Doctor of Teaching (DCTEAC)

Course description

This course is designed to provide for the needs of professional educators, teacher-researchers and teacher-leaders who are required to design, develop and implement curriculum, institute and manage change, devise policy, engage in assessment, and provide advice about program implementation in their professional practice.

The Doctor of Teaching is distinguished from the PhD by the inclusion of a distinct practical thesis component.

Teacher-researchers undertake practical research in their field of teaching, which may involve developing an approach to teaching that is situated and contextualised to local conditions. Such research often incorporates rigorous self-critique, the participation of critical friends, and feedback from students and others.

Doctor of Teaching research may be presented either as a portfolio in an applied area or by 50,000 to 70,000-word thesis. The aim of the research is to select an aspect of a professional field, which can be investigated intensively and yield professionally-relevant recommendations.

Recommended Study plan

There are usually seven successive phases of this program:

1. The doctorial candidate will prepare an overview of his or her proposed research outlining the aim and area of the study. This is submitted to their prospective principal supervisor and Doctor of Teaching coordinator.
2. A supervisory panel will be provisionally assigned to the candidate then finalised after six months of full-time study.
3. After completing 12 months full-time study, the candidate will submit to the supervisory panel a research proposal, which clearly articulates a research problem, critically reviews the relevant literature, explains significance of the study, and identifies the research methods to be used and the mode of presentation (as a thesis or a portfolio).
4. The candidate will then submit a university ethics clearance application to undertake the research, if required.
5. The candidate will undertake the necessary data collection, then analyse and write up the findings under the guidance of the supervisory panel.
6. On completion of the research, a candidate shall present a thesis or portfolio embodying the results of the research for external examination. This thesis or portfolio must clearly reflect the application of intellectual skills to a problem in education.
7. Once examiners’ assessments have been provided the doctoral candidate will be asked to respond to any areas of concern. Upon successful completion of the assessment process the supervisory panel will make its recommendations regarding each doctoral candidacy.

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