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Executive Dean's Welcome

Transforming Learning Communities through Education and Research

Professor Marie Emmitt, Executive Dean of the Faculty of EducationExecutive Dean, Faculty of Education
Professor Marie Emmitt

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the Faculty of Education at Australian Catholic University. We are guided by our mission to empower learning and teaching communities to engage in intellectual debate, research, knowledge transfer and innovation to create an equitable society.

We pride ourselves on providing quality learning, teaching, professional development and research opportunities. Adding to our traditional strengths in primary and secondary teacher education, we also have key strengths in the areas of early childhood education, mathematics education, literacy education, leadership education, religious education and wellbeing and inclusive education. In true Catholic intellectual tradition our courses are developed with a focus on social justice and equity, the common good, and the development of an individual as a whole person.

Our five campuses spread across eastern Australia are home to a dynamic, multicultural and vibrant community of over 8000 students enrolled in various undergraduate, preservice, postgraduate and research programs. Our graduates are socially responsible, highly employable and committed to active and responsive learning. An Education qualification from ACU gives more than a degree. It gives access to a dynamic profession across the Catholic, public and independent school sector, and an opportunity to guide the development of young people – from early childhood through to secondary school and beyond.

At ACU Education we are committed to building a specialised and well regarded research environment. Our two dedicated research centres – The Mathematics Teaching and Learning Research Centre and The Centre for Creative and Authentic Leadership – continue to provide a solid foundation for intellectual debate, dialogue and discovery in discipline-specific research areas. The recently developed and established Senior Proven Research Team (SPRT) builds on this strength to create additional capacity building and research in the area of early childhood education. We are providing better infrastructure and training opportunities, building new partnerships and projects, and fostering inter-disciplinary research opportunities and collaborations for staff and students. Our belief in practice-based research means that we share our research knowledge with practitioners in professional learning settings, students and parents to impact current educational practices. The ranking of ‘at world standard’ in the area of Curriculum and Pedagogy underlines our commitment to creating a robust research culture at ACU.

The staff at ACU Education are well regarded in their field and are passionate about education. They strive to provide better learning and teaching experiences for each student, and to nurturing educators who can analyse, critique, question and develop existing educational theories and practices to create a socially equitable environment.  As a Catholic university, we work with national and international partners in schools, early childhood settings, communities, agencies and governments to constantly support Australia’s education system. These partnerships provide our staff and students with unique opportunities to learn, grow, collaborate and create.

I welcome you to experience our unique approach towards educating teachers and education leaders for the future – individuals and professionals committed to a just and equitable society and a sustainable tomorrow.

Download the 2010 Annual Report (PDF, 3.86MB)