Faculty Ethics Requirement

In addition to the general requirement that all research involving human participants conducted for a degree at the UOW be approved by the Faculty of Education’s Ethics Committee or the UOW Human Research Ethics Committee, any research that is conducted in government schools or at TAFE site must also meet NSW Department of Education and Training requirements before research can commence. The Catholic Education Office has similar requirements for research conducted in schools within their system. The approval of the principal of any independent school must also be sought before any research is conducted in their school.

The NSW Department of Education Ethics Guidelines and Form can be downloaded from the DET website: http://www.det.nsw.gov.au/research/index.htm

The Catholic Education Office form is available by contacting the relevant CEO regional office: http://www.cecnsw.catholic.edu.au/ceos/ceo2.htm

All research students are strongly advised to submit the final draft of their ethics applications for research degrees for screening by Deslea Konza, Gordon Brown or Karen McRae at least a week prior to the deadline for submission date. Keep in mind that this is back-up support only as the supervisor has the primary role of checking the ethics application initially and then signing off on the final version.

If you are engaged in research for a coursework subject at the postgraduate or undergraduate level then you may not need to go through all of these procedures. This chart provides directions as to the route you will need to follow depending on the nature of your research. If your research falls under Category 2 then you will need to fill in the Faculty of Education Research Application Form. If your research falls under Category 3 you will need to read the Guidelines for Conducting Research at the University of Wollongong and complete the appropriate application form.

Faculty of Education Research Application