Faculty of Education - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 22
-
ItemDichotomies and paradoxes of youth unemployment : a philosophical and comparative study( 1989)Youth unemployment (YU) and unemployment by choice (UBC) have been considered from four perspectives, labour market, economic aspect, education and social sciences. First the problem of YU in general and UBC in particular is outlined. For policy-makers and job-creators this information is obviously vital to avoid disappointments of predictions and results. Workaholics and UBC have totally different goals and values and choose accordingly. Then the economic perspective is considered: The economists' views and theories are analysed and comparative profiles of some OECD countries presented. Some of the other questions asked are: is there a nexus between excessive imports and unemployment and what may this indicate, and what solutions do some of the economic theorists present. This is followed by a comparative study of educational thrusts and training in various OECD countries. Again comparative profiles in various OECD countries are used in unravelling or demystifying this complex problem, which may be seen as at least partly a matter of choice of life-style. An attempt is then made to use principles from the social sciences to explain the personal, social and economic causes and effects of UBC and some recommendations are made.
-
ItemCultural preservation : the Estonian experience in Australia 1947-1987( 1987)This study is based on an historical perspective which traces the origins and development of Estonian organisations which are viewed as representing the 'conscious' attempts to preserve Estonian culture in Australia. The organisational problems and strategies to preserve the culture are examined in terms of the relationship between strategies used by the Estonian community and those used simultaneously by the wider community in response to changes in social relationships and emerging government policies. A major source for research material has been through oral history sources in interviews and contacts with several ethnic Estonians(primarily immigrants),who have been actively involved with organised Estonian cultural life : extensive interviews were conducted in Melbourne,Sydney, Thirlmere,Adelaide and Canberra; the writer has also spent almost twelve months being actively involved in some of the Estonian organisations including the Melbourne Ladies' Choir, Festivals and concerts. Other important sources of information include the Eesti Paevad Albums(Estonian Festival Albums, 1954-1986),historical writings about Estonia and Estonian people,contemporary publications, research and other projects, an original questionnaire for second generation Estonians,and the writer's participation in the National Research Conference on Ethnicity and Multiculturalism at the University of Melbourne (May 14 - 16) in 1986. Part 1 introduces the underlying concepts of 'culture', 'community' and 'ethnicity',with a section on the relevant historical and geographical background of Estonia and Estonian immigrants. Aspects of the Estonian culture within the Australian context are examined using an adaptation of Raymond Williams' interpretation of culture this study stresses the importance of creating a balanced interpretation of Estonian culture at three levels,that is,the 'living community','recorded' culture and 'selective tradition' in the argument for developing strategies for preserving the Estonian culture through the process of mainstream education. Part 11 follows on from the foundations laid by the 'Old Estonians'(pre-World War ll),and outlines the changing role of major Estonian organisations such as the Festivals,Choirs, Estonian school,the press,and to a lesser extent the Church,in preserving the Estonian culture according to emerging trends within the Estonian community and the surrounding culture. Part 111 highlights the nature of the 'ageing' and diminishing Estonian community in Australia,with - the emergence of the younger generation of ethnic Estonians in Australia as the vehicle for the creation and transmission of Estonian culture. The intercultural context and the nature of contemporary social relationships provide evidence of the change from the ethnic exclusiveness of the earlier period,to the widening framework for Estonian ethnicity and interest in preserving the Estonian culture. Many of the current developments from within the Estonian community and its wider context are presented as evidence of trends which are moving towards the realization of crucial strategies which are needed to preserve the Estonian culture in Australia through the process of education.
-
ItemComputer based learning in tertiary education and industry : the Australian experience( 1988)This study describes the influence of information technology on the changing nature of tertiary education and industrial training. It describes an historical precedent for the present changes, and suggests that computer-based teaching and learning has a role in helping society cope with these changes. The study examines the pedagogical background for using computers in teaching and learning, and describes how this use has evolved around the world and in Australia. It also considers the economic implications of using computers in teaching and learning, both in macro-economic terms and as an influence on the administration of organisations implementing computer-based teaching and learning. From an Australia-wide survey of practitioners in computer-based teaching and learning, the study examines the state of development in Australia in 1988. It demonstrates a considerable experience base in academia and in industry, but it also identifies some weaknesses in the experience. In particular it show the difficulty some users have justifying computer-based teaching and learning against other forms of training; ambivalence about the importance of self-paced learning; ambivalence about the importance of learner response, evaluation and certification; little support from organisations in which users work; and little access to business and marketing skills for marketing the product of research and development in computer-based teaching and learning. The study identifies four necessary and sufficient conditions for the successful development of computer-based teaching and learning. It suggests that it is the lack of people with skill and experience, not lack of physical resources which is holding development back. Development can, it suggests, be speeded by enlightened administrations supporting innovative development; by motivating individuals to contribute to development; and by establishing a centre of excellence in which such development is encouraged. Finally, it suggests that we are leaving behind a cottage industry model of computer-based teaching and learning development, and entering an era of large scale production of useful resources.
-
ItemComing, ready or not! : predicted growth in participation in adult education over the next decade( 1989)This report identifies the expectations the adult education sector has of school leavers if a system of lifelong education is to be achieved in Australia, and predicts strong growth in participation in lifelong education. It finds that young people need to have a positive attitude towards learning throughout life and it explores how the number of students who leave school with a negative attitude towards learning might be reduced. In exploring problems with schooling it became apparent that changing schools alone would not achieve the desired outcomes. Thus the report also looks at the likely demand by adults for lifelong education and some of the policy and legislative changes as well as changes in the workplace that are necessary if lifelong education is to be a reality for all who wish to participate. The material for the report was gathered from a joint Australian Teachers Federation and Commission for the Future project and associated inquiries. This was combined with ideas and strategies outlined in a number of major recent. Australian reports to develop predictions about participation in lifelong education over the next decade. Two of the inquiries used a modified Delphi technique to achieve concensus about expectations of schooling and strategies to reduce the number of students who leave school with inadequate basic skills and a negative attitude towards learning. Ancillary material about the kind of skills adults think they will need in the next ten years was collected from simple interviews with 52 members of the general public. To predict likely demand for adult education the research combines demographic data with enrolment statistics and value segment analysis. Value segment analysis describes the population in terms of its values and has been used because of the relationship between motivation and participation in adult education. Overall the project is a descriptive piece of research developed through selective survey methods involving interviewing groups and individuals and combining this data with ideas identified through a literature review. The numbers of people involved in the two Delphi inquiries and interviews are so small that the findings can only be treated as indicative of the public's views rather than as finite statements. The report concludes by predicting a strong growth in participation in lifelong education caused by increased educational expectations in the community generally the ageing of the population increased need to continually learn and update skills for work and personal life and a growing concern generally about our social and physical environments.
-
ItemA philosophical analysis of the concept of education( 1989)The thesis critically examines some of the concepts involved In the elucidation of the concept of education developed by R.S. Peters who says that education Is a family of processes whose purposes are the development of desirable states of mind. In particular, it critically examines the concept of mind built into Peters' conception of education and argues that Peters is correct to imply that the mind cannot be reduced to brain states. Education, I .claim is a telological concept primarily concerned with the transmission of cultural values. The thesis begins by briefly looking at behaviourist views of mind, and introduces the Identity Theory as an attempt to provide a better explication of the nature of mind. Feigl's views on the nature of mind are examined, in particular, his attempted reduction of the mental to the physical. His rejection of the concept of emergence is challenged and what is meant by the reduction of one theory to another is elucidated. It is concluded that the mental cannot be reduced to the physical. The features of scientific explanation in general are explored. It Is found that scientific explanation is applicable largely in physical science contexts, and so is of limited use in explaining the concept of mind, and so the concept of education. Teleological explanations are examined, since it is apparent that education is a teleological explanation. The question of whether teleological explanations can be reduced to non-teleological explanations is considered. It is found that there are at least three forms of teleological explanation, (i) functional explanation, (ii) goal-directed explanation and (iii) purposive explanation. It is clear from an examination of these that education is explained in terms of purpose. An examination of the concept of intention and its relationship to action forms a major portion of the thesis. The problem of whether there can be several descriptions of one action is considered, as well as whether Intentions are entailed by desires. The relationship between actions and events is considered, discussing in particular the concept of cause. Five uses of the term "cause" are outlined. It is postulated that the causal power In agent causation is the "act of will", which forms part of the intention to act. The concept of a process, and some of the ways in which it may be defined, is examined. The concept of development is briefly considered in the light of the analysis of the concept of a process. It is concluded that education may be termed a super-process. As a process, education can never be completed, but continues throughout an Individual's life. The purposes of education and what might be meant by desirable states of mind are discussed. The primary purpose of education, it is asserted, is the imparting of values. The question of who decides what states of mind might be termed desirable is considered and it is concluded that it is society, or the community who decide what values are to be imparted.
-
ItemAustralian studies and the Geelong College( 1988)The Geelong College pioneered the teaching of Australian Studies as part of the secondary school curriculum. The notion of teaching about Australia through an inter-disciplinary course was seen as revolutionary in its early days of the mid-1970s. Since that time, however, the teaching of Australian Studies has become increasingly widespread in schools, and also in some tertiary institutions. Over the same period, the Australian Studies course at The Geelong College has undergone review and change according to staff interests, student reaction and the contemporary situation. In the early 1980s, the face of Victorian Education was to change through the effects of the "Blackburn Report", an enquiry into post-compulsory schooling, of which a major recommendation was that all students should undertake a study of Australian society at Levels 11 and 12. The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board has used this recommendation as the basis for introducing a compulsory two-unit course titled "Work and Australian Society" as part of the new Victorian Certificate of Education, which will be fully operational by 1991. The Geelong College, like all other secondary schools in the state, is having to prepare for the introduction of Australian Studies in this form. Although this school has had the advantage of experience with an established Australian Studies course, the present course does not fully satisfy the requirements of the VCAB guidelines; therefore some degree of modification and rewriting is necessary. This thesis will attempt to design, implement and evaluate some units of work for Year 11 Australian Studies students at The Geelong College, units which satisfy both the VCAB requirements and the needs of the student clientele of this particular school. In order to undertake such a project, this thesis initially examines the development in the study of Australian society and culture. It then attempts to identify a methodology which could be used as a model for the planning of curriculum modfications for this course. The nature of the particular institution in question will be examined as a preparatory step to the development of a curriculum. The thesis concludes with a review of the process undertaken and discusses its applicability as a general methodology.
-
ItemThe decentralisation of curriculum decision making in Australia : developments and effects in three states( 1988)The decentralisation of educational decision making and the involvement of a wider range of participants in decision-making processes have been key features of the administration of education in Australia over the past two decades. Among the arguments supporting reforms to the centralised education systems in Australia was the belief that decentralisation would lead to the development of curricula more suited to the needs of students. However, the relationship between changes in the control of curriculum decision making and the nature of the curriculum has not been well researched. This study was designed to address this deficiency. The freedom of teachers to make decisions about the curriculum is constrained by many factors. These can be grouped into a number of 'frames': the system, school, community and individual. The system frame refers to the influence of educational offices and assessment authorities; the school frame is concerned with the role of different school-based personnel such as administrators and faculty coordinators; the community frame refers to the participation of parents or other community members; and the individual frame is concerned with how individual teachers' values or epistemologies might translate into curriculum practices or preferences. These frames relate to different types of decentralisation that have emerged to a lesser or greater extent in Australia: regionalisation, school-based decision making, teacher-based decision making and community participation. This study sought to address the effects on the curriculum of types of decentralisation by examining the relative influence of the four frames. Three States, which had experienced different degrees of decentralisation, were selected for historical and current comparison and within each a number of schools were selected for case study. The schools were grouped according to their administrative and curricular styles, and according to teachers' perceptions of the influence of the community. Within schools, teachers were grouped according to their epistemological views. Data were collected through the administration of questionnaires and through interviews with teachers and administrators. The analyses revealed that in the program in practice there were considerable similarities in teachers' responses. Notwithstanding this, the system, school and individual frame were important influences on the curriculum. There was little evidence that the community was directly affecting curriculum decision making, although this frame did have an indirect influence. In the ideal program, the State differences were reduced and the school differences almost completely disappeared. On the other hand, teachers' epistemological views continued to be associated with the curriculum variables measured and teachers argued that the community should have somewhat greater influence than it had in practice. Among the findings reported, it was found that teachers in the most centralised system, in more tightly coupled schools and with a 'technicist' epistemology were, compared with their counterparts in decentralised systems, in loosely coupled schools and with an 'hermeneutic' epistemology, more likely to favour what might be called traditional curriculum structures and teaching practices.
-
ItemAustralian Education Council deliberations on education and technology( 1989)In November 1983 the Australian Education Council (AEC) established the Task Force on Education and Technology to develop options for a strategy of related policy and program initiatives. The study covered AEC interest in the relationship between technology and education, the establishment and operations of the Task Force, the preparation and presentation of its final report, and the AEC's replacement of the Task Force in June 1986 with an Executive Working Group. Research centred on the process followed by the Task Force, and the extent to which the Task Force report could be considered a 'good' policy document. Consideration was also given to the importance of the chairmanship of the Task Force, and the adequacy of resources to fulfil the terms of reference set by the AEC. The policy development process was traced through AEC documentation which included minutes of meetings, correspondence, reports, and discussion papers. For analysis, a conceptual framework was provided by Caldwell and Spinks' models for the policy making process and for policy statements. Corroborative material was drawn from comments by the Chairman of the Task Force, the Hon L M F Arnold. Findings included a failure by the Task Force adequately to specify its definition of 'technology' or to limit to a manageable scale the scope of its deliberations. The chairmanship of the Task Force by Mr Arnold was seen to be significant in terms of the importance of having a Minister chairing a working group, with the potential for leverage to take place, but questions regarding the quality of the chairmanship were raised in light of the problems experienced by the Task Force in defining terms and parameters, and in producing an appropriate policy statement which would take due account of AEC attitudes to projects requiring funding. While the process followed by the Task Force could be matched to Caldwell's model for policy development, and the Task Force was well aware of 'the need for a structured approach, meetings were dominated by discussion of procedural matters rather than content, leading to frustration on . the part of some members and resulting in a relative lack of direction in the development of report content. Geographical remoteness of members, and, the, need to balance Task Force demands against continuing normal workloads, were seen as factors impeding high levels of involvement and participation in the preparation of the policy statement. It was suggested that unrealistically broad terms of reference had been set, without the AEC being,either willing or able to provide the resources necessary to fulfil them, and that Task Force members' perceptions of being inadequately resourced affected the performance of their duties. The final report to the AEC was criticised by educators and educational adminstrators particularly on grounds of excessive generality in its recommendations, and of having taken inadequate note of activity already occurring around Australia. In all categories offered by Caldwell as criteria for a good policy statement, the. report received adverse criticism. It was suggested that the Task Force failed to fulfil its terms of reference, both by offering a series of discrete recommendations in specific areas, rather than a range of options, and by failing to supply details of anticipated cost. The report's major practical recommendations were not implemented.
-
Item'Ten years after' : equality and the disadvantaged schools program( 1987)In 1973 the Interim Report of the Schols Commission was published providing a blue print for educational policy and planning for the 1970's and 1980's. In particular, the report focussed on the notion of equality in its educational context and the means for the achievement of its expressed ends through specific programs. One such program is the Disadvantaged Schools Program. A full decade of implementation has taken place. This thesis attempts to examine: the theoretical and political warrants of the notion of equality expressed in the Karmel Report, and the effectiveness of its translation into action through the Disadvantaged Schools Program. The focus of the thesis is that the Karmel Report was fundamentally inconsistent in its expression of the concept of educational equality. It examines the contradictions and ambiguities in the Report and the implementation of the Disadvantaged Schools Program against original goals and intentions. The Disadvantaged Schools Program, it is argued, has been undermined by these conceptual inconsistencies, by grants to non-government schools and by the way in which the Program itself came to be administered.
-
ItemComputers, toys or tools? : changes in computing experiences of Australian boys and girls( 1988)Data were collected, between November 1986 and March 1987, about Australian students' access to and use of computers. Two values on which this study is based are: 1) that it is possible to use computers in ways that enhance students' cognitive and social development. and 2) that students should have equal opportunity to use computers to enhance their development. Three issues were the foci of the study, and the information collected was examined in terms of these three concerns. The first issue was whether use of computers had increased since 1983. The second issue was whether the differences that existed in 1983, between proportions of boys and girls who had access to and used computers, had been reduced. These first two issues are related to the value that all students should have equal opportunity to use computers. The third issue was to examine the applications students reported using, to see if there were any indications that students might be using computers in ways that enhanced their cognitive, affective, and social development. The results of this study indicated that use of computers among Australian students has been increasing. Differences among girls and boys in the use of computers at school have started to grow smaller. More students have computers in their homes than in 1983, but there has been no reduction in the differences between boys and girls in terms of ownership, and frequency of use. The differences in percentages of boys and girls with a computer in their home are greatest between girls from families with all female siblings and boys from families with all male siblings. The applications used by students on computers were consistent with uses described in the literature for enhancement of cognitive and social development.