Assumed knowledge: two units of HSC English at Band 4.
Qualification for this award requires the successful completion of 240 credit points.
All students must enrol in and complete:
Key Program
The basic structure of the Bachelor of Arts is the Level 1 core (40 credit points) and the Key Program (120 credit points).
The 40 credit points Level 1 core is made up of:
Australia and the World
This unit introduces students to Australia’s history, its political structures and processes and its relationship to the world. It offers an understanding of Australia as part of a worldwide process of European colonisation, and the struggles of space and land involved in this process. The unit offers an introduction to the Westminster system and also explores Australia’s historical and contemporary relations with Japan, China, Indonesia, the United States and Great Britain.
Contemporary Society
Contemporary Society introduces students to central issues in social analysis and a range of perspectives that have been used to understand the social world. It provides them with a theoretical grounding in the contral concepts and methods of social theory through an encounter with problems raised when social theory directly engages with practical problems such as racism, environmentalism, inequality etc.
Media and Visual Cultures
Image and representation are integral elements of the contemporary world. Increasingly knowledge is produced, disseminated and interpreted through visual media. Individuals often use visual images to understand themselves and their society. This unit will introduce students to a range of genres as well as methodologies and theories related to visual analysis. Media considered include art (painting, drawing, and sculpture), photography, film, television and digital media.
Texts and Traditions
Texts and Traditions offers students an introduction to the Western tradition through the reading of canonical texts in literature and philosophy, as well as providing an historical context to such works. Literary genres such as epic poetry and tragic drama are explored alongside philosophical themes such as: the development of the Western subject, Christianity, humanism, the Enlightenment, and the relationship of the Western tradition to other intellectual and religious traditions. Set texts will usually include works by Homer, Sophocles, Dante, Shakespeare, the Romantic poets and Kafka; as well as pieces from the Greek and Enlightenment philosophers.
All students must complete a Key Program.Explenations for these Key Programs can be found under the listings below.
Key Programs available are:
Languages
Islamic Studies
Humanities
Psychology
*Students wishing to go on to qualify as School Counsellors must enrol in the Key Program of Psychology and should use their 80 credit points of elective to pick up their chosen principal teaching area (by study of units within the Bachelor of Arts, or from another course of study).
In addition to the BA core unit and the Key Program sequence, students enrolled in the Humanities, Islamic Studies or Languages Key Programs may choose to complete an 80 credit point Education Studies Major. Explanations of the Education major sequences can be found in the relevant section below
Advice is given below about how particular majors lead to particular areas of secondary teaching. Students should note that rules for secondary teacher accreditation in NSW are as follows:
In the discussion about secondary teaching qualifications which accompanies each major below, the discussion is based on qualifications for a first teaching area only. Students can make the appropriate adjustments for a second teaching area as well as seek appropriate advice. Students must qualify in a first teaching area in order to have a second teaching area.
Majors
Students who wish to undertake an additional major drawn from another Key Program are not required to undertake the core units for that Key Program before studying a major sequence.
The exception to this rule is Psychology, which must be studied in its entirety for reasons of external accreditation, and is not available as an additional major.
Bachelor of Arts (Pathway—Secondary) Key Programs
Key Program in Humanities
The Key Program in Humanities consists of an 80 credit point major and 40 credit point sub-major.
The 80 credit point Humanities major must come from one of the following areas:
The 40 credit point sub-major comes from a Humanities area other than that chosen for the major, with the exception of:
Art History and Cinema Studies
Asian Studies and International Relations
Cultural and Social Analysis
English, Text and Writing
History, Politics and Philosophy
The 40 credit point sub-major comes from a Humanities major other than the area chosen for the Key Program, with the exception of students who have chosen the Humanities major area Asian Studies and International Relations, or students who have chosen the major area in English, Text and Writing.
Art History and Cinema Studies
Asian Studies and International Relations
Cultural and Social Analysis
English, Text and Writing
History, Politics and Philosophy
Key Program in Islamic Studies
Islamic Studies
The Key Program in Islamic Studies offers students in-depth study by building on a solid theoretical foundation introduced in the first year, then moving progressively into topics and disciplines essential to an understanding of Islamic studies, past and present. The area of study balances text and context, as well as historical and modern Islamic studies and research methods. One of the keys to Islamic Studies is ‘relevance’ to the contemporary world, but relevance can only come from a sound comprehension of past traditions in Islamic scholarship and their socio-historical contexts. Preparation for graduate study is also a key objective of this program, with its focus on developing critical and interdisciplinary research skills in Islam through a combination of approaches.
The Key Program in Islamic Studies consists of an 80 credit point major and a 40 credit point sub-major in Arabic Language.
Islamic Studies
Arabic
Key Program in Languages
Languages
A Key Program in a language comprises of 120 credit points in three areas of languages and linguistics study comprising: (i) a minimum of 40 credit points of studies in a Language other than English (ii) 40 credit points of studies in the Linguistics area of studies and (iii) the balance of 40 credit points may be used to complete a major in the same language, or a sub major in another language or from further studies in a ‘Language in professional contexts’ area with a choice from a pool of units in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) and Second Language ( L2) teaching, or Interpreting and Translation, or English Linguistics.
Arabic
Chinese
Italian
Spanish
Interpreting and Translation
English Linguistics
TESOL and L2 Teaching
Arabic
Chinese
Japanese
Spanish
Students may complete additional majors or sub majors in another language or Linguistics or any other approved program using some or all of their 80 credit points of elective units.
Key Program in Psychology
Psychology
The Psychology key program offered within the Bachelor of Arts and the Bachelor of Social Sciences is accredited by the Australian Psychologists Accreditation Council (APAC) and the NSW Psychologist Registration Board as undergraduate three year sequence in Psychology. The Psychology key program prepares graduates for an accredited fourth year in Psychology such as Psychology Honours or the Postgraduate Diploma in Psychology.
Psychology is the field of inquiry that uses scientific techniques and methods to understand and explain behavior and experience. As a profession, it involves the application of psychological knowledge to practical problems in human behavior. Units in the program are drawn from the following topic areas of psychology: history of psychology, biological psychology, learning, social psychology, lifespan development, sensation and perception, individual differences, personality and cognitive processes.
The Key Program in Psychology requires the successful completion of the 40 credit point Bachelor of Arts core units plus the 120 credit points of units in the recommended sequence.
Education Studies Major
Students enrolled in the Bachelor of Arts (Pathway to Teaching-Secondary)
may choose to structure their electives to complete an Education Studies major.
Education Studies
