Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemWhat arithmetical calculations do people perform?( 1960)This study was undertaken in an attempt to discover (a) which skills of calculation are so widely used in the community as to justify teaching for mastery by all pupils, and (b) which skills are used by comparatively few people. The findings are broadly indicative only and are true for only one electoral district; but they are in general accord with previous findings in Australia and abroad: that the variety and complexity of calculation skills demanded by the normal school arithmetic curriculum are very much in excess of those generally required in adult life situations. More specifically, except for people engaged in highly specialized and,/ or clerical work, simple operations involving the four rules in numbers and money, together with some ability - for salespeople - to apply simple percentages to money calculations, made up the great bulk of the arithmetic used. It further appeared that people generally estimate the utility value of the normal arithmetic curriculum much more highly than their own current practice seems to warrant. The whole project is best regarded as a pilot study, the main findings of which are given in the suggestions for further research. Generally speaking, the area covered proves to be very broad, so that the coverage by one person was necessarily thin; the need for further research of a more intensive nature and in more limited areas is very evident.
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ItemAims and purposes of education: Australia, India: a comparative study( 1960)This is an essay in comparative education. It may be described as philosophical, but it is not the sort of philosophical essay which would be written by a professional philosopher; it is rather an attempt to show, by comparison of selected elements in the educational practice of Australia and India, some of the distinctive characteristics of the two nations. The aims and purposes of education to a large extent reflect the cultural, social and political philosophies of any country. For this reason it is necessary to give some attention to the forces working behind the educational scene: basic beliefs, the cultural heritage, religious traditions, racial, linguistic and economic factors, and the political background. In this way it is proposed that the aims and purposes of education should be studied in the discussion of the meaning of elementary and secondary. Tertiary, kindergarten, adult and technical education will not be discussed, and some other problems of education � examinations, teachers' training, discipline for example � will be omitted. We shall concentrate mainly on the contents of the primary and secondary curricula and extra-curricular activities, the ideas behind all these, the legal foundations in which these ideas have taken shape and the administrative and organizational problems which have arisen out of them. As the State school curriculum is largely followed by non-State schools also, we shall not deal with these schools separately but occasionally mention factors peculiar to them. Both Australia and India are federations of States and each state in each country has its own educational policy independent of others. But in India there is an All-India educational policy which is formulated through All-India organizations, such as the Central Advisory Board of Education and All-India Council for Secondary Education, and followed in principle by each state. In Australia, however, as there is no such co-ordinating body, the system of education in each State differs in detail. For our purpose we shall mainly depend on the two most progressive States, namely Victoria and New South Wales, although occasional reference will be made to the other States also. (From Introduction)
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ItemNative education by the Methodist mission in the New Britain district 1875-1950 with particular reference to New Ireland and the coastal areas of the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain( 1961)The region with which this thesis is concerned is the Methodist Overseas Mission District of New Britain. In the large island of New Britain, this area covers the north-eastern part of the Gazelle Peninsula, and Nakanai on the north coast 150 miles west of Rabaul. The District extends from New Britain to the Duke of York Group, to New Ireland and the various islands about it, the most important of these being Lavongai or New Hanover, Djaul, and certain islands of the Namatanai Chain, notably Tabar and Lihir. These places together form the Methodist District of New Britain. (From chapter 1)