Bachelor of Education (Senior and Middle Schooling) (BESM) - BEd(Senior&MiddleSchooling)

QTAC code (Australian and New Zealand applicants): Toowoomba campus: 908411; Fraser Coast campus: 918411

CRICOS code (International applicants): 031459G

This program is offered only to continuing students. No new admissions will be accepted. Students who are interested in this study area should consider the Bachelor of Education (BEDU).

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Program focus

This degree prepares students to teach in secondary, senior and middle school contexts in Queensland and is normally accepted Australia-wide and in many overseas countries. Two major teaching areas must be selected from: Accounting, Australian Indigenous Studies, Business Education, Computing Studies/IT, Drama and Theatre Studies, Geography, Health and Physical Education, History (Ancient or Modern), Economics, English and Communications, German Language, Indonesian Language, Mandarin Chinese, French Language, Japanese Language, Sciences – Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Multi-Strand Science, Mathematics, Music, Legal Studies, Studies of Society and Environment, and Visual Arts.

Note: Some teaching areas are not available at the Fraser Coast campus. Teaching areas may be subject to quota. Application, audition or interview may be required for some teaching areas.

We are currently redeveloping our programs for 2009. This area of study will remain available, with greater flexibility.

Professional accreditation

Graduates of this program who meet the 'good character' and other requirements of the Queensland College of Teachers (formerly the Board of Teacher Registration, Queensland) will be eligible to apply for registration as a teacher in Queensland. Please note that the Board conducts a national criminal history check as a key element of its consideration of the suitability of all applicants for teacher registration.

Program aims

The Bachelor of Education (Senior and Middle Schooling) is a four-year equivalent full-time on-campus program designed to prepare students for employment in a range of sectors that serve the needs of post-primary (adolescent and adult) learners. Graduates from this program typically seek employment in secondary schools, middle schools, senior schools/colleges, or adult and post-compulsory education and training organisations.

This program seeks to prepare graduates who:

• are reflective and ethical practitioners

• are innovators and navigators of change

• have a strong sense of self and place in the world

• are flexible and creative problem solvers

• are transformative intellectuals

• are socially just and empowering

• value diversity and inclusiveness

• are passionate learners and inspire learning in others

• are keen to accept responsibility, able to identify and optimise opportunities

• demonstrate a current pedagogical content knowledge base

• identify, enable and create opportunities for others to construct meaning and develop capacities to manage their own learning

• are engaged and collaborative members of a learning community

• are compassionate advocates for education and the community.

This level of award is required for teacher registration in Queensland. Applicants from other States or countries should check local requirements BEFORE enrolling in this program.

Program objectives

The Bachelor of Education (Senior and Middle Schooling) seeks to:

• provide students with a range of teaching and learning skills and theoretical foundations of successful practice, to enable them to design, implement and evaluate programs and practices across a range of adolescent and adult teaching and learning environments accommodating a broad range of learner characteristics

• allow students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in their areas (normally two) of professional content expertise to advanced level

• encourage commitment and motivation such that graduates will engage in ongoing professional development and continuous improvement

• enable successful graduates to obtain teacher registration in Queensland.

Admission requirements

Normal Entry (ONC)

Applicants who have completed year 12 at a Queensland secondary school (or its equivalent) are eligible for consideration under the standard admission requirements. The Overall Position (or its equivalent) is used as the general basis for selection. Applicants must have obtained at least 'Satisfactory Achievement' or equivalent in English and must satisfy any pre-requisites for content studies from other Faculties (an interview and folio are required for the Visual Arts strand, interview and audition for Music, and interview and academic requirement for Health and Physical Education).

Alternative Entry (ONC)

Subject to the policies and regulations of the University of Southern Queensland and the Faculty of Education, applicants who do not hold formal recognised qualifications but who have extensive relevant industrial, commercial and/or professional training and work experience, are encouraged to apply for alternative entry into the program. To be eligible for admission into the Bachelor of Education (Senior and Middle Schooling) with a major in Industrial Technology and Design or Post-Compulsory Teaching and Learning, applicants must normally meet the following criteria:

• hold at least a recognised trade or professional qualification (or equivalent) in approved content areas

• have substantial workplace experience (normally at least 5 years) in their approved content area.

International applicants must have met the University's English language requirements or have completed the University's ELICOS/UNIPREP program.

Program fees

Student contribution amount

For domestic students who are offered Commonwealth supported places, the Government pays some money directly to the University, but students are also required to make a contribution. This contribution is called the ‘student contribution’. For more information about student contribution amounts, including the calculation of fees for a particular program of study, refer to USQ fees.

Tuition fee

Domestic fee-paying places are funded entirely through the tuition/direct fees paid by the student. Tuition/direct fees vary depending on the courses that are taken. For more information about Tuition Fees, including the calculation of fees for a particular program of study, refer to USQ Fees.

International fees

International students pay tuition fees. For details about international student fees, refer to the International Fee Schedule provided by USQ International.

Program structure

To be awarded a four-year Bachelors degree in the Faculty of Education, students must have normally completed 32 units of credit at undergraduate levels 1-4. The Bachelor of Education (Senior and Middle Schooling) is a 32 unit program, comprised of 14 content studies units and 18 professional education units.

Professional Experience

Note: Minimum enrolment numbers apply to all courses. Should enrolments not meet the minimum number required, students may be transferred to a different mode or offering and advised of this change prior to semester start.

All students must complete 110 days Professional Experience of which a minimum of 80 days must be supervised. The organisation and sequencing of Professional Experience will vary within the program due to the different nature of some designated majors. This is indicated by the different enrolment patterns incorporated in the program structure.

Duration

Four years full-time equivalent study (ONC), up to a maximum duration of 9 years.

Mode of Delivery

On-campus (ONC).

Bachelor of Education (Senior and Middle Schooling)

Required time limits

Students have a maximum of 9 years to complete this program.

Major studies

Content studies

Content studies are such that students develop appropriate tertiary level understanding of both the specialised as well as applied related areas of content they will teach into. This will include the central concepts, relevant knowledge, the structure of the discipline, and characteristic modes of inquiry. Content studies will provide the avenue for developing high levels of content knowledge with an emphasis on academic competence in two specialist areas.

Normally, content studies in the Bachelor of Education (Senior and Middle Schooling) shall comprise 14 units organised into either two teaching areas (Majors) or one teaching area (Major) and a second teaching area (Minor) based on Major and Minor requirements in the relevant Faculties. This means that some content studies, as indicated below, may only be taken as a first teaching area (Major) or may not be taken as a second teaching area or a Minor. Students are required to select a first teaching area (Major) from Schedule A and a second different teaching area (Major or Minor) from Schedule B or C. Some teaching areas may not be available at both the Toowoomba campus and Fraser Coast campus.

Students already deemed to have completed an approved teaching area will be required to select a second teaching area from Schedule B or C.

Definitions

1. First Teaching Area (Major)

A first teaching area (major) is a sequence of a minimum of seven and up to a maximum of ten related discipline-based content courses with at least two courses taken at third or advanced level.

2. Second Teaching Area (Major)

A second teaching area (major) is a sequence of seven related discipline-based content courses with at least two courses taken at third or advanced level.

3. Second Teaching Area (Minor)

A second teaching area (Minor) is a sequence of a between four and six related discipline-based content courses normally with at least two courses taken at advanced level.

4. Other Approved Teaching Area

An approved trade/trade equivalent qualification or approved vocational diploma in an appropriate content area.

Table 1: Schedule for major and minor teaching areas

NOTES:

Some majors may be available via external mode

Some majors are only available through cross institutional study e.g. French, Japanese, Ancient History, Geography.

Not all majors are available at Fraser Coast - check with the program administrator at Fraser Coast

All students intending to undertake major studies in any LOTE area must meet Education Queensland minimum competency and fluency requirements if they wish to seek employment with Education Queensland as a LOTE teacher

Vocational Education Teaching Area major is only available with prior approval of the Program Coordinator

Visual Arts requires a separate application, interview and folio

Some areas are available as minors only e.g. Legal Studies

Music may require a separate application and interview

Some majors require a minimum of nine courses to meet the requirements

Further information on the courses in the teaching areas can be found at the Faculty of Education website.

Practical experience

Students enrolling in this program are required to undertake 110 days of Professional Experience. At least 80 days must occur in an approved educational environment under direct supervision, with up to 30 days as Non Supervised Experience.

Supervisors must have academic qualifications and experience appropriate to Teacher Registration in Queensland.

Some Professional Experience may occur outside the local Darling Downs or Fraser Coast regions.

Eligibility to undertake professional experience in Queensland educational settings

Under the terms of the Commission for Children and Young People Act (Qld. 2000), pre-service teachers undertaking professional experience are considered to be volunteers engaged in regulated employment. As such, all pre-service teachers must apply to the Commission to be issued with a notice that they are suitable to work in child-related employment. As part of this application, the pre-service teacher must consent to the Commission conducting a criminal history check as the key element of the process of determining suitability. All applications for a suitability notice must be made at the local campus of the university at the commencement of their program. Pre-service teachers who do not make application, or who do apply but are subsequently deemed unsuitable, will not be able to undertake the professional experience components of the program.

Further information, including a list of serious offences which could lead to a pre-service teacher being deemed unsuitable, are available from the Commission's website at http://www.ccypcg.qld.gov.au/employment/

IT requirements

Students will be expected to have access to a computer with common productivity software (e.g. word processing, email, web browser).

Residential schools

As part of their content or elective studies, students may enrol in courses that have residential school components. Students who choose to enrol in such courses will be expected to meet the residential school requirements associated with the chosen course.

Exit points

Students who are unable to complete the full 32 unit requirement of this program may, subject to Program Coordinator approval, be eligible to exit this program with the following qualifications. The relative number of professional education units and content units are detailed for each qualification. Students who wish to exit at these points must meet the requirements outlined in the following table.

Other information

Method of Application

Applications for normal entry should be made through the Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre QTAC. Refer to Applying to USQ for further information.

Applications for alternative entry should be made using the USQ Direct Entry Application process detailed at Applying to USQ.

USQ Direct Entry applications should be accompanied by the following:

• certified copies of prior qualifications

• evidence of Professional Experience where required for alternative entry.

Entry to the Bachelor of Education (Senior and Middle Schooling) may be subject to availability of places.

In this section:

• Recommended enrolment pattern for students commencing in 2008 only - first year enrolment only
• Recommended enrolment pattern
• Recommended enrolment pattern for students in Industrial Technology and Design major

Recommended enrolment pattern for students commencing in 2008 only - first year enrolment only

Students should not deviate from this pattern without first discussing it with the Program Administration Office or the Program Coordinator.

Note: Minimum enrolment numbers apply to all courses. Should enrolments not meet the minimum number required, students may be transferred to a different mode or offering and advised of this change prior to semester start.

Recommended enrolment pattern

Students should not deviate from this pattern without first discussing it with the Program Administration Office or the Program Coordinator.

Note: Minimum enrolment numbers apply to all courses. Should enrolments not meet the minimum number required, students may be transferred to a different mode or offering and advised of this change prior to semester start.

Recommended enrolment pattern for students in Industrial Technology and Design major

Students wishing to undertake this major must possess a vocational qualification and industry experience such that they meet the minimum requirements for delivery of vocational courses in registered training organisations.

Students should not deviate from this pattern without first discussing it with the Program Administration Office or the Program Coordinator.

Note: Minimum enrolment numbers apply to all courses. Should enrolments not meet the minimum number required, students may be transferred to a different mode or offering and advised of this change prior to semester start.