Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies
Overview
Strengthen your leadership expertise and get a professional advantage in your chosen area of education.
This program is suitable for practising teachers, administrators and other educational professionals, as well as professionals in other areas wishing to gain expertise in education. It can be completed in six months full-time — and most fields of study can be completed part-time in one year.
Specialise in one of seven fields of study: Behaviour Management; Curriculum; Guidance, Counselling and Careers; Leadership; Psychology Education; Science of Learning or Supporting Diverse Learners. Depending on your area of specialisation you can choose to complete all aspects of a practicum that focuses on advanced research and teaching interests.
Some pathways offer specific qualifications, while others offer significant professional advantage to educators interested in career advancement or broadening their career options.
A limited number of Commonwealth Supported Places are available for Australian citizens, permanent visa holders and New Zealand citizens.
Program highlights
- Strengthen your leadership expertise in educational practice, policy and theory.
- Obtain the knowledge and skills required for specialised fields of work.
- Gain qualifications that enhance career advancement and options.
- Improve your research skills by engaging in an extended research-based project.
Fields of study
Tailor your studies to suit your goals. This program offers these options:
- Behaviour Management
- Curriculum
- Guidance, Counselling and Careers
- Leadership
How you'll learn
Your learning experiences are designed to best suit the learning outcomes of the courses you choose.
- Lectures
- Tutorials
- Work placements
- Overseas study
- Research experience
- Fieldwork
- Seminars
Placements and work experience
- Students studying Guidance, Counselling and Careers can choose to complete a practicum course, that involves approximately 200 contact hours.
- Students studying Supporting Diverse Learners can choose to complete a practicum course that involves approximately 20 contact hours.
- Students may incur costs associated with the practicum (e.g. travel, parking, stationery). Practicum placements may be located throughout Australia or overseas. Students are required to have a current Blue Card (Working with Children Check) or Exemption Card before commencing a placement in any school or organisations that provide child-related services in Queensland. Students can apply for a Blue Card or Exemption through the School of Education and should do so three months before their practicum is due to commence.
What you'll study
At UQ, degrees are called 'programs' and subjects are called 'courses'. Here's a sample of the courses you could study in this program:
- Foundations in Global Education for International Students
- Foundation of the Science of Learning
- Indigenous knowledge and education
- Contemporary Theories of Development and Learning
Career possibilities
Postgraduate study can take you anywhere. Depending on which field you choose, here are some of the careers you could be on your way to:
- Behaviour management counsellor
- Special needs teacher
- Curriculum planner
- School curriculum adviser
- Career development practitioner
- Guidance counsellor
- Educational administrator
- Multicultural teacher
- School principal
Events
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Stories
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Stories
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Study tips
Why is emotional intelligence important for students?
Entry requirements
Prerequisites
Approved degree in any discipline with a GPA of 4.0; or
Have completed post-secondary study and two years full-time work experience in a professional capacity in a relevant or comparable education setting.
Relevant work experience is defined as employment in teaching and education (which can include youth work, teacher aide work, support personnel, music education, teaching English as a second language, allied health, and sport sciences).
Prerequisites
Approved degree in any discipline with a GPA of 4.0; or
Have completed post-secondary study and two years full-time work experience in a professional capacity in a relevant or comparable education setting.
Relevant work experience is defined as employment in teaching and education (which can include youth work, teacher aide work, support personnel, music education, teaching English as a second language, allied health, and sport sciences).
Related programs
Depending on your previous qualifications and current goals, you might want to consider
one of these related programs:
English language requirements
IELTS overall 6.5; reading 6; writing 6; speaking 6; listening 6. For other English Language Proficiency Tests and Scores approved for UQ
TOEFL IBT - Overall 87, listening 19, reading 19, writing 21 and speaking 19.
TOEFL PB - Overall 570, listening 54, reading 54, writing 59/5.
Pearsons - Overall Score of 64 and 60 in all sub bands.
BE - A minimum overall grade of 4 plus a minimum grade of C in all macro skills.
CES - Overall 176 and 169 in all sub bands.
OET is not accepted.
There are other ways to meet the English language requirements. For some programs, additional conditions apply.
Additional application information
Additional application information
Student visas
International students who are accepted into full-time study in the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies are eligible to apply for an Australian student visa (subclass 500).
There are a number of requirements you must satisfy before a visa is granted, including the genuine temporary entrant (GTE) requirement.
Fields of study
Fields of study
Tailor your studies to suit your goals. This program offers these options:
Behaviour Management
The behaviour Management Field of Study develops your knowledge and skills in:
- Contemporary, evidence-based practices in behaviour support.
- Assessment and understanding of the functions of challenging behaviours.
- Developing and implementing strategies for behaviour interventions across a range of environments.
- Monitoring and evaluating behaviour support strategies.
This program enhances the skills and knowledge of teachers and other professionals in supporting children and young people with challenging behaviours. Graduate outcomes include classroom teacher, guidance officer, and specialist behaviour staff.
Curriculum
It explores contemporary issues associated with curriculum in schooling and education. The field considers priority areas in the Australian curriculum and also offers students the opportunity to study in a core learning area.
Guidance, Counselling and Careers
This specially designed program of study allows you to develop competencies as a professional guidance counsellor and/or career practitioner for employment in schools, TAFE colleges, agencies, or as a private practitioner. The program focuses on:
- Developing counselling competencies.
- Understanding career development and education across the lifespan.
- Linking assessment practices to instructional interventions.
- Understanding ethical behaviour and practices.
- Developing comprehensive guidance programs.
Leadership
In such an increasingly complex and uncertain future, transformative leadership competencies encompassing distributive and collaborative domains have become essential.
This field of study is designed for individuals committed to undertaking transformative leadership roles to improve their respective workplaces and make an impact through your professional practice informed by research. It provides leading-edge knowledge and understandings about leadership and management that inform your practice within educational institutions (including schools, colleges and TAFEs), government departments and other organisations.
The field focuses on the skills, knowledge and attitudes required by leaders in our discontinuously changing world, and challenges students to develop as critically reflective, flexible and ethically collaborative change leaders of learners and thinkers.
Psychology Education
You'll be provided with opportunities to develop the appropriate content and pedagogical content knowledge and teaching strategies, not only for a professional learning pathway into senior secondary psychology teaching, but also as valuable background if you're interested in related areas of study such as Behaviour Management, Counselling or Business Psychology.
Science of Learning
With a focus on school-aged learning, this field of study will strengthen your understanding of the principles of cognitive science across the learning lifespan.
This field is designed for teachers and educators at all stages of their career. You will develop capabilities to critically engage with both research and practice-based evidence to understand effective teaching and learning practices.
Graduates are equipped to consider, translate, apply and evaluate the impact of this science to develop meaningful learning experiences for their students inside the classroom and in other educational contexts.
Supporting Diverse Learners
It develops the skills, knowledge and values for you to teach students with a range of diverse abilities and needs, from those with developmental disabilities to those who may have difficulties in learning, as well as those at risk of school failure or disengagement.
The field focuses on understanding individual, contextual, and systematic factors that affect learning and behaviour for individuals with learning or special needs including issues associated with assessment, curriculum, pedagogy and whole-life learning.
Fields of study
Tailor your studies to suit your goals. This program offers these options:
Behaviour Management
The behaviour Management Field of Study develops your knowledge and skills in:
- Contemporary, evidence-based practices in behaviour support.
- Assessment and understanding of the functions of challenging behaviours.
- Developing and implementing strategies for behaviour interventions across a range of environments.
- Monitoring and evaluating behaviour support strategies.
This program enhances the skills and knowledge of teachers and other professionals in supporting children and young people with challenging behaviours. Graduate outcomes include classroom teacher, guidance officer, and specialist behaviour staff.
Curriculum
It explores contemporary issues associated with curriculum in schooling and education. The field considers priority areas in the Australian curriculum and also offers students the opportunity to study in a core learning area.
Guidance, Counselling and Careers
This specially designed program of study allows you to develop competencies as a professional guidance counsellor and/or career practitioner for employment in schools, TAFE colleges, agencies, or as a private practitioner. The program focuses on:
- Developing counselling competencies.
- Understanding career development and education across the lifespan.
- Linking assessment practices to instructional interventions.
- Understanding ethical behaviour and practices.
- Developing comprehensive guidance programs.
Leadership
In such an increasingly complex and uncertain future, transformative leadership competencies encompassing distributive and collaborative domains have become essential.
This field of study is designed for individuals committed to undertaking transformative leadership roles to improve their respective workplaces and make an impact through your professional practice informed by research. It provides leading-edge knowledge and understandings about leadership and management that inform your practice within educational institutions (including schools, colleges and TAFEs), government departments and other organisations.
The field focuses on the skills, knowledge and attitudes required by leaders in our discontinuously changing world, and challenges students to develop as critically reflective, flexible and ethically collaborative change leaders of learners and thinkers.
Psychology Education
You'll be provided with opportunities to develop the appropriate content and pedagogical content knowledge and teaching strategies, not only for a professional learning pathway into senior secondary psychology teaching, but also as valuable background if you're interested in related areas of study such as Behaviour Management, Counselling or Business Psychology.
Science of Learning
With a focus on school-aged learning, this field of study will strengthen your understanding of the principles of cognitive science across the learning lifespan.
This field is designed for teachers and educators at all stages of their career. You will develop capabilities to critically engage with both research and practice-based evidence to understand effective teaching and learning practices.
Graduates are equipped to consider, translate, apply and evaluate the impact of this science to develop meaningful learning experiences for their students inside the classroom and in other educational contexts.
Supporting Diverse Learners
It develops the skills, knowledge and values for you to teach students with a range of diverse abilities and needs, from those with developmental disabilities to those who may have difficulties in learning, as well as those at risk of school failure or disengagement.
The field focuses on understanding individual, contextual, and systematic factors that affect learning and behaviour for individuals with learning or special needs including issues associated with assessment, curriculum, pedagogy and whole-life learning.
Fees and Scholarships
Indicative annual fee
AUD $15,152
Indicative annual fee 2021
This indicative annual fee is the cost of enrolling in the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies for one semester in 2021. It is calculated based on a standard full-time study load (8 units per semester).
The fee for part-time study is proportionately lower. All fees are reviewed annually.
Indicative annual fee
AUD $11,680
Indicative annual fee 2021
This indicative annual fee is the average cost of enrolling in the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies at 2021 fee rates. It is calculated based on a standard full-time study load (8 units in one semester).
The fee for part-time study would be proportionately less. Actual fees will vary according to your choice of courses, their unit value and the time you take to complete this program. Fees may be higher in later years as all fees are reviewed annually.
A limited number of Commonwealth supported places (CSPs) are offered in this program on the basis of academic merit. See the fee for a CSP in this program. Once all CSPs have been exhausted, offers may be made on a tuition-fee-paying basis.
Additional costs
- Students are responsible for the cost of transportation and accommodation to attend residential schools or practicals.
Government assistance
Financial aid
As an international student, you might be eligible for financial aid – either from your home country, or from the Australian Government.
FEE-HELP
Domestic students who are accepted into the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies pay tuition fees.
FEE-HELP is an Australian Government loan scheme to assist eligible students with the cost of their tuition fees.
Centrelink support
The Australian Government offers a number of income-support payments to eligible Australian university students.
Scholarships
Make your university experience more affordable with a scholarship. Opportunities include:
Scholarships
Make your university experience more affordable with a scholarship. Opportunities include:
How to apply
Applying online
All international applications should be submitted to UQ. If you prefer, you can use an approved UQ agent in your country.
The program code for the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies is 5448.
Find out more about applying for postgraduate coursework study
Applying online
All domestic applications should be submitted to UQ.
The program code for the Graduate Certificate in Educational Studies is 5448.
Find out more about applying for postgraduate coursework study
Important dates
The closing date for this program is:
To learn more about UQ dates, including semester start dates, view the Academic Calendar.
Important dates
The closing date for this program is:
To learn more about UQ dates, including semester start dates, view the Academic Calendar.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants
For support with applying - or if you have any questions about Uni - get in touch with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit.
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