Faculty of Education - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
ItemConcepts of balance and relevance in educational discourse on curriculum( 1983)It is contended that children can best be prepared to meet the challenges posed by rapid social change when the curriculum services a general education and avoids narrow specialization or narrow vocational training. Such an approach to curriculum is said to be characterized by its 'balance' and 'relevance'. However, it would appear that 'balance' and 'relevance' have come to symbolize ideals to which all curricula aspire, even though various value orientations have selected priorities which posit differing, even conflicting, practice. Hence educational discourse to establish what ought to be taught must evaluate the practical importance of that which is said to constitute 'balance' and 'relevance' in the context of the value orientations adopted. General education proposals attempt to frame their selections of priorities such that 'balance' entails meeting the diverse needs of all students. This 'holistic' approach is therefore required to accommodate the various conflicting orientations to 'relevance'. Hence any general curriculum proposal finds it necessary to make a case that these conflicts can be reconciled, that a consensus can be established and that curriculum design and implementation can be achieved in practice. This quest for 'balance' and 'relevance' is analyzed with particular reference to the Australian proposals "Core Curriculum for Australian Schools", made by the Curriculum Development Centre, and "Schooling for 15 and 16 Year-Olds", made by the Schools Commission. Both proposals postulate that the curriculum ought to be based on the common culture whose nature is to emerge as a consensus following analysis of contemporary society. Advances in science and technology are said to be the major contributors to rapid social change. Therefore, what constitutes, in the context of a general education, an adequate understanding of science and technology for life in society is also analyzed. Such an approach to science education is often characterized as the development of a broadly based 'scientific literacy'. The analyses reveal that it would appear to be unrealistic to expect that Australia as a nation, espousing pluralist values and belief systems, some of which have deeply entrenched vested interests in selections of what constitutes educational virtue, will adopt the concept of general education with the CDC's 'core curriculum' as its central expression.
-
ItemDeclining enrolments and school reorganisation: an enunciation of the policy and planning options for Victorian post-primary schools( 1988)The state school system in Victoria experienced a significant decline in student enrolments during the 1980s. This was due to a combination of a sustained fall in fertility and the rise in popularity of non-government schooling. It was only partly offset in post-primary schools by the increase in retention. These factors, together with geographic location and school type, were the principle determinants of enrolment movements in individual schools. The politics of enrolment contraction are those of scarcity and conflict. Local schools compete with each other for the diminishing pool of students, the increase in schooling costs per student creates conflict between schools and the Government over resource utilisation, restrictions are placed on school curricula and teachers find their working conditions, professional opportunities, classroom teaching and morale all adversely affected. Secondary schools with declining enrolments need to consider some form of reorganisation. While the policies of the government on curriculum, school structures and reorganisation itself do set certain parameters, school communities are presented with a range of curriculum and structural options. The introduction of new curricula, which have structural implications, into Years 7-10 (Ministerial Paper No.6/Frameworks) and in Years 11 and 12 (the V.C.E.) provide both an incentive and an opportunity to reorganise as a positive response to decline. The positive and negative aspects of the planning options available to schools need to be weighed up in terms of Government policies, curriculum principles, the experience of other education systems and the pilot program of reorganisation in Melbourne's South Central Region. The process of school reorganisation will work more effectively where it has been decentralised to local planning committees which actively involve all of those affected by proposed changes. Given that the process is redistributive in nature, successful reorganisation is dependent upon the political acknowledgement and accommodation of conflicting interests.