Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe establishment and operation of school councils in Victorian government high schools, 1973-1978( 1979)In 1976 reforms to the administration of Victorian government schools were instituted in response to pressure from political and education theorists, Education Department officials, parents and teachers. Advocates for reform were critical of a centralized and hierarchically administered education system which, they felt, was unresponsive to the needs of people affected by it - parents, teachers and students. Pressure for reforms to permit more broadly based participation in the administration of public institutions was responsible, between 1965 and 1973, for the granting of teacher autonomy in curriculum development. Finance was also allocated to schools by federal and state governments to enable them to define community needs and develop facilities to provide for those needs. Advisory councils came to be seen as too limited in powers and composition to effectively discharge these new responsibilities. Consequently, in 1973, the movement for reform of school councils commenced with discussions and negotiations between ministers, Education Department officials, representatives of parent, teacher and student organisations and interested groups in schools. These discussions were to result in the reform of the powers and composition of school councils and the election of newly constituted councils late in 1976. This study describes that reform movement and isolates the expectations of the advocates for reform. Interviews with principals and questionnaires administered to all councillors in nine high schools in the Ballarat Regional Directorate enable an analysis of the extent to which those expectations have been fulfilled over two years of operation of a limited sample of reformed councils from 1976 to 1978. Although new councils are now more representative and more actively involved in school administration the study shows that parental interest is still low, councils are not representative of all groups in society, and their powers are still too restrictive to allow them to influence the content and methods of instruction. These findings direct attention to the need for more detailed studies of community expectations for involvement in schools as well as careful analysis of decentralization of school government in view of the failure of the initial representative procedures in school councils.
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ItemA comparative study of three New South Wales directorates( 1972)Eleven regional directorates have been established in New South Wales over the past 25 years for the purpose of 'decentralizing' to some extent the formerly highly centralized administration of the N.S.W. Education Department. The introduction of the area system was expected to bring about a number of benefits relating to the , maintenance and staffing of schools, the professional morale of teachers, and the level of community interest in and support for local schools. A comparative study of three N.S.W. directorates was carried out (during 1971-2) by this researcher. My conclusion is that the area system has not in fact led to educational decentralization, and that claims for its success as an administrative innovation have been characterized by optimism rather than by accuracy. With respect to buildings maintenance, certain benefits have followed the area systems introduction, particularly in rural areas where superior provisions are currently being made for school maintenance than in the metropolitan areas surveyed. With greater autonomy and less dependence upon the Public Works Department, directorates would experience even greater benefits in this field. However; the impact of the system upon the average classroom, teacher has not been that personalized administration which is often referred to as being one of the significant gains resulting from the establishment of area directorates in N.S.W. The average teacher seldom comes into contact with the area director or his staff, and Area Office is still generally regarded as a clearing house for correspondence to Head Office, where most important decisions are made. This tendency appeared to be more pronounced in the metropolitan directorates studied; it was also more common amongst secondary teachers than primary staff. Possibly some reduction in the present size of all directorates would assist area directors and their officers to become better known to local teaching personnel.