Become one of the inspiring individuals empowering future generations through education. Deakin’s Master of Teaching (Secondary) prepares you for a creative, challenging and truly rewarding career.
Looking for an adaptable teaching qualification that opens doors to a diverse range of industries?
As a graduate of the Master of Teaching (Secondary), your employment opportunities will be vast. You’ll be qualified to teach at secondary level anywhere in Australia, with skills that will also enable you to pivot into a broader range of roles. Learn how to think like a teacher and develop an invaluable mindset that can be applied to almost any sector, including education, youth work, corporate learning and development, NGOs, media and community-based organisations.
Learn from highly experienced, passionate teachers who understand first-hand the importance of recognising all students as people first. You’ll discover how to foster well-balanced relationships in the classroom to ensure students build positive connections with their peers, in turn promoting an environment to thrive.
With the option to undertake a specialisation that includes research elements, you’ll develop practical classroom skills along with critical thinking and evaluative research skills. To ensure you gain a holistic understanding of how students learn, you’ll also have the opportunity to study and collaborate with early childhood educators, primary and secondary teachers.
You can also choose to participate in Deakin’s Global Education Program and gain a broader perspective on teaching. Experience teaching in a remote community interstate or overseas and develop your skills in intercultural education while improving your resume.
This, combined with at least 60-days of professional placement and your completion of a Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA), benchmarked against national standards of teaching performance, means you’ll be set for success in the classroom and beyond.
Professional recognition
The Master of Teaching (Secondary) is accredited by the Victorian Institute of Teaching (VIT) as an initial teacher education program that meets the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) program standards and the Australian professional standards for graduate teachers.
Career opportunities
As one of the largest growing employment industries in Australia, education and training is projected to grow by 11.2% by May 2023* – that’s 11,300 new jobs or 11,300 career opportunities to explore.
The knowledge and skills you’ll develop through the Master of Teaching (Secondary) prepare you well for a diverse range of roles, including:
secondary teacher in a public, independent or private school academic adviser
youth worker
museum educator
policy manager in a not-for-profit organisation
education consultant in local or federal government.
*Australian Government Department of Jobs and Small Business, 2018 Employment Projections (for five years until May 2023).
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 will be made for students with a disability. More information available at Disability support services.
Students are required to check the placement calendars published on the Professional Experience Office website each year. Placement takes priority over employment and placement periods are generally block placements of 5 full time days per week over 2-5 weeks.
Course delivery is blended and students are required to dedicate time to weekly engagement with located or online teaching and learning activities and resources. This is recommended at combined total 8-10 hours per week per unit including active learning/engagement either face to face or online, and independent study.
Some units will require students to attend schools or institutions for site-based learning and teaching experiences. Some units can only be completed face to face at Burwood or as online study. Trimesters where students are likely to be undertaking large blocks of placement might require units to offer intensive study face to face. Some units will require students to attend schools or institutions for site-based learning and teaching experiences. Some units can only be completed face to face at Burwood or as online study.
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 60 days of professional practice in education based contexts e.g. secondary schools. 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 (Secondary) 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 (Secondary), students must complete the following:
7 core units (8 credit points)
2 curriculum study units in a first teaching method area
2 curriculum study units in a second teaching method area
A further 4 credit points in one of the following specialisations:
Inclusive Education
Internship
Languages Teaching
Research
Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)
This course includes 60-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.
Students are also required to complete below two zero (0) credit point units ELN010 and ELN011 as part of the Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education (LANTITE) in order to graduate from their course.
Dual Method: Humanities/SOSE with History - one of Geography, Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Business, Legal Studies or Global Politics - plus History
Dual Method: Humanities/SOSE - two of Geography, Philosophy, Sociology, Anthropology, Economics, Business, Legal Studies or Global Politics - without History
Successful Applicants are required to hold a valid Working with Children (WWC) Check prior to undertaking professional experience placements in education settings, as part of this course. For more information see: https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/
Interstate applicants must check the requirements and meet all conditions for undertaking professional experience in schools for their state or territory before undertaking professional experience placements as part of this course. Some state procedures and requirements require more time and this can impact whether students can be approved to undertake a placement in their first trimester of study.
The Working with Children Check (Check) and a Police Check are different. Under the Working with Children Act 2005 (the Act) if you are doing child-related work and are not exempt, you must have a Check even if you already have a Police Check. The Police Check is not an assessment by a government agency. https://www.workingwithchildren.vic.gov.au/organisations/victorian-teacher-information.
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.
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.
