Monash University Handbook 2011 Postgraduate - Course

This course acknowledges both the complex nature of the role of community celebrant and the significance of ritual and celebration in the private and public spheres. Students develop research skills relating to civil ceremonies within a workplace as well as an academic environment.

Students successfully completing this course will have:

• acquired the professional skills needed to be effective civil celebrants
• demonstrated awareness of legal obligations involved in being a celebrant, in relation to marriage and to celebrating other major life cycle events
• demonstrated awareness of the role of rites of passage within society for a range of groups
• demonstrated awareness of the range of ritual and religious traditions within contemporary Australian society
• demonstrated awareness of the role of music, writing literature and other elements essential to effective ceremony
• demonstrated capacity to reflect on the theoretical issues involved in ceremony and ritual across the community and the lifespan
• demonstrated capacity to engage in original research relating to ceremony while attached to some community/professional group or organisation.

Registration as a civil marriage celebrant is not automatic upon completion of an approved training course. Information about the registration process is available on the Attorney-General's website at http://www.ag.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Marriage_Becomingacelebrant_Becomingacelebrant.

This course consists of four 12-point core units, one 12-point elective unit and either a community placement or a research paper (12 points).

Core units

• APG4729 Rites of passage: Culture and celebrating life cycle events
• APG4730 Life cycle events: Literature, music and life stories
• APG4731 Celebrant and client: Legal, ethical and personal issues
• APG4732 Professional celebration of rites of passage

Elective units

Students complete one of:

• APG5305 History and memory: Interpreting life stories
• APG5310 Local and community history
• APG5340 Confronting death through ceremony and symbol: A cross-cultural analysis
• APG5625 Research methods in biography and life writing

plus one of:

• APG5675 Research paper in religion and theology
• APG5754 Civil ceremonies placement (attached to a community group)

Students may apply to exit the program after successful completion of:

• 24 points of core units with course 2161 Faculty Certificate in Civil Ceremonies.
• 48 points of core units with course 2157 Graduate Diploma in Civil Ceremonies

Master of Civil Ceremonies