Graduate Diploma of Education

In this subject, you will explore the history of mental health, through to the awareness in present day. A person- centered approach is used in this subject to introduce the problem–solving skills required when supporting an individual with Mental Health conditions. Exposure to a range of perspectives, experiences, challenges and aspirations in the Mental Health community, creates a platform for you to examine both the community and your own bias, prejudice and assumptions.

An examination of the current knowledge and application in a range of life experiences enables you to formulate ideas regarding the impact of mental health. From diagnosis to schooling, communication, health, accessibility and finance, the experience for an individual varies. Further, the carer component of this subject evolves in terms of challenges and specific needs.

You will appraise current mental health supports and in turn, further develop or recreate these supports by utilising the knowledge and understanding developed over the course.

Autism Contemporary practice builds on previous skills and knowledge gained in person-centred approach as the prerequisite course. You will engage in course content, synthesising current theoretical practices using a person-centred approach to design innovative responses to the unique strengths and learning requirements of autistic individuals. You will be empowered to use evidence-based practices to respond to the need of autistic individuals to improve both local and global practice. You will develop specialised strategies including skills in providing programs to address individuals’ sensory requirements, the need to explicitly teach social skills and to acknowledge that autistic individuals may become overwhelmed and present with challenging behaviour in both educational and home settings.

You will strengthen your research skills to inform contemporary inclusive practice to design appropriate programs to suit a wide variety of autistic individuals. The increasing prevalence of Autistic individuals, both in educational settings and the community, means completing this course provides a professional advantage in pedological practice. You will celebrate the ‘autistic voice' and remove barriers to learning while advocating for a shift in attitudes in society that removes stigma and celebrates the strengths of neurodiversity, as a different way of thinking, rather than a disability.

Using evidence-based research, you will develop the skills to design an inclusive learning environment where all learners can acquire the literacy skills and practices needed for success and full participation for contemporary society. You will critically examine and apply strategies to scaffold and support learners at all levels of language acquisition, particularly for students who speak English as an additional language or dialect (EAL/D, LBOTE), Indigenous learners, and those labelled 'at-risk' for failure.

Exploring pedagogy and critical literacy approaches that empower you with the tools to design learning experiences that allow participation in a democratic society inclusive of race, culture, class, gender, or sexual orientation. To this end, you will practice selecting culturally sensitive and relevant instructional materials and literacy texts to meet inclusive practices allowing all equitable access to high-quality learning. Through an in-depth study of critical literacy practices, you will develop the skills for reading, viewing, responding to and producing multimodal and digital texts—as tools to take action and bring about change—in your professional context.

In this subject you will investigate the importance of scientific, research-based assessment and corresponding intervention and instruction. The subject investigates monitoring and measurement of student progress; and use of these measures of student progress to shape instruction to make informed educational decisions.

You will explore the importance of universal screening of literacy skills in order to determine which students need closer monitoring or additional interventions and multiple tiers of increasingly intense scientific, research-based interventions that are matched to student need.

You will explore the importance of use of a collaborative approach by home, community and education staff for development, implementation, and monitoring of the intervention process, and engage in continuous monitoring of student progress during the interventions, using objective information to determine if students are meeting goals.

This subject provides practical strategies to ensure you are confident to respond to the individual needs of learners in the contemporary educational contexts. It also provides the practical skills to run an education wide best-practice intervention plan.