Melbourne Graduate School of Education Future Students

Study Education of the Deaf with us

Significant hearing loss can impact on normal learning processes experienced by children with normal hearing. Teaching children with impaired hearing is one of the most challenging yet rewarding specialist areas in education.

Applications for these courses can now be submitted for 2010 enrolment so Apply Now

Programs in Education of the Deaf

You can specialise in Education of the Deaf by choosing one of the following programs:

Program

Part Time

Full Time

Postgraduate Certificate in Educational Studies

1 year

6 months

Postgraduate Certificate in Educational Studies (Language Intervention and Hearing Impairment)

2 years

1 year

Postgraduate Diploma in Educational Studies No intake in 2010

2 years

1 year
Master of Education (by coursework) New structure from 2010 2 years 1 year
Master of Education (by coursework) No intake in 2010 3 years 18 months
Master of Education (by research) (thesis only) No intake in 2010 2 years 1 year
Master of Education (by research) (thesis only) No intake in 2010 3 years 18 months
Master of Education (by research) (thesis and coursework) No intake in 2010 2 years 1 year
Master of Education (by research) (thesis and coursework) New structure from 2010 3 years 18 months

Master of Education (Language Intervention and Hearing Impairment)

 2 years 1 year
Doctor of Education (by research)

6 years

3 years
Doctor of Education (by coursework)

6 years

3 years
PhD

6 years

3 years


NB. The differing lengths of the Masters programs are based on the previous qualifications/work experience of the applicant)

Themes and subjects explored in Education of the Deaf


Our courses provide you the knowledge and skills to effectively work with hearing impaired children in the classroom and access resources that will help to support students with hearing loss.

Some subjects available to students include:

Staff in the Education of the Deaf area

The School’s education of the deaf research continues to attract international recognition.  Current staff research projects focus on teacher of the deaf beliefs and practices, executive functioning in deaf children, speech perception and spoken language skills, pragmatic skills, narrative skills, educational outcomes and early intervention.

Associate Professor Margaret Brown
Dr Louise Paatsch

Research in the field of Education of the Deaf


Family functioning, early intervention support, and spoken language outcomes for children with profound hearing loss

This study investigated parents’ perceptions of their family’s functioning and the level of early intervention support they received as they reflected on their involvement at an oral early intervention centre for children with hearing loss.  Overall, parents reported high levels of family functioning and satisfaction with the services they had received.  Parental ratings of family functioning were not associated with either the child’s language performance or the device used.  The parents of the four children who entered mainstream classes on exit from the early intervention program appeared to rate their family functioning slightly lower than did parents of the children who entered oral facilities or special schools for the deaf.  Case studies indicated that family functioning is dependent on many factors and that early intervention professionals should be sensitive to individual needs, strengths and priorities.

This research is published in: Brown, P. M., Bakar, Z. A., Rickards, F. W., & Griffin, P. (2006).  Family functioning, early intervention support, and spoken language outcomes for children with profound hearing loss. Deafness and Education International, 8 (4).

The effects of speech production and vocabulary training on different components of spoken language performance.

A group of 21 hard-of-hearing and deaf children attending a primary school were trained by their teachers on the production of selected consonants and on the meanings of selected words.  Speech production, vocabulary knowledge, reading aloud, and speech perception measures were obtained before and after each type of training.  The speech production training produced a small but significant improvement in the percentage of consonants correctly produced in words.  The vocabulary training improved knowledge of word meanings substantially.  Performance on speech perception and reading aloud were significantly improved by both types of training.  These results were in accord with the predictions of a mathematical model put forward to describe the relationships between speech perception, speech production, and language measures in children (Paatsch, Blamey, Sarant, Martin, & Bow, 2004). These training data demonstrate that the relationships between the measures are causal.  In other words, improvements in speech production and vocabulary performance produced by training will carry over into predictable improvements in speech perception and reading scores.  Furthermore, the model will help educators identify the most effective methods of improving receptive and expressive spoken language for individual children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. 

This research is published in: Paatsch, L. E., Blamey, P. J., Sarant, J. Z., & Bow, C. P. (2006).  The effects of speech production and vocabulary training on different components of spoken language performance. Journal of Deaf Studies & Deaf Education, 11(1), 39-55.

Who is this program suitable for?

Career outcomes

Studies in Education of the Deaf will enable you to work in early intervention settings, special schools and facilities, and to support students with hearing loss in mainstream schools.

Key benefits of the program

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