Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) (Honours)

The Bachelor of Teaching (Secondary) (Honours) at Adelaide University is a four-year qualification for people who want to teach in Australian secondary schools. It sits at AQF level 8, a bachelor honours degree, and combines an undergraduate teaching degree with a research component. You come out with both a teaching qualification and an honours-level research project behind you, which is unusual for an initial teacher education degree in Australia.

What you study

Secondary teaching means you specialise in the subjects you will actually teach. You choose two curriculum areas, for example English and History, or Mathematics and Physics, and build depth in both across the degree. Alongside your subject studies you take education units: how adolescents learn, classroom management, assessment and reporting, teaching students with diverse needs, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education, and the Australian Curriculum. The honours component adds research training, usually research methods units plus a supervised research project or thesis in an area of education that interests you. You graduate with a research skill set that most four-year teaching degrees do not include.

How it is structured

The degree runs over four years of full-time study. Adelaide University delivers most programs across semesters, with units of study each carrying a set number of credit points. You accumulate credit points across your curriculum and education units, and the honours research project sits in the later years. Professional experience placements are built into the degree, supervised teaching in secondary schools, usually across more than one school setting. Placement is a core requirement, not an optional extra. You cannot graduate as a teacher in Australia without it.

Skills and who it suits

You finish able to plan and teach secondary lessons, manage a classroom, assess student learning, work with parents and colleagues, and read and conduct education research. The honours research training is useful if you are thinking about a master's or doctorate later, or want to work in education policy, curriculum development or school leadership. This degree suits school leavers who know which subjects they want to teach, and also mature-age students changing careers, teaching attracts a lot of people who have worked elsewhere first. It is a four-year commitment with significant placement hours, so you need to be comfortable in front of a room of teenagers.

Registration and practical matters

To teach in an Australian school you need registration with the relevant state or territory teacher regulatory authority. Graduates apply for registration after completing an accredited initial teacher education program, confirm the current accreditation status of this course with Adelaide University and the registering body in the state where you plan to teach. English requirements are higher for teaching than for most degrees: IELTS Academic 7.0–7.5 overall is the usual standard, and the university accepts TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, Cambridge C1 Advanced and its own English programs as equivalents. The Department of Home Affairs sets a separate English threshold for the Student visa. International students on a Student visa can work up to 48 hours per fortnight while studying, and graduates may be eligible for the Temporary Graduate visa (subclass 485) post-study work stream. Tuition is published on the CRICOS register under course code 115763A. Check the official page for current entry requirements, placement arrangements and fees.

• Secondary school teacher, teach your two curriculum specialisations in government, Catholic or independent schools across Australia.
• Head of department or curriculum leader, later-career pathway into subject leadership and curriculum design.
• Education policy officer, state education departments, non-government organisations and research bodies.
• Curriculum developer, publishing houses, education technology companies and assessment authorities.
• Education researcher, universities, research centres and think tanks, particularly if you continue to a master's or doctorate.
• Private tutor or education consultant, subject-specific tutoring, study skills coaching and school consultancy.
• Youth worker or community education officer, community organisations, TAFE and alternative education settings.