Master of Education

This subject focuses on the theoretical frameworks and evidence bases that educators use in understanding the development of their students and in planning suitable instructional sequences that are responsive to the inherent variability of learners. It covers foundational concepts related to learning environments, learning processes and child and adolescent development. It also provides opportunities to explore and discuss implications for teaching that are related to the consideration of learners’ profiles of capabilities and how teachers facilitate the quality, depth and active nature of their learning.

This subject examines education policy and practice in social and historical context. The subject will provide students with an opportunity to examine key national and international debates in education policy and practice in relation to shifting social, political, economic and political relations. Through this subject students will analyse current education reforms, and the debates that surround them, through careful examination of the relevant research literature. Students will develop key professional skills in policy critical analysis. Through studying different case studies of debates and reform students will consider the variety of issues that underpin education practice, research and policies. This will include engaging with key debates surrounding education and equity, global competitiveness, indigenous rights, sexuality, gender, notions of deficit, and disability and ability.

The subject will support participants to develop further skills in promoting student wellbeing and creating supportive and safe learning environments at a classroom and whole school level. Current research will be used to understand what teachers can do to support the social and emotional learning of their students, and how to implement school-wide approaches that foster student resilience and respectful relationships across all partners in the education process.

This subject will introduce students to the ways in which literacy supports and empowers learning and social change in global contexts, and will explore the impact of literacy practices on learning in real world and virtual communities. Students will be introduced to key theories and approaches to 21 st century literacies and have the opportunity to draw on these to explore their own understanding of literacy and the impact of their personal literacies on their learning experiences. This subject will introduce students to the role of oral language in learning in different cultural traditions and understandings of education, and support them to build on these understandings in practice. Approaches to literacy which support diversity, inclusion and acknowledgement of place will be explored, and the application of these approaches to early childhood contexts, schools, workplaces and social settings will be investigated.

In this subject, students will undertake a research focused project. The capstone project will culminate with students synthesising the findings of their research in the form of a research project report. Throughout this subject, participants will be supported to consider how research can inform and improve educational practice.

In this subject, students will develop an understanding of research in education, as part of their capstone experience. This subject aims to build the methodological literacy of students and advance their skills to understand and critically analyse complex educational problems. Students will undertake coursework focusing on: what constitutes research in education; common methodologies and methods in education research; the management and analysis of data; and the fundamentals of critical thinking and writing. Students will develop insight into common approaches to research in education and will consider how principles of research can inform professional practice. They will develop the skills to interpret educational research propositions and findings from educational research. This subject provides students with an understanding of research principles and methods applicable to a range of educational contexts and practices.

This subject addresses development and understanding of self and others, interpersonal relationships, management of organisation and individual stress, assertive and non-assertive behaviour, conflict management, and negotiation skills from a leadership perspective. The course is based on the assumption that leadership is distributed so that everyone is a leader.

This subject examines the leadership necessary for developing a learning community. Concepts such as learning organisation, learning community, professional learning community and communities of practice will be defined and explored. Students will be expected to understand, apply and critically evaluate the concept of a learning community within their own context. Students will explore processes for building personal, professional and organisational capacity to establish, enhance or maintain a learning community. Students will also understand and develop appropriate leadership skills to support the notion of learning communities.

The subject focuses on the leadership and management issues focused on improving teaching and learning in schools. It provides a definition of curriculum leadership, explores contemporary ideas of teaching and learning, explores the key leadership role of capacity building, and considers the contexts in which schools exist and how these impact on schools.

In this subject we examine the variability of human development and learning through theoretical perspectives and research evidence. We will explore the cultural, social, cognitive and emotional processes that support learning and factors that are associated with learning and learning difficulties. We will examine the implications for teaching learners experiencing learning difficulties.

This subject explores strategies for promoting positive learning for students, particularly those with disability, enrolled in early intervention and school settings. Structured online learning experiences, along with face-to-face sessions, focus on research-validated approaches for effective teaching and learning. Whole school curriculum approaches will be examined, alongside targeted interventions for students requiring intensive support for their learning.

Engagement in all face-to-face lectures is required.

This subject explores strategies for promoting positive behaviour for students, particularly those with disability, enrolled in early intervention and school settings. Structured online learning experiences, along with face-to-face sessions, focus on research-validated approaches for effective behaviour management. Whole school approaches will be examined, alongside targeted interventions for students requiring intensive interventions.

Engagement in all face-to-face lectures and online modules is required.

This subject explores theories and models of school community partnerships in relationship to student wellbeing. In this subject students will examine how to improve parental engagement and working cross-sectorally with community agencies and organisations. A visit to a community based organisation will be required.

This subject develops understandings of the intentions and principles of curriculum and investigates specifics of curriculum design and implementation to improve and refine curriculum. The subject will focus on curriculum design and evaluation principles, as well as providing the tools for students to analyse and critique curriculum principles, policies and practices. This subject also creates opportunities for students to focus on a negotiated area of curriculum. For example: curriculum structures; new learning theories about ways of knowing and implications for curriculum; transition stages within schooling; innovative learning technologies; gender; indigenous studies; multiculturalism and Australia's role in a global environment; sustainability and environmental issues and/or another curriculum dimension that is of concern to the student within their own context. Students will explore their negotiated focus through presentation and assignment work.

This subject engages students in a critical reflection on the promotion of student wellbeing in educational settings and the role of teachers and school staff in that process. The focus is on the application of advanced communication skills as part of a psycho-educational model of helping with a particular emphasis on goal-setting, strategy development and implementation in a range of educational contexts. The use of cognitive behavioural and solution focused approaches in educational settings are also explored.

This subject examines the role of thinking in teaching and learning. The aim is for students to gain both a theoretical understanding of the methods and strategies, as well as the practical ability to apply them. The subject aims to examine how thinking in schools articulates with the general capabilities in the curriculum, as well as asking how such capabilities affect educational equity and social justice. The background of a variety of educational approaches will be explored to clarify what teaching and learning thinking might mean. The approaches examined will be applicable across the disciplines and in different educational contexts. Beginning with the view that we teach thinking by teaching the skills and tools from various thinking skills programs the exploration moves on to more sophisticated and complex theories and approaches. Students will have the opportunity to participate in lessons based on these approaches and to apply them to individual educational contexts and interests. Students will leave with a deeper understanding of thinking, teaching and the education of thinking.

This subject focuses on the importance of planning effective literacy approaches and strategies to meet the needs of diverse learners. It will highlight how teachers cater for diversity through drawing on clinical approaches to meeting the literacy learning needs of diverse learners. Informing this subject will be an examination of the interface between literacy and social context, taking into account considerations of gender, EAL/D, socio-economic status, Indigenous status. Attention will be given to interventionist approaches that address the needs of exceptional learners. Turn around pedagogies and the need to counter deficit discourses in relation to diverse learners will be addressed in this subject.

This subject provides students with an introduction to evaluation fundamentals, including: the nature and purposes of evaluation, the logic of evaluation, types of evaluations, values, and professional standards.

This subject will introduce students entering, or already in, the education sector to the many ways that evaluation is used in education. The subject will begin with an introduction to the origins and the political and social contexts of evaluation as well as the nature and logic of evaluation. Subsequent weeks will focus on the applied fields of evaluation set in the context of education. There are six applied fields of evaluation that will be covered: 1) performance evaluation (student assessment; teacher reflective practice); 2) product evaluation (curriculum effectiveness); 3) program evaluation (school accreditation; organisational/systems-level evaluation); 4) personnel evaluation (teacher performance appraisal; principal performance appraisal); 5) policy evaluation (policy to practice and practice to policy studies); 6) proposal evaluation (assessing grant-making applications for funding). The subject will culminate with a look at meta-evaluation (evaluating evaluations).

International Issues in Arts Education is an online community based subject that provides an introduction and foundation to current issues in arts education. As a researcher, and collaborative and multidisciplinary educator, you will explore and examine contemporary issues that are explored to inform and develop a foundation for research in arts practice, learning and perception. The subject provides flexibility for students to investigate more deeply their areas of interest, including issues pertaining to art forms and disciplinary based learning.  This online community is positioned in the arts pathway to allow flexibility to pursue your areas of professional interest and self-direct creative independent research. ​

This subject examines how leaders in education are required take a broader view of their constituents to include not only students, teachers, parents, but also members of the educational community and other groups, agencies and organisations who may also have in interest in education or particular educational institutions. Educational leaders are required to respond to the changing needs and contexts by being strategic, innovative and providing appropriate programs through relevant and productive partnerships. The subject offers various lenses that leaders can use in order to respond effectively to context and people, and provide the appropriate curriculum and additional offerings necessary to achieve appropriate student outcomes. Types of innovation such as incremental and disruptive innovation are explored in meeting the needs of educators and their communities.

The subject examines the international debate on the nature and role of English in the world over the past 25 years. Issues of naming and variety are considered and the politics and economics of the spread of English is examined, as well as charges of linguistic imperialism, hegemony, and its impact on languages education more broadly including the teaching of other languages. Students need to demonstrate understanding of the issues presented and be able to assess a given context of English teaching with respect to the issues and propose ethical, linguistically and interculturally sound procedures for policy development and teaching practices.