Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemExamination of the professional education and competencies of Victorian foresters( 1994)Forestry appears to be in professional crisis, both from within and from outside the profession, over both the role and skills of foresters employed in public resource management. There are corresponding concerns about the curriculum offered by universities in the training of foresters. To address these concerns this research surveyed 201 members of the Institute of Foresters of Australia (FA) about their education, their beliefs about the essential skills of a forester and the nature of their employment, in terms of the frequency-of-use of proposed professional competencies. The survey revealed a similarity between the skills and knowledge considered important in training and the professional role. This picture, supportive of the technical expert role, differed from the image reported of the public role of the contemporary forester. There was, however, overall consistent agreement that communication and management skills were central to professional roles and incorporated the practical technical knowledge of the traditional science discipline in everyday professional practice. This study confirms a shift in the professional paradigm, reported in the literature and in responses of foresters in this study and elsewhere, from a restrictive mode of technical expertise to an extended mode of public policy development and appraisal in natural resource management. University-based professional education is expected by the respondents to somehow align professional education and professional practices. This implies a reappraisal of the dominance of the scientific-technical disciplines in order to develop competence in community resource management. As an interdisciplinary body of professional knowledge-in-use the new paradigm of forestry poses a substantial challenge to curriculum developers in Universities. Case orientated studies, which allow a merging of discipline-based and generic skill, are proposed as one promising approach.
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ItemReflective practice in the early childhood practicum( 1999)There is much evidence in the current literature to indicate a movement towards a restructuring of teacher education, which emphasises reflection (Campbell-Evans & Maloney, 1996). University courses in teacher education are moving away from the technical model of teacher evaluation towards a reflective approach to teaching and learning which focuses on assisting pre-service teachers to develop reflective practices (Fairbanks & Meritt, 1998). The early childhood practicum is increasingly seen as an opportunity for students to engage in critical reflection with journal writing, frequently used as a tool for reflection. This project studied the practicum journals of nine final year Melbourne University Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies students. Analysis and interpretation of the reflective journals focused on two aspects. The first aspect related to the issues, which the students reflected about. The second aspect related to the cognitive processes the students engaged in when reflecting. The investigation found that students reflected in complex ways on complex issues throughout the practicum. The process of reflection, however, did not empower students to reflect in their own way about their own concerns. The study found that for this group of early childhood students, it was the location of power in student - supervisor relations that functioned to empower students to reflect in their own way about their own concerns or to disempower students by silencing them.
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ItemA detailed case study of one reading recovery tutor training program( 1995)The purpose of this study was to closely monitor the implementation of the Reading Recovery Tutor Training Program at the University of Melbourne during 1994. This case study was designed to investigate the Reading Recovery Tutor and Teacher Training Program in the light of the apprenticeship model. The notions of change and reflective practice were clearly identified as being major components of the Reading Recovery training model and were therefore investigated as part of this study. This small case study produced a large quantity of research data, which included individual reflective journals and writing, transcripts of initial and final interviews, work samples and program data, the researcher's journals and observational notes. The key findings of the study revealed that this Reading Recovery Tutor Training Program has much to offer future training programs with its deliberate attention to the understandings of mentoring and reflective practice. The study highlighted a dichotomy between the apprenticeship model of training as reported in the literature reviewed, and this Reading Recovery Tutor Training Program. This Reading Recovery Training Program placed great importance on the understanding that competent professionals need to have a sound 'confidence of judgement'. The valuing of the notion of 'confidence of judgement' along with, conscious and deliberate reflection have wide implications for future Reading' Recovery Tutor and Teacher Training Programs.