Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe effect of success and failure on self concept and anxiety( 1977)While there is considerable evidence of the relationship between self-concept and achievement, there is little experimental evidence of the effect of achievement on self-concept. Morrison (1973) provided such evidence, and the purpose of this study was to attempt to replicate Morrison's findings with regard to the effect of success and failure on self-concept with subjects of a younger age. In so doing a number of methodological improvements were made in order to more clearly establish the relationship between anxiety and self-concept, and to clarify the role of sex differences. The subjects of this study were 176 Form Three (Nineth Grade) students selected from four Melbourne metropolitan secondary schools. The experiment investigated the effects of success and failure as determined by performance on an anagram task on self-concept, as measured by the semantic differential, and on anxiety, as measured by a brief form of the STAI A-State Scale. Post-test scores were covaried for pre-test scores. The experiment provided strong support for the hypothesis that general self-concept changes as a result of a single experience of success or failure. Subjects who experienced success saw themselves more positively, while subjects who experienced failure saw themselves more negatively. R further experience of success and failure also had a highly significant effect on self-concept, with success following failure and failure following success being particularly effective in producing changes in self-concept. A similar pattern of results occurred in the case of anxiety. There is a strong indication that changes in anxiety and self- concept occurred independently. No significant sex differences were found. Support was also provided for the hypothesis that the response made to the anagram task would generalize to other similar stimuli. The highly significant results were discussed in the light of the probable self-concept development of subjects of this age. The effectiveness of success following failure, and failure following success in producing changes in self-concept and anxiety may have resulted from the difference between the level of expectation and subsequent achievement. Stimulus generalization was discussed as a potentially profitable area of future research regarding the relationship between self-concept and achievement.
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ItemReligious development of senior students in Catholic schools( 1977)The purpose of this study was to review the educational policy which has been traditionally held by the Congregation of Christian Brothers of involvement in schools which are predominantly single-sex boys' schools. This policy has recently been questioned by some Australian Catholic educational authorities who sought the involvement of members of the Congregation in some co-educational schools. Two major studies had been previously carried out in New South Wales, the first in girls' schools and the second in boys' schools, with both groups containing coincidentally some co-educational schools. Those two studies focussed, among other aspects of schools, on the religious outcomes of senior students. It became then the function of this study to replicate part of those New South Wales studies among senior students in a variety of Catholic schools in Victoria and Tasmania. Whereas the schools in the former studies were selected at random, the schools in this study were selected on the basis of their belonging to a group of either single-sex or co-educational schools. The two single-sex schools, one for boys and one for girls, were matched with a co-educational school in a location sufficiently restricted to form a geographical cluster. This step was taken to minimise the influence on religious development, which was the major dependent variable, of some other intermediate variables. The major dependent variable of religious development was treated under several headings or dimensions. These included Religious Beliefs and Understanding; Moral and Religious Attitudes and Values; Religious Practice; and Influences on Religious Development. Other dependent variables which were studied Were complementary to the main headings and included pre-Vatican and post-Vatican theological concepts; Religious Values; and various statements expressing Moral and Religious Attitudes. The basic independent variable used was the type of school which the students attended, that is, single-sex or co-educational. Some other intermediate variables considered as having some effect on the dependent variables were the sex of the students, the locality of the schools, the socio-economic status of the parents, the country of origin of the parents, the religiosity of the parents. The inclusion of these variables took this study beyond the limits which had been set for the variables in the New South Wales projects. The study employed such statistical procedures as frequencies; mean and standardised scores; t-tests and analysis of variance; levels of significance; coefficients of correlation; and regression and factor analysis. The evidence from the enquiry suggests that for all practical purposes there is no difference among the senior students of various types of Catholic schools in those elements of religious development which constituted the material of the research instrument. The weight of the evidence favours neither single-sex schools nor co-educational schools to the disadvantage of the other type. The alternative hypothesis was worded in favour of single-sex schools but the evidence does not support the claim of its advantages. Proponents of both types of school, should re-assess the views held on the effectiveness of such arrangements. On the other hard, this is only one of several reasons why the Christian Brothers maintain single-sex schools in normal circumstances, and these reasons need to be considered in their own right.
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ItemThe State College of Victoria( 1977)The Martin Report's proposal that the control of teacher education outside universities should be by statutory state Boards of Teacher Education funded partly by the Commonwealth, was initially rejected. However the states gradually relinquished some control as the demands for expanded teacher education facilities became more urgent. At the same time, the Commonwealth Government, anxious to assist smaller colleges of advanced education and their growth prospects, offered substantial funding for teacher education within smaller c.a.e.'s. In Victoria, pressure from the principals and staffs of the teachers' colleges through their respective associations led to negotiations for the independence of teachers' colleges. An advisory Teacher Education Authority was proposed by the Education Department as an initial step in the evolution of teachers' colleges to independence. Later, an Education Department Committee proposed the formation of a Victoria Institute of Teacher Education, as the umbrella authority supervising independent member colleges with their own Councils. These latter proposals would finally constitute the basis of the State College of Victoria Act. In 1970, the Minister of Education established the Victorian Fourth University Committee which considered the possibility of established teachers' colleges forming a multi-campus fourth university. However the question of the relationship between a fourth university and teachers' colleges was left unresolved by a substantially divided committee, so the Minister accepted the view of the V.F.U.C., supported by the V.A.P.T.C. and the C.T.C.S.A.(V.) that the colleges establish a separate co-ordinating authority. The Minister established a Committee of Advice to help implement the proposal. In the meantime, the Commonwealth Government announced significant policy alterations to the funding of teacher education. State teachers' colleges which were being developed as self-governing tertiary institutions under the supervision of an appropriate co-ordinating authority would be funded on the same basis as universities and colleges of advanced education. By the end of 1972 the State College of Victoria Act was passed by the Victorian Government. The teachers' colleges outside Education Department control, which included Melbourne Kindergarten Teachers' College, four Catholic teachers' colleges and Mercer House (Associated Teachers' Training Institution), had actively participated in the negotiations for an independent co-ordinating authority. With the support of the State Government and the funding of the Commonwealth Government, Melbourne Kindergarten Teachers' College had little difficulty negotiating entry as a foundation member of the S.C.V. Four Catholic teachers' colleges joined together to form the Institute of Catholic Education and applied for admission as a single entity to the S.C.V. Negotiations for its entry, which extended over eighteen months, were finally successful. Its success was considerably enhanced when the Commonwealth Government offered funding to approved 'private' teachers' colleges. In the meantime, Mercer House negotiated for entry to the S.C.V. as a separate entity without success, but finally agreed to amalgamate with the S.C.V. at Toorak in 1975.
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ItemThe effects of imputed popularity and imputed success on self-esteem and school achievement in the eighth grade( 1977)The aim of the investigation was to study the effects of imputed success and imputed popularity on self-esteem and school achievement. 96 eighth-grade students at a Victorian country high school rated themselves and their classmates on "popularity" and "success"; performed three achievement tests (in reading vocabulary, reading comprehension and mathematics); and completed the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory; and the Otis Intermediate Test. It was hypothesized that the more "popular" and more "successful" students would attain higher scores on the three achievement tests and have higher Self-Esteem scores, than less "popular" and less "successful" students. Imputed popularity and imputed success were found to be independent. With the Otis test used as a covariate, students rated high on "success" attained significantly higher scores on the reading vocabulary and mathematics test, and on the Self-Esteem inventory, as hypothesized. Scores on the reading comprehension test were not significantly different. Students rated high on "popularity" did not attain significantly different scores on any of the three achievement tests nor on the Self-Esteem Inventory, than less "popular" students. Implications for classroom practice were discussed.
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ItemEquality and education( 1977)Recent influential writings about the future directions of education in Australia show a clear inclination to justify particular recommendations in the name of some form of equality. This inclination reflects a wider acceptance in Western societies of the fundamental priority of equality as a social principle. In the first part of this thesis, an examination is made of the principle of equality as it is currently interpreted in Western democracies. Three main sets of interpretations are isolated, those in which its force is essentially prescriptive, those in which its force is essentially prescriptive and those in which recommendations about opportunities are being made. In the second part of the thesis, the three reports of the Schools Commission are used to illustrate the kinds of criticisms which are currently being made of education as a result of a commitment on the part of the critics to some form of equality. The criticisms are grouped together according to whether their target is the aims, the content or the methods and procedures of education and schooling, and the appropriateness of the criticisms is examined. In the third part of the thesis, an attempt is made to clarify the implications of the application of each of the three interpretations (outlined in Part I) to educational questions. It is argued that, generally, acceptance of the principle of equality ought not to be promoted by means of the school curriculum, that questions about equality of distribution are properly related to schooling rather than to education and that the principle of equality of opportunity has only limited force in debates about education.
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ItemA comparative study of three state colleges of Victoria - Burwood, Frankston, Toorak, 1973-1976( 1977)On the 25 October 1972, Lindsay Thompson, the minister for Education, introduced into the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian State Parliament a Bill that was to create the State College of Victoria. Under this legislation the State Teachers' Colleges ceased to be administered by the Education Department and became an autonomous body in tertiary education. The aim of this thesis is to study the background to the formation of this institution. To look at the struggle for independence fought by individuals and associations connected with the Teachers' colleges and the lengthy enquiries and official panels established by the government. Chapters two, three and four are studies of three constituent colleges of the S.C.V., Burwood, Frankston and Toorak, in regard to their courses, staffing, organization and finance. following the gathering of this material an attempt is made to juxtapose these elements of the three colleges during the first three years of their independence, to try to establish similarities and differences in the data gathered. Comparative analysis is then attempted to draw conclusions regarding the progress, objectives, growth or setbacks the colleges have experienced and to try and establish why such results are evident. Finally two major questions are discussed. What is the future of the State College of Victoria system and what is the future of the individual colleges under study. To try and fathom out these problems the opinions of several people closely connected with the S.C.V. system and the Victorian Education Department were sought. The answers to both questions at this stage remain suppositions for they are presently under formal review by two State Government committees.
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ItemResponses of government and Catholic educational authorities to the influx of migrants, 1950-1960, with special reference to the experience of a selected group of schools conducted by the Victorian Sisters of Mercy( 1977)local parish priest; the day-to-day education was left completely to those dedicated religious and their lay assistants who faced the challenge with resolute courage. One such group of religious were the Sisters of Mercy. A major focus of this study is their efforts in the field of migrant education with special reference to three schools for which they mere responsible. With neither the time nor expertise to develop a specific philosophy of migrant education they relied on traditional methods of classroom teaching - methods in which they had fortunately been well-grounded. The effect of such teaching can be partially gauged from the responses of one hundred of their students.
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ItemSome conceptual problems in curriculum integration( 1977)In recent years, integrative curricula have been introduced into many Victorian secondary schools. Integration within these curricula may occur in a number of areas, such as integration of different races or different age groups, but the area with which I am concerned is the actual content of the curriculum and integration here involves the combination of two or more traditional subjects on the basis of some supposedly common factor. The arguments advanced by integrationists to justify such integration frequently relate to sociological or psychological consequences of such courses rather than to philosophical analysis of the common factors on the basis of which integration of knowledge is possible at all. Philosophical analysis of the basis for integration involves examination of the nature of knowledge. Curricula which are completely integrative in that no subject divisions are maintained seem to be based upon the assumption that knowledge is unified in some way. The unification may result from the existence of a common object with which knowledge is concerned, e.g., 'the universe,' or from some integrative power in the learner's consciousness or may be due to the existence of some coherent system. Each of these possibilities presents problems. This may account in part for the fact that most integrative curricula are only partially so. That is, some areas of knowledge are maintained as separate subjects. However, the subjects which are separate and the combinations of other subject areas vary from school to school which suggests either that the organizations of knowledge are merely matters of convenience or that there are several different valid bases for integration. Common subject matter, common methods . of enquiry and use of common subject areas seem to be three bases, but determination of their validity requires examination of knowledge at a conceptual level. It is exponents of the Forms of Knowledge thesis, rather than integrationists, who have undertaken such examination. The Forms of Knowledge thesis purports to show that there are certain necessary divisions in knowledge on the basis of differences in concepts and their relations, truth criteria and methods of acquiring knowledge. The arguments of P. H. H irst on this matter present some difficulties, but I feel logical distinctions within knowledge can be drawn, particularly on the basis of two types of categoreal concepts - relational and foundational. If these distinctions are accepted then it can be seen that integration of knowledge can proceed on three different levels - logical, structural and material - and recognition of this fact may assist in determining the exact nature of different integrative curricula and in seeking justification for them.
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ItemSources and consequences of classroom empathy( 1977)In Carkhuff's model of interpersonal relations, the helper's level of facilitative functioning is linked with psychological change in others. if empathy is used as a general measure of facilitative functioning in teaching, it would therefore be expected that the level of empathic functioning exhibited by a teacher would be related to growth or deterioration found in pupils. However, while some studies have offered evidence in support of the contention that the model applies to teaching as well as to psychotherapy, all the issues involved in such an extrapolation have not been fully explored. In particular, the part played by helpee and contextual variables appears to warrant further examination. For these reasons, this investigation sought to study the cumulative effects of experience of empathy in a functioning teacher system. This was accomplished firstly by examining change in levels of functioning of teachers in training and then relating these changes to differences in outcome among pupils taught by some of these trainees. Effects on pupil outcomes of teacher functioning level, pupil level of empathic experience, and information about pupils made available to the teacher were studied. The results of the investigation indicated that type of training influenced trainee level of empathic functioning. In addition, level of functioning affected the degree to which trainees were able to develop empathic relationships with ' pupils, but did not reach significance for pupil learning or adjustment. However, the pupils' own levels of empathic experience did influence their adjustment, while the contextual information variable also affected some outcomes. In the discussion of these findings, it is suggested that while higher level empathic functioning in teachers may lead generally to beneficial effects, it may also produce divergent rather than convergent change in a class of pupils. Since, in addition, specific outcomes for particular individuals are each influenced by unique combinations of pupil and contextual variables, it is possible that nomothetic measures may be inappropriate for discerning effects of teacher level of empathic functioning on the learning of a class group of pupils.
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ItemEffectiveness of motor-sensory therapy on under-achieving children( 1977)An examination of the development of ideas relating to handedness, lateral dominance, and language functions of the brain leads to a consideration of the Doman-Delacato theory of neurological organisation and the practical consequences of this theory. A critical analysis is made of the theory's supporters and opponents. The development of the use of Doman-Delacato therapeutic techniques in Australia is outlined. Results from the ANSUA (A New Start for the Underachiever) clinic in Melbourne which uses these methods are examined in a pilot study aimed at developing a profile of initial assessment factors which would indicate the probability of success under the treatment before clients undertake the therapy program. Since the clinical data proved to be insufficiently regular to allow meaningful analysis, recommendations are presented to facilitate a later useful study along the lines suggested.