School of Education

The short answer is yes! This will depend upon the availability of places as Department of Education teachers are given priority. There are four domestic fee-paying units in the Graduate Certificate (Industry) Design and Technology program, each currently costing $2960, plus minor incidental fees associated with the workshop-based units. The program follows a non-standard delivery pattern to accommodate in-service teachers, which involves several units being delivered during the July, October and January school holidays. To commence the application process, please email julie.boston@ecu.edu.au

The Design & Technology curriculum unit TEF6600 is delivered online during Semester 1.

The remaining three content units have mandatory on campus units using ECU’s workshops. The teaching of these units follows a non-standard delivery schedule to accommodate DoE sponsored participants. These on campus units will be delivered in 2-week intensive blocks during the school holiday periods. See delivery schedule above.

This Graduate certificate requires you to complete two professional experience placements across three different settings:

• Birth to three-year-olds setting in an early learning setting (15 days)
• Three to five-year-olds in a preschool setting, which can be a kindergarten on a school site (15 days)
• Five to eight-year-old school setting (30 days)

No. The professional experiences have been carefully planned to accommodate working professional educators. Placements in early learning centres are timed to coincide with school holidays. School-based placements are timed during Terms two and three, and in some instances can be completed in your own classroom setting.

Yes, this is possible with the agreement of the Centre Director and/or the school Principal.

The course is made up of four academic content units and professional experience placements. These academic units are at AQF level 8 i.e. post graduate level. The units are delivered entirely online. In each unit, there will be three synchronous collaborative meetings that you are expected to attend; these are timed for after-school hours to accommodate working professionals. The course content has been streamlined so you will study only one unit at a time.

Please expect to commit 10 -15 hours per week to complete your readings, online tasks, contributions to the online learning community and preparation of assessment tasks.

This course has been specifically designed to commence with an online Orientation module to help you navigate the course structure. Orientation commences the week of 5 January 2026 and will take approximately 5-10 hours. This orientation includes a professional experience hub, an introduction to key early childhood documents (e.g. National Quality Framework and NQS, EYLF2.0) and an academic support module to help you transition back into postgraduate study.

Whilst DoE cover most costs relating to the Leap program you are personally liable for the ‘SSAF’ fee. This fee is payable each semester.

Please take careful note of the Census and Academic penalty dates for each teaching period. If withdrawal occurs after these dates, you may be personally liable for payment of the unit and an academic penalty may be applied to your student record.

Relief days are sent to your school for the time you need to be out of the classroom for study, course work, revision sessions and exams for your Leap course. Each DoE teacher may have a different amount of relief based on the course and your work fraction, so please check this with DoE when you first commence the Leap@ECU sponsored program.

When using relief days, line manager approval is always required. Whilst some relief days are fixed for exams and revision sessions, study days are flexible. Please negotiate with your school to minimise disruption wherever possible. Please also discuss with your line manager that you are completing your study at ECU. You do not need to submit leave on HRMIS as you do not use any of your leave credits.

DoE teachers are not paid to undertake sponsored Leap postgraduate courses. Fixed term and permanent DoE teachers continue to be paid by their school as per their normal contract conditions.

DoE supports teachers to participate in the Leap program by paying for course fees and essential course materials. DoE determines who is Leap sponsored, typically DoE sponsors teachers for one attempt at each unit within the nominated Leap course at ECU.

If you are a fixed term or permanent DoE teacher whose work location is 50 kilometres or more from the place of study, you may be eligible for assistance. Please contact DoE team by emailing leap@education.wa.edu.au to discuss travel and accommodation arrangements. It is your responsibility to contact DoE well in advance of your travel dates to ensure there is enough time to make arrangements.

There is no guarantee that DoE can support you to re-attempt a unit if you fail. This will require a discussion with DoE Leap Coordinator about what occurred and what sort of plan can be put in place to support successful completion of the course at ECU. There may also be other factors that need to be considered.

Please also refer to the Academic Progression webpage

There may be instances that are unexpected and out of your control that may adversely impact on your ability to submit an assessment item by the due date. For details on how to apply for an extension please visit: https://askus2.ecu.edu.au/s/article/000001386

You can get your student ID card from any of our eLab counters on campus, where your photo will be taken, and your card will be produced while you wait. If you are off campus you need to complete the application for a student ID card and submit it with a passport size photo of yourself as directed on the form.