Faculty of Education - Theses

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End date: 1989 × Start date: 1987 × Type: Masters Coursework thesis × Subject: English language × Subject: Victoria ×

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    An analysis of education provision to older non-English speaking background youth with minimal or interrupted schooling in the Richmond/Collingwood area
    Polesel, John ( 1987)
    This study is an analysis of educational provision in the Richmond/Coilingwood area for young people aged 16 to 24 years of age, of migrant or refugee background, who have a history of minimal or interrupted schooling. These students are mostly of Indo-Chinese or Timorese background , and face severe problems relating to their lack of literacy and poor English proficiency. Many of these students are unaccompanied refugees and face economic hardship in Australia. Educational programs running in five postprimary schools, two TAFE colleges and two language centres are examined in light of their relevance to the needs of these students. It emerges from this study that a small number of institutions provide responsive quality programs for this group. There are, however, general problems relating to the low status and marginalization of ESL programs in most of the institutions. These problems are compounded by a lack of funding, unsympathetic administration, ignorance of the issues and difficulties relating to accreditation. In some institutions, no provision at all is made for these students. Needs emerging from these issues may be summarized as follows. A greater awareness of the educational requirements. of this group must be developed. An informed collaborative approach must be adopted to respond to these needs in the form of appropriate ESL programs. Policy and administrative support must be forthcoming to assist in achieving these goals.
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    The provision of English as a second language programs in Victorian Catholic primary schools, 1970-1988
    Fisher, Mary C. ( 1989)
    This thesis examines the programs in English as a second language provided by the Catholic Education Office of Victoria to its primary schools between 1970 to 1988. The CEOV response to Government policies and funding for English as a second language programs for immigrant children is described and analysed. Data concerning these programs is analysed for ten selected Catholic primary schools, who submitted proposals in 1985, and for twenty selected Catholic primary schools who submitted proposals in 1988. The results show that despite good intentions and committed efforts, the teaching of English as a second language in Victorian Catholic primary schools remains a poor relation.
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    Rhetoric and reality: the struggle to achieve school status for language centres
    Adams, John Charles ( 1988)
    The Language Centre Program (LCP) has been in existence for more than ten years. Language centres have never had formal status as schools nor as annexes of schools. As a result two major problems have emerged: first, because language centres do not have access to school councils, the usual resources which are made available to mainstream schools are denied them; and second, teachers in language centres lack a career structure comparable to that of their colleagues in mainstream schools. The Victorian Government's social justice strategy allows a focus to be placed on student outcomes. It also provides a framework within which the issue of school status for language centres in the period 1982 to 1988 is considered. There are clear contradictions between rhetoric and reality. Three different committees/working parties have addressed the issue and five key reports have been written in the six-year period. A number of factors explain why it-has been difficult to achieve school status for language centres: the volatility of the LCP itself; the dynamics of Commonwealth immigration policy; the complexity of Commonwealth-State funding arrangements; the nature, composition and outcomes of the committees/working parties which have addressed the issue; institutional inertia; and the changing attitudes expressed by interested parties. The Minister for Education's in-principle endorsement of the third report of the Working Party on Language Centre Status and a significant increase in Commonwealth per capita funding provide a note of optimism. But a clearly articulated New Arrivals Strategy Plan which translates the broad rhetoric of the State's social justice strategy into terms which are meaningful and realistic to the LCP needs to be developed