Introduction

Education is one of the central functions of a university. It is not surprising, therefore, that one of Monash's first-established faculties should have been the Faculty of Education. This faculty is concerned with both the professional education of teachers (preservice and inservice) and related professionals and with research into the many-faceted ways in which education is conducted in society and in which education, society and individuals interact with each other.

The faculty comprises three schools - the School of Graduate Studies at Clayton, the Peninsula School of Education, located on the Peninsula campus, and the Gippsland School of Education, at the Gippsland campus.

Undergraduate preservice courses are available at the Peninsula and Gippsland Schools, along with Graduate Diploma in Education courses. All campuses offer postgraduate diplomas and degrees, both by coursework and research. Many courses are available by distance education.

Postgraduate courses cater mainly for students who have had some years of professional experience. For these students the faculty offers a wide range of subjects, many of which have a flexibility that encourages students to define their own interests and to draw on their considerable professional and life experience. These opportunities reflect a recognition that there is a mutuality and reciprocity in the contributions to learning that are made by both staff and students.

While the majority of students in the faculty are either intending to teach in schools or are teachers already, there is an increasing number of people who wish to study education for other reasons. Education takes place in the community in many ways and institutions, other than through schools, and the faculty's courses are increasingly attractive to educators in the fields of health, business, nursing, social work, industrial training, commerce, the law, public service, professional associations, tertiary institutions and community fields generally.

The faculty's tradition of scholarly research, professional education and community service is substantial, having been built up since the faculty's foundation in 1964 and the faculty is constantly revising its courses and their constituent subjects.

The faculty has recently introduced a new degree, the professional doctorate (the Doctor of Education (EdD)) requiring three years full-time or up to six years of part-time study. This degree program offers experienced and appropriately qualified educators the opportunity to upgrade their professional qualifications by engaging in study at a level equivalent to that of the PhD but involving a combination of coursework and research culminating in the production of a thesis, the prime purpose of which is to use novel research findings to improve professional practice.

The faculty's usual research degrees - the Master of Education and the Doctor of Philosophy - are available to students who wish to engage in individually supervised courses of research leading to the submission of a thesis, the prime purpose of which is the extension of knowledge for its own sake.

Handbook Contents | Faculty Handbooks | Monash University