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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ItemEducational provisions for gifted and talented children in Victorian schools viewed from an Australian perspective( 1982)This thesis is concerned with the Educational Provisions for Gifted and Talented Children in Victorian Schools. A knowledge of historical developments both Australian and world wide is seen as a necessary prerequisite for an understanding of present practices in both government and non-government schools. An analysis of the major contemporary issues which face the designers of programmes for gifted and talented children is then presented. Once these issues have been identified a description of current educational provisions operating within Victorian schools is undertaken. Government and non-government schools are examined at both the primary and secondary levels, as well as teacher training courses for the teachers of the gifted and talented. In the conclusion, achievements both in Victoria and Australia in meeting the needs of gifted and talented children are discussed and the prospects for the future are considered.
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ItemThe history of the Victorian Association for Gifted and Talented Children( 1990)This thesis has documented the history of the V.A.G.T.C. from its inception in June, 1978 until December, 1989. An outline of the way in which this organization developed, the major influences responsible for this development and the changing role of the Association throughout its life, has been recorded. As there is limited written material available, much of the information provided arises from interviews with six of the people who have held the position of President, other influential people nominated by the Association, Minutes of the Annual General Meetings and any correspondence, membership lists and other documentation the Association provided. Certain future directions and aspirations are recorded.
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ItemIndependent schools and children of high intellectual potential( 1990)Independent Schools and Children of High Intellectual Potential In the current, rather volatile, educational climate, the community in Victoria is engaged in considerable debate about the putative merits and demerits of the proposed changes to post-compulsory schooling, the consequent flowback to curriculum and methodology in the P-10 years, and the consequences for the nature of our society. It is in this context, on the eve of the implementation of these changes, that this minor thesis proposes that teachers in non-systemic, independent schools continue to need to be made aware of the ways in which students of high intellectual potential might be identified and have their particular needs met within the constraints of the present system, so that the opportunities for the achievement of excellence might be explicitly realized. A survey has been conducted in order to establish, in a broad way, what is being done for children of high intellectual potential in non-systemic, independent schools within a 25-kilometre radius of the GPO, Melbourne. These schools have been surveyed by questionnaire. This questionnaire was designed to enquire about schools' entry policies, preliminary testing of students, the ways in which these tests are employed to group students and in which curriculum areas, at what levels any differential programs operate, the theory and research which informs the schools' policies, the oversight and implementation of these provisions or programs, and the nature of the schools' commitment to recognizing and meeting the needs of the highly able. The results of the questionnaire suggest that the single sex girls schools are more aware of and sensitive to the needs of able students and the ways in which the curriculum might be differentiated to meet those needs than either the single sex boys schools or the coeducational schools. While there is a general awareness of the issue of able students in many schools, there is, with a few notable exceptions, a lack of the firm knowledge and understanding of the ways in which those needs might be met by adopting specific identification measures, by modifying the traditional group structures employed in schools, and by systematically differentiating the curriculum for able students within and across particular learning domains. There is clearly a continuing need for the provision of further professional inservicing of all teachers to assist them in recognizing the needs and fostering the capacities of the intellectually able young in schools, that these students might be afforded the opportunities to realize their maximum potential.