Is undergraduate and bachelors the same thing?
Undergraduate degree
An undergraduate degree (also called first degree, bachelor's degree or simply degree) is a colloquial term for an academic degree taken by a person who has completed undergraduate courses. It is also an oxymoron, since one cannot hold a degree as an undergraduate. In the United States, it is usually offered at an institution of higher education, such as a college or university. The most common type of these undergraduate degrees are associate's degree and bachelor's degree. Bachelor's degree typically takes at least three or four years to complete.[1] These degrees can be categorised as basic degrees.[2]
Bachelor of Education
In Australia, a 4-Year Bachelor of Education degree combines practical/pedagogical study with a Major sequence in the academic discipline of Education. In the majority of Australian universities, there is usually 2 distinct types of the Bachelor of Education: Primary and Secondary. The subjects and degree programs are quite different in both degrees e.g. for a student studying the Bachelor of Education (Primary) the focus of their degree would lie in behaviour, children, basic literacy, how children learn etc. For a student studying the Bachelor of Education (Secondary) they would therefore be teaching roughly 11- to 18-year-old adolescents and their programs would have less focus on those kinds of areas by the Primary degree. Instead, the degree is based around the student's intending teaching subjects; usually 1 or 2. In NSW, these teaching areas provide the major focus for their degrees in their final years. They consist of: English, Mathematics, Science (Biology, Physics & Chemistry), Geography, History, Business Studies, Legal Studies, Economics, Society & Culture and Languages.
The longer duration of the course allows for more practical experiences and greater personal or professional development before teaching service. Most Australian State Teacher-Certification bodies require either a Bachelor of Education, or a bachelor's degree in one or two subject areas, with a Graduate Diploma in Education as a minimum. A B.Ed. is not to be confused with the lesser degree Bachelor of Teaching, which is usually an 'End-On' course similar but slightly longer than a Graduate Diploma in Education.