Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemA study of the relationship between university and government in Australia( 1992)The aim of the study is to examine the relationship between university and government in order to provide insights that may help to resolve the conflicts in the current relationship. The theory of social conflict will be used to examine the causes of conflicts and possible ways of resolution. Educational theory will look at the effect of conflicts on educational outcomes. It is hypothesized that the government's view is that universities have not been efficient and effective in training sufficient numbers of qualified graduates with the available funds, and that they have not responded to the demands of social expectations, and of economic developments. Thus, the nature of the university should be shifted from the emphasis on traditional teaching and research to the achievement of national economic objectives, including Australia's international economic competitiveness. As the nature of the university is shifted, greater government political control over universities becomes necessary. On the other hand, the view of the universities is that they have worked hard to carry out their role and function within the limits of available funding and that the quantity and quality of higher education suffer as a result of lack of funding. Also, they argue that the nature of the university is not changing and should not be changed. Too much government intervention results in the loss of essential institutional autonomy and academic freedom, and government intervention should be reduced. These hypotheses have been examined, using government policy statements, reports, and research papers and statistics from other sources. The data have been used to analyse the causes and consequences of the conflicts. The key causes of conflict include differing concepts of the values and beliefs of universities: the government's concept and the universities' concept. The government assumes that university education is directly productive, and accountable for the achievement of government-defined national economic objectives. The universities believe that universities are a special kind of organization. University education is productive only through the utilization of knowledge or skills. Universities are accountable not only to the government but to the range of the community. The consequences of this conflict include the loss of institutional autonomy and academic freedom in the following fields: (i) the nature of the higher education system. University education is being changed from diversity to centralisation, as a result of the shift from a binary system to a unitary system. (ii) funding control. University performance is being subjected to the dollar-push control by the government. (iii) teaching-research direction. Due to the loss of autonomy in the allocation of funds to institutions, there is neglect of the importance of teaching in universities, and a narrow emphasis on government-perceived research priorities. Proposals arising from the study include the need to develop: (i) mechanisms for the improvement of mutual understanding such as the constant exchange of views and ideas and of staff as visiting research fellows. (ii) awareness of the responsibility of each party in higher education. The government should guarantee the provision of funds for universities and interfere less in the internal performance of institutions. Universities should use the funds as efficiently as possible and adapt themselves to the rapid changing world. (iii) a clearer pattern of the distribution of authority between the government and the universities at least in the areas of development of higher education, governance, funding allocation and academic and intellectual affairs.
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ItemSex bias in ASAT?( 1984)Since 1977 when the Australian Scholastic Aptitude Test was first used in the ACT as a moderating device, there have been differences in the average performance of males and females on the test. This difference in mean group performance has been referred to as a "sex bias". This report investigated the nature and the origins of those observed sex differences in ASAT mean Scores. The study focused on five key issues: 1 Retention 2 Attitudes 3 Preparation 4 Item Bias 5 Differential Coursework Retention rates were investigated to determine the effects of different retention patterns for male and female students on their ASAT scores. Students' attitudes were explored to examine the relationships between sex, attitudes and performance on ASAT. Students' preparation was investigated. The problem of bias in the ASAT items was investigated using both classical and latent trait theory and the effects of course type on ASAT performance was investigated. The findings indicated a significant relationship between English ability, time spent in the study of mathematics, confidence in success and ASAT. It was also found that differences in retention rate may explain a substantial part of the observed differences in male and female mean scores. Although a range of factors were found to be related to ASAT performance no significant sex effect was found after taking into account English ability, experience in mathematics and confidence in success.