Bachelor of Fine Arts / Education (Secondary)

You’ll understand educational psychology, different social and Indigenous perspectives, inclusive strategies for special education, managing the classroom environment, and responding to gifted and talented students. You’ll also be able to choose an elective course in critical issues, motivation, culture, digital literacy, or communication skills.  

The first professional experience is a one-day intensive orientation and online activities followed by a four-week supervised work placement. The second placement goes for nine weeks, and you’ll gradually shift towards more autonomy, responsibility, and accountability. Both placements provide you with real-world experience and supportive feedback to guide your future career.  

Before starting your professional experiences, you’ll need a Working with Children Check, mandatory anaphylaxis training, and two successfully completed NESA LANTITE (Literacy and Numeracy Test for Initial Teacher Education Students) tests.  

To teach visual arts, you’ll need to choose specialist courses in visual arts education methods. Similarly, to become a music teacher you’ll choose music education methods courses. However, to teach graphics and multimedia, you’ll study education method courses in visual arts and graphics and multimedia technology. 

In each of these specialisations, you’ll design innovative and engaging lesson plans incorporated with effective teaching strategies for diverse learning styles. Find out how to create a safe and supportive classroom environment; and discover innovative resources that assess and improve learning. Through self- and peer evaluation, you’ll understand how to present yourself in a professional manner.  

This ground-breaking specialisation meets industry demand for content developers and creative practitioners. With work experience and intensive skills training in the latest technologies, you’ll graduate with crucial assets for the creative media industry.   

Discover what's possible when your imagination comes alive in our custom studios. Innovative and industry-aligned, this specialisation empowers you to thrive as an artist. Learning from accomplished, industry-active media artists, producers, and theorists, you'll work with the latest creative ideas and production methods.    

To teach graphics and multimedia, you’ll need to choose visual effects as your first specialisation. For your second specialisation, you can choose animation, moving image, sound, or 3D visualisation. This is a requirement for NESA accreditation.    

Animation    
Starting with the essential elements of animated movement, you'll incorporate real-world physics into your animated sequences and experiment with 3D as you develop your animation portfolio and showreel. For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts or graphics and multimedia, you can choose to specialise in animation and visual effects. 

Moving image   
Learn how to work with video to produce art, installations, experimental films, and cinema. Starting with digital video cameras, sound recording and editing software, you’ll develop shooting and editing skills as you explore different genres and studio production techniques. For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts or graphics and multimedia, you can choose to specialise in moving image and visual effects. 

Visual effects   
Integrate computer-generated elements with live-action footage as you explore the creative possibilities of visual effects. Working hands-on with digital cameras, greenscreens, and the latest digital software, you'll learn how to create and sequence content to capture audience attention. For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts or graphics and multimedia, you must study visual effects and one other specialisation in animation & moving image.    

Sound   
Get hands-on in our sound studios and acoustic environments to create media artworks using sound-based techniques and processes. Develop skills and knowledge to create compelling soundscapes for screen-based projects as well as sound art for galleries and virtual and public spaces. For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts or graphics and multimedia, you can choose to specialise in sound and visual effects.   

3D Visualisation   
Delve into virtual worlds in our 3D studio and explore how to create virtual environments. Develop the skills and practices required to join a growing digital industry. Through hands-on experience, you'll gain 3D modelling and texturing skills, leading to virtual reality applications and real-time immersive platforms.  For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts or graphics and multimedia, you can choose to specialise in 3D visualisation and visual effects.  

Take your love of music to the next level as you reach professional musical standards and create with confidence. Our intellectually and artistically comprehensive classes will prepare you for a long career in music and a lifetime of music-making.  

Develop your interests across a diverse range of musical genres under guidance from world-class performers and scholars. The music specialisation allows you to explore and perform classical, experimental, and modern music, music technology, electronic music, and studio recording. No matter what genre draws you in, you'll join a community of supportive and inspiring musicians who value creative, ethical, and cosmopolitan musical practices. 

This specialisation includes one-to-one lessons and an array of ensemble classes. Learn professional and technical skills for music performance along with theoretical musicology knowledge. Rehearse and perform in custom-built spaces with extensive support to hone your skills. After your first year, your skills will continue to develop through a flexible pathway, or with a focus on creative practice, music pedagogy or sonic arts. 

To become a high school music teacher, you can specialise in any area of this degree – music, creative practice, pedagogy, or sonic arts. In the education component of this double degree, you’ll need to choose the music education method courses offered for NESA accreditation.  

Please note that acceptance into this specialisation requires you to audition. For more information, visit UNSW Music auditions, opens in a new window. 

Ensembles and industry connections   
Put your skills into practice and connect with industry professionals through our ensembles:    

• UNSW Symphony Orchestra    
• Collegium Musicum Choir    
• a range of jazz ensembles   
• New Music Ensemble   
• Chinese Music Ensemble   
• Balinese Gamelan   
• Tango Ensemble   
• Bulgarian Voices   
• Wind Symphony   

You can also choose to build connections and experiences through an industry internship and overseas study.    

Creative practice   
Devote more of your studies to performance, composition, and creation. Challenge your musical skills to develop and perform a specialised music style that demonstrates your technical and interpretive abilities. Develop your craft by collaborating with others in ensembles and one-to-one lessons. With support from mentors, lecturers, and teachers, you'll produce original performances, compositions, and recordings to showcase at public events.  

Music pedagogy    
Shape your individual style of teaching music to beginners, advanced students, children, and adults. You'll understand how to bring out the best in others by developing an objective approach to your own learning and performance skills. You'll make formal observations of expert teachers at work, get practical experience presenting specialist instrumental and vocal skills, and understand how teaching and learning fit within broader approaches to music education.  

Sonic arts   
Blend ideas with practical skills to explore new sonic technologies and develop your future career in electronic arts. While exploring experimental compositions and recent music production trends, you'll work on projects that build your sound design, sequencing, mixing, editing and post-production skills. You'll combine audio with video and create immersive environments for multi-speaker and surround sound projects. Your learning will take place in our industry-standard recording studios and mixing spaces, and you will learn how to use specialist sonic arts software.  

Immerse yourself in a creative, inclusive, and collaborative community of artists in this studio-based specialisation. Gain artistic skills for your practice through practical projects and experiences using our specialist facilities, workshops, and galleries, ensuring you graduate with professional expertise that helps you stand out. 

Develop and combine practical skills across multiple studio areas as you acquire the creative, conceptual, and professional skills for your independent artistic practice. Experimentation is key as you expand your skills and knowledge in contemporary art practice. You’ll focus your studies on at least two studio disciplines, choosing from drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and moving image. Gradually hone your skills, refine your practice, create artworks for exhibitions, and build artistic networks as you explore industry pathways.   

Throughout your studies, you’ll also learn about the histories and theories that inform contemporary art practice, gaining important analytical, communication and research skills, while critically examining key ideas and debates shaping today’s art and cultural industries.   

Choose two specialisations from the options outlined below, with respect to the NESA accreditation requirements as follows: 

To teach visual arts upon graduation, you’ll need to choose one two-dimensional specialisation (drawing, painting, photography, or printmaking) and pair it with sculpture, photography or moving image.  

You can also choose graphics and multimedia as a second teaching specialisation in the education component of this double degree. If this option appeals to you, you’ll need to specialise in drawing, painting, photography, or printmaking with either animation or moving image. 

Drawing    
Develop fundamental and exploratory skills in drawing to kick start your contemporary art practice. You’ll work from the human figure, experiment with a range of traditional and contemporary materials and extend your individual practice through rigorous creative approaches.  

For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts, you’ll need to pair drawing with sculpture, photography or moving image. For accreditation to also teach graphics and multimedia, you’ll need to choose drawing and moving image.  

Painting   
Engage with painting as a formal, material, and conceptual practice as you develop your individual artistic voice. Challenge conventions as you explore diverse techniques and processes to test ideas and approaches in a critically informed studio environment.  

For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts, you’ll need to pair painting with sculpture, photography or moving image. For accreditation to also teach graphics and multimedia, you’ll need to choose painting and moving image. 

Photography   
From analogue darkroom processes to studio lighting and the latest digital image techniques, you’ll develop diverse and transferable skills in the photography studio. Think critically and creatively as you work practically in the studio to explore the material and conceptual possibilities of contemporary photography.  

For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts, you’ll need to pair photography with sculpture or moving image. For accreditation to also teach graphics and multimedia, you’ll need to choose photography and moving image.  

Printmaking   
Acquire technical skills in traditional and contemporary print methods across etching, relief printing, screen-printing, and digital processes in the printmaking studio. In this highly collaborative studio, you’ll engage with the latest ideas and debates to generate your own artworks in a contemporary printmaking environment.  

For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts, you’ll need to pair printmaking with sculpture, photography or moving image. For accreditation to also teach graphics and multimedia, you’ll need to choose printmaking and moving image.  

Sculpture   
Work sculpturally and spatially to create artworks at scale ready for exhibition contexts. In the sculpture studio, you’ll explore diverse materials and processes from assemblage to mould-making and casting as you consider the tactile, social, and embodied potentials of your practice.   

For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts, you’ll need to pair sculpture with drawing, painting, photography or moving image. For accreditation to also teach graphics and multimedia, you’ll need to choose printmaking and moving image.

Moving image   
Learn how to work with video to produce art, installations, experimental films, and cinema. Starting with digital video cameras, sound recording and editing software, you’ll develop shooting and editing skills as you explore different genres and studio production techniques.  

For NESA accreditation to teach visual arts and graphics and multimedia, you’ll need to pair moving image with either drawing, painting, photography, or printmaking.  

When you enrol in this degree, you’ll need to choose a fine arts specialisation in animation & moving image. Within this specialisation, choose courses on visual effects and either animation, sound, moving image or 3D visualisation. In the education component of this program, you’ll select specialist teaching method courses for graphics and multimedia technology.  

You can also become accredited to teach graphics and multimedia in addition to visual arts. In this case, you would have to study animation or moving image with drawing, painting, photography, or printmaking.  

When you enrol in this degree, you’ll need to choose a fine arts specialisation in music. Within this specialisation, choose courses focused on music, creative practice, pedagogy (i.e., teaching and learning), or sonic arts. In the education component of this program, you’ll choose specialist teaching method courses in music.  

When you enrol in this degree, you’ll need to choose a fine arts specialisation in visual arts. Within this specialisation, choose courses on two creative practices – one practice in drawing, painting, photography, or printmaking: and the other practice in sculpture, photography, or moving image. In the education component of this program, you’ll select specialist teaching method courses for visual arts. 

You can also become accredited to teach graphics and multimedia in addition to visual arts. In this case, you would have to study animation or moving image with drawing, painting, photography, or printmaking.