Course description
The course is offered on-campus, normally full-time for 1 year and part-time for 2 years. Classes for the full-time course and part-time course are normally held in daytime hours.
At the regional campus at Ballarat the course is offered in a multi-modal format including on-campus and on-line study.
Working With Children Check
Students accepting a place in this course are required to participate in a number of professional placements throughout their program. In order to participate in professional experience it is the responsibility of each student to ensure that they are able to successfully complete the child protection screening required in the State of Victoria. Students, who are not cleared for working with children and consequently can not be placed in a compulsory professional experience program, will therefore not be able to complete their course.
In Victoria, all students must apply for and obtain a Working With Children Check before they will be permitted to participate in the Professional Experience Program. There are no exceptions to this requirement and no student will be placed in a school without a valid Working With Children Check. Students must obtain an application form for a Working With Children Check (WWCC) stamped with a University Stamp at Enrolment.
International students must obtain and present their relevant police check from their home country and from any other country/ies where they have been domiciled for twelve months or more for the last ten years. These police checks must be sighted and authenticated before students will be permitted to undertake a Professional Experience in schools.
Education Studies
In the Education Studies strand, an integrated approach is taken to what has traditionally been described as foundation studies (for example, Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology, Catholic Schooling) and aspects of teaching, (for example, classroom management, planning, teaching in diverse settings, literacy and numeracy across the curriculum, adolescent health and well being).The limited number of Education Studies units available, that is, four rather than eight in the four year undergraduate secondary program. In particular, the units ‘Effective Teaching and Professional Practice‘ and ‘Social and Cultural Contexts of Education’ will have a field-based and technology component associated with them.
Curriculum Studies
Normally, two curriculum units are selected from areas such as Commerce and Business Studies, English, ESL*, History, Humanities, Information Technology/Computing*, Languages Other Than English Mathematics, Music, Physical Education, Religious Education, Science, Visual Arts.
Double methods where students study four curriculum units in the one specialisation are also available in the following areas: Music (Classroom and Instrumental)*, Commerce and Business Studies*, Mathematics*, Science*, Religious Education, Visual Arts
*Availability depends on viable class size.
There are different pathways to qualify to teach Religious Education:
1. Those students with previous studies in Theology are able to enrol in two units of Religious Education as part of the Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary).
2. Students without previous studies in Theology seeking to teach Religious Education as their second teaching method take the two Theology units from the Graduate Certificate in Religious Education and undertake the two Religious Education units from the Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary). (Awards: Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary)/Graduate Certificate in Religious Education).
3. Students seeking to have Religious Education as a third teaching method are able to enrol in the four units of the Graduate Certificate in Religious Education (two Theology and two Religious Education units). (Awards: Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary)/Graduate Certificate in Religious Education).
English Language Requirements
Applicants who do not have a pass in English (any) in Australia, may fulfil the English requirement with an IELTS (Academic) Test score of 7.0, with no less than 7.0 in any individual band.
Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary)
GradDipEd
80 cp
Minimum duration: 1 year full-time or equivalent part-time.
Course available at:
Ballarat, including Notre Dame College in Shepparton, Victoria
Brisbane, Queensland
Canberra, ACT
Melbourne, Victoria
Sydney (Strathfield), NSW
EFTSL value of units: All 10 cp units in this course have an EFTSL value of 0.125. Units with a cp value of a multiple of 10 have corresponding EFTSL values.
1. Requirements for Completion of the Graduate Diploma53 54
To qualify for the Graduate Diploma, a student must complete:
1. 80 cp from the Schedule of Unit Offerings consisting of:
1. 40 cp from Education Studies;
2. 40 cp from Curriculum Studies;
and
2. 2 Professional Experience units consisting of a minimum of 45 days supervised teaching days and 20 days of community engagement.
Schedule of Unit Offerings
Prerequisite (Pre), co-requisite (Co) and incompatible (Inc) units are indicated in parentheses where applicable.
Education Studies
Unit Code Credit Points Unit Name
EDFD446 10 Development and Learning
EDFD453 10 Social and Cultural Contexts of Education
EDFD527 10 Diversity in the Inclusive Classroom
EDFD529 10 Effective Teaching and Professional Practice
Curriculum Studies
Ballarat Campus
Rural and Regional Partnerships
Unit Code Credit Points Unit Name
EDLA438 10 English Curriculum and Teaching 1
EDLA439 10 English Curriculum and Teaching 2
EDRE527 10 Religious Education Curriculum and Teaching Studies 1
EDRE528 10 Religious Education Curriculum and Teaching Studies 2
EDSS422 10 Humanities Curriculum and Teaching 1
EDSS423 10 Humanities Curriculum and Teaching 2
EDST443 10 Science Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDST433, EDST451)
EDST444 10 Science Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDST433, EDST452)
Other Curriculum Studies units approved by the Course Co-ordinator.
Melbourne Campus
Unit Code Credit Points Unit Name
EDAR416 10 Visual Arts Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDAR415, EDAR420)
EDAR417 10 Visual Arts Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDAR415, EDAR421)
EDAR418 10 Visual Arts Curriculum and Teaching 3
EDAR419 10 Visual Arts Curriculum and Teaching 4
EDLA438 10 English Curriculum and Teaching 1
EDLA439 10 English Curriculum and Teaching 2
EDLA440 10 ESL Curriculum and Teaching 1
EDLA441 10 ESL Curriculum and Teaching 2
EDLO409 10 LOTE Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDLO407, EDLO413)
EDLO411 10 LOTE Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDLO407, EDLO414)
EDLO410 10 LOTE Curriculum and Teaching 3 (Inc: EDLO408, EDLO415)
EDLO412 10 LOTE Curriculum and Teaching 4 (Inc: EDLO408, EDLO416)
EDMA417 10 Mathematics Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDMA415, EDMA421)
EDMA418 10 Mathematics Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDMA415, EDMA422)
EDMA419 10 Mathematics Curriculum and Teaching 3
EDMA420 10 Mathematics Curriculum and Teaching 4
EDMU408 10 Music Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDMU406, EDMU412)
EDMU410 10 Music Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDMU406, EDMU413)
EDMU409 10 Music Curriculum and Teaching 3 (Inc: EDMU407, EDMU414)
EDMU411 10 Music Curriculum and Teaching 4 (Inc: EDMU407, EDMU415)
EDPH414 10 Physical Education Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDPH413, EDPH416)
EDPH415 10 Physical Education Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDPH413, EDPH417)
EDRE527 10 Religious Education Curriculum and Teaching Studies 1 (Inc: EDRE425, EDRE432)
EDRE528 10 Religious Education Curriculum and Teaching Studies 2 (Inc: EDRE425, EDRE433)
EDRE427 10 Religious Education Curriculum and Teaching Studies 3
EDRE428 10 Religious Education Curriculum and Teaching Studies 4
EDSS416 10 Commerce and Business Studies Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDSS424, EDSS425)
EDSS417 10 Commerce and Business Studies and Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDSS424, EDSS425)
EDSS418 10 Commerce and Business Studies and Curriculum and Teaching 3
EDSS419 10 Commerce and Business Studies and Curriculum and Teaching 4
EDSS420 10 History Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDSS426)
EDSS421 10 History Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDSS427)
EDSS422 10 Humanities Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDSS415, EDSS426)
EDSS423 10 Humanities Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDSS415, EDSS427)
EDST441 10 ICT Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDST432, EDST449)
EDST442 10 ICT Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDST432, EDST450)
EDST443 10 Science Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDST433, EDST451)
EDST444 10 Science Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDST433, EDST452)
EDST445 10 Science Curriculum and Teaching 3
EDST446 10 Science Curriculum and Teaching 4
EDST447 10 Technology Curriculum and Teaching 1 (Inc: EDST434, EDST453)
EDST448 10 Technology Curriculum and Teaching 2 (Inc: EDST434, EDST454)
Professional Experience
Unit Code Credit Points Unit Name
EDFX503 0 Graduate Professional Experience Secondary 1
EDFX504 0 Graduate Professional Experience Secondary 2
53 Religious Education and Theology Units: Completion of the Graduate Diploma in Education (Secondary) and the Graduate Certificate in Religious Education courses, in addition to giving full State accreditation, allows teachers to satisfy requirements for teaching in Catholic or Lutheran schools or State schools.
Lutheran Strand: Students who wish to complete the requirements for teaching in Lutheran schools must register and enrol with Australian Lutheran College. The Lutheran units will replace units in the normal Graduate Certificate in Religious Education course and Australian Catholic University will credit the units towards the completion of the Graduate Diploma.
54 Requirements for working with children: All students enrolled must have the appropriate approvals before they may enter a classroom. These are: Blue Card (Queensland), Working with Children Check (ACT, Victoria, NSW). International students should check this with the Course Co-ordinator and may need to bring documentation from their own country.
