Master of Teaching (Primary)

The Master of Teaching (Primary) prepares graduates to teach across the primary years in all curriculum areas with additional specialist knowledge in literacy and numeracy education. Teacher candidates complete the full 200-points of the M Teach over 2-years. The first three semesters focus teaching across all curriculum areas and preparation for independent teaching. The final semester provides specialised study of literacy and numeracy teaching, focussed on meeting individual needs, with a strong emphasis on practical teaching. It includes a number of electives that are designed to provide candidates with options to expand their professional knowledge in areas that are significant to schools today.

• Be highly-skilled teachers, with the theoretical frameworks and practical ability to produce effective learning for each individual student.
• Be engaged intelligently and passionately in the educational venture, and have the ability not only to adapt to, but also to lead change.
• Articulate a coherent set of beliefs about learning and teaching, based soundly on leading-edge theory and evidence-based research.
• Display a solid understanding of discipline knowledge and knowledge about education, and of how they interact in effective pedagogy.
• Understand the links between planning, teaching and evaluating for learning.
• Plan for students' teaching and learning bringing to bear an informed awareness of child and adolescent development.
• Generate and interpret the classroom data to enable individualized programming of developmental learning for each student.
• Respond flexibly in catering for the different learning needs of individual students, including those with special needs.
• Utilise a range of teaching approaches that foster both independent and cooperative learning.
• Structure their teaching to provide rich and creative learning environments.
• Develop in their students the capacity for vigorous but respectful critique and for curiosity in learning.
• Demonstrate an awareness of cultural diversity and its implications for society and education.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the significance of written and spoken language as fundamental to education.
• Utilise a variety of technologies in the classroom to assist learning.
• Function effectively across the various relationships involved in the professional life of a teacher.
• Demonstrate the level of competency in literacy and numeracy expected of the teaching profession.
• Be leaders and advocates in education, responsive to legislation, policy and the global human rights issues of participation, access and inclusion.

Students undertake 150 points of compulsory subjects in the first three semesters, and then fifty points of elective subjects in the final semester. The final fifty points will normally be a coherent optional program in itself, but students may also take subjects from the range of Master of Education subjects offered by the Faculty.

The first three semesters in the Primary stream are built on three strands:

• Professional Practice
• Theory and Practice of Education
• Learning Area Studies

Elective subjects

• An undergraduate degree

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Student Support and Engagement Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Overview, Learning Outcomes, Assessment and Generic Skills sections of this entry.

It is University policy to take all reasonable steps to minimise the impact of disability upon academic study, and reasonable adjustments will be made to enhance a student's participation in the University's programs. Students who feel their disability may impact on meeting the requirements of this subject are encouraged to discuss this matter with a Faculty Student Adviser and Student Equity and Disability Support: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

The program is built on the premise that students coming into the program will have a firm foundation of disciplinary knowledge and analytical skills, and will bring with them a diversity of educational and life experiences. The program will emphasise the importance of the research evidence base as a foundation for excellent educational practice, as well as developing further the students' capacity for critical inquiry and professional reflection. Underpinning the program is a strong partnership with early childhood settings and schools and with educational systems that will support the intelligent engagement in professional practice at an advanced level. Special emphasis will be placed on the students' capacity to teach the diverse range of students, and to promote equity in education. Students will have the opportunity to undertake teaching practice in international settings, which will enhance their cultural awareness and expand their understanding of global education. They will understand the policy landscape and the processes for making policy at school and system level, so that they can intervene and justify producing change.

• Understand Primary education as part of a spectrum of learning and development, linked to early childhood and to secondary schooling.
• Have a thorough understanding of the particular needs of students in the middle years of schooling.
• Be knowledgeable and confident generalist teachers across the range of disciplines taught in primary classrooms.
• Be able intelligently and creatively to plan, implement and critique mandated curriculum.