Teacher education

Teacher Education provides pre-service courses for beginner teachers and postgraduate programs for experienced teachers, in addition to a number of specialist courses. Courses are designed for people who work or wish to work as:

• primary school teachers
• secondary school teachers of Science
• secondary school teachers of Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
• special needs educators
• secondary school teachers of Mathematics
• music therapists
• visual arts educators or secondary school teachers
• children's literature specialists
• drama teachers, and
• secondary school teachers of English and ESL (English as a Second Language).

The Faculty offers a set of three Initial Teacher Education Bachelor degrees for beginning teachers at Kuring-gai campus which prepare students for teaching in primary schools and in special education settings, and the Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies. The Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies (C10209) provides an exit point for students who do not wish to complete the Bachelor of Education in Primary Education (C10206), Bachelor of Education in Special Education (C10207) or Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (C10208). This degree does not provide a teaching qualification.

The Graduate Diploma in secondary education is available in seven specialised areas – English, English/English as a Second Language, Mathematics, PDHPE, Science, Technology and Applied Studies, and Visual Arts. Other postgraduate courses are designed for qualified and experienced teachers who wish to extend their professional skills.

People considering teaching as a career should be aware that teachers need:

• high levels of competence in literacy and numeracy
• high levels of competence, or the willingness to achieve competence, in information and communication technologies, and
• a fundamental interest in learning.

Contact details

Initial Teacher Education courses

There are three interlocking courses which prepare you for teaching in primary schools. All three courses share a common set of first-year subjects as well as curriculum studies and education studies subjects in later years of the course (see diagram below). The common structure enables you to change courses at the end of your first year, subject to places being available. The courses are:

• the Bachelor of Education in Primary Education (C10206)
• the Bachelor of Education in Special Education (C10207), which enables you to qualify as both a mainstream primary school teacher and as a special education teacher, and
• the Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (C10208), which enables you to combine preparation for primary school teaching with an opportunity to acquire knowledge and understanding of another language and culture.

Each course has the following strands:

• Professional Experience
• Curriculum Studies
• Education and Contextual Studies
• Electives.

Students in the Bachelor of Education in Primary Education (C10206) can also choose to complete an Honours program in their fourth year.

Initial Teacher Education diagram

Professional Experience

Professional Experience contains two interlinked elements:

• campus-based studies which examine the range of theoretical issues, skills and procedures central to effective pedagogical practice, and
• field experiences wherein you engage in a variety of professional interactions in schools and other educational settings.

These combined elements foster the development of professional knowledge, skills and attitudes with which teachers should begin their careers.

You may apply to undertake a field experience in one of Teacher Education's existing international professional experience programs in Thailand, China or Samoa.

Through its provision of developmentally sequenced, integrated campus- and field-based experience, the Professional Experience strand promotes learning about learning, learning about self, learning about school life and learning about teaching.

Faculty of Education rules specify that failing teaching practicum for the first time places you on probation and failing the same teaching practicum for the second time leads to exclusion.

Everyone participating in internship or associate teacher programs that require them to supervise students without the presence of a qualified teacher is subject to a criminal records check by the NSW Department of Education and Training. The Department, on the basis of the criminal records check, reserves the right to reject or suspend the participation of any student in such programs. It is expected that such security checks also apply to schools other than NSW Departmental Schools.

Criminal records checks are carried out only with your consent. Everyone is requested to complete a form which authorises a criminal records check to be undertaken. Any refusal by you to undergo the check results in your being unable to complete the course requirements.

Curriculum Studies

The subjects in this strand fall into the following curriculum areas:

• English Education
• Information Technology
• Mathematics Education
• Music Education
• Personal Development, Health and Physical Education
• Science and Technology Education
• Social and Environmental Education
• Visual Arts and Craft Education.

Education and Contextual Studies

Subjects within the Education and Contextual Studies sequence encourage you to draw on perspectives gained from all strands of your degree, so that in the latter part of your degree you increasingly engage in refining and articulating your personal theories of learning, are able to justify them with reference to research evidence from classroom practice and can use supporting theoretical insights.

All students in the three courses study the following subjects:

029311 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History and Cultures
023511 Developmental Psychology
023506 Philosophical Bases of Education
023512 Sociological Bases of Education

Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies (C10209)

From 2002 students who originally enrolled in the Bachelor of Education in Primary Education (C10206), Bachelor of Education in Special Education (C10207) or Bachelor of Education, Bachelor of Arts in International Studies (C10208), have the opportunity of changing to a three-year degree: the Bachelor of Arts in Educational Studies (C10209) (subject to the approval of the Program Director). This degree does not provide qualifications to teach.

For further details, contact the Faculty of Education office at Kuring-gai campus.