Meet national and NSW policy requirements

For NSW primary ITE programs to be accredited and satisfy national ITE accreditation Program Standards 3.2 and 3.7 as applicable, all entrants need to have either:

• achieved at least a Band 4 result in an HSC mathematics course
• satisfied one of the approved equivalent measures to HSC Band 4 mathematics through admission procedures or program design.

Undergraduate programs

For an undergraduate primary ITE program to be accredited by NESA, and for Program Standard 3.2 to be addressed, all entrants will need to either:

• possess at least a Band 4 result in an HSC mathematics course, or
• undertake a mathematics/numeracy discipline unit (0.125 EFTSL) in the first year of the program that is in addition to that required by the national accreditation standards described in Schedule 1 for Program Standard 4.2.

This unit should address the discipline-specific knowledge requirements for primary mathematics/numeracy as described by NSW Subject Content Knowledge Requirements. The total component of mathematics/numeracy discipline and discipline-specific curriculum and pedagogical studies in an ITE program must therefore equate to, or exceed, 0.375 EFTSL (3 units).

Graduate entry

For a graduate entry primary ITE program to be accredited by NESA, and for Program Standards 3.2 and 3.7 to be addressed, all entrants will need to either:

• possess at least a Band 4 result in a prior HSC mathematics course
• have undertaken at least 0.125 EFTSL (1 unit) of mathematics/numeracy in the prior bachelor degree or equivalent qualification
• pass a bridging unit (in addition to the program’s units) that is benchmarked to a Band 4 HSC result and addresses the discipline-specific knowledge requirements for primary mathematics/numeracy as described by NSW Subject Content Knowledge Requirements, or
• undertake a dedicated mathematics/numeracy discipline unit (0.125 EFTSL) in the first year of the program that is in addition to that required by the national accreditation standards as described in Schedule 1 for Program Standard 4.2. This unit should address the discipline-specific knowledge requirements for primary mathematics/numeracy as described by NSW Subject Content Knowledge Requirements. The total component of mathematics/numeracy discipline-specific curriculum and pedagogical studies must therefore equate to, or exceed, 0.375 EFTSL (3 units).

University admissions staff may deem the following HSC mathematics courses as equivalent to an HSC Band 4:

• Band 4 in Mathematics Standard 1, 2 and Advanced
• E2 in Mathematics Extension

Life Skills and Numeracy courses are not applicable as these are not assessed within the HSC Band scale.

As with the requirements of 3 HSC band 5 including one in English, the vast majority of ITE providers structure programs to cater for the range of applicants through a comparable measure.

We appreciate that providing a differentiated approach for various applicants presents an issue for providers in tracking the entry and progress of individual applicants. Because of this, some providers will structure programs to include a bridging unit or unit in the first year. In addition, feedback from our consultation period highlighted that many applicants to a primary Graduate Entry (GE) degree do not have Mathematics in their HSC or bachelor degree (UG). If you choose to admit based on HSC results, there is no sunset clause on those. However, we’d expect providers to make determinations on an individual basis for very old results as to the applicant’s mathematics/numeracy knowledge both in terms of having sufficient discipline knowledge to teach mathematics and for provider reputation for preparing classroom-ready teachers.

NESA does not set a sunset clause on accepting bachelor degrees but expects that providers apply diligence in making admission decisions. In other words, if an applicant presents with a bachelor degree having studied for example, maths or statistics, it is at the discretion of the university to accept. The premise on both accounts is to ensure applicants have the adequate precursor knowledge and preparation of mathematics, and, to graduate with the confidence to teach primary mathematics.

If it is a unit used in other higher education study or precursor admissions programs, then we assume the content would be AQF level 6 or above which would be more than comparable to an HSC Band 4.

Evidence should demonstrate content as it relates to the discipline-specific expectations of the Subject Content Knowledge (SCK) Requirements for primary maths teaching.

It is also possible for content within a bridging unit to extend beyond the SCK in relation to primary maths discipline content. The bridging unit should be the equivalent of 0.125 EFTSL.

A bridging unit does not need to be completed in its entirety prior to entry. However, it is expected that the bridging unit should be commenced at the point of entry and successfully completed in the first year of the program. Therefore, it is technically possible to view it as a concurrent unit of study.

The option to include a dedicated maths or numeracy unit in the first year of study, in addition to the minimum requirement of Program Standard 4.2, should be reflected in the structure of the program.

Once it forms the accredited version of the program, the university should use discretion on an individual basis to determine whether it is appropriate to progress a student in the program should they fail.

The principle of the Policy Statement is to provide a solid foundation of mathematics and numeracy understanding to support teacher education students to progress through their ITE qualification and for classroom preparation. So, with the intent of the Policy Statement in mind, it is preferable for the dedicated unit to be successfully completed in the first year. The application of unit prerequisite or co-requisite requirements may be developed to address this issue.