This is an endorsed provision at the Professional Competence level for accreditation under the NSW Institute of Teacher.
Successfully completed a Graduate Certificate in Social Ecology.
Applications from Australian citizens and holders of permanent resident visas must be made via the Universities Admissions Centre (UAC).
International applicants must apply directly to the University of Western Sydney via UWS International.
Applicants who have undertaken studies overseas may have to provide proof of proficiency in English. Details of minimum English proficiency requirements and acceptable proof can be found on the Universities Admissions Centre website (UAC).
Overseas qualifications must be deemed by the Australian Education International - National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition (AEI-NOOSR) to be equivalent to Australian qualifications in order to be considered by UAC and UWS.
Qualification for this award requires the successful completion of 80 credit points including the units listed in the recommended sequence below.
Recommended Sequence
Part-time
Year 1
1H
Choose one of the following core units:
Researching Practice
This unit enables students to engage in research practice in their area of interest or specialisation. The unit contributes to the development of deep insights into the application of research in practice and diverse research methodologies. Students will develop skills in analysing, critiquing, and synthesising the literature in a relevant research area. Their evaluation of research literature will provide the basis of a self-directed research plan that employs appropriate research methods and tools to investigate a question of personal and/or professional relevance. The project will be conducted in the Independent Study units.
Transformative Leadership
This unit explores leadership for transformational change. In this unit we examine transformational change through valuing change that is positive, social and personally emancipatory. This unit links leadership to students’ institutional context and explicates leadership strategies that feature collaborative and relationship enhancing approaches to enable purposeful change.
And one Specialist unit from list below
2H
Choose one of the following core units:
Transformative Learning
This unit provides opportunities to examine and apply theories drawn from critical pedagogy, transformative learning and ecological thinking. It challenges students to critically examine the relationships through which personal and social knowledge is constructed and their efficacy in the construction of learning for the future. Inherent in such thinking are questions about the processes of change in education systems that will lead towards equity, inclusiveness, wellbeing, social justice and ecological sustainability.
Independent Study/Practice in Context
Independent Study enables students to engage in an intensive study of an aspect of work related learning in order to develop, implement or improve some aspect of current professional or personal practice. It provides opportunities for students to use research skills and related theory directly in a research task within their their own areas of specialisation. Students will be required to explain and justify proposals, and 'work in progress' of the project through consultation with the supervisor and present at colloquium and/or conferences.
And one Specialist unit from list below
Year 2
1H
Choose one of the following, whichever has not been completed as the core unit in Year 1:
Researching Practice
This unit enables students to engage in research practice in their area of interest or specialisation. The unit contributes to the development of deep insights into the application of research in practice and diverse research methodologies. Students will develop skills in analysing, critiquing, and synthesising the literature in a relevant research area. Their evaluation of research literature will provide the basis of a self-directed research plan that employs appropriate research methods and tools to investigate a question of personal and/or professional relevance. The project will be conducted in the Independent Study units.
Transformative Leadership
This unit explores leadership for transformational change. In this unit we examine transformational change through valuing change that is positive, social and personally emancipatory. This unit links leadership to students’ institutional context and explicates leadership strategies that feature collaborative and relationship enhancing approaches to enable purposeful change.
And one Specialist unit from list below OR
One Specialist unit to be chosen from either of the following two courses:
2H
Choose one of the following, whichever has not been completed as the core unit in Year 1:
Transformative Learning
This unit provides opportunities to examine and apply theories drawn from critical pedagogy, transformative learning and ecological thinking. It challenges students to critically examine the relationships through which personal and social knowledge is constructed and their efficacy in the construction of learning for the future. Inherent in such thinking are questions about the processes of change in education systems that will lead towards equity, inclusiveness, wellbeing, social justice and ecological sustainability.
Independent Study/Practice in Context
Independent Study enables students to engage in an intensive study of an aspect of work related learning in order to develop, implement or improve some aspect of current professional or personal practice. It provides opportunities for students to use research skills and related theory directly in a research task within their their own areas of specialisation. Students will be required to explain and justify proposals, and 'work in progress' of the project through consultation with the supervisor and present at colloquium and/or conferences.
And one Specialist unit from list below OR
One Specialist unit to be chosen from 1680 - Master of Education (Leadership) or 1682 - Master of Special Education
Full-time
Year 1
1H
Researching Practice
This unit enables students to engage in research practice in their area of interest or specialisation. The unit contributes to the development of deep insights into the application of research in practice and diverse research methodologies. Students will develop skills in analysing, critiquing, and synthesising the literature in a relevant research area. Their evaluation of research literature will provide the basis of a self-directed research plan that employs appropriate research methods and tools to investigate a question of personal and/or professional relevance. The project will be conducted in the Independent Study units.
Transformative Leadership
This unit explores leadership for transformational change. In this unit we examine transformational change through valuing change that is positive, social and personally emancipatory. This unit links leadership to students’ institutional context and explicates leadership strategies that feature collaborative and relationship enhancing approaches to enable purposeful change.
One Specialist unit fom list below
And one Specialist unit from list below OR
One Specialist unit to be chosen from 1680 - Master of Education (Leadership) or 1682 - Master of Special Education
2H
Transformative Learning
This unit provides opportunities to examine and apply theories drawn from critical pedagogy, transformative learning and ecological thinking. It challenges students to critically examine the relationships through which personal and social knowledge is constructed and their efficacy in the construction of learning for the future. Inherent in such thinking are questions about the processes of change in education systems that will lead towards equity, inclusiveness, wellbeing, social justice and ecological sustainability.
Independent Study/Practice in Context
Independent Study enables students to engage in an intensive study of an aspect of work related learning in order to develop, implement or improve some aspect of current professional or personal practice. It provides opportunities for students to use research skills and related theory directly in a research task within their their own areas of specialisation. Students will be required to explain and justify proposals, and 'work in progress' of the project through consultation with the supervisor and present at colloquium and/or conferences.
One Specialist unit fom list below
And one Specialist unit from list below OR
One Specialist unit to be chosen from 1680 - Master of Education (Leadership) or 1682 - Master of Special Education
Specialist Units:
Applied Imagination
This unit asks students to reflect upon imagination and its use in research, inquiry, and social action. It challenges students to develop an applied understanding of imagination in the development of creative responses to personal and social concerns. Underlying this exploration is a challenge to students to reflect upon the relationship between form, content and communication, objectivity and subjectivity, arts theory and practice, the writer, performer, artist and educator. The unit considers mediums for expression and communication; imagination as an analytical tool, and imagination as a means for understanding, communicating and enabling intentions and outcomes.
Ecopsychology and Cultural Change
Ecopsychology is concerned with the relationship between human consciousness, human actions and environmental issues. It seeks to understand the sources, both phenomenological and socio-cultural, of the disjuncture between nature and psyche and to develop possibilities for personal and cultural re-connection and healing. Through applying experiential methods, critical inquiry and engagement with ecopsychological writings, students develop their awareness of “self”, “nature”, “culture” and explore the dynamics between them. The unit incorporates perspectives on ecological identity, ecospirituality and sense of place as ways of re-imagining the human-nature relationship and effecting ecologically-oriented change.
Environmental Education and Advocacy
‘Sustainability¹ and the change required to achieve it present numerous challenges. A social-ecological approach to learning for sustainability emphasises learning as a reciprocal process, engaging the self, others and the notion of sustainability itself. Learning, advocacy and future sustainability will be addressed alongside the orientations, goals and outcomes through which such work is valued. Environmental education and advocacy are imagined here as ethically grounded forms of participation in community and ways of enacting responsibilities. Project work in this unit will be structured around personal sustainability, sustainable systems, relationships, institutions and the educational contexts of individual students.
Researching Social Ecology
The foundations of social ecology lie in an analysis of relationships. In this regard ‘social ecology’ describes a field of learning and an approach to learning. The definition of the field lies in its enactment. This is undertaken through research into systemic understandings of change, in the context of change in patterns of ecological relationship. This systemic study is grounded in reference to autopoiesis, self-organisation, transformation, cybernetics, constructivism, holism, complexity and human-ecological relationships. This unit introduces key theorists in these inter-related fields, frames the work and invites students to apply it in their own fields of practice.