Faculty of Education - Theses

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    Formal adult education in Victoria, 1890 to 1950
    Wesson, Alfred ( 1971)
    This history deals mainly with four official groups: a sub-committee of the University of Melbourne, the Extension Board; a voluntary agency symbiotic with the university, the Workers' Educational Association; the Joint Committee of these two; and a later, separate statutory body, the Council of Adult Education. Because, however, it is concerned with education it also takes note of some social history, history of ideas, and biographies. Adult education in Victoria has always been an offering made by its providers, rather than the result of a demand from potential students; and the innovations made, as each provision proved inappropriate to the community, have been based on an ideal or an idea. Those ideas appear to have been formed largely from two sets of pre-suppositions: some overall view of the nature of man, and some view of educational rigour - what degree of systematic teaching or learning was appropriate. In particular, the period under review saw the end of the motivating force of philanthropy in adult education, and the rise of something closer to the concept of a welfare service for all taxpayers. Chapter One covers the background of ideas abroad before 1891, and the institutions that embodied them in Victoria. Chapter Two takes the beginning of University Extension as the first major provision of adult education, embodying a philanthropic ideal originating in England. Chapter Three introduces the W.E.A., who challenged philanthropy and achieved state subsidy for the learning of the workers, now called upon by universal suffrage to share in government. The workers failed to cooperate with the movement, and Chapter Four details the hopelessness of both the Extension and the W.E.A. ideals as guides to practice, and the consequent parasitism of the Victorian W.E.A. on the university. Chapter Five covers the rejection of the W.E.A. from its entanglement in the counsels and finances of the university, its eventual extinction, and the successful move of the Director of Extension to push the management of adult education off the campus. Chapter Six is a brief overview.
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    Post-world war II development of commercial courses for girls in Victorian technical schools, with special reference to the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 1945-1970
    Sheedy, M. I ( 1974)
    In the inter-war years (1919- 1939), commercial courses, traditionally part of the technical system of education and fast becoming the province of girls, suffered from the effects of the economic depression, made some slight gains during the recovery years and achieved importance in the war years. In the post-World War II years growing community interest in education in general, and technical education in particular, reflected the social and economic climate of the rapidly changing 1950s and 1960s. High population growth and an affluent society created new educational needs, and industry required new technical college courses to meet technological developments and the continuing emergence of new knowledge. Occurring initially when Victorian resources were being channelled mainly into other priorities owing to post-war conditions, these demands caused a crisis in education in the late 1950s and in the 1960s, the Victorian Government being unable to support the expansion of tertiary education to its fullest extent. Therefore the Commonwealth Government granted, under certain conditions, financial aid to tertiary technical education and, in Victoria, the already existing Victoria Institute of Colleges became the guardian of the course standards of its affiliated C.A.E.s. Thus technical education at the tertiary level was eventually in a position to offer its own degrees and provide what promised to be a viable alternative to university education. The technical system of education appeared to represent a man's world and echoed the general education practice of the day as far as girls were concerned, thus reflecting the community's attitude to the place of women in Australian society. Tradition was the over-riding influence on what girls were taught and, as a necessary corollary, the kind of careers they followed. Hence it transpired that girls confined their abilities to a narrow range of female occupations, one of the chief of these being office work. The popularity of office work in the 1950s and 1960s was reflected in the growing number of students enrolling for commercial courses in the technical system. Technical commercial education responded increasingly to community and industrial demands, and endeavoured to maintain relevance to the changing times as it pursued higher standards and created a new concept of vocational training at both junior and senior levels. With the onset of the 1970s commercial education in the Victorian technical system provided all but one of the known commercial courses and, in keeping with the technical educational philosophy of the times, retained its established diploma. In the pursuit of professional status for the potential secretary, degree courses in secretarial work were foreshadowed in two Victorian C.A.E.s, while the Institute of Private Secretaries (Australia) sought professional status for the secretary already within the workforce.
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    Some approaches to differences in entrants to pre-school, primary, and secondary teaching
    Volk, Valerie Joy ( 1972)
    In Australia, because of differences in training, qualifications, salary, unions, and prestige, teachers see themselves primarily as teachers at particular levels in the, educational structure, rather than members of a united "teaching profession". But whether these institutional and prestige differences are based on more fundamental differences has rarely been investigated. The present study considered 900 recent entrants to pre-school, primary, and secondary teaching, with the aim of identifying the strongest bases of inter-group differentiation among them, according to level of teaching entered and sex of student. Community stereotypes have concentrated on differences in academic ability as most fundamental; certainly selection processes based on academic achievement ensure that these exist. This investigation has compared academic ability measures with derived scales in a number of other areas, basically in two dimensions: the choice of teaching as an occupation, and the background (social and school) of teaching entrants. In the first area, both a factor analysis of expressed reasons for entry to teaching and a derived measure of commitment to teaching revealed marked differences in response patterns, according to sex and to level of teaching entered. In the second area, social background was measured on a socio-economic status index, based on six variables, and by a status discrepancy score. With these, identification of sex and level differences was confounded by inter-college differences, resulting from the private or state nature of the institution, and the impact of residential allocation to state primary teachers' colleges. The investigation of background also included school background of students, in terms of academic achievement at final school year level, and students' recollections of their own school experience. Again marked level and sex differences emerged. Thus real differences in many areas exist; which most strongly differentiated entering groups by level or sex? Not academic achievement, despite the community stereotype. Only when reasons for entry to teaching were excluded from analysis was this the strongest discriminator, dividing students according to a hierarchy of institutions attended and scholarships awarded (university, then state colleges, then private colleges). But to understand differences among pre-school, primary, and secondary entrants, or male and female recruits, analysis had to include the reasons for becoming a teacher; these and commitment to teaching were the most powerful sources of differentiation by level or sex.
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    Non-professional and non-governmental organisations and the provision of public education, 1850-1969
    Collins-Jennings, John W. ( 1971)
    The beginnings of the public education system in New South Wales are briefly examined to set the background for the development of public education in Victoria. An examination is made of the system of patrons instituted under the administration of the National Schools Board and the Common Schools Board. The 1872 Education Act replaced the patrons with boards of advice, and the 1910 Education Act replaced the boards of advice with the present system of school committees and councils. The effectiveness of the boards of advice and the school committees and councils is also assessed. A common theme is shown to have emerged from the earliest time, that the professional educationist has firmly maintained that the non-professional and non-governmental organisation has only a minor contribution to make in the control of public education. The final chapter indicates that there appears to be some change forthcoming in this attitude, because the non-professional and non-governmental organisations are beginning to realize the need for political rather than organisational action.
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    Professional registration and advice in state education: a comparative study of the origins and roles of statutory bodies connected with registration and advice in the administration of education in New South Wales and Victoria
    Dunbar, Allan ( 1974)
    The provision of educational services is a major task of Australian state political systems. At various times, in efforts to moderate the bureaucratic tendencies of centralised administrations by bringing a wider range of opinion to bear on the administration of public education, bodies to advise the responsible minister, and Parliament in some cases, have been established. An examination of the work of the Council of Public Education in Victoria, established ostensibly for this purpose, reveals that there is a confusion over the role and influence of advise within a state political administrative structure. This inquiry postulates that there are two basic, but disparate, functions of advice: a political function where representatives of interest groups can put their views to the Minister, and an evaluative function where the policies and practices of the public sector are evaluated. The formation of the Council of Public Education was justified to the public in terms of the latter function, but other features of the Council, such as its representative membership, are more like those of a body with political functions. This disjunction between structure and function, together with a confusion over the extent and use of its powers, have rendered the Council ant: ineffectual evaluative advisory body. The attitudes of administrators and other interested parties towards. educational advisory bodies are illuminated' by an investigation of the origins of these bodies in Victoria and New South Wales. The comparison of developments in the two states indicates that the concept of an evaluative advisory body, operating free of administrative and political interference, is incompatible with the present system of centralised control of public education in these states.
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    Melbourne High School and state secondary education in Victoria
    Inch, John Frederick Allen ( 1974)
    After being appointed to the staff of Melbourne High School in 1958, I became aware that this School had a distinctive educational environment which was outside any previous experience as a secondary school teacher. During the next ten years as a staff member, I had frequent opportunity to reflect on the School's peculiar position in Victorian state secondary education. This study has provided a means of examining this issue in greater depth. It should be emphasized at the outset that I have not attempted a chronological account of the history of Melbourne High School. As no satisfactory educational history of the School has been written, I have attempted to make a preliminary study of some aspects of its development in the context of the growth of state secondary education. I have concentrated on the School formative years, and its more recent years, because these seem the periods of greatest change. It was during these periods that the function of the School was in question. Consequently I have not dealt in any detail with the rniddle period, 1934 Lo 1950.
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    Origins of the Victorian Apprenticeship Commission: a history of apprenticeship regulation in Victoria 1896-1927
    Brereton, P. D. ( 1970)
    By the eighteen nineties, factory methods had encouraged looseness or avoidance of apprenticeship contracts. The improver system, under which employers were not responsible for teaching, flourished. Youths grew up insufficiently skilled to command full tradesman's pay, thus threatening adult jobs and wages. In 1896, following anti-sweating agitation, wages boards were established to determine minimum rates and maximum numbers of juveniles in certain seriously exploited trades. By 1900, this system was extended to other trades, but the minimum duration of apprenticeship contracts was set at only one year. Because employers resented limitation, wages boards in 1903 lost the power to fix the proportion of apprentices; but in compensation an apprentice was redefined as one bound to be taught for at least three years. Nevertheless, without adequate means of training, adequate definition of trade skills, or an adequate tribunal, the situation remained unsatisfactory. Trade classes were developed to supplement workshop experience, but they had little effect. In 1907 a Conference recommended that an Apprenticeship Commission take control of certain skilled trades and establish the numbers to be admitted as apprentices, their wages, and the goals and methods of their training, including technical education. Improvers would be excluded from those trades. Although wages boards gained power to prescribe indentures in 1909, and regained their limitation powers in 1910, when Bills to establish a Commission were presented in 1911 and 1912, both the form of the proposals and the antagonism of employers resulted in their rejection. A second Conference in 1911 recommended that apprenticeship be left to the wages boards. Between 1911 and 1921, the Federal Arbitration Court improved apprenticeship conditions in some trades; the technical school system developed its capacity, especially in preparatory work; and a Repatriation Training Scheme adopted organisational machinery similar to that proposed in 1907.