UNE's Combined Degrees: History, Rationale and Consequences

Abstract

Teacher education has been a source of much debate and critique. Perhaps the most problematic area has been in pre-service education. Armidale has been involved in this area for 75 years. UNE's several combined degrees challenge traditional models of teacher pre-service education. There are three main purposes for this presentation. They are: a) to record the history of the development of the combined degrees at UNE; b) to explain the rationale for the development of the combined degree model as an alternative pathway to both the BEd and a '3 + 1' model; and c) to reflect on the consequences of the introduction of the combined degrees. The paper ends with a consideration of the merits of providing alternative pathways for teacher education.