BEd Internship (ECE/Prim/Sec)

You will find that you cannot automatically enrol in the unit via the OUA website as usual. This is because the unit is blocked until all other units have been completed. Enrolment is dependent upon Curtin School of Education (SoE) staff providing specific clearance for each student to OUA so they can remove the block.

Students will still be engaged in their final academic units at the time they need to enrol in EDC450 for the following SP. Students do NOT need to leave a space of one SP before enrolling, as clearance will be provided based on the presumption that the final units will be passed. This is possible because the placement itself does not begin until 6 or 7 weeks into the SP. Therefore, there is time to withdraw, before the census date, once you know your final marks for assignments in the units. If you have not passed a unit, you can then withdraw from the Internship well before the 10-11 week (School Term) placement begins. Students are also required to let the proposed school staff know at this point. If students do not withdraw promptly themselves, they run the risk of incurring penalties, and PE staff will advise the school directly, after the official results release date.

The clearance process for the Internship unit involves SoE staff:

• Checking all units will have been successfully completed by the end of the SP immediately prior to the internship.
• Checking any electives not completed through Curtin University have been applied for via the Application for Credit for Recognised Learning process.
• Checking that your Working with Children/Police Clearance (applicable to your state) are current and valid for the duration of your Internship.
• Mentor and Supervisor forms.

Enrolment restriction through OUA will be lifted once the above has been received and confirmed by the placement office.

The most efficient way for students to manage this whole process is to first of all check that all units will be accounted for, and then, when you are confident you are eligible to enrol in the Internship unit, email  professional.experience@curtin.edu.au asking that clearance be provided for you. Your request will be attended to promptly but cannot be undertaken until the SP immediately prior to the proposed Internship.  Please do not leave it until the enrolment closing date before seeking clearance as we do not wish to risk you not being able to enrol.

Please note that the above is a standard process for all students.  Additional information will be required as part of the clearance process if students seek special consideration for their individual circumstances that leads to a variation in placement requirements. This includes seeking to return to a previous school, repeat a year level, undertaking a placement where previously employed or where there are pre-existing relationships of any kind.  Such requests will be considered on on a case by case basis.

An enrolment in SP4/Term 1 may not be appropriate for many students as it is more difficult to secure a school for a placement at the beginning of school Term 1.

Any student considering enrolling in EDC450 in Study Period 4, must be aware of the following:

• You must make at least two familiarisation and planning visits to the school prior to your 10 week placement.
• You cannot begin these visits until you are enrolled in the unit and the SP commences.
• This means students will only have approximately three weeks to undertake pre-visits in Term 4 and many schools and teachers will not welcome this at that time of the school year. It is important to complete some pre-visits in Term 4 to help with planning for your AfGT.
• You will then have a long holiday break with no contact, followed by an expectation that you begin your placement early in Term 1 – again, this can be difficult for schools and teachers to manage. You cannot expect a mentor teacher to be available to you during the summer holiday break.
• Your 10-week placement will occur in Term 1 of the following year. This means the SP may run for an extended time, longer than the standard 13 weeks.

Therefore, this option may not suit standard circumstances and is only provided to avoid undue delay for certain students who are in particular positions.

The usual clearance processes apply and these will occur in the usual way. This involves checking that you will have completed all units prior to your Internship, have applied for any CRL that is applicable for Electives, and that you have passed the mandatory literacy and numeracy tests.

Early Childhood Education

Please click here to see the ECE year level in which the internship must be undertaken for each State and Territory. 

Primary Education

Primary students need to complete their  Internship in a different year level to previous school experiences, e.g., if you have completed Year 1 and Year 3 you will need to complete an upper year level.

Students must undertake placement across all year levels: junior (Y1-2), middle (Y3-4) and upper (Y5-6) in keeping with course requirements.

Please follow the Guidelines for Contacting Schools and take a copy of the Introductory Letter and the Professional Experience Handbook, to any introductory meetings:

Guidelines for Contacting Schools

Bachelor of Education ECE PE Handbook

Bachelor of Education Primary PE Handbook

Bachelor of Education Secondary PE Handbook

PE School Introductory Letter – all units

As soon as you have secured a placement in a school, please fill in the mentor and supervisor forms as soon as you have all the information, and email them to Curtin (professional.experience@curtin.edu.au) before the SP starts.

It is very important that you notify Curtin immediately if there are any changes to your mentor or school-based supervisor details.

You will visit your school two (2) times, for two (2) full days, prior to the internship, in order to familiarise yourself with the school, class and teacher and to enable you to plan. Feel free to complete extra visits before the SP starts if you wish, and if the school allows, as a volunteer. Please note that any informal visits completed before the SP starts will not be formally supervised and can NOT be counted, as you are not an official representative of Curtin at that time.

Pre-visits are to be completed in the term prior to your internship, within the study period in which you are enrolled. These visits are informal and will not be formally supervised, however, they must be documented and sent into Curtin.

The visits are a time for you to meet your class and mentor teacher, identify the students’ characteristics and learning needs for the following term, plan collaboratively with your mentor, and familiarise yourself with all class and school routines and policies.

Please note the following:

• You must keep a record of these visits and submit the record to Curtin  (professional.experience@curtin.edu.au) as soon as they are completed.
• The visits can only begin once the SP starts, usually 4-5 weeks at the end of the school term before you start your teaching block.
• You can complete the 5 days any way you prefer – one day a week for five weeks or in one full week.

Please ensure you adhere to the Curtin code of conduct during these visits and make a good first impression to your mentor teacher and school.

All accredited Initial Teacher Education programs in Australia are required to administer a final-year Teaching Performance Assessment (TPA) to students, which must be passed to be eligible for graduation as a teacher.

Curtin University is a member of a consortium of universities which developed and uses the TPA known as the The Assessment for Graduate Teaching (AfGT).

The AfGT is a culminating assessment designed to be undertaken in the classroom environment during the final professional experience placement. Its purpose is to evaluate each pre-service teacher’s teaching, professional decision-making, and impact on student learning in a real-life context.

More information on the AfGT can be found here.

For PE administration queries please contact the Curtin School of Education OUA PE Team (professional.experience@curtin.edu.au) using this email template.

For PE Academic queries please contact your Tutor, Unit Coordinator, or Course Coordinator.

Curtin Connect: your Curtin hub for general student service, support and advice

Curtin Personal Support

Once your final results have been sent for processing, it may take 1-10 days before they are visible in eStudent under the “my results” tab after the official results are released for your study period. The 1-10 day time frame is due to your grade being processed through the Faculty office and then through Student Central.

Please do not order an academic transcript before your results have been officially published, as completion of the internship unit will not have been recorded and you will then need to order another official transcript which will incur a small fee.

Please note – before your results can be submitted for processing, the below actions are required:

• mentor and supervisor final reports and grade slips must be submitted to the university
• you have a pass on the AfGT.

If you are attending a graduation and have registered for this, you will receive your official award and transcript on this day.

If you are not attending a graduation and have registered to have your award sent to you, you will receive in the mail your official award and transcript shortly after the designated graduation day.

For teacher registration purposes you can purchase official documentation.

The Curtin Graduations Website will provide you with the step by step guide for preparing for graduation.