine and in
being exposed to a variety of families and various personalities I was able to develop and learn skills which
will enhance my professional life. I was quite anxious as to how I would cope in these situations, but I
learnt of strategies to assist me and I learnt about the importance of team work. Overall being on the
camps for community engagement has been one of the best experiences I have ever had, due to the
amount I have learnt and the relationships created. This experience has left me wanting more and I will
definitely go back as a volunteer on the camps again soon.
Page 8 of 8

Edfx 267 Community Engagement

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Edfx 267 Community Engagement

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Edfx 267 Community Engagement

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What challenges did the author face during their community engagement placement?

What challenges did the author face during their community engagement placement?

What advice would the author give to others doing community engagement?

What advice would the author give to others doing community engagement?

EDFX 267 Community Engagement

Assessment Task 3: Reflecting on the Experience

Community Engagement Placement(s): Edmund Rice Camps Victoria (Family Camp)

To what extent has your

assisted you to understand and value

enhanced the development of your

enhanced your critical examination,

In being provided with a chance to talk

and thinking in order to enter the

During the camp the volunteers, in

enabled you to listen to the voices of

I was fortunate enough to be able to

provided opportunities for you to

In providing families a break from their

2. Your development as a teacher

That there was

I now strongly believe

for this within a

Teacher held most

That every child

I strongly believe now

afraid of this, but

Summing up the experience:

You might also like