Faculty of Education - Theses
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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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ItemAcceleration of gifted students: a study of the opinions of teachers and parents( 1998)The purpose of the study was to investigate the opinions of teachers and parents on the educational acceleration of gifted students. Gifted education has a relatively short history in Australia, although the education of gifted and talented students in the USA has been an issue of strong interest since the early 1920s. Many topics continue to be vigorously debated including definitions, identification and assessment and appropriate educational and instructional approaches. One of the most contentious issues surrounds the use of acceleration procedures. A review of the literature revealed that despite positive evidence concerning the appropriateness and associated benefits of educational acceleration, it is not a popular or widely practised procedure for gifted students. A barrier to the wider acceptance of acceleration procedures would appear to be the general apprehensiveness or negative attitudes of some teachers and parents. A literature review indicated that most of the studies have focussed on the intellectual, educational and socio-emotional benefits of acceleration. Typically, gifted students have been assessed to determine the influence of educational acceleration on the growth and development of these skills and attributes. The opinions of teachers and parents who have had direct experience with acceleration have not been frequently investigated. The studies that have been undertaken have resulted in generally consistent findings. Teachers and parents were mainly concerned about possible deleterious socio-emotional consequences of acceleration. In this study, the opinions of teachers and parents were explored using a specially prepared questionnaire. Twenty-six teachers and 23 parents returned completed questionnaires. An item analysis of the questions indicated their general suitability for the purposes of the study. Analysis of the teachers' and parents' responses revealed no overall statistically significant difference in their opinions. Investigation of the responses of both groups of respondents on each of the 26 questions in the questionnaire resulted in only one statistically significant outcome. Further analyses of the data showed interesting similarities and differences in response trends and patterns of the teachers and parents. In general, teachers and parents held very similar opinions on acceleration. While both groups expressed positive views about certain aspects of acceleration, they also shared several negative opinions. Teachers were found to be more uncertain about the social and emotional/behavioural benefits of acceleration and were generally less supportive of acceleration than parents. These findings are in general agreement with the results of previous research. It was concluded that teachers would benefit from professional development programs on gifted education, especially the efficacy and positive benefits of educational acceleration.