Weight: 50%
Type of Collaboration: Individual
Due: Due to Turnitin: 1/4/19 – Final date for submission to Turnitin: 5/4/19
Submission: Submit a draft of your assignment (not a PDF) to Turnitin by 1/4/19 so you have time
to review your Originality Report and edit your work and final copy to turnitin by
5/4/19 including your reference list.
Format: Assignments submitted after the due date and time, without an approved extension, will
be penalised 10% per day for late submission.
You must keep a copy of your assignment.
Length: 2,000 words
Curriculum Mode: Essay
Episodes of alienation in schools receive a great deal of attention in the news media and result in continuing calls
for schools to take action. Write an essay in which you (1) chose ONE issue studied this semester [either low SES;
Gender; Sexuality; Race & Ethnicity, Language or Culture] and show how student alienation may occur as a result of
your selected issue in schools. (2) Review relevant literature in terms of the potential reasons for students’ feelings
of alienation and discuss the theory (ies) that assists us to best understand your selected issue (3) Critically discuss
what actions a teacher might take in the classroom to reduce student alienation. (4) Show how power impacts feelings
of alienation(5) Explain how the dilemmas around student alienation in your selected issue have been resolved
at a policy level and if they have not yet been resolved, propose ways in which policy could assist to resolve students’
feelings of alienation.
The purpose of this assignment is to demonstrate your understanding of equity and access in approaches to education
and the impact on student alienation.
In order to complete this assignment you need to:
1. Clearly identify the social justice issue;
2. Define what you understand by student alienation
3. Use one or two sociological theories to assist your understanding of this issue and support your analysis/argument;
4. Discuss how forces of power impact students’ alienation in regards to your selected issue
5. Reflect critically how student marginalisation will impact your own and others’ teaching practices;
6. Demonstrate your awareness of how schooling policies might impact on the issue by including some discussion
and reference to these.
Please Note:
This assessment requires a focus on research, analysis and links to theory, rather than on description and unsubstantiated
opinions. Your discussion of the question should demonstrate your understandings of the issues and research
on the topic. Note that Internet references (such as Wikipedia/google/social media sites) should not be the focus of
your discussions.
WHAT DO I NEED TO SUBMIT?
– A fully referenced essay of 2000 words incorporating at least 6 references from the following sources: prescribed
unit text book, other academic book chapters (rather than books in their entirety) or journal articles, readings
from the unit reading list and/or no more than 2 credible newspaper sources.
Exemplar:
Past exemplars of assignments identified as a distinction/credit/pass can be found in the assessment folder on the
Unit’s vUWS site.