Program Overview

This innovative four-year degree will enable you to become a primary school teacher with a specialisation in the creative arts. On top of gaining practical experience of the educational theories used in today’s classrooms, you’ll develop a solid understanding of national literacy and numeracy requirements for children from Kindergarten to Year 6, while specifically focusing on subjects including visual arts, drama, music and dance.

During your second, third and fourth year of study, you’ll take a range of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) units which are taught on-site in primary schools, offering you the opportunity to connect with students across all primary year levels in subjects including English, science, maths, health and PE, technologies, humanities and social sciences, as well as via a specific arts education internship. You’ll graduate ready to inspire children aged five to 12, using creativity, imagination and ingenuity.

Study a Bachelor of Primary Education (Creative Arts) at UC and you will:

• Gain appropriate scientific, literacy and numeracy knowledge
• Learn the theories and principles that are the foundation for educational practice in primary settings
• Demonstrate an understanding of student needs and differences, and the relevance of these to learning in inclusive, indigenous, English as an Additional Language or Dialect (EALD) and mainstream settings
• Plan and develop appropriate teaching activities for students from a diverse range of backgrounds
• Develop and implement effective assessment strategies and carry out evaluation of teaching programs, resources and your own teaching
• Apply the required content knowledge for all primary school curriculum areas to teaching, assessment and reporting methods, alternate/enhanced literacy and numeracy strategies, and the effective use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in teaching and learning
• Reflect on your practice and experiences, and engage in a process of continual improvement.

Work Integrated Learning

A teaching degree, by its very nature, is the embodiment of Work Integrated Learning (WIL), with its focus on compulsory professional teaching practice. During this course, you’ll undertake a minimum of 80 days of practical placement across a range of different primary school levels and settings, including creative arts-specific positions, culminating in a 30-day Arts Education Internship in your final year.

In addition to this, the course content is developed by primary education professionals, and kept relevant and up-to-date through consistent monitoring of, and engagement with, the industry. You’ll undertake authentic assessment tasks which are highly relevant to the day-to-day practice of teaching, and will take part in regular professional development activities, field trips to educational sites, lectures hosted by guest speakers from a range of education and teaching backgrounds, and more.

Major: Pedagogy and Practice

The Major in Pedagogy and Practice provides the Graduate Primary Teacher with both insight into, and experience in, the practical skills of planning and conducting lessons, implementing curriculum, giving feedback, managing classrooms and gaining a full understanding of the concept of pedagogical content knowledge - the crucial interplay between knowing discipline content, knowing the teaching methodologies to use and knowing all there is required to be known about the students within those classes.