Admission Requirements

Participation and Enrolment Requirements

Assessment of Suitability for Teaching

It is a NESA requirement that before entry all UNSW Master of Teaching students complete a motivational statement as to why they want to be a teacher, which is scored on a 2-point scale, No– incoherent, irrelevant or inappropriate reasons, Yes - coherent and valid reason. If students score No, they are counselled out of the program.

In addition, before their first supervised professional experience placement, all teacher education students must successfully complete:

English Language Proficiency

It is a NESA requirement that all teacher education students have very high levels of English language proficiency, thus in addition to satisfying UNSW entry requirements, see www.unsw.edu.au/english-requirements-policy, oral and written communication skills are assessed regularly as part of all coursework and professional experience. By graduation it is expected that all teacher education students will be able to demonstrate English language proficiency equivalent to a Band 5 NSW HSC- level or an IELTS 7.5, with 8.0 for speaking and listening.

The National Literacy and Numeracy Test

The National Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students is designed to assess initial teacher education students’ personal literacy and numeracy skills to ensure teachers are well equipped to meet the demands of teaching and assist higher education providers, teacher employers and the general public to have increased confidence in the skills of graduating teachers.

The test has been introduced to assess those aspects of initial teacher education students’ personal literacy and numeracy skills that can be measured through an online assessment tool. At UNSW, you must successfully complete both components of the LANTITE test prior to enrolling in your first Professional Experience course. You are supplied with information for the tests though Moodle and the link is provided at https://teacheredtest.acer.edu.au. Successful completion of the LANTITE test will be recorded as two zero credit courses, EDST6600 LANTITE (Literacy) and EDST6601 LANTITE (Numeracy) on a student’s academic record.

Working With Children Check

Before their first professional experience placement all teacher education students must obtain a current Volunteer Working With Children Check and attend a UNSW-based 2 hour child protection lecture delivered by the Department of Education – Employee Performance and Conduct Directorate. They must provide a copy of their WWC clearance number to the Professional Experience Office (PEO) via the Online Placement System (OPS). The PEO verifies all WWC numbers in the Office of the Children’s Guardian verification page for employers (https://wwccheck.ccyp.nsw.gov.au/Employers/Login) and classifies students as ‘eligible’ for placement. All EDST 6765 Professional Experience 2 students must then obtain a valid paid WWC clearance.

All students must also familiarise themselves with the NSW Department of Education Code of Conduct and the document Responding to Allegations against Employees in the Area of Child Protection. All students are provided access to the policy via the Professional Experience Handbook specific to their year of placement.

Anaphylaxis Training & Certification

The NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) and the Department of Education (DoE) has mandated the completion of anaphylaxis e-training for all permanent, temporary and casual employees who work in schools, including teacher education students. All UNSW teacher education students must complete the anaphylaxis e-training module provided by the Australian Society of Clinical Immunology and Allergy (ASCIA) in conjunction with practice using an adrenaline autoinjector training device prior to commencing their first placement in schools.

The e-training is a free, online module available at http://etraining.allergy.org.au/. On successful completion of the online module, participants will receive a certificate of completion which should be printed immediately. The Professional Experience Office will then arrange practice using the adrenaline auto-injector training device. Students are then required to upload their signed certificate to the OPS. NESA and the DoE require that students also present a copy of their certificate of completion to principals at the commencement of their professional experience placements. Students should also retain a copy of the certificate for future use within the two years of the certificate’s currency.

The NSW DoE advises that student teachers who do not successfully complete this training, as verified by the university and the principal of their placement school, will not be able to undertake professional experience activities in NSW public schools. The training is required to be successfully undertaken every two years. This is the only training that will be accepted by the DoE to meet the requirement of anaphylaxis training for initial Teacher Education Students.

• EDST5133 Creating Learning Environment (6 UOC)
• EDST5151 Child Development (6 UOC)
• EDST6779 Mathematics 1 (K-2) (6 UOC)
• EDST6781 English 1 (K-2) (6 UOC)

• EDST5134 Addressing Learner Diversity (6 UOC)
• EDST6760 Professional Experience 1 (6 UOC)
• EDST6783 Human Soc & its Enviro (K-6) (6 UOC)
• EDST6784 Science and Technology (K-6) (6 UOC)

• EDST6780 Mathematics 2 (3-6) (6 UOC)
• EDST6782 English 2 (3-6) (6 UOC)
• EDST6785 PDHPE (K-6) (6 UOC)
• EDST6786 Creative Arts (K-6) (6 UOC)

• EDST5115 Soc & Pol Contexts of Ed (6 UOC)
• EDST5117 Professional Inquiry (6 UOC)
• EDST6765 Prof Exp 2/Internship (12 UOC)

• Education