Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemMaking the transition : cultural reproduction in the market-place( 1985)This work relates to the cultural, economic and behavioural characteristics of two groups of young people who have recently left school and, either embarked upon a career pathway via tertiary education or on to long-term unemployment. Theories of cultural reproduction and anomie were examined in an attempt to account for the pathways that the two groups had taken. Two anomalies were discovered; students from migrant or working-class backgrounds who were succeeding in higher education and some working class unemployed young people who were beginning the slide into the under class. Cultural reproduction theory was found not to exactly or accurately account for outcomes and life chances whereas anomie theory was found to be a reasonable explication for the state of malaise of a number of those young people interviewed.
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ItemSchool in the middle years : four Melbourne independent boys middle schools( 1978)This study revolves around the proposition that there is sound reason for the formation of an identifiable new stage for the schooling of children in the middle-years. Firstly, on the grounds that the transfer from primary to secondary school creates unnecessarily dramatic changes. Such changes not only involve adjustments to different teaching styles, different objectives and different organization patterns, but also to new people and strange surroundings. They also involve a choice of secondary school which, in spite of comprehensive trends, still narrows vocational opportunities. The provision of middle schools would enable the delaying of such choices with two less significant transfers. Secondly, on the ground that the grouping of children in the 10-13 age range would promote a closer examination of their special development needs, it would, encourage, if not force teachers to think outside traditional structures about the combination of the best in primary and secondary approaches, about the characteristic needs and important teaching principles, and about subject priorities and organizational patterns most appropriate to this stage. The following questions therefore provide the basis for the compilation of the material that follows. 1. (a) How are primary and secondary schools different? (b) What primary and secondary ideals and methods may be combined to best cater for the middle-years group? 2. (a) What are the special characteristics of the middle-years group? (b) What may the principle objectives for middle-years schooling be? 3. (a) How may the middle school be conceptualized? (b) What curriculum structures and organizational patterns may be most appropriate? These three general themes have been developed in sequence in each of the four sections of the thesis so that some of the problems are introduced in the first section, and in conjunction with this an attempt is made to introduce the boys themselves. The literature review on the other hand, establishes a basis for clarifying main propositions and the three research reports reviewed in this section come from Victoria, Scotland and New Zealand. The Victorian study was part of a dissertation completed in 1976 by the author. The choice of this work with the Scottish and New Zealand studies was not made with a comparative analysis in mind. Rather, these studies are included because they represent, as far as we can ascertain, the only major studies in this field. Although it is not possible at this stage to formulate specific hypotheses, in the third section there is an attempt to bring to light priorities for the schooling of children in the middle-years. Then the comparison of the four independent boys' middle schools follows and as far as possible, the three themes are developed here also. The thesis is titled "School in the Middle Years: Four Melbourne Independent Boys Middle Schools". It is a new field and these preliminary wanderings, although too general at times, seek to bring some of the problems into focus. The comparison of the four middle schools (Camberwell Grammar, Caulfield Grammar - Malvern House, Xavier College - Kostka Hall and Melbourne Grammar - Grimwade House) becomes in one sense a preliminary survey on which decisions about the development of this as an experimental study may be considered. In the final chapter this is taken up briefly, and one would hope to have the opportunity to take the study further at a later stage. This dissertation originally grew out of an examination of the primary to secondary school transition and some quite general but important conclusions emerged. These are here summarized. Strong links need to be established between teachers and students involved with the primary and secondary school transition. These links need to be formed between teachers at the Grade 6 and Form 1 levels, particularly in Education Department schools. During the year prior to transition, students require careful counselling and guidance with regard to selection of schools and in matters relating to the day-to-day organization and geographic layout of the secondary school to which they will go. Matters specifically relating to secondary school: time table, specialist rooms, methods of teaching, general expectations and the secondary school life style, all need emphasis. The possibility of special new-student orientation days and the careful use of counsellors and guidance officers is here highlighted. The teaching atmosphere in the first year of the secondary school needs to be carefully considered. It is desirable that the one teacher/one class relationships common to primary schools be continued as far as possible in order to provide security for students in an otherwise strange secondary school atmosphere. The clear differences between the primary and secondary schools, their different approaches to teaching and general philosophy need to be understood by teachers involved with students at the pre- and post-transitional stages. An understanding of these similarities and differences is fundamental to an understanding of the problems students face. Children will develop best when education is a continuing and an uninterrupted experience. This ideal has the best chance of being achieved in the one-campus school where divisions within the school can be established to match the growth stages of students and provide new challenges at all levels. The departmentalized approach in the secondary school is vastly different to the self-contained classroom approach in the primary school. Wherever possible these differences need to be understood and minimized by making adjustments to teaching methods and organization at the senior-primary and the junior-secondary levels. There is evidence to suggest that some students regard transition as an exciting new adventure with inbuilt growth opportunities. Teachers and parents need to present the opportunities in the secondary school in these terms. There is a liking amongst many students for the challenge of the new and an eagerness to experience those things that are different. There need not be a shrinking from added pressures. It is important that parents should be kept in close touch with teachers and Headmasters as decisions are made about the most appropriate secondary school, and as information is disseminated about the beginning-of-year procedures for enrolling students. Personal discussions and school visits are strongly recommended. There is not one age considered to be most appropriate for the primary-to-secondary-school transition. There is, however, some evidence to indicate that students of poorer ability from working-class type homes are likely to be more successful at the age of 12 or 13. It is asserted that given one to two more years of development these praticular students will make a more successful transfer to their new school. More advanced students from homes that provide educationally stimulating support are most likely to make satisfactory progress as they transfer to their new secondary school. These are the students who are likely to approach the challenge and the responsibility of their new school with plenty of confidence and a certain amount of adventure. The concept of a middle school, providing for children between the ages of 9 and 13 is promoted as an educationally and psychologically sound solution to the problems of transition as they are known in the present two-school system. Two less disturbing changes, from primary to middle and middle to secondary school, should provide for more effective sequencing of learning experiences over the twelve or thirteen years of schooling. The following conclusions which more particularly relate to the nature of schooling for the middle-years group, provided a basis for examining and comparing the four selected middle schools. It is not suggested that the comparison of these schools necessarily validates the conclusions, but it should help to clarify them. It is felt that the middle school should be a place that provides for the integration of experience through the continuance of a home-room system and for the specialization of experience through the use of subject teachers. If the primary school's preoccupation with the present and the secondary school's increasing concern for the future can be borne in mind, then the middle-school may be able to achieve a useful blend: security with enrichment, a grounding in basics with diversity and adventure, a ready response to the immediate and present with a sensible view of life to be faced in the future, a main concern for the process with certain realism about the importance of the end product. It is considered that the middle-school should aim firstly at fostering the intellectural growth of its students, including the development of critical faculties, inventiveness and creativity. Then secondly, at psychological health, promoting self esteem in interested, optimistic, active and expressive individuals. And finally the middle-school should aim to produce in its students a social sense, concern for the good of others and a desire to serve for the betterment of community. It is also concluded that the middle school curriculum will best cater for youngsters at this intensely personal, vulnerable but expansive stage if the creative arts can be structured near to the centre of things. What is being considered here is a school where the main medium for fulfilling student needs and for their exercising within the basic skills, is the creative and expressive aspects of curriculum. Thus we provide the means whereby activities in English, maths or social studies may be explored and where these experiences may be enriched. Chapter VIII begins with a general description of the four schools; Camberwell Grammar Junior School, Melbourne Grammar - Grimwade House, Xavier College - Kostka Hall and Caulfield Grammar - Malvern House. This is followed with an account of survey procedures including the design of questionnaires and methods for compiling and presenting data. Material here is again presented within the three themes of the thesis and then there is a description of the "fifth school", an interpretation of the sum of staffs' opinions about the life and style of the four schools. This is not an ideal school and the three main propositions stated above cannot be validated in this way. However, the survey enables a reflective commentary providing support and raising questions where necessary. The final Chapter of the thesis deals with the question of how this study may be taken up experimentally. There is a sense in which it is only possible at this early stage to declare the issues and provoke the search for clearer definitions. The multiple regression model is presented as one possible means for analysing the success of middle-schools in terms of their unique objectives; it is presented as one method suitable for comparing the four middle-schools with each other or with alternative schools.
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ItemA comparison of levels of job satisfaction among Victorian high school teachers in declared disadvantaged and undeclared schools( 1981)This study involved an investigation of job satisfaction among Victorian high school teachers in three declared disadvantaged and three undeclared schools in the Northern Metropolitan Region. The feasibility of the topic was determined by a pilot study undertaken at Upfield high school in 1978. The Region was selected because it had the most declared schools in the state. Pairs of declared and undeclared schools were selected primarily on the basis of their geographical proximity to one another. They were not statistically matched in any way. Questionnaires were distributed to all teaching staff in these six schools. A total of 164 usable questionnaires were returned. Questions were designed firstly, to describe the sample population and secondly, to gauge levels of teacher job satisfaction. The perceived relationship between job satisfaction and Supplementary Grants funding provided under the Disadvantaged Schools Program was investigated by non-parametric testing using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). No statistically significant difference was identified in levels of job satisfaction between teachers in declared and undeclared schools. It is likely that individual teachers will have varying levels of job satisfaction and this was confirmed by the research. The argument that teachers can be categorised into groups who are satisfied and dissatisfied tended to be refuted.
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ItemPlanning in the School of Mechanical Technology, TAFE sector, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology( 1985)The purpose of this study was to examine the mutual relationship between the realities of corporate planning in the School of Mechanical Technology, TAFE Sector, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and Austen's (1981) model for normative planning, and to then determine, within the context of normative planning, the actions which the School would need to take so as to enable it to anticipate and adapt to future conditions. Austen's (1981) model for normative planning and its application to corporate planning at the RMIT was reviewed. In recognizing that collaborative decision-making between the managerial and technical levels is the key to effective implementation of normative planning, the writer elaborated on the principles of collaborative management and, in turn, identified the kind of strategy and structure which would facilitate normative planning. According to Austen (1981), normative planning fosters the development of an organizational environment in which the desires of all members of the organization and its task environment are identified, individual ideals are transformed into organizational norms, and the technological function of the organization is subordinated to the learning function. Within this context, collaboration between the managerial and technical levels in the decision-making processes of the organization ensures that the creativity and ingenuity of individuals and their ability to input to planning are acknowledged, and that, as a consequence, the psycho-social benefits of planning are shared by all members. The deployment of a participative self-regenerative strategy was viewed as being an appropriate means by which normative planning could be implemented and the organization's capability for engaging in continuous problem-solving and self-regeneration could be enhanced. The structural form relevant to this strategy was identified as being one in which adaptive change can be nurtured by the establishment of a dual organizational process - namely, a planning system which is concerned with desired ends and means (i.e. strategic planning) and a resource-conversion system which is concerned with on-going ends and means (i.e. operational planning). A description of the dynamics of the School's evolving corporate-planning process was achieved by conducting a series of interviews with key people, who were involved with that process, and by accessing information from relevant documents in the School. A range of axioms for effective planning were identified. These provided the writer with a basis upon which to conduct a critical analysis of the School's corporate-planning process, to delineate the essential characteristics of that process, and to establish the relationship between those characteristics and the features of normative planning. In inter-relating the characteristics of Austen's (1981) model for normative planning with those of the School's evolving corporate-planning process, the writer concluded that the establishment of an operational-planning process in the School was distinguished with the significant features of Austen's (1981) model and that, as a consequence, the School was well positioned to proceed with the implemention of that other dimension of corporate planning - namely, strategic planning. More specifically, the writer found that the head-of-school had provided ample opportunity for senior staff to further their understanding of the theoretical and practical aspects of learning how to plan and how to manage the complexities of planning; participative decision-making was accepted as being the organizational norm upon which could be developed an organic approach to planning; the planning process was understood generally as being a collaborative venture in which the head-of-school, senior staff, and the teaching and non-teaching staff would continue to share their expertise and to work together in formulating, implementing and monitoring their plans; and it was accepted that as the School moved into strategic planning then greater attention would need to be given to expanding the School's environmental surveillance activities.
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ItemDifficulties in maintenance of ethnic language and culture in a multicultural society: with particular reference to Italian families in Melbourne( 1981)The growing political awareness and acknowledgment of Australia's multicultural society produced in the seventies an increasing number of reports on the needs of the ethnic communities. The Government acknowledges that it is now essential to encourage the development of a multicultural attitude in Australian society to foster the maintenance of cultural heritage and promote intercultural understanding. The long-awaited signs of widespread implementation of stated policies and recommendations have been disappointingly slow in emerging. This is attributed to the slowness of a change in attitude throughout the community. Because the Australian school system is not in tune with the multicultural society of today, children of ethnic parents are not receiving equal education opportunities with their Australian peers. Through lack of recognition of their ethnic language and culture by schools, children of ethnic parents are rejecting their mother tongue. In a series of case studies of Italian families in Melbourne, the mother's attitude was seen as the most important factor in language maintenance at the present time. Attitudes were seen to differ, not according to social class, educational level or region of origin, but according to individual values and beliefs. The importance of maintenance of ethnic language and culture for the traditional cohesiveness of the Italian family ethos is stressed, but is seen as resting on a tenuous thread.
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ItemA comparative study of ten Victorian Protestant girls' school histories 1875 to 1920( 1985)In recent years a number of histories of independent girls' schools have been published and it now seems an appropriate time to draw together some aspects of this history. This thesis will trace some of the common features of these histories with a view to explaining the changes in the development of female education in Victoria during the period 1875 to 1920.(From Introduction)
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ItemSome determinants of students' course selection in mathematics( 1984)In this study some determinants of students' course selection in mathematics. were investigated, with particular attention being given to those factors which may result in differential participation rates between boys and girls. The aim of the study was to assess the relative importance for student decisions of various psychological variables related to achievement attitudes. Such knowledge could then be used in the design of appropriate programs and techniques to increase the likelihood of students continuing to take maths. Questionnaires were administered to the 115 students in Year 9 and to the 107 students in Year 7 at a Melbourne inner-suburban .high school. Specific findings apply to those students in that particular school; without investigation of the effect of such variables as socioeconomic status, ethnic background., administrative structure, course-availability and class size they could not be extrapolated to other students in other schools. Students' estimates of their maths abilities and their expectations for maths performance, decreased with age, as did their perception of their parents' and teachers' beliefs about their ability and expectations for their success. Students' beliefs about the importance of success in maths and their declared interest in and liking'for the subject also decreased with age, while their estimates of the difficulty of maths increased with age. Year 9 boys had higher opinions of their maths ability and were more confident of success in future maths courses, than were Year 9 girls. These girls saw the subject as being more difficult and the cost of the effort required to do well to be higher than did their male classmates. At the Year 7 level, however, the only sex differences were in the stereotyping of the utility of maths for females and in the stereotyping of maths as a male domain. Plans to continue with maths were facilitated by high expectations, by firm beliefs in the value of maths and in one's own ability and by low estimates of the difficulty of maths. Sex differences favouring boys were found on these variables. On the basis of these findings, certain areas for intervention were identified. These areas included the encouragement of positive attitudes towards maths, the provision of career awareness programs, and the attempt to modify parents' and teachers' attitudes as to the maths, ability of girls and the importance of maths for them.
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Item"Are you satisfied?": review of parental attitudes towards the curriculum of an independent girls' secondary school( 1985)This thesis examines the attitudes of parents to a range of issues concerning the content and application of the educational programme of a small independent girls' school in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. The material that forms the basis of the thesis was gathered from information supplied in response to questionnaires sent to all parents of daughters in the senior school, supplemented by a limited number of interviews. The intention of this review of the school was to establish the extent to which the school's educational programme reflected the wishes and needs of the present parent-body, to establish whether there were any areas of substantial dissatisfaction that need immediate attention, and to determine whether there were particular reasons why parents chose this school as such information could assist in the development of a particular style for the school. The thesis analyses the one hundred and ninety-eight responses to the questionnaire (with some illumination given by the interviews of twenty-eight parents) and suggests areas for change. However, the overall impression gained from the analysis is that the present parent-body is extremely satisfied with the school.
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ItemThe changing role of the headmaster?: a study of two Ivanhoe Grammar School headmasters, 1915-1974( 1985)The organization of this study is straightforward. The first chapter discusses the origin of the Headmaster tradition and school management. The second chapter reviews the development of educational administration and its relationship to business administration. The third and fourth chapters deal with a study of two Ivanhoe Grammar School Headmasters, 1915 to 1974. The last chapter examines the different leadership styles of the headmasters and concludes that although these styles may vary, due to a variety of factors, the function of a headmaster remains basically the same.
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ItemA history of aims in printing education in Melbourne 1870-1970( 1977)Aims in printing education have reflected a tradition of craft distinction. This has helped fashion the peculiar contributions of industrial or educational groups and individuals. In the 1880s the printing union, a relatively articulate group, led the way in promoting health and education provisions for regulating apprenticeship under a factories act. Latent education ideas were evoked in the 1890s by the economic depression and radical technological change with the introduction of the Linotype. These ideas were embodied into a self-help scheme of printing education by enthusiasts, the first classes being held in the Athenaeum in .April 1898. The scheme was adopted as the basis of a course in the Working Men's College when impracticalities became obvious. Classes commenced in June 1899. Printing employee groups maintained policies for government controlled apprenticeship and for state provision and supervision of technical education. These attitudes were gradually confirmed by master printers. Printers tended to have an advanced attitude regarding apprenticeship regulation, particularly compulsory day-time training provisions, under consideration by commissions, apprenticeship conferences and in legislative bills between 1900 and 1927. Technological and economic change in the 1920s and 1930s encouraged individuals in the trade to foster apprenticeship reform, curriculum development and self-help printing education. In the late 1940s a group with printing and educational interests, motivated by a desire to control printing education more effectively, took initiatives which led to the establishment of a mono-purpose printing school under the Education Department. The Melbourne School of Printing and Graphic Arts received its first printing apprentices in May 1950. The principal, staff and school council were pre-occupied with problems of accommodation, plant and equipment in the 1950s and 1960s. Even so, at least equal attention was given to entry and achievement standards and curriculum development in apprenticeship courses in practice, theory, design, science and “liberal” studies. Also the principal, in particular, and industrial representatives espoused technician and technologist level printing education. Thus aims and developments have represented an amalgam of traditional craft assumptions of worth and value as well as responses to the prevailing technological and economic environment.