Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe art of intersubjectivity(University of Melbourne, 2004)
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ItemUneasy lies the head : the repositioning of heads of English in independent schools in Victoria in the age of new learning technologies( 2004)This study explores the discursive practice of six Heads of English in Independent Schools in Victoria during a period of major cultural change. This change has been associated with huge public investment in New Learning Technologies and shifting perceptions and expectations of cultural agency in communities of practice such as English Departments in Schools. In this social milieu tensions exist between the societal rhetoric of school management and marketing of the efficacy of NLTs as educational realities and discursive practices at a departmental level, embodying and embedding academic values and attainments. In their conversations with the author, the Heads of English reveal much about themselves and the nature and distribution of their duties and responsibilities within the local moral order of their schools and with their individual communities of practice. A model is developed of the dual praxis of the Heads of the Heads of English, mediated by autobiography and historically available cultural resources in a community of practice. As agents concerned to both maintain and transform their local culture of English teaching, and consequently the whole school culture, the Heads of English account for themselves as responding to their own `sense of place' in their own community of practice, but also the `structure of feeling' of the period by which their achievements and standing are known. This study of the persons of the English co-ordinators draws upon both Positioning Theory and critical realism to reveal the dynamic nature of both their identity and the social organization of English teaching in schools.
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ItemNumeracy assessment: from functional to critical practice( 2004)This study examines the validity of the measures obtained from a performance assessment of students' developing context in a numeracy context. The study was based on three premises: that teachers could make valid and reliable judgments about their students in regular classroom situations; that numeracy competence was developmental and involved higher order thinking; and that using different performance tasks could provide information about changes in students' performances over time. Numeracy was ill-defined and no developmental progression in numeracy was available on which to base assessment tasks. Common elements in descriptions of numerate behaviour and related ideas, suggested that numeracy could be conceptualised as a competence, and addressed through a generalised developmental progression. A competency perspective implied that teachers would be actively involved, and that assessment and teaching would be the same process. Performance assessment met some of these conditions, but the participation of teachers in performance assessment implemented in unstandardised conditions in regular classrooms raised validity issues. In this study, teachers used clearly specified scoring rubrics that emphasised the quality of students' performances to assist their observations of their students' behaviour when undertaking assessment tasks in numeracy contexts. The teachers' assessment took a developmental perspective that included higher order thinking, such as generalisation, justification and conjecture. Performance assessment tasks were designed using a set of design rules developed after initial trialling of pilot tasks. The different performance assessment tasks were underpinned by a generalised continuum of competence and set in diverse numeracy contexts. One cohort of 1243 Year 10 students undertook a single performance assessment task, and tests of mathematics skills, mathematical problem solving, and English ability, to provide convergent and discriminant evidence of construct validity. These students were in classes taught by 32 teachers in 14 different schools. Groups of students in Years 8 to 10 also undertook five different performance assessment tasks to provide additional validity evidence and longitudinal data. The total number of students' responses involved was 3412. All assessments were scaled using Rasch measurement techniques. Consideration of fit to the Rasch model indicated that all activities on the performance tasks, based on teachers' judgments of their students' performances, worked together in a predictable fashion to address a unidimensional underlying construct. Interpretation of this variable indicated that the demands of the activities closely matched the levels or the generalised continuum of competence. Convergent and discriminant evidence from a Multitrait Multimethod matrix, confirmed by Structural Equation Modelling approaches, indicated that there was no undue method effect from the use of teacher-judged tasks. Further findings showed that the teacher-judged performance task produced consistent information across all classes, within all schools involved. This was interpretable from a single perspective provided by the underlying generalised continuum of competence. This continuum addressed a wide range of ability levels, and included higher order thinking at the upper levels. Changes in students' performances over time could be monitored by reference to levels of development within the continuum of competence. The assessment approach, based on tasks planned specifically to link the task activities to an underlying continuum of competence through the use of carefully designed rubrics, allowed higher order thinking in numeracy contexts to be demonstrated by the students, and provided evidence of changes in students' performances over time. The findings suggested that assessment practice based on a competence approach to developmental assessment in numeracy contexts could provide valid outcome measures when implemented by teachers within regular classrooms. In addition, the process has the potential to provide teachers with information about the point at which teaching intervention could be maximally effective.
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ItemThe domains of vocational assessment decision-making( 2003)This study investigated the latent structure of vocational assessment decision-making. It also sought to examine how the background characteristics of the assessor (such as age, gender, assessment experience and location) affected the relationship between the constructs proposed as underpinning assessment decision-making. For each of the eight constructs explored, a set of rating scale items were developed to measure the intensity of the assessors’ attitudes and beliefs.
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ItemQuestions of identity: the researcher's quest for the beginning teacher( 2004-07)In this study, the discourse about beginning teachers is a central focus. I attempt to unravel the strands of this discourse and juxtapose the voices of beginning teachers with scholarly and authoritative voices which speak about or on behalf of beginning teachers. This thesis attempts to link narrative and narrative theory with critical and cultural theory in order to highlight the nature of this discourse about teachers at career entry. Issues of identity and the ‘process of becoming’ (Britzman, 2003) remain central throughout this work.
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ItemLanguage maintenance shift of a three generation Italian family in three migration countries : an international comparative study( 2004-03)This thesis is a comparative investigation into the use of Italian of an extended Italian family in language contact situation in three countries: the United States, Australia and France. This study is undertaken and described in the context of the different policies on migrant integration and minority languages in the three migration countries. The investigation uses the ‘Case Study’ methodology in the format of an embedded multiple case-study project. The third generation was made the focus of the study to investigate Fishman’s “intergroup social dependency” theory. According to this theory, when the immigrant experience is viewed from a perspective of three or more generation time depth, the immigrant group generally loses its language due to its dependency on the host society for its survival. Fishman contends that only an effective and strict ‘compartmentalisation of language functions’ between the minority language and the host language can help the minority group maintain its language. The findings indicate that for people of Italian background living as a minority group in language contact situation compartmentalisation is not a viable alternative. Nor do they consider the ‘maintenance’ of their community language important. When in the migration country bilingualism is valued, it is the standard variety of the heritage language that is chosen for maintenance and further learning. The study presents recommendations towards the achievability of bilingualism beyond the limitations of compartmentalisation.
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ItemAn enabling adult: the teacher-librarian and the creation of a reading environment( 2003-11)This study investigates the role of the secondary school teacher-librarian in the creation of a reading environment. The factors that influence how and why a teacher-librarian carries out his or her role are the major focus of the study. These are explored through an analysis of the current literature and in case studies undertaken in six Melbourne secondary schools. The investigation found that each of the case study schools created and operated a reading environment that was affected to varying degrees by all of the identified factors. The factors are: The attitudes of the teacher-librarian towards their professional responsibility in creating a reading environment, and towards their students as readers. The relationships forged between the teacher-librarian and teaching staff, administrators, other library staff and students. The organisational and policy decisions that affect access, such as collection management, reading promotion programs and the knowledge base and advisory role of the teacher-librarian. The ambience within the library space and how this assists the teacher-librarian in creating a welcoming environment conducive to encouraging reading, including factors such as layout and display. The influences external to the library within the school including: budget allocation, staffing levels, support from the school administration, curriculum needs and the demands and limitations of architectural structures. The professional context of the school community and the wider educational and professional debate within which the teacher-librarian operates impact upon the attitudes and decisions of the teacher-librarian. In addition, changes to broad educational objectives, the impact of lCT's, and the ongoing debate as to the role of the teacher-librarian have had a marked impact upon each of the case study schools and their reading environments.
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ItemChanges with age in students’ misconceptions of decimal numbers( 2004-03)This thesis reports on a longitudinal study of students’ understanding of decimal notation. Over 3000 students, from a volunteer sample of 12 schools in Victoria, Australia, completed nearly 10000 tests over a 4-year period. The number of tests completed by individual students varied from 1 to 7 and the average inter-test time was 8 months. The diagnostic test used in this study, (Decimal Comparison Test), was created by extending and refining tests in the literature to identify students with one of 12 misconceptions about decimal notation. (For complete abstract open document)
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ItemPrevention of falls in the subacute hospital setting( 2004)Falls are a relatively frequent occurrence amongst older people. Rates of falls amongst patients in subacute care are substantially higher than amongst people living in the community. Falls have been reported to cause physical and psychological injury, increase the likelihood of being discharged to nursing home, and are associated with longer lengths of stay in hospital. Thus, minimisation of falls in the subacute hospital setting is of high public health importance. (For complete abstract open document)
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ItemTowards knowledge building: reflecting on teachers' roles and professional learning in communities of practice( 2003-05)This study was undertaken in conjunction with the Successful Integration of Learning Technologies (SILT) Project in Victorian state schools, and its purpose was to identify the forms of teachers’ professional practice that enhance knowledge building, in order to inform teacher development policy and pre-service education. Knowledge building is based on a constructivist approach to learning and teaching, and this, in conjunction with the spread of learning technologies, is said to have greatly changed the role of the teacher in the classroom: from the expert dispensing knowledge to the facilitator of student learning. (For complete abstract open document)