Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemSoundings in the dramaturgy of the Australian theatre director(University of Melbourne, 1997)Soundings in the Dramaturgy of the Australian Director examines the processes of Australian theatre directing in terms of dramaturgy. The contention of this thesis is that while all directors call on all the elements of dramaturgy, each director concentrates primarily on one of these elements. A National Directing Survey is undertaken to determine the fields within which Australian directors work and to determine the dramaturgical emphasis of different directors. Three directors who are indicative of different dramaturgical emphases are chosen for case study analysis. This dissertation looks at the dramaturgy of the Australian director through the use of case studies of three theatre directors. Building on a definition of dramaturgy developed in the work of Darko Suvin, I examine the work of these three Australian theatre directors in terms of their organisation of non-empirical space/time as borne by their performers who represent by means of action, meaning to an audience. Each director is interviewed with specific reference to the concerns of dramaturgy as outlined by Suvin (Suvin 1984:3). Through the use of these case studies of three theatre directors, the dramaturgy of Australian directors is outlined in terms of Suvin's definition A production of each of the three directors is analysed in terms of the elements of dramaturgy. Results from the interviews are coupled with observational insights into each director's production and these findings are combined in an analysis of their dramaturgy. Conclusion are drawn about the dramaturgy of Australian directors. The usefulness and importance of dramaturgy to the study of theatre are emphasised and further areas of study in the dramaturgy of theatre directors are suggested.
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ItemVedic education (Gurukula) in a contemporary context : considerations for a Krishna conscious thinking curriculum( 1997)This thesis presents the Vedic system of education (Gurukula) in a contemporary context. By means of a detailed description and analysis of the essential characteristics underlying the rationale of Vedic education, the Gurukula system is defined from within the tradition it has evolved. I examine the social dimension of Vedic education and consider the importance of a supportive culture. The organisation of society according to varna-asramadharma is described within this thesis and the original intent of its conception defined. Education is described in terms of its purposive nature, the goal being to develop consciousness. Krishna consciousness is described as a state of reality which enables the soul to identify as spiritual, and in that capacity discriminate between spirit and matter. Individuality in this analysis is defined as the constitutional position of the soul. The sanctity of the individual is maintained throughout human life by recourse to the proper use of intelligence. The Gurukula endeavours to provide a framework within which its members can develop the capacity to cultivate a level of consciousness suitable for participation in the culture represented by the Vedic world-view. I have argued a case for developing appropriate curriculum, which enhances both the culture and the process. The educational implications of teaching children to discriminate within a religious framework, while at the same time maintain their independence and power of critical thinking is a challenge. An appropriate program for providing children with the power of discrimination is considered an essential element of education in this thesis. The Philosophy for Children program established by Lipman and colleagues provides educators with a process for encouraging better thinking in the classroom. An essential element in this program is the development of "the community of inquiry". Religious education delivered according to the philosophical inquiry model is recommended in this thesis. This research specifically aims to assist the development of primary curriculum.
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ItemDeveloping guidelines to enhance the evaluation of overseas development projects( 1997)This thesis focuses on the cross-cultural evaluation of overseas development projects. It identifies key factors which need to be considered, in order that the evaluation process lead to the empowerment of local stakeholders. Review of prior research revealed some important components that should be examined. This resulted in the development of seven broad 'guidelines' relating to: participation; education; methodology; feedback and utilisation; enhancement of local capacity; partnership; and cross-cultural teaming. Rather than being definitive, the proposed list indicates significant aspects which could be of assistance to those working in the field. Two methods were used to validate the usefulness and comprehensiveness of the criteria listed. Firstly, a meta-evaluation was undertaken of a project evaluation conducted in Vietnam, using an open-ended schedule sent to key participants in the study. Further insights were drawn from the writer's own experience in reviewing a second Vietnamese project. The findings largely support the concepts included in the 'guidelines'. However, they provide important insights regarding possible historical, cultural and logistical constraints that might inhibit their achievement. They stress the need to focus deliberate attention on enabling the project community to design and undertake ongoing processes of self-evaluation, which recognise and extend their existing capabilities. In this context, the evaluator acts as facilitator, adviser and learner; and partnership, extending beyond the life of the project, must be carefully nurtured. The interrelationship between the 'guidelines' themselves is also noted. To neglect the notions included in one could impact negatively upon another. These new insights provide a helpful addition to the proposed list. However, the ideas need to be tested and extended further, based on the experiences of others engaged in international development evaluation in various project settings and cultural contexts. In so doing, particular attention should be given to seeking, and listening to, the views of indigenous stakeholders.
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ItemCompassionate leadership in schools( 1997)This thesis explores two concepts - compassion and leadership - and their relationship to success in suburban schools of an Australian city. Compassion is a concept - an over-arching value - that is, for most people, not immediately associated with leadership. Compassion involves more than sentimental pity for another. It also involves passionate action directed towards the relief of suffering by another. Increasingly, leadership of many organisations is being seen in far more complex terms than personality or a particular situation. The important role that the values an individual brings to their organisation, and the connection of those values to success, is emerging. Compassion is a key value that is thought to be underpinning much successful leadership. The literature underpinning both compassion and leadership are reviewed. The purpose of this study is to find out what it is that principals do in exercising compassion in schools, how that compassion affects success in the school and what life influences may have caused a principal to develop compassion. Compassionate leadership by principals is studied through the development of a model which connects eleven elements of compassion - celebrative, passionately active, justice-making, benevolently loving, creative, non-elitist, networking, transpersonal, pain relieving, transcendent and fun-filled - with the four leadership frames of Bolman and Deal (1991) - the structural, human resource, political and symbolic. A questionnaire developed from this framework provides a quantitative method to find out about compassionate leadership, in particular, how those compassion elements are influenced by the four leadership frames. This quantitative approach augments a qualitative approach which involved eighteen in-depth, semi-structured interviews concerning compassion on the part of the principal during a critical incident in the life of the school. The qualitative approach of Miles and Huberman (1994) is used to better understand the interview transcripts. The quantitative and qualitative data are then synthesised. The compassionate leadership model suggested has strong statistical support that shows the relative contribution of each leadership frame to each compassion element. For example, it is shown that the celebrative element of compassion is contributed to most by the symbolic and political leadership frames and that two of the principals in the study showed clear evidence of acting in both political and symbolic ways when celebrating the lives of dead students. This may be helpful in guiding leaders to improve their compassionate stance. The relative contribution of each element in the model to compassion is suggested, with the four most important compassion elements identified as: transpersonal, pain relieving, passionately active and benevolently loving. Success in each of the schools studied is shown to have been influenced by compassionate action on the part of the principal and a number of compassion-developing influences in the lives of the principals studied are identified, such as key adults, early personal struggle and service to others at an early age. It is recommended that the compassionate leadership model be used by leaders, in conjunction with context-rich qualitative data for specific individuals, to reflect upon, and self-appraise, their own behaviour. The model can also be used as part of course work preparation of potential leaders. Recommendations for future studies include seeking student views on compassionate leadership, investigating gender differences more closely, and finding out about compassionate leadership in other cultural contexts.
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ItemTransforming policy into practice : the implementation of the Curriculum and Standards Framework in primary schools in Victoria( 1997)This thesis examines individual school use of a newly introduced curriculum policy, the Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF). Its purpose was to explore how a central policy impacted on individual schools and the processes that occurred within the school to transform CSF policy into classroom practice. It examines the way knowledge relating to CSF policy and other knowledge was transferred and used within schools and the factors that affected this process. The context in which this innovation occurred was examined before considering the determinants and outcomes of policy use. Recent knowledge utilisation theory in the area of policy innovation was used to refine ideas further. It was argued that a major determinant of CSF use was the characteristics of the CSF itself. From this a tentative three level conceptual model for CSF policy use was constructed. Variation in. use, it was reasoned, depended on local capacity to utilise curriculum knowledge. These arguments formed the basis of the research questions. A multiple case study approach was used to determine both the general pattern for CSF use and variations in use. An exploratory approach, gaining data from many sources within each of the sites over time, was utilised. Analysis of the data showed that the conceptual model was appropriate and a single factor, defined as "culture of change", accounted for most of the variation between sites. This factor was a conglomerate of sub-factors concerning structures, knowledge, processes and capabilities within individual school sites. In line with other similar studies, the thesis demonstrated the importance of local factors in policy use. The thesis goes further than other studies of this type by identifying the particular structures, practices and expertise that resulted in informed curriculum policy implementation through effective knowledge utilisation. In particular, the study demonstrated the importance of intensive structured professional interaction to maximise knowledge utilisation.
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ItemThe attitudes and concerns of Catholic parish primary school principals and teachers toward the integration of students with disabilities into regular schools( 1997)This study was undertaken to identify' and compare the attitudes of Catholic Parish Primary School principals and teachers toward the integration of students with disabilities. The study also investigated variations in attitude toward integration for sub-groups of the principals and teachers. In addition, this study ascertained the concerns these educators have about the implementation of integration in their schools. A three part questionnaire was used to collect the data. It consisted of items relating to the background characteristics of the respondents and their schools, a modified version of the Attitude Toward Mainstreaming Scale (Berryman & Neal, 1980) and an open ended question eliciting educators' concerns about integration. Fifty five principals and 145 full time classroom teachers in the Northern Area of the Archdiocese of Melbourne responded to the questionnaire. T-tests were employed to compare the attitudes of the principals and teachers toward integration., Thematic analysis was used to examine the concerns of educators. Several major findings emerged from the study. Principals were found to hold more positive attitudes toward integration than classroom teachers. Principals were also significantly more positive than teachers toward the integration of students with severe disabilities. Younger principals held significantly more positive attitudes toward integration than older principals. No significant differences were identified for sub groups of the teacher sample. Similarity existed between the two groups of educators in terms of their expressed major concerns about integration. Lack of school based support personnel, funding and training, in that order, were recorded most frequently by both groups of educators.
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ItemA longitudinal study of the changes in interactional behaviours of two meningitically deafened children, pre and post cochlear implantation( 1997)This study investigated the changes in the interactional behaviours of two profoundly deaf children who are cochlear implant recipients. These children failed to acquire verbal language skills after being meningitically deafened, despite being fitted with appropriate hearing aids. At the commencement of the study, the two children were aged 3 years 16 weeks and 4 years 34 weeks respectively. Four groups of interactional behaviours used by the children were investigated pre and postimplantation and subjected to detailed analysis: sign/gestural behaviours, vocal/verbal behaviours, visual regard and inappropriate looking behaviours. The data for the study was gathered from videotapes of mother and child interactions which occurred in the family home on a fortnightly or monthly basis over a nine month period. This unidirectional study attempted to evaluate the existing non-verbal behaviours exhibited by the two children at the initiation of the study and then monitor changes in these behaviours after implantation in order to observe the effect the new listening condition had on the children's use of these nonverbal behaviours. It was anticipated that these children would demonstrate development in their interactional abilities in the new listening condition and move from nonverbal to verbal communication over the time of the study. Overall the children showed less change in their use of the interactional behaviours than was expected. Neither of the children became verbal over the period of the study. Over the period of the study, the following changes were noted in: # Sign/gestural behaviours. Child 1 appeared to show a change, particularly in his use of gestural behaviours. # Vocal/verbal behaviours. Child 1 showed some change in the vocal area with some movement towards the use of verbal behaviours. Child 2 showed a notable change in her use of vocal behaviours at the very end of the study. # Visual regard. After implantation child 1 showed more visual regard to his mother. # Inappropriate looking behaviour. A decrease in the use of this behaviour by child 1.
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ItemThe effectiveness of the Auditory Skills Program in developing auditory skills in severe to profoundly hearing impaired children( 1997)This study assessed the effectiveness of the Auditory Skills Program (Romanik, 1990) in developing the auditory skills of a group of severe to profound hearing impaired school aged children. It also measured speech perception and speech production skills during and following participation in the program. The Auditory Skills Program is a comprehensive graded program which aims to develop the hearing impaired child's speech and linguistic skills through audition. In this study 18 severe to profound hearing impaired children ranging in age from 6 to 12 years received twice weekly sessions based on the Auditory Skills Program for a period of three months. Auditory skill development was measured at monthly intervals using the assessment tool within the program, the Placement test. The PLOTT test ( Plant and Westcott, 1983) was used to measure speech perception skills. Speech production skills were measured using the 108 single word articulation test (Paatsch, 1992) and conversational speech samples using phonological process analysis. The subjects were tested at the commencement of during, and following the cessation of, participation in the Auditory Skills Program. They were also tested 5 months post participation in the program. The Auditory Skills Program was effective in developing auditory skills in this group of severe to profoundly hearing impaired subjects. There was a significant improvement in auditory skills in the group of subjects during participation in the program. A deterioration in these skills occurred following cessation of participation in the Auditory Skills Program. Speech perception skills also improved significantly during participation in the Auditory Skills Program. Speech production skills significantly improved when measured using the 108 single word articulation test. No change occurred in speech production skills as measured by spontaneous conversational speech samples during participation in the Auditory Skills Program. This study found the Auditory Skills Program to be an effective tool for developing auditory skills and enhancing the development of speech perception and speech production skills in this group of severe to profound hearing impaired children.
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ItemLearning literacy : a case study of the development of English literacy skills in two adult ESL students( 1997)This minor thesis reports on the findings of a study done of two adult international students of English as a Second Language. The study attempts to outline the issue of difficulties experienced by these students while learning to write in English in preparation for tertiary studies in Australia. The main aim of the study was to attempt to illustrate that international students need to be instructed by their teachers in how to write in the genre required for tertiary study. An attempt was made to measure the language level of the two students to determine how thoroughly prepared they were in the genre they were mainly required to write in their tertiary study. For these two students, this genre was business report writing. It was realised that although the two students had received practice in responding to General English writing tasks, they had not been taught how to write business reports. This conclusion was drawn through the study in which qualitative techniques of research and text analysis were used. Firstly, the students were given a series of reading and writing tasks to perform to determine their levels of English at the start of the study. At the end of the study there was a similar set of tasks for the students to perform. Secondly, the students and two of their teachers were interviewed. The students tried to reveal their perception of what their English Language intensive courses had taught them. The teachers who had taught these students attempted, through their responses to the interview questions, to outline the objectives of the courses they had delivered Thirdly, the students' attempt at writing report genres in their tertiary study was commented upon. At the end a short business report was selected as the target text and this was analysed. Systemic functional grammar was drawn upon to analyse the target text. The analysis of this model text was used to compare the analyses of the responses of the students to business report writing tasks. A summary of the findings is presented in this thesis and comparisons made in order to come to a conclusion that there does exist a need for overseas students intending to go on to further tertiary study to be taught explicitly through deconstruction of model texts by the teacher. The genre of the model text has to be directly related to the tertiary course of study that the students are going to follow. The students need to be provided with close guidance by their teachers, and constant practice of the genre is required.
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