Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemIntegration in Victorian primary schools : a study of the role of the Victorian Teachers' Union in the creation of public policy( 1988)The thesis is a descriptive analysis of the role played by a pressure group, in this case the Victorian Teachers' Union (VTU), in the creation of public policy. It argues that the VTU did not play a significant role in the creation of the Labor Government's policy to integrate children with disabilities into regular primary schools. As occurred overseas, parent organisations were instrumental in placing the issue on the political agenda and pressuring the government to implement an integration policy. The VTU's decision to formulate its own policy on integration was a reaction to this pressure. There are several reasons for the VTU's lack of success in influencing government policy on integration. The VTU accorded primary importance to industrial issues with the result that its decision to develop an integration policy was reactive and belated. Policy development began only a few months before the establishment of the Ministerial Review of Educational Services for the Disabled. Consequently the Union came to the Review without any clearly defined or detailed policy. Moreover there was no strong commitment on the part of the membership to the concept of integration. In fact the reverse was true. Union policy had been developed by an active minority and the leadership had failed to communicate effectively its policy to the membership. When the membership became aware of the implications of the government's integration policy its reaction was so hostile that, in order to maintain membership support, the VTU leadership was forced to repudiate sections of the Report of the Ministerial Review which it had signed unconditionally. The VTU was then forced into negotiations with the government at the implementation stage of the policy-making process.
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ItemThe politics of education at a provincial teachers' college : Bendigo 1968-1972( 1981)The study is concerned with the attempts of Bendigo Teachers' College to gain autonomy and resist pressures for amalgamation with the Bendigo Institute of Technology. It examines the efforts of a small academic community in a provincial city to influence the future of their institution by resisting the policy of rationalisation of resources. It thus was necessary to look at developments in tertiary education in Victoria in the wider context and briefly examine the role of the Commonwealth Government as it attempted to rationalise and direct the tertiary sector through the allocation of resources. The attitude of the Federal Government influenced educational policy at the state level and it became apparent that the State Government in turn brought pressure to bear on education authorities. State teachers' colleges had always been under the direct control of the Education Department and they were discouraged from taking any initiatives that could be construed as being at variance with Departmental policy. Bendigo Teachers' College attempted and succeeded in initiating political action on its own behalf rather than rely on the Department to support it against pressures to become part of the Institute. It was a new role for the staff of the Teachers' College for they were all employees of the Education Department and were a nominally conservative group in a conservative tradition directed institution not accustomed to taking direct political action. They were influenced by the Principal of the College who either led or supported their efforts to convince the community of the merits of their case for remaining independent. It has thus been necessary to examine the role that the Principal and individual staff members played through the media in interaction with representatives of, the Education Department, the Bendigo Institute of Technology, the Victoria Institute of Colleges and the Minister of Education. The College saw that its best chance of resisting amalgamation lay in its ability to expand physically while broadening the scope of the courses it offered. To do so it needed to become an autonomous institution and thus it equated autonomy with survival as it adopted a defensive position against those institutional and community interests who would force amalgamation upon it. A complicating factor was the uncertainty of the location of the Fourth University, which, to the Bendigo community, was of paramount importance. Bendigo desired the University, the Institute wanted amalgamation and the College sought autonomy. The reconciliation of conflict between divergent and potentially conflicting interests was eventually partially resolved in the short term.
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ItemMinisterial review of education in Victoria 1979-1980( 1983)In 1979, a unique event took place in the history of education in Victoria. For the first time this century, a total review of the education system was set in motion. Following a State election and the return of the Liberal Government, two Ministers - both new to the Education Portfolio - initiated a wide ranging Review of Education in Victoria. As the review process advanced, however, its focus narrowed at each stage from a review of all education, to a review of education in Government schools and finally to a review of administrative and organisational processes, virtually shelving educational issues. During the process, considerable emphasis was placed on consultation and public participation. Yet, when the White Paper on Government policy was tabled at the culmination of the Review, it freely admitted that most of its content was contrary to the majority of views expressed through that consultation process and that its change of focus away from educational issues to administrative issues also ran contrary to the major concerns expressed through consultation. Throughout the Review, a most striking feature was the virtual exclusion from the process of the permanent head of the Department, the Director-General of Education. (His replacement and removal to a newly created position was the first step in the implementation phase). This thesis attempts to show that the Ministerial Review of Education in Victoria, while being announced as a major review of education, was, as it turned out, nothing of the sort. In the final analysis, the Review shelved educational issues and became instead the means for introducing administrative change with the possible hidden agenda of removing one or more senior administrators.
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ItemCommunity participation in decision making in Victorian state schools: an examination of the changing roles of school councils focussing on an analysis of responses to the report, "Taking schools into the 1990s"( 1986)For a century following the proclamation of the Education Act of 1872, Victorian State education was a service, provided by the Government, which varied little in character or content from school to school. By the 1970s a groundswell for community participation in school based decision-making had begun to be felt. School Councils were constituted as governing bodies representative of each school community. Government policy increasingly favoured greater devolution of powers to the schools so that parents, teachers and, in post primary schools, students were involved in democratic and collaborative decision-making. This study examines the developments in policy related to school governance and the attitudes of the interested parties to the changes. As an indication of the current attitude to community participation in schools, responses of Victorian Secondary School Councils to the report "Taking Schools into the 1990s" are examined. Evidence from these responses indicates that the great majority of schools cope with the roles they presently play, especially in developing policy about curriculum. However, they are not prepared for further responsibilities, particularly of a management nature, as proposed by the Ministry Structures Project Team. There is a strong concern that the proposal if implemented would have a detrimental effect on schools which are already having to cope with a great deal of change. Councils composed of volunteers feel they risk being overloaded with duties rightfully belonging to the Ministry of Education. The issue is an expression of a major concern in this thesis : that decentralization is being confused with devolution and as a result much of the collaborative work, especially in curriculum, being undertaken by councils could be endangered in the future. Time and energy devoted by school councils and school administrators to decentralized operations would very likely be at the expense of policy and curriculum initiatives.