University of Technology Sydney

59714 Australians at Work

Warning: The information on this page is indicative. The subject outline for a particular session, location and mode of offering is the authoritative source of all information about the subject for that offering. Required texts, recommended texts and references in particular are likely to change. Students will be provided with a subject outline once they enrol in the subject.

Subject handbook information prior to 2025 is available in the Archives.

UTS: International Studies: Initial Teacher Education
Credit points: 8 cp

Subject level:

Undergraduate and Postgraduate

Result type: Grade and marks

There are course requisites for this subject. See access conditions.
Anti-requisite(s): 59715 Academic English: Australian Workplace Cultures AND 59719 Developing English: Studies of Australian Workplaces

Requisite elaboration/waiver: Non-English-speaking background international, exchange or study abroad students who meet the requisite English proficiency score (IELTS: 5.0-6.0 overall with a writing score of 5.0; TOEFL: paper based: 510-550 overall with TWE of 3.0, internet based: 35-78 overall with a writing score of 14)

Description

This subject is designed for international students as part of an Australian Language and Culture Studies program. The subject is designed to develop students’ critical reading, writing and oral skills. These skills are developed through a range of studies that relate to Australian workplace and business cultures. These studies may include: patterns of labour, migration and employment in the Australian economy; workplace practices; sociocultural issues of gender, age, ethnicity and language in the Australian workplace; and Australia's place in the global economy.

Subject learning objectives (SLOs)

a. Develop academic reading, listening, writing and speaking skills to a level that allows effective participation in university study
b. Develop research skills appropriate for undergraduate study
c. Develop cultural and intercultural literacies

Contribution to the development of graduate attributes

As this is a stand-alone subject and not part of a specific degree program, the subject engages with the following

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Graduate Attributes:

1. Professional Readiness

2. Critical and Creative Inquiry

3. International and Intercultural Engagement

5. Active Citizenship

6. Effective Communication

Teaching and learning strategies

The subject features the following teaching and learning strategies:

  1. Through UTS Online, pre-class readings and preview tasks, and post-lesson readings and reflection tasks.
  2. Active learning experiences, through scaffolded independent and group work activities that involve guided discovery of language choices in academic texts and monitored practice of academic language skills.
  3. Assessment for learning, through teacher-class dialogue about the learning goals of each assessment task and the assessment criteria that will apply, the use of exemplars, peer dialogue before submission about developing ideas on the content and organisation of each assessment task, and detailed teacher feedback on task achievement.

Content (topics)

This subject develops academic literacies by exploring themes and issues in Australian workplace culture and practices.

Assessment

Assessment task 1: Written report on an interview

Objective(s):

a and c

Type: Report
Groupwork: Individual
Weight: 20%
Length:

300-350 words
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Relevance of content 25 a, c
Level of insight 25 a, c
Coherence of written expression 25 a
Accuracy of written expression 25 a
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Assessment task 2: Seminar presentation

Objective(s):

a, b and c

Weight: 40%
Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Relevance of content 25 a, b, c
Level of insight 25 a, b, c
Coherence of staging 25 a
Effectiveness of presentation skills (voice projection, eye contact with the audience, use of visuals) 25 a
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Assessment task 3: Written report on an interview

Objective(s):

a, b and c

Weight: 40%
Length:

750 words

Criteria linkages:
Criteria Weight (%) SLOs CILOs
Relevance of content 25 a, b, c
Level of insight 25 a, b, c
Coherence of written expression 25 a
Accuracy of written expression 25 a
SLOs: subject learning objectives
CILOs: course intended learning outcomes

Minimum requirements

Attendance at weekly classes is important for this subject because it is based on the interchange of ideas with other students and with the lecturer. Students must attend at least 9 of the 11 classes. Students who do not meet this attendance requirement will not have their final assessment task marked.

References

Weekly readings will be posted on UTS Online in advance of the class.