Faculty of Education - Theses
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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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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.