Master of Teaching (Early Childhood)
2023 Deakin University Handbook
| Year | 2023 course information |
|---|---|
| Award granted | Master of Teaching (Early Childhood) |
| Course Map | These course map are for new students commencing from Trimester 1 2023: Course maps for commencement in previous years are available on the Course Maps webpage or please contact a Student Adviser in Student Central. |
| Campus | |
| Online | No |
| Duration | 2 years full time - 16 credit points Deakin courses can also be studied part time over a longer period. |
| CRICOS course code | 088430F Burwood (Melbourne) |
| Deakin course code | E761 |
| Approval status | This course is approved by the University under the Higher Education Standards Framework. |
| Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) recognition | The award conferred upon completion is recognised in the Australian Qualifications Framework at Level 9. |
Become an Early Childhood Teacher. This course is approved by ACECQA as an early childhood teaching qualification in Australia and graduates are eligible to register with the VIT*. *This course is accredited with the Australian Children's Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) and recognised as an early childhood teaching qualification in Australia. Graduates are eligible to register with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) as an early childhood teacher. Other states and territories may also require early childhood teachers to hold teacher registration or accreditation. Prospective students are strongly advised to check with teacher registration and accreditation authorities as to the requirement and eligibility to register and work as early childhood teachers in other states, territories or internationally with a Master of Teaching (Early Childhood) birth to five qualification. | |
Course sub-headings
- Course overview
- Professional recognition
- Career opportunities
- Participation requirements
- Research information
- Fees and charges
- Course Learning Outcomes
- Course rules
- Course structure
- Other learning experiences
- Research and research-related study
Course overview
Want to equip the next generation with the emotional intelligence, social and critical-thinking skills to flourish? Study a Master of Teaching (Early Childhood) and discover how to help young children learn important concepts like empathy and self-confidence through play. Graduate with the unique ability to shape the next generation as a nationally accredited early childhood teacher.
Ready to start a meaningful career, shaping tomorrow’s leaders?
Whether your background is in education or you’re looking to make a meaningful career change, this course will equip you with the knowledge to work across diverse early childhood settings. Our nationally recognised academics will guide you towards teaching expertise in areas such as:
- Developing numeracy and literacy in young learners
- Creating safe and inclusive learning environments
- Social justice, diversity and equity
- Arts and STEM creativity in a child’s life
- Play-based learning across all areas of the curriculum
At Deakin, we’re focused on developing educational leaders for the future. That’s why we offer our Master of Teaching (Early Childhood) students the chance to develop in-depth knowledge through unique specialisation training pathways.
One popular training pathway is in the International Baccalaureate (IB) PYP Early Years Program, which provides students with the skills to help develop young children as self-motivated and internationally minded learners. Specialising in the IB PYP Early Years Program can lead to international teaching opportunities and can help to increase your employability.
You may alternatively choose to specialise in the Early Childhood Educational Inquiry or Research pathways, the latter of which may be used as a pathway to further study in a PhD.
In addition, you will put your academic knowledge into practice with over 70-days of professional experience placements. The course is designed to blend your classroom experience with your academic learning, culminating in a final hurdle task, the Deakin Teaching Performance Assessment, that ensures you graduate with the experience and rigour you will need to enter the teaching profession with confidence.
This practical experience ensures you graduate with the skills and expertise that are highly valued by employers. 96% of Deakin early childhood education graduates have gone on to secure roles in the early childhood education profession, which continues to generate new jobs at a steady rate. In addition, the Victorian Government offers a range of financial incentives to support students interested in studying the Master of Teaching (Early Childhood) at Deakin. More information can be found at education.vic.gov.au
Professional recognition
This program is approved by the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) as an early childhood teaching qualification in Australia. Graduates of this course will be eligible to register with the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT). Graduates who are intending to apply for early childhood teacher registration interstate may be required to provide further information. Interstate applicants are strongly advised to check the early childhood teacher accreditation and registration requirements in their state or territory, carefully.
Career opportunities
The education and training industry is one of the largest growing employment industries in Australia, and is projected to grow by 11.2% by May 2023 – that’s 11,300 new jobs.* Early childhood education teachers in particular are in high demand.
As an early childhood education graduate, you could go on to secure teaching roles within early childhood settings across the private, independent, or public education sectors. You could also find employment in a range of other education-adjacent fields, including in early years service management, policy, consultancy, NGOs, research community and government organisations.
*Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business, 2018 Employment Projections – for the five years to May 2023.
For more information go to 'DeakinTALENT'
Participation requirements
Professional Experience Placements are a compulsory component of the course and a requirement for registration as a graduate teacher. Placement can occur at any time, including during the standard holiday breaks listed here: https://www.deakin.edu.au/courses/key-dates.
Reasonable adjustments to participation and other course requirements may be made for students with a disability. More information available at Disability support services.
Research information
This is a graduate entry teaching course that introduces research based practice throughout the core professional studies units (a total of six credit points), which includes demonstrating their application of knowledge and skills through their 70-days of professional practice in education based contexts e.g. early childhood settings. As part of the series of core professional studies units, students are also required to complete a capstone assessment in the final year (2 credit point unit) to demonstrate their evidence based professional practice informed by data analysis and scholarship of teaching and learning.
Fees and charges
Fees and charges vary depending on your course, the type of fee place you hold, your commencement year, the units you choose and your study load.
Tuition fees increase at the beginning of each calendar year and all fees quoted are in Australian dollars ($AUD). Tuition fees do not include textbooks, computer equipment or software, other equipment or costs such as mandatory checks, travel and stationery.
Use the Fee estimator to see course and unit fees applicable to your course and type of place. Further information regarding tuition fees, other fees and charges, invoice due dates, withdrawal dates, payment methods is available on our Current students fees website.
Course Learning Outcomes
| Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes | Course Learning Outcomes |
| Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities | Contribute to critical, professional debates about education theory; local, national and global trends; curriculum; Indigenous and intercultural perspectives; and legal, professional and ethical codes and standards, and critique and apply these understandings to inform their own practice. |
| Communication | Apply critical thinking, pedagogical knowledge and effective interpersonal, oral, written and multimodal communication skills to demonstrate empathy, foster learner agency, establish positive and inclusive learning-friendly environments, and build effective professional partnerships and trust with families/caregivers, teaching colleagues and other stakeholders. |
| Digital literacy | Act in accordance with the ethical and legal frameworks and policy that inform responsible and ethical practice in digital environments, and critically discuss, evaluate and employ a range of appropriate digital literacies, resources and technologies for professional/community/learner engagement and agency. |
| Critical thinking | Contribute to critical and professional debates about education trends, theory, policy and research and use these understandings to critically reflect on and evaluate own teaching practices and diverse learning data sets to make informed evidence-based judgements for enhancements and innovations to improve learner agency and outcomes. |
| Problem solving | Collaboratively and independently use evidence and research to identify, prioritise and creatively respond to problems that arise in professional learning and practice. |
| Self-management | Engage autonomously and responsibly with critical self-reflection, self-assessment and feedback from others, to inform their own learning, plan for professional development and to balance academic demands with self-care /self-management. |
| Teamwork | Actively and collaboratively participate in, and/or lead learning communities, involving learners, families, community members, colleagues and the broader profession to deepen understandings of education and to optimise learning and learner well-being. |
| Global citizenship | Engage in research, and with the legal and ethical obligations of the teaching profession, to develop informed positions on and approaches to educational transformation as applied to learner agency and citizenship; Indigenous and intercultural issues; global education trends and issues; and, social justice and sustainability. |
| Approved by Faculty Board 2019 | |
Course rules
The Master of Teaching (Early Childhood) is typically 16 credit points.
The exact number of credit points you study depends on how much credit you receive as recognition of prior learning (RPL) – your professional experience and previous qualifications – which can save you time and money
To qualify for the award of Master of Teaching (Early Childhood), students must complete the following:
- 11 core units (12 credit points)
- A further 4 credit points in one of the following specialisations:
- Early Childhood Education Inquiry
- Research
- International Baccalaureate Early Years (Primary Years Programme (PYP))
- AAI018 Academic Integrity (0-credit-point compulsory unit)
This course includes 70-days of supervised professional experience, and students must successfully complete the Deakin Teaching Performance Assessment. This must be complete in the final year of study. Successful completion of this course indicates that a student has met the expected standard of performance for each of the Graduate Teacher Standards.
Course structure
Core units
| EEE754 | Language, Literacies and Learning |
| EEE755 | Numeracy, Social Justice and New Pedagogies |
| EEE756 | Health, Wellbeing and Inclusive Education |
| ECE703 | Early Childhood Language, Literacy and Mathematics |
| ECE704 | Learning in and Through the Arts in Early Years |
| ECE705 | Early Childhood STEM |
| ECE761 | Early Childhood Pedagogy, Curricula and Contexts |
Professional Experience Placement Units*
(*please note unit rules for order in which these must be completed)
| EPR781 | Orientation to the Teaching Profession (replaces EPR761) |
| EPR782 | Building Capacity in Professional Experience (replaces EPR712) |
| EPR714 | Curriculum Inquiry in Professional Experience: Education and Care Birth to Three |
| EPR785 | Reflecting On Practice in Professional Experience (2 credit points, replaces EPR715) |
Specialisations
Students complete the remaining four credit points from one of following specialisations
Early Childhood Education Inquiry
| EDX701 | Research Design Development and Method |
| EIB702 | The Inquiring Child: the Role of Play in Children's Learning |
| EIB703 | Assessing and Documenting Learning in the Global Early Years Context |
| EDX707 | Independent Research Project for Professional Practice |
Research
| EDX701 | Research Design Development and Method |
| EDX712 | Theory and Methodology in Education Research |
| EDX703 | Research Paper A ) |
| EDX704 | Research Paper B |
International Baccalaureate Early Years (Primary Years Programme (PYP))
| EIB701 | Inquiry Learning Through the International Baccalaureate (PYP) |
| EIB702 | The Inquiring Child: the Role of Play in Children's Learning |
| EIB703 | Assessing and Documenting Learning in the Global Early Years Context |
| EIB704 | Planning for Inquiry Learning: Professional Practice and Portfolio |
Internship*
| EPR704 | Internship (4 credit points) |
* Internship specialisation only available to students who commenced prior to 2022
Professional Experience Placement
Students are required to apply for a Working with Children Check. Apply online as a volunteer at https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/.
All professional experience placements must be undertaken in an Australian school setting. Overseas placements are not permitted.
For further information contact the School of Education, Professional Experience office.
Course duration - additional information
Course duration may be affected by delays in completing course requirements, such as accessing or completing work placements.
Further information
Student Central can help you with course planning, choosing the right units and explaining course rules and requirements.
- Contact Student Central
Other learning experiences
Experiences in community and school or early childhood settings are embedded in some curriculum units beyond the professional experience placements. Students are also encouraged to volunteer in these settings. Wherever possible, academic staff work alongside education professionals and preservice teachers in these authentic learning experiences.
Research and research-related study
Independent research and practitioner research and training components are embedded across a number of units. Preservice teachers are expected to apply an integrated, critical and advanced understanding of complex bodies of knowledge and research skills in education in their practice.