Chapter 4 – Academic and research focus

Faculty of Education

This information is current as at January 2008. The latest information is available from the Faculty of Education.

The Faculty of Education offers courses that prepare students for professional practice in the full range of educational contexts: primary and secondary teaching, vocational education, language literacy and numeracy education, Aboriginal education and human resource development. The Faculty is also active in research with a focus on learning and change which underpins the teaching and learning in the Faculty's courses.

The Faculty's adult education area is one of the largest in the world with many academics involved in a variety of fields. On offer are a Bachelor of Education in Adult Education and a range of Graduate Diplomas in Vocational and Workplace Learning, Literacy and Numeracy, and in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The Faculty also offers the innovative Bachelor of Arts in Organisational Learning degree that addresses the increasing need for professionals who can manage the learning and change process in organisations. This course includes subjects from both the Faculty of Education and Faculty of Business.

The Teacher Education courses include the Bachelor of Education in Primary Education that has a strong practice orientation with practicum teaching in every semester of every year. The Faculty has also recently developed a new graduate-entry secondary course: the Bachelor of Teaching in Secondary Education (BTeach) with specialisations in English, mathematics, personal development, health and physical education, science, technology and applied studies, visual arts, business studies and a number of mixed specialisations. The BTeach is an accelerated program enabling graduate students to complete the course in one year of study.

The Faculty's Master's courses include the Master of Education or Master of Arts courses with majors in education, adult education, e-learning, TESOL, Indigenous studies and applied linguistics, and the Master of Arts in Music Therapy.

The Faculty has approximately 180 research students in the Master of Education (Honours), Doctor of Education and Doctor of Philosophy research degrees.

In addition, the Faculty runs short courses for industry professionals through the Training and Development Services (TDS) unit. These courses include the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment and the Diploma of Business (Frontline Management).

The Faculty is situated on two sites: adult, vocational and language and literacy education and TDS at City campus, Broadway, and schoolteacher education and music therapy at Kuring-gai campus on Sydney's North Shore.

The Faculty is known for its flexible modes of delivery and many of the Master's courses are available through distance mode and other courses through a blend of distance, block and weekly attendance. Web-based conferencing tools through UTS Online support all the distance courses and subjects.

Research in Learning and Change

The focus of the Centre for Research in Learning and Change is the investigation of the ways in which learning influences and is influenced by changes in educational institutions, workplaces, organisations and communities. The Faculty's research aims to produce knowledge and practices to enhance learning, to promote more productive organisations and build more effective communities. At the heart of this research endeavour is to understand how learning responds to change, how learning is changing, and how change is embedded in and constructed by cultural and communication practices.

The Faculty's research programs are undertaken in two related research clusters: Changing Practices and Designs for Learning. The focus of the Changing Practices cluster is researching practice as it occurs in many different settings, in work and the professions, in education and in social and cultural settings, and the ways in which practice is changing. The focus of the Designs for Learning cluster is the mediation of learning — the designs, interactions and interventions and the different contexts that shape learning.

The research activities are embedded in six broad research programs.

Discourses and cultural practices

This program focuses on communication, culture and identity in the organisation of workplaces, educational contexts and communities. Research is undertaken in spoken and written communication in the workplace, with a particular focus on health care contexts, and on new media and popular culture as sites for new social and cultural identifications.
Contact Hermine.Scheeres@uts.edu.au

Working, learning and professional practice

This program focuses on the learning dimensions of work and the practices that promote learning within organisations. Research is undertaken into the changing ways in which skills, knowledge and competence are understood and enacted both within workplaces and in education and training organisations, into professional formation and development and into organisational and workplace learning.
Contact Paul.Hager@uts.edu.au

Changing communities: education and social action

This program researches the social, cultural and political contexts in which communities interact. Research is undertaken in a range of different communities, including schools as communities; partnerships between schools, parents and community groups; university and community partnerships; communities within workplaces; and groups of community-based organisations.
Contact Nina.Burridge@uts.edu.au

Teacher learning and development

This program researches the learning and growth of teachers both in schools and in teacher education institutions. Teaching practice is highly dependent on teacher professional learning and there is a need to understand how teachers learn, the beliefs underlying their practices and how pedagogy can be enhanced in the context of changing times and changing requirements for education.
Contact Peter.Aubusson@uts.edu.au

Language, literacy and literature

This program researches the role and significance of language, literacy and literature in school, post-school and non-school settings. As learning occurs within social contexts, and for specific purposes, it involves spoken and/or written communication. These practices are increasingly mediated through new media and communications technologies.
Contact Pauline.Gibbons@uts.edu.au

Learning and teaching in a digital age

This program seeks to understand the educational worth of diverse kinds of engagement with emerging digital cultures. It is concerned with understanding changes in learning through authentic use of technologies. The research is underpinned by sociocultural and generative learning theories. The program addresses the increasing dissonance between formal and informal learning environments with a view to making a significant contribution to enhancing the learning of students and teachers, individuals, schools and communities, locally and globally, in our era and beyond.
Contact Sandy.Schuck@uts.edu.au or Lyn.Schaverien@uts.edu.au

Inquiries

Office of the Dean
Faculty of Education
CB10.5.110, City campus
KG02.3, Kuring-gai campus
telephone +61 2 9514 3808
fax +61 2 9514 3933
http://www.education.uts.edu.au

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