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Pathways to Bachelors of Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Education & Leadership
Chenali Amaratunga
Future Students Advisor, Victoria University
Hello everyone. Welcome to the Bachelors of Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Education & Leadership pathway session. My name is Chenali and I'm a Future Students Advisor at Victoria University.
In this webinar, we will be talking to you about the possible pathway options from Victoria University Polytechnic to Victoria University for this course.
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Meet your panel
- Diana Rector, Pathways Coordinator - Admissions
- Mary-Rose McLaren, Lecturer / Course Chair - Bachelor of Early Childhood Education / Bachelor of Early Childhood Education & Leadership
- Scott Murray, Manager Pathways and Retention at Victoria University.
Chenali
And joining us is Diana Rector, Pathways Coordinator for Admissions. Mary-Rose McLaren, Course Chair for the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Leadership and Scott Murray, Manager Pathways and Retention at Victoria University.
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Acknowledgement of Country
Chenali
Before we start, I would like to acknowledge my Country and pay my respects to the custodians of the land we live, work and study on today. And I would also like to pay my respect to the elders, past, present and emerging.
Chenali
So as a student who's completing or already completed a program at VU Polytechnic, why transfer to university? There's a few reasons. You would have an easier transition to university from TAFE where you can enhance and expand your scope of knowledge. You also have a wider range of career options and would be able to get your degree in a shorter period of time as you will be granted credits for your previous study. This also means you'll finish off with two qualifications. And most importantly, you'll be studying in our award-winning block model.
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- Why transfer to university?
- Easy transition to university from TAFE
- Enhance and expand your learning
- Wider range or career opportunities
- Obtain a degree in a shorter period of time with credits
- Two qualifications
- Victoria University Block Model.
Chenali
At Victoria University, we have revolutionised tertiary education with our award-winning block model. The block model allows students to focus on one subject at a time, rather than juggling multiple subjects over a six-month period, like at other universities. And is offered to students in all years of our undergraduate degree.
With the VU Block Model, you'd be fully focused on each subject. If you are fascinated by one particular subject, you can immerse yourself in it and enjoy all that subject has to offer. And if you don't enjoy it, you will be pleased to have it finished in only four weeks without having to wait until the end of the semester to know your result. Up next is a brief video to show what your year is going to look like while studying under the block model at Victoria University.
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VU Block Model
- The first university delivering undergraduate degrees using a block model of teaching.
- 1 subject at a time
- 87% pass rate^
- 40% distinction or above^
- Under 35 students in a class
- Results within 3 days
The VU Block Model video plays
Instructor
We've been teaching the same way for hundreds of years now but the world around us has changed and along with it, employer and industry needs. So at VU, we changed the way you learn with our Australian first VU Block Model.
Traditionally, you juggle the demands and deadlines of four units at once.
Instead, the VU Block Model has you focus on one unit at a time.
Each semester will be broken into four blocks which run for four weeks.
You focus on one unit in each block completing all your assessments before moving on to the next.
So instead of this
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Traditional university, with a diagram showing 4 units running at the same time each semester.
Instructor
the VU Block Model looks like this
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diagram with text on screen
The diagram shows VU Block model with 1 unit following the other each semester.
Instructor
VU Block Model gives you greater focus by studying just one unit at a time in smaller more collaborative classes and provides flexible study options to suit your lifestyle.
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Improved student success
Instructor
With the introduction of Block Model, students success is soaring.
More students are passing first year and second year too
and over 40% of students are now enjoying grades at or above distinction levels.
VU students more engaged and satisfied with their uni experience.
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- Pass rate 13% up arrow first year
- Pass rate 90% up arrow second year
- 40% distinction level
- 82.2% overall student experience
Instructor
Employers have also noticed the difference ranking VU graduates in the top 10 of more than 40 universities for work readiness.
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Top 10 for work readiness
Instructor
And more than 90% of graduates are ranked highly for employability.
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90% ranked highly
Instructor
So when you study with the VU Block Model, you know it's proven to give you the support and skills you need to succeed.
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The New Way To Do Uni
VU logo
(this video is shown on the VU Block Model page)
Chenali
Once you successfully complete your diploma you may be eligible for a guaranteed pathway to the mentioned bachelor-level courses at Victoria University. What it means by a guaranteed pathway is that you have a confirmed entry to a course once you meet all the admissions criteria stated in the conditional offer letter.
As you can see, once you successfully complete the Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care or the Diploma of Education Studies or the Diploma of Teacher Education Preparation, you may be eligible for the listed credits once you transition into the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education or the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Leadership at Victoria University.
Certain bachelor degrees might also have additional admissions criteria to be met, which will be listed on the course web page.
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Pathway course (Code, Credit):
- Diploma of Early Childhood Education & Care (CHC50113, 96)
- Diploma of Education Studies (EDES, 96)
- Diploma of Teacher Education Preparation (22451VIC, 24)
VU course:
Bachelor of Early Childhood Education EBEC
TABLE 2
Pathway course (Code, Credit):
- Diploma of Early Childhood Education & Care (CHC50113, 96)
- Diploma of Education Studies (EDES, 96)
- Diploma of Teacher Education Preparation (22451VIC, 24)
VU course:
Bachelor of Early Childhood Education & Leadership EBCL
*Please refer to the VU and VUP course pages on the website for additional information
Diana Rector
Pathways Coordinator – Admissions
Thank you Chenali.
So what is a pathway conditional offer? A pathway conditional offer means you have a guaranteed place into an eligible pathway course upon successfully completing your current course and meeting any additional admissions criteria that may be required for the course. So what is the conditional offer process?
New conditional offers currently go out twice a year, in approximately May and October. At the same time as new offers are sent, acknowledgement emails are also sent to those that are previously accepted their pathway conditional offer. These emails are sent to your student email account. Information regarding next steps in the pathway process are also provided in both emails. I'm now going to talk a little bit about the full offer process.
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Admissions – pathways
What is a conditional offer?
- A pathway conditional offer means you have a guaranteed place (and in some cases with advanced standing) upon:
- successfully completing your current course
- meeting any additional admissions criteria for the higher education course (if required).
Conditional Offer process
- New offers sent – twice a year.
- Accepted offer acknowledgements sent – twice a year.
- Once offer accepted:
- completion in your current course is monitored
- additional entry requirements for the higher education course are validated (if required).
Diana
Once successful completion in your current course is confirmed, we process your offer as well as the eligible advanced standing. From there, you will be sent your ‘Enrol now’ email with your full offer into the Bachelor for the next available admissions intake.
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Admissions – pathways
Full offer process
Once completion and any additional entry requirements are confirmed:
- the offer is processed
- eligible advanced standing is processed
- full offer ‘Enrol in your Pathway course’ email into the Bachelor is sent for the next available admissions intake.
Diana
To enrol into the Bachelor, you need to simply follow the prompts within the email, log into your, MyVU portal, accept the full offer and enrol into available units. Please be aware that students receive pathway full offer emails at different stages as successful completion is confirmed and pathway full offers are made right up until classes commence for each intake period.
If you ever have any questions about your pathway full or conditional offer, please email Pathways. And we're always happy to answer your questions.
Thank you Chenali.
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enrolling into a higher education course
Follow the prompts within the email:
- log into your MyVU portal
- accept the offer
- enrol into available units.
- more information?
Email: [email protected].
Chenali
I would like to hand over to Mary-Rose McLaren who is the Course Chair for the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and the Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Leadership to speak to you about industry insights and a bit more about this course.
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Mary-Rose McLaren Course Chair - Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Bachelor of Early Childhood Education and Leadership
Associate Professor Mary-Rose McLaren
Hi, I'm Mary-Rose McLaren and I am an Associate Professor in the College of Arts and Education and the Course Chair for the Bachelor of Early Childhood. Early Childhood Education is awesome. It's just the most beautiful course because everything we do at VU is focused around the child. So it's very much about the idea of learning with children, understanding how children view the world, optimising their learning environments, connecting them to their understanding of their place in the world.
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The VU Block Model
Mary-Rose
The students in the courses really like the Block Model. They like getting deeply into something. When you do nine hours of a unit in a week and you do it with one teacher, you get a lot of really rich conversations happening and also rich experiences and because what we're doing is often inquiry based and it's sensory, the intensity of doing it in a block is a really rewarding experience. The other thing, of course, that they really like, that we all like I think, is that achievement is very easy to see. You come in, you do four weeks, you've passed a unit and that's a really good feeling. You build knowledge across the year, rather than having a long, drawn-out experience of tying things together.
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National Accreditation
Mary-Rose
So both the Bachelor of Early Childhood and the Graduate Diploma of Early Childhood are accredited by ACECQA, which is the Australian early childhood accrediting body. And they're also accredited with the VIT in that students register with the Victorian Institute of Teaching and are registered as a teacher. Not for teaching at primary school, they're only for birth to five years of age. So childcare and kinder but they're still registered as teachers through the VIT.
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Industry Placements
Mary-Rose
Industry connections are very important because in the Bachelor of Early Childhood, there are 80 days of placement across two years. In the Graduate Diploma of Early Childhood, there are 60 days of placement across one year. So that's a lot of placement and a lot of days to be spending in different types of centres and accumulating experience. There's a lot of blend across placement back to campus. While you're on placement, you still have access to your teachers on campus. There are still meetings between students and teachers. So there's a lot of tying up. What is my experience here? And how do I connect this to what I've learned on campus?
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Graduate Opportunities
Mary-Rose
There are fantastic career opportunities in early childhood education at the minute. Here in Victoria, the Andrews government has made a promise that every three-year-old will have the opportunity of going to three-year-old kinder. And that means we have to produce teachers who can teach in three-year-old kinders and we simply don't have enough at the minute. There's a growth area there.
We have a relationship with Goodstart Early Learning and so we have a partnership with them, which also means that our students who go into rural and regional areas with Goodstart for their final placement, presuming they pass that statement, are offered a job.
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Choose VU
Mary-Rose
VU is the only university in Victoria that offers a three-year degree in early childhood, so that means you're out working a year faster essentially. We also have a really rich degree and it's very focused. It's early childhood only. Many other institutions will offer early childhood and primary, which they're not necessarily an easy mix. Come and join us at VU. We have a beautiful course, a child-centered approach and I promise that you will feel enriched and fulfilled.
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The New Way To Do Uni
Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia
Chenali
Thank you, Mary-Rose. Last but not least, I would like to hand over to Scott who is a Manager, Pathways and Retention to speak to you about VU Employ and opportunities at VU.
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Scott Murray
Manager – Pathways and Retention
Scott
Thanks very much Chenali.
One of the key services that we offer at VU, which will help many different pathway student decide on whether or not to take up their pathway opportunity is VU Employ. VU Employ is our careers service and we offer career advice through email, consultations, one-on-one appointments with a qualified careers consultant, a range of different resources, including the VU Employ Collaborate space, Careers Toolkit and the VU Employ Career Directory, a range of different programs offered throughout the year, including Talent Connect Mentoring, Beyond VU and GVIP, as well as a huge calendar of events, including fairs and expos, industry events and a range of different workshops.
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VU Employ services
- Career advice – email support
- Consultations – career chats (15 minutes via phone), career counselling (45 minutes via Zoom)
- Resources – VU Employ Collaborate, Career toolkit, VU Employ career directory
- Programs – Talent Connect Mentoring, Beyond VU, GVIP
- Events – career fairs and expos, industry events, workshops.
Scott
VU Employ can help you with the decision-making in transitioning to higher education and what you need to consider. We can assist you in identifying values, skills, interests and personal situation when deciding what it is that you want to study. Work with you in exploring the different course options that are available. Provide the tools to research whether or not the study path will lead to strong job opportunities after graduation or beyond. And explore the different job opportunities available after you complete your HE degree.
VU Employ can:
- help you with the decision-making and transitioning to higher education study and what you need to consider
- assist you in identifying values, skills, interests, and the personal situation when deciding what to study
- work with you in exploring the course options available
- provide the tools to research whether the study path will lead to strong job opportunities after graduation
- explore those job opportunities available to you after you complete your HE degree.
Scott
This is one of many different opportunities available to VU students. These include VU Learning Hub, which is staffed by a dedicated team of staff and student mentors. The study abroad program, financial advice, VU Vollies, which is our volunteer program, student mentors in the library, leadership opportunities, wellness and counselling services, as well as huge range of different student clubs and societies.
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Opportunities at University:
- VU Learning Hub
- study abroad
- financial advice
- VU Vollies
- student mentors in library
- leadership opportunities
- wellness counselling
- student clubs.
Scott
If you have any questions about anything that we've spoken about today, for admissions information, you can email [email protected]. For specific course information, contact [email protected] and if you'd like to book a one-on-one appointment with a careers consultant, you can simply email [email protected]u.edu.au. We'd like to thank you very much for listening to this webinar.
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Questions
For admissions information: Email - [email protected]
For course information: Email - [email protected]
For VU EMPLOY appointments: Email - [email protected]
The New Way To Do Uni
Victoria University
