Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemChildren's perceptions of changes in families( 1991)The three studies reported in this thesis take as their subjects over one thousand "ordinary primary school children" from state primary schols in the western region of Melbourne. The sample has not been drawn using methods such as newspaper requests (Burns, 1980), from Parents without Partners groups (Kurdek and Siesky, 1978), from university towns (Franz and Mell, 1981) or through court records (Hess and Camara, 1979; Dunlop and Burns, 1988). The western region of Melbourne is socioeconomically and ethnically diverse and predicted to grow faster than most other areas of Melbourne in the next decades. In essence, these children are that future. Certainly, their perceptions of families and of changes in families will help to shape their own futures. Children have much to say about families as has been noted in studies by Ochiltree and Amato (1985) and Goodnow and Burns (1985). Children in Studies 1 and 2 in this thesis wrote eloquently and often with passion about families generally and about family changes specifically. Previous studies (Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton, 1981; Silcock and Sadler, 1980; Wallerstein and Kelly, 1980; Riach, 1983; Ochiltree and Amato (1985) and Cooper (1986) have looked at children's perceptions of families. Some, like Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg-Halton, (1981) and Cooper (1986) have drawn attention to gender differences; others, like Silcock and Sadler, (1980), to techniques employed in the collection of data. In addition, Selman and his colleagues (1979, 1980, 1986) have focussed on children's developing understanding of social relations. Selman's stages of development of social understanding, like those of Hoffman (1983) for empathy development are based on Piagetian stages of cognitive development. The present studies are an attempt to draw together around a single theme, children's perceptions of families, the impact of a range of techniques for data collection (as Silcock and Sadler, (1980) have suggested is appropriate) and consideration of age/stage differences as defined by Selman et al. Additionally, gender differences are investigated as suggested by Csikszentmihalyi and Rochberg -Halton, (1981). In Study 1, a group of forty Grade 5/6 children completed a questionnaire, Children's Perceptions of Changes in Families. Subsequently, this group of forty was divided into a target and a control group. The target group of children took part in an eight week videotape/discussion program with family matters as content while the control group continued with general classroom activities. At the completion of this, children were presented with the responses they had prepared previously to the questionnaire and invited to change these in any way they considered appropriate. Analysis revealed that elaboration occurred in the responses of children in both target and control groups. Statistical analysis revealed very little in the way of differences between the responses made by those children who had taken part in the videotape/discussion program and those who had not. Coming out of this study, however, were gender differences and tendencies for children to describe parents in stereotypic roles which are reminescent of other larger studies (Goodnow and Burns, 1985; Cooper, 1986; Ochiltree and Amato, 1985). Girls, for example, expressed far more interest than boys in the experience of caring for a new baby; boys referred more than did girls to the fights likely to ensue should a new child come into the family. Father's movement from the children's home to live elsewhere was considered unhappy because of his loss as a playmate; in mother's case, it was her inability to continue caring for the children which was noted. Such patterns were revealed in the content analysis of the children's responses to the questionnaire. The children in this first study served as a window into the other studies reported in this thesis in that the researcher spent considerable time speaking with both groups through their two completions of the questionnaire and with the target group during the videotape/discussion program. In addition, statements made by these forty children were used as the basis of Study 3. In Studies 2 and 3, children prepared written responses to the tasks set them. In Study 3, 1118 Grade 3/4 and Grade 5/6 children drawn from twelve state primary schools in the western region of Melbourne were read statements by their teacher and invited, on one occasion, to indicate their thoughts about each statement and, on another, to indicate their feelings. The phrases from which children were invited to select in indicating their responses were based on the definition of problem and expression of feelings components of the Interpersonal Negotiation Strategies Model (Selman et al., 1986b) and were representative of levels of complexity of thought and feeling described in the model. Girls' marked superiority over boys in their choice of feeling responses representing higher levels of complexity was the most significant finding in this study. This finding coupled with findings from Study 2 that girls made significantly more references than boys in their descriptions of families to emotional aspects of families makes gender differences a powerful finding in the studies presented in the thesis. The emotional aspects of families to which girls referred significantly more often than boys in responses to the question, "What is a Family?" were love, care, sharing/belonging, understanding problems/talking. In contrast, boys and younger children (Grade 3/4) referred significantly more often than girls and older children (Grade 5/6) to family structure. The finding that older children made significantly more references than did the younger children to many aspects of families is not surprising and likely to be due to their general experience and superior verbal ability (Jacklin and Maccoby, 1983). The gender differences in the content analysis was reinforced in coding undertaken of children's responses according to levels based on Bruss-Saunders' levels (1978) of social understanding of parent-child relationships. Here, the descriptions written by Grade 5/6 girls were coded as representing highest levels of complexity and the descriptions written by Grade 3/4 boys as representing lowest levels of complexity. In the studies, levels of complexity of children's responses are considered according to theories of cognitive development. In addition, the influence of contextual factors on the thoughts and feelings children express about families are discussed. Questions about the relationship between these two are raised with regard to the capacity children acquire for coping in their present and future families.
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ItemThe struggle to achieve : the Vietnamese experience of secondary schools in working class neighbourhoods of Melbourne, 1986( 1990)Within the vast scope and complexity of the refugee experience this study deals with a simply defined, yet central issue to the settlement of young immigrants from Viet Nam in Australia. That is, the differing impact of personal factors preconditioning attitudes and values towards education, and school ecology on their educational trajectories and social destinations. To answer this question, the location occupied by this immigrant group within the school system was initially determined, and subsequently the influence of school organizational structure and classroom practice on educational performance in these settings was described and explained. Vietnamese pupils, their teachers and peers in 16 randomly selected government high schools in Victoria, and those persons responsible for the child's welfare in Australia provided rich and varied information for analysis. Detailed interpretation of this comprehensive data-base focused on one school representative of the wider sample. The study found that while educational trajectories and social destinations are largely controlled by the working class location Vietnamese youth occupy in the secondary school system, the impact of this setting is mediated by an exceptional determination, on their part, to escape the influence of multiple social factors which influence the outlooks and achievements of children, whoever they may be, who occupy these sites. Despite an heroic commitment by teachers in these schools and the determination of the Vietnamese to exploit, to the maximum, the limited opportunities available to them, the dependence of these young immigrants and their families on education for social advancement renders them vulnerable to failure. The study demonstrates, that despite the illusion of democratized educational theory and practice that these educational settings suggest, the reality is that educational conservative structures mitigate against social advancement. These institutional barriers, it is shown, operate on two levels. Firstly, the comprehensive curriculum plays a central role by disproportionately directing these young immigrants into the theoretical mathematics and physical sciences, a process consecrating them as an academic elite, while at the same time confirming the lowly position they occupy in the social hierarchy of their school and neighbourhood peers. Secondly, the study demonstrates how academic streaming is an aggravating circumstance coming on top of the other inequalities suffered by all children in these settings. Not only do the out-of-school activities of these young immigrants not support their curriculum placement, but teachers tend to misjudge Vietnamese classroom conformity as scholasticism, not passivity. Thus, rather than viewing this exceptional behaviour in working class settings as an indication of the struggle with which these young people have to cope, teacher definition of their school experience sees it as proof of an effective classroom process and of learning taking place. The study concludes that while the actual relationship that exists between the teachers and Vietnamese youth, and the schools they attend and the neighbourhoods these schools serve, remains unchanged, the price the Vietnamese have to pay for perceived scholasticism is loss of control of their immediate school experience and authorship of their own lives.
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ItemStudent stress : a preliminary investigation into the school-related stress experience of year 8 students, using a hassles and uplifts approach( 1991)This study sought to develop a hassles and uplifts scale as a measure of the school-related stress experienced by year 8 students in post-primary schools. A draft set of 167 items was developed after reviewing other scales that purport to measure stress, reviewing the broader popular literature on stress in young people and the authors informal discussions with year eight students over a number of years. The 167 items were then subjected to a simple consensual validation procedure using a small group of year 8 male and female students. A draft scale of 87 items emerged from this process. The draft scale was administered to 875 year 8 students in ten varying types of schools, including coeducational, single sex girls, single sex boys, urban, nonurban, government and nongovernment. The instrument was administered by suitably briefed classroom teachers. The responses of students were subjected to factor analysis. Preliminary whole-scale analysis indicated a high level of reliability. As a further indicator of the reliability of factors 14 factors were found to replicate across analyses (orthogonal rotation c.f. oblique rotation) of the whole group. The group was randomly split into two subgroups and the the analysis conducted on each subgroup. Eight factors appeared to replicate or substantially replicate across groups when an varimax solution was computed for each subgroup. Similarly, eight factors were found to replicate across subgroups. Key factors emerged from the analysis. It was concluded that, while further work was necessary in followup to this minor trial, a reliable and valid hassles and uplifts scale can be satisfactorily developed for the specific age group of students. Suggestions for the followup work and further research are outlined in the conclusion of this study.
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ItemLiterature and English teaching : a study of literature in the teaching of English at Scotch College, Melbourne( 1991)The first chapter of this thesis provides a personal memoir of my teaching career, and places it in the wider historical context of developments within English teaching in England and Australia. It establishes my own position at the key points of these developments in 1966, 1975, 1980 and 1985 and introduces the main area of interest - the place of literature in the teaching of English. The second chapter concerns the vast amount of writing on the nature and teaching of literature in English. It provides an historical review of the main body of this writing and derives some of its focus from the seminal work of John Dixon in 1966, as well as the Bullock Report of 1975. The vigorous yet sometimes slightly artificial debate on the issue of literature teaching is also examined in the review of the important journal, The Use of English. Chapter Three develops the ideas propounded in some of the writings examined in the previous chapter and provides an analysis of my own experience at Melbourne Grammar School. Chapter Four shows the similarities and differences existing between Scotch College and Melbourne Grammar School and details a more critical view of the state of English teaching from 1980 - 1990 at Scotch College. It reviews some of the specific examples of literature teaching and shows the slow progress which has been experienced over a decade within the College. The final chapter brings together the case of Scotch College and reviews possible future progress in the light of perceived difficulties inherent in the structure of the College. The general outlook for English at the College is seen in positive terms and suggestions are provided for further research into both the reading habits of students and the processes involved in the teaching of literature within the current restraints.
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ItemYoung single factory women in 1927 : a study of issues of women and work( 1990)In 1927, a Department of Labour inquiry focussed upon a group of young female metalworkers employed in a Melbourne factory. A range of contemporaries, including the female workers, gave evidence to the inquiry, resulting in recommendations regarding female work conditions. This thesis aims to investigate the process of deliberation which took place at the inquiry. Issues of women and work contained within the resulting report raise questions concerning working women's experiences which have relevance not only to contemporary labour legislation but also to subsequent feminist historical analysis
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ItemThe educative role of a parish school and community( 1991)Catholic parishes are undergoing radical changes today. Their mission of education is holistic and embraces a birth to death span. This study focused on the changes which had taken place in families from the time of the initiation of their eldest child into the community until nine years later when that child shared in the first meal ritual of the community. Multiple case studies and the outcomes of interviews were analysed using grounded theory. Interviews were conducted with a population of school families; conclusions were reached and an emergent theory proposed. As expected, the articulation of concepts proved difficult for parents. Growth is related to realms of meaning through which the educative process takes place; to cultural consciousness and to the respective life cycle of parents and their children. Overall, a degree of growth was reported by most respondents especially in terms of self-esteem, positive changes in attitudes towards the church, and access to support systems. The insights revealed by this study indicate that the parish primary school acts as a catalyst for the re-entry of parents into the community; that the climate of the community, the style of leadership, the participative decision-making processes and the pedagogical processes of the parish and the school are determining factors both in the effectiveness of the educational enterprise and in the ultimate survival of the community.
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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)
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ItemTeacher training in Carlton: the predecessors of the Institute of Education( 1992)On 1 January 1989 the Melbourne College of Advanced Education and the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne were amalgamated to form the Institute of Education within the University of Melbourne. Although the two institutions had in various forms resided on adjacent campuses in Carlton/Parkville for several decades, both devoted to teacher education, they brought together different educational cultures. Melbourne CAE was descended from a long line of government-controlled teacher training institutions which had operated at first in Melbourne and from 1889 at Carlton in the corner of the University campus. Melbourne Teachers College was for most of this history the main institution for the training of teachers for Victorian government primary schools, but also played a significant role in the training of most types of teachers until the Second World War. It had little independence and was used largely as an instrument of policy by the Education Department and its political masters, subject to the vagaries of changing policies and economic conditions. These also affected the conditions and status of the teaching profession, which in turn impacted on the appeal of the profession and therefore on the socio-economic and gender mixture of recruits to the College. After 1945 teacher education became fractured into several geographically spread and more specialized colleges, and MTC was joined on its campus by a new Secondary Teachers College. During the 1950s and 1960s MTC and STC essentially ran pragmatic courses which churned out large numbers of teachers to fill places in the burgeoning number of schools. The two colleges merged in 1972 and gained independence from the Department in 1973. After much tossing and turning in the tertiary sector, in 1983 the Carlton college was amalgamated with the Institute of Early Childhood Development as Melbourne CAE. The University of Melbourne commenced its formal involvement in teacher education in 1903 when a liaison was established with MTC. For three decades MTC and the Faculty (as it became in 1923) shared their senior officer, administrative links, courses and students. The closeness was a two-edged sword for the University, for while greatly assisting the Faculty's work it also brought a substantial and frustrating degree of Education Department influence. The links were broken in the late 1930s, against the University's will, but thereafter the Faculty enjoyed greater intellectual and administrative freedom, and pursued its own course development. It came increasingly to be involved in theoretical and research studies, and to look down (with some justice) on its Department-dominated, less intellectually-oriented college neighbours. During the 1950s-1970s the Faculty was also under great pressure to meet the demand for teachers, and as a result somewhat lost its way as an intellectual and educational force. Throughout their history the institutions were influenced by diverse professional and community attitudes, philosophies and needs - how children should be raised, how schools are best organized, the most appropriate moral and instructional content of education, the attributes required in a teacher, and how teachers are best trained and/or educated. Rising standards of living and new technology, and the demands of the labour force, produced different occupational needs. All of this contributed to changing community expectations of schooling and teacher education.
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ItemThe life and veterinary contribution of Dr. Harold E. Albiston( 1992)This thesis examines the life and veterinary contribution of Dr Harold E. Albiston. Through his professional life can be traced the history of veterinary science in Victoria, from the horse doctor days of pre World War I to the re-establishment of the University of Melbourne Veterinary School in September 1962. Special attention is paid to the late 1920s which saw veterinary teaching cease at the end of 1927 and the University of Melbourne Veterinary School officially close in June 1928. Albiston, who was on the staff of the Veterinary School, witnessed this critical time in Victorian veterinary history. During the world-wide veterinary recession from 1920 to 1935, due to the declining influence of the horse, Albiston was one of the first veterinarians to appreciate that a new direction was necessary for the profession. While he was assistant-director, he upgraded the facilities of the Veterinary School, and encouraged research and diagnostic work on farm animals. As the day of the horse passed Albiston had built up the Veterinary School or the Veterinary Research Institute (VRI) as it became known in 1931, into an organisation of status serving the emerging livestock industries. The VRI was a unique establishment since it functioned as a normal university department, under the aegis of the University of Melbourne, yet performed diagnostic and research work for the Department of Agriculture. The VRI became an enlightened veterinary centre - a meeting place where veterinarians would visit, browse in the library and discuss problems with Harold Albiston or the VRI senior staff. It also became the centre of post graduate veterinary education in Victoria since all conferences, meetings and seminars were held there and for twenty-three years it was the home of the Australian Veterinary Journal (AVJ). The thesis also examines Albiston's research and diagnostic achievements before he was engulfed by administrative responsibilities. In 1927 he helped to solve black disease, or infectious necrotic hepatitis, which was costing the sheep industry millions of pounds. He also played a major role in diagnosing and eradicating the first Newcastle disease outbreak in Australia in 1930. In 1933 he was credited with giving the first post-graduate veterinary course in Australia when he gave a series of poultry lectures at the VRI. So successful was this venture that he gave a similar course on cattle diseases the following year. Harold Albiston has been the longest serving member of the faculty of veterinary science, the longest serving editor of the AVJ and the longest serving member of both the Veterinary and Zoological Boards of Victoria. His contribution came from his humanity and a dogged determination, at board, faculty or committee level to make the most effective use of his talents - his warmth, his lack of pomposity, his consultative ability and his capacity for hard work. In 1959 Harold Albiston was awarded the Gilruth Prize for meritorious service to veterinary science. In 1963 he was awarded the honour of Commander of the British Empire.
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ItemIndependent schools and children of high intellectual potential( 1990)Independent Schools and Children of High Intellectual Potential In the current, rather volatile, educational climate, the community in Victoria is engaged in considerable debate about the putative merits and demerits of the proposed changes to post-compulsory schooling, the consequent flowback to curriculum and methodology in the P-10 years, and the consequences for the nature of our society. It is in this context, on the eve of the implementation of these changes, that this minor thesis proposes that teachers in non-systemic, independent schools continue to need to be made aware of the ways in which students of high intellectual potential might be identified and have their particular needs met within the constraints of the present system, so that the opportunities for the achievement of excellence might be explicitly realized. A survey has been conducted in order to establish, in a broad way, what is being done for children of high intellectual potential in non-systemic, independent schools within a 25-kilometre radius of the GPO, Melbourne. These schools have been surveyed by questionnaire. This questionnaire was designed to enquire about schools' entry policies, preliminary testing of students, the ways in which these tests are employed to group students and in which curriculum areas, at what levels any differential programs operate, the theory and research which informs the schools' policies, the oversight and implementation of these provisions or programs, and the nature of the schools' commitment to recognizing and meeting the needs of the highly able. The results of the questionnaire suggest that the single sex girls schools are more aware of and sensitive to the needs of able students and the ways in which the curriculum might be differentiated to meet those needs than either the single sex boys schools or the coeducational schools. While there is a general awareness of the issue of able students in many schools, there is, with a few notable exceptions, a lack of the firm knowledge and understanding of the ways in which those needs might be met by adopting specific identification measures, by modifying the traditional group structures employed in schools, and by systematically differentiating the curriculum for able students within and across particular learning domains. There is clearly a continuing need for the provision of further professional inservicing of all teachers to assist them in recognizing the needs and fostering the capacities of the intellectually able young in schools, that these students might be afforded the opportunities to realize their maximum potential.