BTeach/BA

320 credit points

INDEX

Duration                                4 years full-time or equivalent part-time (maximum 9 years)

Available at                          Strathfield Campus NSW (Mount Saint Mary)

                                             Melbourne Campus Vic (St. Patrick's)

Overview

This is a combined course satisfying the requirements for the Bachelor of Teaching and Bachelor of Arts. The course is designed for those intending to become teachers in secondary schools. A range of Bachelor of Arts sequences and units are available and students have a broad range of choice of their major and of one minor sequence. Students are advised to select at least one of these sequences from a main school teaching area. In Victoria they must both be from main teaching areas. There is also a major Education sequence. The Bachelor of Teaching requirements foster the acquisition and development of the students' basic professional knowledge, skills and attitudes required of an effective classroom teacher. The inclusion of units in Theology and Religious Education enables graduates to gain accreditation to teach Religious Education.

The dual degree program is designed to:

• offer studies in the Humanities, Computing, Mathematics, Technology and Visual Arts in order to develop the knowledge, skills and conventions of these academic disciplines, and the capacity for rigorous, sustained, analytical thinking;
  
• contribute to students' personal, spiritual and moral development through training in analysis, evaluation, interpretation, objective appraisal of arguments, and identification of salient justice issues;
  
• enable graduates to take an active part in the debates that inform a modern, democratic society and to serve the wider community in its ethical, spiritual and cultural development;
  
• facilitate, within the Christian tradition, the development of reflective, culturally aware, and responsive individuals able to function effectively as beginning teachers in a variety of settings, particularly Catholic schools, and committed to continuing professional development.
  

Admission

Application is through the relevant state Tertiary Admissions Centres.

Prerequisites: English (any) and appropriate subject disciplines for some areas to be studied (e.g. for BT/BA [Mathematics] specialisation assumes that students have studied Calculus-based Mathematics, in NSW students are assumed to have successfully completed the HSC Mathematics course at least, General Mathematics is not sufficient).

Further requirements:

Mature Age applicants must also complete the appropriate forms available from the relevant state Tertiary Admissions Centre.

Minimum English language proficiency requirements for international students for entry to the Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts are:

• IELTS (International English Language Testing System) with an overall score of 6.5, including an individual score of 6.0 for all tests or
  
• TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score of 575 and TWE 5.0; or a computer-based score of 230 with an essay rating of 5.0.

Course Structure

The course is comprised of the following strands:

• Arts Sequences (16 units - unchanged from the current course)
  
• Education Studies (8 units)
  
• Curriculum Studies (6 units plus internship which is equivalent to 2 units)
  
• Professional Experience including Community Engagement and internship.
  

Unit Offerings

Unit offerings will vary subject to student demand and lecturer availability.
Elective units will vary between campuses and from year to year.

Arts Sequences - 16 units

• These enable individual students to choose to study two or three disciplines in the liberal arts in conjunction with the Bachelor of Arts program. Students are required to undertake studies in two discipline areas that correlate with curriculum studies in those two areas.
• 1 Arts major plus 2 Arts minors (one minor is an extension of the major in Mathematics, Technology or Visual Arts)
• 1 Arts major plus 1 Arts minor plus 4 elective units
• 1 Arts major plus a major in Theological Studies
  Technology majors must take ICT as their minor strand.

Students choose two of these disciplines. One will become their Major, the other their Minor 1. The Arts Minor 1 is taken in conjunction with curriculum studies in the second discipline and provides the second teaching subject. Students are advised to consider their future employment prospects when selecting their Arts Major and Arts Minor 1.

The disciplines available at Melbourne are:

Majors

• History
  
• Italian
  
• Literature
  
• Theological Studies
  

Minors
All of the above plus:

• Drama
  
• Japanese (NB: can be taken as a major if students enrol cross-institutionally)
  
• Media
  
• Philosophy
  
• Politics
  
• Sociology

The combination of majors and minors at Melbourne should be confirmed by the course coordinator to ensure that they lead to available teaching methods:; English, ESL, History, Humanities, LOTE and Religious Education.

The disciplines currently available at Strathfield Campus both as approved Arts Major sequences and as curriculum studies are:

• Computing
• Economics/Business
• Geography
• History
• Literature
• Mathematics
• Technology
• Theological Studies
• Visual Arts.

Non Teaching Subject Minors

The Arts Minor 2 may or may not relate directly to the curriculum studies undertaken by the student. Approved Non Teaching Arts Minors are available from the areas listed above and also:

• Communications
• Drama
• Japanese
• Music (for continuing students)
• Philosophy
  

Education Studies (8 units)(7 core and 1 elective unit)

This strand is common to both the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Teaching sections of the dual degree.

Professional Studies (8 units)

This sequence aims to provide a grounding in commonly used teaching skills and management strategies, as well as providing a foundation for the Curriculum units. Students will also complete a unit in teaching children with special needs to meet state mandated requirements.

Teaching Studies (4 units)

Curriculum Studies (6 units)

plus

4 units which build on discipline sequences already taken and include 2 curriculum and teaching studies units in each of 2 teaching subject areas. These units are chosen from the list of curriculum units below.

To be eligible to enrol in a curriculum and teaching studies sequence an applicant either must have satisfactorily completed the pre-requisite study stipulated for that curriculum and teaching study or be able to demonstrate knowledge or skills accepted by the School of Education as equivalent. In the case of Religious Education, the designated Theological Studies units provide co-requisites.

Curriculum and Teaching Studies Units for Melbourne Campus

Curriculum and Teaching Studies Units for Strathfield Campus

Professional Experience Units

Requirements for Completion of Award

To be eligible to receive the award of Bachelor of Teaching - Bachelor of Arts, students must complete a total of 32 units of study, (320 credit points) and the field experience components of the course.