Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe impact of the zone based professional development program, "Skill review and professional development", on knowledge, understanding and practice within selected school communities( 1995)While engaged in documenting a retrospective account of a zone based professional development program, Skill Review and Professional Development, which aimed to support school communities in the implementation of skill review and professional development according to the Tripartite Agreement on School Development Planning, I reflected on a statement by Harwayne (1992): 'We take courses. We attend workshops. We read books, We get lots of information. But the really important information comes later on. It comes when we take that seed information back to our classrooms, when we experiment and innovate and invent, when we make it our own. The story really is 'to be continued' (p.337 ). This reflection led to the following questions which drove my investigation: # has the 'seed information' collected during the program been taken back to the school level?; # have school communities been able to 'experiment', 'innovate' and 'invent' in order to make skill review and professional development their own?; and, # in what areas has the zone based professional development program, Skill Review and Professional Development, impacted at the school level? The information gathered to discover the answers to these questions was qualitative in nature and comes from those involved directly with the delivery and implementation of the program. The information draws on what happened at the zone level and what is now happening at the school level. The gathered data took the form of words: written and anecdotal; record and document observations; and transcripts of discussions and interviews, as words captured the spirit of the happenings. The writings of Joyce and Showers (1987), Joyce and Weil (1992), Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991), Hargreaves (1992), Fullan (1993), Johnson (1993), Guskey (1994) and others have helped make sense of the impact of this program at the school level.
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ItemLearning organisations and their educational impact in a corporate environment( 1995)This thesis is a study of learning organisations and their educational impact in a corporate environment. It provides an overview of the theory of organisational learning, and of learning organisations and describes several models of learning organisations. The important principles of holism and explicitness are established. Examples of learning organisation practices in overseas enterprises are compared with two case studies of Australian organisations which are aspiring learning organisations. These practices are then critically reviewed leading to the development of a new model for learning organisations, based upon 'empowered leadership', which explains holism and explicitness in detail. It concludes by addressing the issue of what learning organisations provide educationally, using the emerging prominence of 'life-long learning' as a focus.
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ItemThe learning needs of non-English-speaking-background student nurses( 1998)This thesis has investigated the learning needs of non-English-speaking-background (NESB) students in a tertiary nursing course and whether they are being met. It has reviewed literature predominently from Australia, Britain and the USA. Whilst there are similarites it has been recognised that all situations are not the same so the literature has been used appropritely to establish the theoretical framework for the study and in the support of the research findings. Qualitative methodology has been used focusing on observation, survey, and interview methods from two groups studied, ie., NESB students and academics. The findings from the two groups researched, are expressed as results; from students who have analysed that their learning as affected by predominently academic factors, such as reading and writing for assessments and professional documentation, and on a minor level by language and cultural expectations in relation to teaching/learning. Academic findings support students responses but also identify some professional nursing issues such as expectations of students as affecting the learning needs of these students. The recommendations of this thesis are to provide better academic support for NESB students and to effect greater academic and university awareness of the learning needs of NESB students.
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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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ItemEffective Catholic secondary schools : the findings of two case studies( 1996)This study utilises both qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate school effectiveness in Catholic secondary schools. While some researchers, both in Australia and overseas, tend to rely on quantitative methods when they examine school effectiveness, the current study adopts a case study approach, involving both qualitative and quantitative methods. In adopting this approach, the researcher's aim is to investigate and portray the various factors or processes in schools, which are perceived to make them effective. This process approach differs from that of many researchers, who have adopted an "outcomes" approach in investigating school effectiveness in Western education over the past thirty years, and thus sheds additional light on the various factors within schools which contribute to their overall effectiveness. Also, as this study is focused specifically on Catholic secondary schools it illustrates some of the more specific factors operating within this context. The major finding of the study is that there are several pivotal factors which influence the effectiveness of a Catholic secondary school.
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ItemThe Eleanor Davis Memorial Project : one piece of the jigsaw..( 1999)This study is primarily concerned with the Eleanor Davis Memorial Project, a mentoring program for women teachers aspiring to the Principal Class in the Victorian Department of Education. To understand more fully the nature of this unique mentoring program, it is first necessary to explore issues pertaining to women's under representation in leadership positions, particularly in the Victorian teaching service. A number of obstacles confronting women generally, such as culture of educational systems and traditional domestic roles of women are identified and discussed. Whilst mentoring has been noted as an excellent vehicle for career advancement, associated gender issues and obstacles still restrict women from taking full advantage of opportunities. The Victorian Department of Education, in an attempt to increase the number of women seeking and successfully gaining principal class positions, introduced the Eleanor Davis Memorial Project in 1992, along with numerous other 'Women in leadership' initiatives. This study examines the perceptions of ten women, all former mentee and mentor participants, who today hold varied leadership positions within the Leading Teacher, principal class and higher Regional levels. Their views on women's inequality, mentoring and the Eleanor Davis Memorial Project are discussed and interpreted in light of related literature.
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ItemEnglish teachers as readers, readers as English teachers : how are English teachers' attitudes, beliefs and knowledge about reading reflected in their teaching?( 1998)This study is focussed on classroom reading events, the encounters with texts in secondary English classrooms involving teachers and students. More specifically, it explores the discourses about reading and the schema or framework for reading English teachers bring to their classroom and how these shape what reading means in that classroom. I focus on three secondary school English teachers as readers and as teachers of reading and seek to identify how their attitudes, beliefs and knowledge about reading is, or isn't, reflected in their teaching. This research, constructed within a case study design, is informed by the writings of postructuralist and critical social theorists, shaped by the work of Dan Zancanella and influenced by Wendy Morgan's ideas of a 'default mode' - the position to which teachers 'return' when not constrained into other modes of operation. Data was collected through a series of semi-structured interviews with the teacher participants; participant-as-observer classroom observation; small group semi-structured interviews with students; and the collection of classroom handouts and students' products. The teacher participants were interviewed about their attitudes, beliefs and knowledge about reading and about teaching texts. They were asked to read and then to teach a particular short story with their Year 10 English class. This study reveals that each of these teachers read the text very differently and constructed very different classroom activities. The idea of a 'default mode' (Morgan, 1995) suggests that each teacher has a particular schema for reading which provides a way for these teachers to make sense of reading and working with particular texts in their classrooms. The research concludes that the classroom reading event - how the text was read and what the students did with the text - was shaped by these English teachers' schemata for reading and the discourses about reading in which they function as teachers and readers. In reading and working with texts in particular ways, these teachers create and position their student readers and frame what reading comes to mean in their secondary English classroom. These insights have implications for English teachers and their students, for curriculum organisation, for student management structures, for pre-service teacher education and training and for Professional Development.
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ItemHuman capital : a case study of the AMEP( 1995)This study is an investigation of the Human Capital Approach to education in Australia. It examines whether or not the Commonwealth Government is steering education towards the incorporation of policies that invest greater emphasis and resources into human beings as contributors to economic productivity than it invests in their cultural and aesthetic value. The study incorporates the philosophies of the Human Capitalists and how successive Commonwealth and State Governments apply these philosophies in education policy formulation - particularly the provision of English language to adult migrants through the Adult Migrant Education Program in Victoria. The methodology used is a questionnaire of closed and open-ended questions distributed to AMEP teachers. The researcher duly followed up the questionnaire with interviews of four AMEP teachers in an endeavour to shed more light on the reasons behind the responses given by teachers in the questionnaire. The researcher undertook an analysis of the responses in order to investigate whether or not the Commonwealth Government gives primacy to economic objectives of the migration program over its social, cultural and linguistic objectives. The findings are that the AMEP teachers surveyed believe that the Commonwealth Government does emphasize economic objectives over all other objectives of the migration program. A Human Capital approach to education, reflected in the application of Economic Rationalism, is apparent in Australia's education system according to AMEP teachers surveyed and that such has been the case since the late 1970s. The literary works of Schultz, Smith, Dawkins, Piore, Crittenden, Benovat, Green, Pusey, Kennedy, Marginson and Grubb are included in this study. These works form the literature review of the Human Capital approach. As well, the Reports chaired by Karmel, Williams, Kirby, Fitzgerald and Campbell, and a variety of Commonwealth Reports and Working Party Papers into various aspects of education in Australia are represented in an investigation of the application of the Human Capital approach to education in Australia's main education policies. The findings of this research are that the Human Capital approach to education is influencing the AMEP and that this has wider implications for the national education system in Australia. Almost all AMEP teachers surveyed believe the AMEP no longer follows its own National Plan, in which it spells out its aims and objectives, but pursues the Commonwealth Government's primary objective of pursuing the economic aims and benefits of the migration program.