New landmark teacher training program at the University of Melbourne inspired by best of international practice

Media Release, Wednesday 1 August 2007

The much anticipated Master of Teaching will tonight be launched at an exclusive event, marking a momentous change to teacher training at the Faculty of Education and a move to align with the Melbourne Model.

The Master of Teaching will be the University’s first Masters level pre-service teacher preparation program and replaces the current one-year Graduate Diploma in Education. The program draws on the best of international teaching programs, while remaining responsive to local needs.

Professor Field Rickards, Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne said, “We are proud to launch the Master of Teaching; an innovative program that will result in enhanced teaching capabilities for a future generation of educators. The Faculty of Education is embracing the unique opportunity to lead a repositioning of teacher education in Australia which has been presented by the University’s academic reform agenda.”

The Master of Teaching is specifically designed to develop teachers who have a focus on ‘individualised learning’ and ‘interventionist practice’, providing better outcomes for children’s learning. They will use sophisticated assessment techniques to plan teaching, which maximises learning.

A focus on priority areas of numeracy and literacy ensures that the program is responsive to community needs. This local relevance is balanced with a strong emphasis on international best practise including direction from a steering committee which travelled extensively to study and learn from teaching programs abroad. Professor Rickards comments, “The Faculty has drawn on lessons from recent field work at Stanford, Virginia and Toronto, where theory and practice is linked through selected partner schools to ensure an outstanding quality of student experience and rigour of training. The Master of Teaching is being built around a new pedagogical model within a clinical teaching framework, inspired in part by the ‘Teachers of a New Era’ initiative being implemented in US universities.”

The Master of Teaching will be offered in three streams: Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary. Students can choose to graduate earlier with a Postgraduate Diploma in Teaching in the Early Childhood and Secondary streams, and can be employed as a teacher after one year of study.

In response to market demands, the program will be offered in ‘Accelerated’ (12 -18 months duration) and ‘Reduced Load’ (2 – 2 ½ years duration) versions in selected streams, enabling students to choose either a program that prepares them to teach in minimum time or one which enables them to balance study with family and other commitments. This Accelerated option also means that the University will meet the projected demand for teaching staff at the end of 2008 that would normally be satisfied by graduating Dip Ed-ers.

In the Secondary program many students will choose to take some preparation for teaching in areas of shortage, such as mathematics, in addition to their own two specialist areas.
There are very clear advantages in having students who are more mature when they come into teaching, as they are more likely to be sure about their professional choice and to perform more strongly in classroom settings.

Melbourne Model implementation sees the phasing out of many of the University's undergraduate programs, and for the Faculty of Education, this means that 2008 will be the last intake into the Bachelor of Education (Primary) and Bachelor of Early Childhood Education courses. The Faculty no longer offers entry into the Bachelor of Teaching or the Graduate Diploma in Education.

Not to be confused with the Master of Teaching, the Faculty will continue to offer its flagship postgraduate program, the Master of Education, which is targeted at established educators within the classroom, and beyond.

Professor Glyn Davis gave his glowing approval of the Master of Teaching in a statement last week, “The Master of Teaching demonstrates a wonderful example of a curriculum shaped by education research. Here is a program that recognises teaching as a research-driven profession, offers flexibility in delivery, and creates important new partnership possibilities with schools.”

For more information about the Master of Teaching: www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/mteach
Media are invited to attend the launch. See launch program below. Interviews available upon request.

More information:
Lanie Harris
Marketing & Communications Manager
Faculty of Education
8344 8661 or 0418 552 377
chiroiul@unimelb.edu.au