Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe educational theory of G.H. Bantock in the context of British educational thought 1965-1975( 1990)The 1960s and early 1970s witnessed changes in many social values in Britain; the educational world was not immune to the turbulence of these years. The classifications of `traditionalist', `conservative', `progressive' and 'radical' were attributed indiscriminately to the wide spectrum of party affiliations. As a result, the characteristics of these `parties' became difficult to isolate amid the vague condemnatory generalisations and intense criticism of personalities which characterized the period. G.H. Bantock (b. 1914) was considered a prominent traditionalist of these times, and as such, attempted to swim against the tide of what he believed was an increasing, uncultured progressivism. This study attempts to present a summary of Bantock's principal concerns, and to offer a profile of the main thrusts of the arguments which he advanced in over eighty major publications. As a subsidiary theme, it considers the nomenclature of the period, particularly from the perspective of the traditionalist, and seeks to isolate the foundations of that philosophical stance. Part 1 is a summary of the main concerns which consumed Bantock's attention during his career. Part 2 considers the means by which Bantock believed the problems of contemporary education could be solved, and Part 3 presents the author's evaluation of the ideas outlined in the previous sections.
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ItemStudent expectations of the future( 1992)Specific aims of the study To investigate how present-day students view the future and their place in the workforce of the future. To establish whether or not students regard their present educational experiences as an adequate preparation for their future work. To investigate acceptance of unconventional futures scenarios as possible futures.
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ItemCurriculum and programme provisions for gifted and talented children in Victorian J.S.H.A.A. schools( 1992)This study has surveyed the provision of programmes for Children with High Intellectual Potential (C.H.I.P.) in Victorian member schools of the Junior Schools Heads Association Australia. Fifty-nine schools were surveyed; fifty-four responded, representing some 19,000 junior school children. The survey was divided into six sections covering staffing provisions, curriculum and programmes, definition of gifted children, identification procedures, changing perspectives and importance of C.H.I.P., and subscriptions to journals. The literature search was divided into two distinct sections. Within the Australian context the review was historical, marking the modern beginnings of education for C.H.I.P.. There is a dearth of literature with Australian origins on gifted and talented children. The late seventies and early eighties uncover some material, basically funded and inspired by the Commonwealth Schools Commission. The emphasis is on surveys of programmes. The conclusion is clear that what programmes were operating were ad hoc in nature. This was inevitable, as teacher training for C.H.I.P. was non-existent. In the early eighties, promising programmes in the Victorian Education Department and the Catholic Education system were quickly quashed by a change of government. Major writers such as Gallagher, Maker and Van Tassel-Bash identify three distinct curriculum models, the Content, the Process/Product and the Epistemological. There is no evidence at this stage to suggest that the Victorian C.H.I.P. programmes are anything more than ad hoc. They do not fit into the three identified curriculum models. In-class provision is the main methodology, with programmes based on Bloom's Taxonomy or the Sato/Kaplan Differentiated Curriculum. Many schools are not yet operating strongly founded theoretical based programmes, and are clearly moving without direction. There is lack of understanding of the concept of C.H.I.P., even though identification procedures are quite sophisticated. Interest in teacher in-service appears to be growing rapidly. There is clearly a crucial need to provide pre-service courses at teacher training institutions. The major need for C.H.I.P. is for the Commonwealth government and the Ministry of Education in Victoria to develop and implement a policy on gifted and talented children.
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ItemFrom the industrial to the convivial ethos : Ivan Illich on needs, commodities, education and the politics of change( 1991)The appearance of the soul-stirring views of Ivan Illich in the early seventies made for an iconoclastic campaign against current claims and definitions of objective social progress in our industrial-computer-technology age. His controversial message expressed serious concern about the consumerist ethos of modern societies and the pathogenic nature of our institutions. Today, the radical literature boom, of which Illich was part, appears to have gone quiet. Additionally, aspects of his writings have been superseded by new radical discourses. Yet still, for all that, Illich has produced an imposing and provocative critique of modern industrial society that goes a long way to demythologize our world view of "what is" of the sociocultural reality around us. In this sense, Illich has posed problems and offered positions that remain relevant to radical politics, and that are likely to concern us for a very long time. Throughout this thesis, I will attempt to contextualize and present the matrix of Illich's thought. In view of the ample critical responses to Illich's work, I do not intend to present a comprehensive critical appraisal, though I will concentrate on an assessment of his proposed strategy for the transition to a more humane society. I will begin, in chapter one, by mapping out Illich's critique of the increased importance of commodity culture within both the production and social reproduction - the ways in which advanced industrial society reproduces itself in individual thought and behaviour. Illich's investigation of the consumer society points to how institutions and a wide variety of cultural phenomena within social life are becoming forms of commodification and consumption, thus engendering deleterious and dehumanizing consequences. Chapter two takes Illich's objections to the consumerist ethos and investigates the role of compulsory public schooling within the logic of the commodification process. On the whole, Illich illustrates that the school, by packaging knowledge as a consumer commodity, distorts the meaning of education for its own vested interests. While the first two chapters attempt to contextualize Illich's writings, chapter three explores his conceptualization of the "ideal society" and his proposals for social and educational transformation. In chapter four, I will critically appraise Mich's thinking on radical social reconstruction in contradistinction to his Marxist critics and their proposed strategies. Out of this debate, the relevance of Illich's political concerns to current radical politics will be further clarified. My purpose in chapter five will be to confront the dilemma posed by Mich: should a radical policy be directed to reform or to deschool? I will attempt to present and appraise some of the prominent critical views levelled against Illich's politics for social change. In the final chapter, an attempt will be made to reveal what the deschooling analysis does not take into account. Attention will be given to how "resistance" theories, in particular the work of Paul Willis, provide an alternative view of how school reproduces the social order. New possibilities for schools acting as agents of social change are presented. The efforts of "empowerment" theorists build up these possibilities and call for "transformative" pedagogies to be developed within the schools. The major concern here will be to ascertain whether there is a role for the school, as we know it, to play in radically transforming society, and whether some middle ground can be charted with respect to Illich's project for deschooling society.
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ItemTradition and change in the establishment of Mount St Joseph Girls' College 1964-1970( 1991)Social, political and economic influences invariably have bearing on the development of a school's philosophy, policies and practices, and must be considered integral to any school history. This is most evident in the post-war period, when the 'explosion' in numbers in post-primary schooling resulted not only in an expansion of schools but also, in a restructuring of traditional secondary school organisation and practice. For the first time post-primary schooling came to be recognised as a distinct and essential sphere of education. The establishment of Mt St Joseph Girls' College in 1964 by the Institute of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart was in direct response to changes in Australian society during the 1950s and 1960s. The Sisters of St Joseph, an Australian teaching Order, was established in the 1860s by Father Julian Tenison-Woods and Mary McKillop to provide Catholic primary education to the poor. However, in the 1960s, the Institute was prepared to adapt and meet the demand for secondary education by establishing secondary colleges. This thesis traces the establishment and development of the first secondary Josephite school in Victoria - Mt St Joseph Girls' College between the period 1964 and 1970. The recollections of students reveal that despite the Josephites' efforts to widen educational and occupational opportunities for working-class girls, school organisation, curriculum and practices, implicitly and explicitly directed girls to gender-specific educational and occupational paths; and to the notion that culturally valued womanhood was intrinsically related to marriage and motherhood. The study also indicates that it was not until 1969 that the Josephites introduced curriculum reform by replacing the multilateral form of school organisation (professional, commercial and domestic sciences), with a more integrated and comprehensive curriculum which cut across these divisions and catered for the needs and interests of a wide range of students. Although the benefits of this were not evident until the following decade, it must be emphasized that the Josephites had taken the first steps to remove the limitations placed on girls' aspirations, abilities and opportunities. v
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ItemTowards redressing the neglect of "dispositional knowledge"( 1991)Dispositional knowledge has been long neglected (with only few exceptions) by philosophers even though this topic should be of particular interest to philosophers of Education. All dispositional knowledge can be expressed in the grammatical form 'x knows how to 0'. So, in examining dispositional knowledge statements, we need only consider statements which are expressible in this form. Kyle's work on dispositional knowledge (or knowing how to) was misleading in that he assimilated cases of human dispositional knowledge with cases of physical dispositions. More recently David. Carr has proposed an alternative view of knowing how to which culminates in three criteria for the application of physical know how to an agent; these criteria are parallel to the widely acknowledged tri-partite account of propositional knowledge. Carr neglects an account of mental know how on the grounds that mental know how cannot be distinguished from mental ability. Carr's account of physical know how is flawed. And an analysis of mental know how is required. An examination of mental know how reveals criteria for mental know how which are parallel to the criteria for physical know how.
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ItemDefining education: Kieran Egan's contribution to current educational theory and practice( 1990)Kieran Egan has suggested a stage theory for education in which the student moves through four periods of development. The theory is predicated upon a notion of education being a particular type of discipline, different from other areas of study such as philosophy and psychology. The difference, according to Egan, is found in the definition of education as a cultural act. The dominance of psychologists like Piaget and theorists like Dewey has, according to Egan, allowed non-educational theories and practices to erode the proper function of education, that being the creation of a particular type of person. That type of person would be best described as having the characteristics of Egan's "Ironic" scholar, a person with intelligence, humanity and acceptance. Egan also suggests a particular curriculum and teaching methodology in the light of his stage theory. This curriculum is based on the cultural heritage of humanity's quest for enlightenment. The methodology used is to present this cultural heritage in story-form so that it engages children's interest. The story-form is also the most appropriate manner of presenting information to children because information is most easily understood in that format. Egan is critical of current trends in education which, he claims, tend to be destructive of its true function. Empiricism and socialization, according to Egan, have caused education to become mundane and soulless. Education needs to be redefined and theories need to be relevant and pertinent to the process of education. Egan's theory does serve to centre debate about education. His thoughts on educational development and methodology, although salutory, are at times idiosyncratic. His rejection of empiricism in education tends to make his ideas problematic.
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ItemStudent perceptions of giftedness, gifted students, teachers and education of the gifted( 1990)The purpose of the study was to identify perceptions, preferences and attitudes of a sample of secondary school students in relation to giftedness, gifted students, teachers, and educational provision for the gifted, and to investigate differences and similarities between gifted and nongifted students. The sample consisted of 40 identified gifted and 40 nongifted students from Forms 8 to 10. A review of the literature described the history of the development of gifted education, particularly in Australia, and research concerning students' perceptions of the study topics. The study utilised a theoretical background of implicit, social cognition and labelling theories, and a version of the critical incident technique. The findings showed many similarities between the views of the gifted and the nongifted, including a generally positive view of giftedness, of educational provision for the gifted and of gifted students, although they were viewed somewhat less positively than were the provisions for them. The students generally perceived a need for gifted programs, especially at secondary level. They clearly wanted a combination of mixed ability classes and top sets in one or more subjects, not mixed ability classes as the only provision. Withdrawal for the gifted was generally endorsed by both groups. Provision for the gifted within the regular classroom was generally acceptable to the gifted, specifically in the form of advanced rather than wider content, but the nongifted generally rated both forms negatively. The students considered that the most important quality of a teacher was that the teacher should know the subject well. In general, personal-social characteristics of teachers were regarded as less important than intellectual qualities and teaching competencies. Certain characteristics were regarded as more important by the gifted and others by the nongifted. Recommendations were made for the particular school and in general.
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ItemKnowledge and vital piety: John Wesley's ideas on education - sources, theories and practice( 1990)Education was an essential element in the Wesleyan Revival of eighteenth century England. John Wesley sought not only to save souls but also to nurture them in the Christian life: literacy was a pre-requisite for this. He could not rely on the schools of his day to provide an acceptable education, so he established his own school at Kingswood, Bristol, in 1748. For Wesley, the basic aim of education was "to overcome the principle of evil with the principle of Grace", or to set right the "natural bias" of humanity. The daily programme, the rules and the curriculum at Kingswood School were geared to achieving this educational aim. By avoiding all negative influences and enforcing positive ones, he sought to overcome the principle of evil with God's grace. Constant supervision was crucial. The students (all boarders) were awake from 4a.m. to 8p.m. and constantly at their lessons, spiritual exercises or physical exercise - no "playing". There were no holidays or home visits until a child's education was completed. Only children under the age of twelve were admitted. The curriculum was an extension of the same principle. The traditional Classics Course was revised to exclude any un-Scriptural values and to include works of religious biography and ethics. In developing his educational theories, Wesley was truly eclectic. His own religious experience and Arminian theology, and the influence of his mother were seminal. He drew upon other educational systems, particularly the Dissenting Academies in England, the French Port Royal Schools and the German Moravian schools. The writings of Plato, Law, Locke, Milton, Comenius, Fleury and Poiret were also most influential in forming his ideas. These influences, tempered by Wesley's own experiences and failures in three earlier schools, shaped Kingswood School, the definitive expression of his educational philosophy.
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ItemAn education to prayer: the establishment and development of a parochial school in the Catholic parish of St. Brendan's Flemington, Melbourne. 1887 -1947( 1990)�� the present system of Catholic Education in Australia developed not from any predetermined plan but as a result of the conflicting forces in educational development in the nineteenth century and the circumstances of the times." In the latter half of the nineteenth century �conflicting forces� and �the circumstances of the times� resulted in the establishing, in 1887, of a Catholic primary school in the inner Melbourne suburb of Flemington. (From Introduction)