Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemResponses of government and Catholic educational authorities to the influx of migrants, 1950-1960, with special reference to the experience of a selected group of schools conducted by the Victorian Sisters of Mercy( 1977)local parish priest; the day-to-day education was left completely to those dedicated religious and their lay assistants who faced the challenge with resolute courage. One such group of religious were the Sisters of Mercy. A major focus of this study is their efforts in the field of migrant education with special reference to three schools for which they mere responsible. With neither the time nor expertise to develop a specific philosophy of migrant education they relied on traditional methods of classroom teaching - methods in which they had fortunately been well-grounded. The effect of such teaching can be partially gauged from the responses of one hundred of their students.
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ItemThe Ministerial Review of Postcompulsory Schooling : a case study of a temporary adaptive system( 1986)For complex organisations such as educational systems to be able to adapt effectively to changing circumstances they need to develop a repertoire of adaptive mechanisms. The temporary adaptive system appears to merit inclusion in such a repertoire. This study reports the conduct of one case of a temporary adaptive system: The Ministerial Review of Postcompulsory Schooling conducted in the State of Victoria between 1983 and 1985. The case is an example of the operation of a quite complex temporary adaptive system which incorporated its own temporary subsystems within its overall process. It was established to initiate changes at the system-wide level of a large educational system. The issues at stake were ones perceived to be significant by those within the educational as well as the wider community. Within one year after the publication of its Report most of its recommendations, with some modification, appear to have excellent chances of implementation. The case is shown to demonstrate quite strong adherence to the features of temporary adaptive systems discusssed in the literature, and to the procedures recommended for attaining a successful operation and outcome. These features and recommended procedures - and their interaction - are described and analysed in the study. From the findings of this one case suggestions are made for modifying and extending the theory relating to temporary adaptive systems.
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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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ItemEducational provisions for gifted and talented children in Victorian schools viewed from an Australian perspective( 1982)This thesis is concerned with the Educational Provisions for Gifted and Talented Children in Victorian Schools. A knowledge of historical developments both Australian and world wide is seen as a necessary prerequisite for an understanding of present practices in both government and non-government schools. An analysis of the major contemporary issues which face the designers of programmes for gifted and talented children is then presented. Once these issues have been identified a description of current educational provisions operating within Victorian schools is undertaken. Government and non-government schools are examined at both the primary and secondary levels, as well as teacher training courses for the teachers of the gifted and talented. In the conclusion, achievements both in Victoria and Australia in meeting the needs of gifted and talented children are discussed and the prospects for the future are considered.
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ItemUndergraduate course preferences of students with some previous tertiary education( 1982)The thesis is an examination of the factors which affect the course choice of applicants to tertiary institutions. The sample is taken from the 1977 applicant cohort registered with the Victorian Universities Admissions Committee. The applicants in the sample are those who had already been enrolled in tertiary educational institutions for at least one year, prior to their application in 1977. The aims of the study are to examine the effect of previous tertiary experience, employment experience, age and sex on the course choice of the applicants. The data used in the study were taken from:. application files held by the Victorian Universities Admissions Committee. The results of the analysis are compared with the results of studies carried out in Australia and overseas which described the vocational and educational choices of students entering tertiary institutions for the first time, and subsequently transferring to other institutions in some cases. The main difference between this study and those which preceded it is that the applicant sample in this study contains persons aged from seventeen years to more than sixty-five years, whilst previous analyses had been confined in the main to the young applicants. A comparison is made between the course choices of the young applicants, aged 22 years or less, and the older applicants, aged 23 years or more. The results of this study are similar to those already published. Nevertheless some new information about the effect of the Victorian tertiary education system - the number and nature of the institutions - on the choices of applicants is presented. In addition the study makes available a comparison of age groups which has not yet been attempted elsewhere. The study shows that applicants of all ages have two objectives: the first, to obtain a qualification which will enable them to find satisfying employment; the second, the study a course which provides them with interesting activity which enables them to find personal satisfaction. In the main students wish to undertake the second objective at a University, whilst vocational training is sought at. a variety of institutions. The prestige and academic standing of the institutions is an important factor in the determination of the applicants' choices, and as a result many are not satisfied in their application.
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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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ItemThe provision of English as a second language programs in Victorian Catholic primary schools, 1970-1988( 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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ItemDevolution and effective school leadership: a case study involving ten Victorian state high school principals( 1987)An interview methodology was used in this study in an attempt to ascertain how high school principals view the current devolution proposals (as outlined in the document Taking Schools Into The 1990's) as affecting school leadership in terms of Sergiovanni's leadership model. When conducting the interviews it became quite apparent that Sergiovanni's leadership model was most representative of the leadership patterns of principals in the sample. All of the interviewees believed that a school would need to have a strong and functional culture in order to provide excellence in schooling. The majority of principals saw their role as cultural leader as being more important than their managerial role from the viewpoint of seeking excellence in schooling. Seventy per cent of respondents saw the role of principal as crucial in developing/ maintaining a strong school culture. Furthermore, most principals also believed that the new devolution proposals could enable schools to develop a stronger school culture, thus resulting in greater excellence in schooling. The local appointment of staff was a recommendation seen as being most beneficial in this regard. The recommendation that high schools obtain the services of a full-time administration manager was also seen as allowing the school principal to be a more effective leader in that he could delegate more of his managerial functions and thus concentrate more on his role of cultural leader. Although more detailed research is required, the results of this study are consistent with the claim made in the review of literature that because Sergiovanni comprehensively addresses the issue of school culture then his model would appear to be the most useful in the current educational climate. The results also give encouragement to those who believe that some of the recommendations contained in the latest devolution proposals may result in greater excellence in schooling.
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ItemPayment by results as an innovation in Victorian education: with particular reference to the period 1868-1878( 1978)From 1863 to 1905 Victoria paid its teachers under the system of "payment by results". This system had been introduced in England by the Revised Code of 1862 and a version of it was adopted by the Victorian Board of Education in 1863. The essence of the system was that portion of a teacher's salary became directly dependent on the performance of his students in examinations. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the system of payment by results was an unjust system based on unsound principles and that it encouraged teachers to concentrate too much of their efforts on the teaching for "results". The outcome was an excess of mechanical teaching, of "cram" and of rote learning. The system was unsound in principle because it was not based on any proven theory of pedagogy, but was introduced in order to satisfy a desire for economy and efficiency. It was unjust because it was based on an unfounded lack of trust in Victoria's elementary school teachers - as evidenced by the results regulations and, indeed, by the whole concept of payment for "results". We will see that built into the results formula were various punitive clauses which operated to penalise teachers unfairly for factors over which they had little or no control. Furthermore, under this system teachers were to become the only servants of the State whose livelihood depended, to a certain extent, on the "results" they produced. With the Education Act of 1872, the Education Department of Victoria came into existence - replacing the old Board of Education - and it inherited, and continued to apply, the system of payment by results. Under the new Minister of Public Instruction, the Education Department continued to support the principle of payment for "results". However, from 1873 to 1878 - as evidenced by a study of the Minister's and Inspectors' reports to Parliament - we see emerging a greater willingness on the part of the Department to concede that there was a good deal of merit in the complaints of teachers, and some important concessions were made accordingly. In 1877, Charles Henry Pearson was appointed to conduct a one-man Royal Commission into education in Victoria and, while Pearson found certain faults with the system of payment by results, he still believed that it was correct in its principle and should be retained in order to ensure a continued diligent effort on the part of the teachers. Pearson did, however, make some important proposals. He recommended that less of a teacher's income should be dependent on the "results", and he favoured doing away with the punitive regulations relating to age and attendance. These proposals would, he believed, eliminate many of the problems relating to mechanical teaching, to "cram" and to rote learning. His proposals, however, were not put into effect, and we see that, while certain amendments were made to the results regulations, and various proposals put forward for its modification, the essential nature of the system of payment by results remained unchanged throughout the life of the Board of Education - and for the first six years of Departmental control.