Understanding and Teaching Children
This subject is designed to help prospective teachers develop the dispositions and critical skills to create learning communities that are academically challenging and developmentally responsive. Also, ones that are socially equitable and promote social and emotional well-being.
You will explore the interaction between biology and environment, and how that plays out in child development within an education context, and by turn influences teaching strategies.
More specifically, this subject examines a body of classic – as well as current – theories, research and practice relating to the cognitive, physiological, and social/affective needs of children and focuses on the relevance of these for classroom practice.
Culture, Subjectivities and Schooling
This subject focuses on the socio-political, economic and cultural environment that shapes teacher and student subjectivities.
Teachers are required to understand a variety of discourses and ideologies that affect schooling, teaching and learning, in an increasingly globalised world.
Within this framework, you will gain a greater understanding of the diversity of individuals and the broader Australian community, as a lens to help you promote equitable practices in schooling.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their relationship to schooling will also be explored in this subject, providing pre-service teachers with deeper understandings of Australia’s First Nations people.
Developing understandings of society, culture and the formation of subjectivities will promote an enhanced awareness of equity issues as well as crucial analytical and critical tools to address the needs of diverse students, their families, teachers, and the broader school community.
Aboriginal Education: Past, Present and Future
This subject builds the capacity of students to work in culturally competent and sensitive ways in relation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in primary schools.
You will enhance your understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups including culture, histories, languages and identity. In doing so, you will also examine the social and cultural contexts that influence engagement by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities in schooling.
You will also explore ways of improving engagement through effective school culture, curriculum and community approaches. This includes an investigation into the protocols for successfully working with Aboriginal children, families and communities in educational settings to maximise learning outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Primary Human Society and its Environment
In this subject you will focus on History, Geography and three cross-curriculum priority areas in: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures; Asia and Australia’s engagement with Asia; and Sustainability.
As a key learning area in the K-6 curriculum, this subject provides opportunities for students to develop knowledge, understanding and skills in the subject matter, as well as proficiency in teaching inquiry learning approaches.
In History, key concepts of changes in family history and local history are explored and Australia’s history and understanding Australia as a Nation are explored through the relationships between the individual and the state, and the values and mutual responsibilities, and obligations for civil, political and social participation in Australian society.
In Geography, concepts that develop a sense of curiosity about environments, peoples, cultures and place, in both Australia and the world are a priority.
Teaching and Learning in Classrooms
This subject is designed to prepare students for their role as active, thoughtful leaders of learning environments for primary students.
You will come to an understanding of their trajectory as professional learners as they develop a deeper understanding of who they are as teachers. The portfolio you begin in this subject will be a vehicle for you to reflect deeply on emerging skills and understandings, and will form an important part of your development of a critical perspective of their practice as a teacher.
Building on previous understanding about how children learn, you will plan lesson sequences using a range of teaching strategies. By doing so you will familiarise yourself with the processes needed to implement the mandated national and state curriculums in diverse classrooms.
A study of techniques to create safe and well managed learning environments where school students feel a sense of ownership of their learning will aid successful completion of the associated practicum subject. The practice of continuous assessment, planning, implementation and reflection that is the curriculum cycle will provide an organising principle around which the understandings gained in the curriculum subjects can be built.
Professional Experience 1
This is the first Professional Experience subject, incorporating a 30-day full-time placement in a NSW school.
This subject is designed to introduce you to the philosophical, ethical, practical and pedagogical perspectives of becoming a teacher in diverse, contemporary educational settings.
The aim of this subject is to enable you to proactively engage in real-life educational settings to learn and enhance your professional development as a future teacher. This subject gives you the opportunity to explore the relationship between practical and theoretical knowledge of teaching.
You will have the opportunity to explore a range of learning activities that occur inside and outside the classroom, and the roles of the teaching and non-teaching staff within the school. Through ongoing observation, supervised teaching and contribution in the wider school community, the subject ensures you work towards the achievement of the national standards for a graduate teacher.
Note: to fulfil accreditation requirements by NESA and AITSL, the two Professional Experience subjects require that you attend placement in person full-time for 30 consecutive days. Schools are allocated by WSU through their network of partner schools. You will also be required to attend a day-long preparation workshop held at one of the university campuses on a weekend prior to placement. Some adjustments may be possible if you are on an Assisted Integrated Plan (AIP) as you may be entitled to a Placement Integration Plan (PIP).
Primary English and Literacy 1
This subject is designed to explore key concepts associated with the teaching of the English Key Learning Area in the K-6 years, set in the broader context of a contemporary new literacies environment.
You will examine the processes involved in the teaching of oracy and reading with a focus on traditional print-based literacies and multiliteracies. Likewise, you will investigate the teaching and learning of oracy and reading of a range of factual and literary texts, involving every day and specialised knowledge for a range of readers/viewers.
You will also learn to use children’s literature and authentic texts for the development of students’ reading skills and abilities, in order to further develop skills in pedagogy and practice within the area of K-6 English.
Primary Mathematics and Numeracy 1
The subject will develop students’ understandings of children’s construction of mathematical and numeracy concepts during the years from Kindergarten to Year 3.
You will develop your ability to assess young children’s mathematical understandings and numeracy development, and to provide learning experiences for a diversity of learners. It will also include investigation and the use of digital technologies, to enhance the growth of children’s mathematical thinking.
You will also study the NSW K-10 Syllabus in all of its strands, with a particular emphasis on the Working Mathematically strand.
Primary Health and Physical Education
This subject is designed to explore the content and pedagogies of Health and Physical Education (HPE) in the NSW primary curriculum.
You will develop an experiential understanding of the pedagogy of HPE. The knowledge and skills developed in the other subjects of study in the course can be applied in this subject and Professional Experience subjects.
You will also continue to develop your research skills. This subject aims to develop teachers who demonstrate empathy with diverse groups of student learners and commitment to socially just schools and classrooms.
Primary Creative Arts
This subject introduces students to pedagogical theory and practices in the four diverse art forms of Dance, Drama, Music and Visual Arts in the primary classroom.
The subject provides practical knowledge, skills and understandings of the importance of all four art forms both as powerful teaching and learning strategies across the primary curriculum and as the creative arts in their own right for pre-service teachers.
You will build your capability to demonstrate creativity when teaching, empathy with diverse groups of student learners, a commitment to socially just schools and classrooms and an understanding of artistic processes. Similarly you will give students an understanding of the role of aesthetics, imagination and play in learning.
Primary English and Literacy 2
This subject is designed to provide a comprehensive account of the teaching of spoken, written and multimodal texts in the primary years of schooling.
You will gain an understanding of different theories related to producing texts in a range of modes for different purposes. Likewise you will investigate a range of written and multimodal genres, their textual structures and grammar and learn to apply these in planning and teaching in mainstream, English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EAL/D) and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts, gaining a critical awareness of varying pedagogic approaches.
You will also develop skills in pedagogy and practice, including next practice, within English & Literacy for K-6 students. The knowledge and skills developed in the other subjects of study in the course can be applied in this subject and Professional Practice subjects.
Primary Science & Technology
This subject will focus on developing scientific and technological pedagogical content knowledge appropriate for teaching science and technology for students in the K-6 years. It models appropriate pedagogical and pedagogical content knowledge.
You will use collaborative social learning situations to develop content knowledge, along with interpersonal and communication skills. The pedagogies modelled will be inclusive and demonstrate how scientific and technological learning experiences can be developed to cater for the needs of the diverse groups of learners in primary schools.
You will also learn about engaging science and technology activities that empower primary school students. It will also help you to create futures for students where the capacity to engage with and critically evaluate scientific and technological activity will become increasingly necessary.
Throughout the subject you will focus on yourself as a learner, and reflect on the implications of your learning and the learning of others in their future professional practice.
Researching and Developing Engaging Pedagogies
This subject builds on the interplay between research and practice. It extends students’ understanding of the processes and uses of participatory action research, also known in this context as teacher-based inquiry.
It reviews theories on engaging practices in diverse professional contexts, with a focus on working with students from low socio-economic backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island learners and students who have English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D). It also reviews pedagogic approaches linked to 21st century education.
You will challenge yourself to inquire into and reflect upon your professional practice and develop engaging classroom pedagogies and assessment practices in the area of your primary teaching specialisation (English, Mathematics or Science and Technology).
The subject will expand your research skills through the critical review and application of various approaches to document, measure and evaluate student engagement. In line with NESA primary teaching specialisation requirements, you must apply these research skills and understandings to your school, classroom context and selected curriculum area specialisation.
Professional Experience 2
Professional Experience 2 is a final capstone subject in your Master of Teaching course. The aim of this subject is to enable education students to proactively engage in real-life educational settings to learn and enhance their professional development as a future teacher.
This second professional experience subject provides the final 30 of the 60 required professional experience days.
This provides you with an opportunity to explore further ranges of learning activities that occurs inside and outside the classrooms and the roles of the teaching and non-teaching staff within the school.
You will also have opportunity to reflect on the teaching and learning cycle and refine your competencies as a beginning teacher under the supervision of qualified educators. This subject includes the TPA (Teaching Performance Assessment) which is designed to assess Teacher Education Students teaching as measured by the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers at the Graduate level.
Note: to fulfil accreditation requirements by NESA and AITSL, the two Professional Experience subjects require that you attend placement in person full time for 30 consecutive days. Schools are allocated by WSU through their network of partner schools. You will also be required to attend a day-long preparation workshop held at one of the university campuses on a weekend prior to placement. Some adjustments may be possible if you are on an Assisted Integrated Plan (AIP) as you may be entitled to a Placement Integration Plan (PIP).
Primary Mathematics and Numeracy 2
This subject builds on the subject Primary Mathematics and Numeracy 1 with a focus on learners from Year 3 to Year 6. It assumes students have gained familiarity with the knowledge, skills and understandings children require across all strands of the NSW K-10 Syllabus, including the Working Mathematically components.
In this subject you will develop your understanding of primary mathematics in the mid to upper primary years, with a strong emphasis on aspects of teaching such as student engagement, assessment, differentiation for diversity and the integration of technology.
By engaging with this subject, you will have the opportunity to experience, plan and assess a broad range of practices to enhance student learning outcomes and improve student engagement with mathematics.
Inclusive Education: Practices & Principles
This subject examines the theoretical, legislative, ethical and policy frameworks that inform inclusive practices in early childhood and school settings.
Inclusive principles and evidence-based practices will be critically analysed to identify best practice for assessment for learning, effective planning, teaching, monitoring, and evaluating learning when working with children and young people with a range of abilities and disabilities.
The importance of establishing collaborative partnerships with families, educational professionals and community support services will be examined and the role of such partnerships in promoting social inclusion and enhanced learning outcomes, health and wellbeing for all children and young people determined.
