Qs: studying Education @ uni (1 Viewer)

[addoil]

Sorry for reposting but the other subforum section seems very quiet!


1. What does it mean by Bachelor of Education/Bachelor of Arts -- is that a double degree, and do you have to major in a particular subject in the Arts degree? If so, what type of options are there to major in?

2. If I want to teach in Secondary school and do a degree such as Bachelor of Education (Secondary), does that mean I have to major in something? Ie. have to study eg. B Ed (Secondary: Mathematics), meaning I can teach Maths in high school once I graduate?
What if I just do a B Ed (Secondary), what areas can I teach?

3. If I do B Ed/B International Studies, does that mean I can teach in another country? If so, what school level can I teach?

4. If I complete a Masters of Education, what advantages/jobs does this allow me? Does it mean I can become a Principal/Deputy Principal/Head teacher of a subject ???

5. What is the difference between Bachelor of Education and DIPLOMA of Education?

6. I am thinking of studying at UTS to teach secondary school, however on their site I read that they only offer the Primary Ed, Adults Ed and Organisational Learning courses for UNDERGRADUATES. While the Secondary Ed is listed under its POSTGRADUATE course as a accelerated course that takes only 1 year... however it also says that you must major in something which usually takes 3 years....

A--Does that mean I HAVE to study one of those undergraduate courses (eg. Primary Ed) before I can do the Secondary Ed course? If so, does that mean I can teach both primary AND highschool once I graduate both courses?
B--For those who have studies the secondary course@UTS, is it true that this course ONLY takes 1 year (full time) and you can major in a subject (eg. maths or science) and teach that subject after you graduate??


5. What other options/universities do I have/could consider in studying Education??




Sorry for all the questions, thanks!

 

[Chemical Ali]

1) This is a bit tricky to answer, because different unis will use different names for their teacher training degree. In general, Bachelor of Education (or Teaching)/Bachelor of Arts could be either a primary or secondary teaching degree. In either case, it will be a four year degree, and you will study subjects in education (how to teach) in the Education faculty/school, and you will study subjects in the areas you want to teach under the Arts half. For secondary teacher training, you will have the option of majoring in any of the subjects you might like to teach: History, English, etc. It is a combined degree (at most unis), but you won't have quite as much freedom in subject choice as just a B Arts student, because you will need to choose at least 1 (usually 2) major to qualify for as a teacher, e.g. you have to do a certain amount of English subjects in a certain order to qualify as an English teacher. Exactly the same situation applies to a B Education/B Science (or B Teaching/B Science, depending what the uni calls it).

2) See this is where it is confusing, because some unis will have "Bachelor of Education (Secondary: Maths) whereas the majority will have B Education/B Maths, or more commonly B Education/B Science (Maths). There is no such thing as a plain 'education' degree for someone coming into uni out of high school.

3) Are you talking about the UTS degree? It seems to be a primary education course: http://www.handbook.uts.edu.au/courses/c10208.html

4) Depends. At some unis, "Master of Teaching" is a 2 year postgrad qualification to become a teacher if you've already got another degree. At others it might be a research type thing. At UTS it seems to be an extension on teacher training. In general it's probably not a huge advantage, I wouldn't bother with one, just get experience.

5) Bachelor of Education is covered in (1). Diploma of Education is the same as in (4), but it's a 1 year course. They are being phased out at most unis, I suspect in 3 years they won't exist. The idea was you could do a 3 year B Arts or B Science, etc., then do a 1 year DipEd and qualify as a teacher.

6) It seems like UTS only offers secondary teaching as a 1 year post-graduate course. What they're saying is that to do this course, you need to do a 3 year undergraduate degree with a major in an area that qualifies you to teach a high school subject. So, a science degree with a maths major, or an arts degree with a history major, etc. So, yes.

A) No.
B) Apparently, yes.

7) In my opinion, doing what UTS does for secondary education is a terrible idea. Look for a degree that gives you a full 4 years of teacher training (i.e. an Education/X 4 year degree as described in Q1) and at least 2 or 3 separate prac components (i.e. actually going to schools). At UTS you would only get a single block of actual teaching, totalling only 10 weeks in schools. You need all you can get, really. It seems to me that the UTS secondary teacher training degree is the same as the old DipEd, you don't want that.


Good luck!

 

[addoil]

Sorry for so many questions, as you can tell (sig) I think it's about time I start thinking of what I want to do for uni! (>.<") I've found that teaching high school (or primary school, can't decide) is most suitable for me but am a little confused since there's so many courses to study for it!
Thnx for ur patience

1) This is a bit tricky to answer, because different unis will use different names for their teacher training degree. In general, Bachelor of Education (or Teaching)/Bachelor of Arts could be either a primary or secondary teaching degree. In either case, it will be a four year degree, and you will study subjects in education (how to teach) in the Education faculty/school, and you will study subjects in the areas you want to teach under the Arts half. For secondary teacher training, you will have the option of majoring in any of the subjects you might like to teach: History, English, etc. It is a combined degree (at most unis), but you won't have quite as much freedom in subject choice as just a B Arts student, because you will need to choose at least 1 (usually 2) major to qualify for as a teacher, e.g. you have to do a certain amount of English subjects in a certain order to qualify as an English teacher. Exactly the same situation applies to a B Education/B Science (or B Teaching/B Science, depending what the uni calls it). What can graduates actually DO with a bachelor of arts degree after they graduate and join the workforce? it seems so broad!

5) Bachelor of Education is covered in (1). Diploma of Education is the same as in (4), but it's a 1 year course. They are being phased out at most unis, I suspect in 3 years they won't exist. The idea was you could do a 3 year B Arts or B Science, etc., then do a 1 year DipEd and qualify as a teacher.

6) It seems like UTS only offers secondary teaching as a 1 year post-graduate course. What they're saying is that to do this course, you need to do a 3 year undergraduate degree with a major in an area that qualifies you to teach a high school subject. So, a science degree with a maths major, or an arts degree with a history major, etc. So, yes. Hmmm... so that means its useless if I do BEd (primary) for my undergrad. course then BEd (secondary) for postgrad. (this idea came to me because I'm actually interested in teaching K-yr12) because you're saying I should do a course on a subject (eg. B maths) for my undergrad. course to prepare myself for the BEd (sec) postgrad. one (which I can choose maths as a major)? This Q follows on to Q7 below!

7) In my opinion, doing what UTS does for secondary education is a terrible idea. Look for a degree that gives you a full 4 years of teacher training (i.e. an Education/X 4 year degree as described in Q1) and at least 2 or 3 separate prac components (i.e. actually going to schools). At UTS you would only get a single block of actual teaching, totalling only 10 weeks in schools. You need all you can get, really. It seems to me that the UTS secondary teacher training degree is the same as the old DipEd, you don't want that. Continuing on from ^, that's the actual problem. Despite all the positive feedback I've heard regarding how UTS offers so many opportunities for prac in nearly all its courses (eg. beginning prac in first semester in the first year!), THEY DONT OFFER BEd (SEC) UNDERGRADUATE COURSE! (unless I've mislooked? -- i hope so). Which means if I do want to learn to teach high school@UTS, I can only receive 1 year prac experience (its accelerated program for postgraduates) in high schools...
However if I try the alternative of BEd/BArts for undergraduate course instead, does that mean we are taught to, and able to teach in both high and primary school? (sorry, still a bit blurry on this one)



Good luck!

 

[Chemical Ali]

1) That's a good observation... B Arts is extremely broad, where it can take you depends entirely on your majors. If your major is English or History, there aren't any obvious career options except English or History teacher. At least for most people.

6) That's correct, to do the secondary course you have to start by doing a "subject" degree.

7) If you did B Ed/BA at UTS you would only be qualified to teach primary school. You would also get some training in how to teach all subjects (or Key Learning Areas as we call them). As far as I can tell you wouldn't get the chance to do much of a free choice of B Arts subjects.

You pretty much have to decide whether it's going to be K-6 or 7-12, there's no degree that can qualify you for both. A few things to ask yourself might be:
- Would I rather spend my time teaching one subject, or all of them?
- Would I rather teach kids to read or work with kids who can already read? (not that all secondary students can read, but you get the idea)

If you are interested in trying an Arts degree and don't want to be stuck doing subjects to learn how to teach every KLA, you should look into BEd (Secondary)/BArts at USyd, that way you could do your choice of humanities subjects (or at least the ones that lead to teaching subjects) and get qualified as a secondary teacher. Plus as far as I know USyd has the "best" undergrad arts subjects among the Sydney unis, if you're into that humanities/social sciences stuff...

 

[Spiritual Being]

1) That's a good observation... B Arts is extremely broad, where it can take you depends entirely on your majors. If your major is English or History, there aren't any obvious career options except English or History teacher. At least for most people.

6) That's correct, to do the secondary course you have to start by doing a "subject" degree.

7) If you did B Ed/BA at UTS you would only be qualified to teach primary school. You would also get some training in how to teach all subjects (or Key Learning Areas as we call them). As far as I can tell you wouldn't get the chance to do much of a free choice of B Arts subjects.

You pretty much have to decide whether it's going to be K-6 or 7-12, there's no degree that can qualify you for both. A few things to ask yourself might be:
- Would I rather spend my time teaching one subject, or all of them?
- Would I rather teach kids to read or work with kids who can already read? (not that all secondary students can read, but you get the idea)

If you are interested in trying an Arts degree and don't want to be stuck doing subjects to learn how to teach every KLA, you should look into BEd (Secondary)/BArts at USyd, that way you could do your choice of humanities subjects (or at least the ones that lead to teaching subjects) and get qualified as a secondary teacher. Plus as far as I know USyd has the "best" undergrad arts subjects among the Sydney unis, if you're into that humanities/social sciences stuff...

Really?