Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemInterest and effort in large-scale assessment: the influence of student motivational variables on the validity of reading achievement outcomes( 2008)Results from large-scale assessments of academic achievement are key sources of evidence in the development of education policy and reform. The increasing influence of these assessments underscores the need for the results to be valid and reliable. This study investigates possible threats to the validity of reading proficiency assessments by examining the influence of two motivational variables: the interest attributed to the texts students read, and the amount of effort that students invest in undertaking the reading assessment. Using data from Australian pilot assessments and the Programme for International Student Achievement (PISA) this study explores the influence of interest and effort on reading proficiency outcomes and on the conclusions that can be drawn from these assessments.
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ItemGeneration Y: re-writing the rules on sex, love and consent( 2007-10)This thesis explores the love/sex relationships of 117 young people (aged 14 to 24) of diverse sexualities from rural and urban Victoria. Drawing significantly on the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu and engaging with postmodern feminist and gender theorists, young people’s negotiation of sexual consent is examined. In-depth interview and focus group data depict a world of unwritten and persistent, but not unchangeable, ‘rules’ regarding sex, love and consent. For the young people participating in this research, the negotiation of safe and consensual sex means navigating these multiple and sometimes contradictory meanings. Young people are simultaneously positioned within social structures and in relation to gendered discourse, resulting in varying opportunity for active reflection and communication of what they and a partner might want from a sexual encounter. This thesis argues for reform of policy and educative responses to youth sex and sexual violence, in order to reinforce young people’s ability to actively negotiate safe and consensual sex.
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ItemEvaluation of an education program designed for students with autism who are chronic climbers and absconders( 2008)Common behavioural characteristics associated with autism such as short attention span, unusual response to sensory stimuli, and problematic language comprehension, inherently pose problems for the learning process. But for some students with autism, a propensity for absconding and inappropriate and unsafe climbing further detracts from their engagement in the educative process, both during the incident, and possibly for a more extended period if injuries are incurred. These incidents also reduce the learning time of other students who may be injured, distracted or distressed by what is occurring in their vicinity. Further, such incidents necessarily divert teacher attention from their core responsibility: The education of students. One school in South Australia has introduced a program to address the problems associated with absconding and unsafe climbing by children with autism. The program is offered in a purpose-specific facility (the Correa Learning Unit), the infrastructure and furnishing of which are integral elements of the program. Together the facility, pedagogy and learning experiences were designed to address the characteristic impairments of autism. That is, to address: impairments in social interaction; communication; and restricted repetitive and stereotyped patterns of behaviour, interests, and activities. The program also sought to provide for the particular abilities of these students, including their propensity and aptitude for climbing and absconding. Opportunities were provided for both indoor and outdoor challenging but safe climbing experiences. Also sensory experiences and materials were utilised as adjuncts to the teaching and learning processes. (Open thesis for complete abstract)
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ItemBeyond words: newly-arrived children's perceptions of music learning and music making( 2009)This thesis examines the way refugee and immigrant children, newly-arrived in Australia, perceive and describe music learning and music making. Sited in a specialist English Language School for primary school-age new arrivals, it explores the meaning that children from diverse cultural backgrounds and prior schooling experiences ascribe to their music classes and experiences, inviting their perceptions of what they are learning, how they learn it, what aspects of the music program most engage and motivate them, and what sense they make of the music program and its existence at this school. The study also focuses on the methodological issues at play in a research context where multiple languages, culture shock, and pre-adolescent children with unknown pre-migration experiences, coincide with a subject matter that does not lend itself easily to spoken descriptions. These include issues of interpretation and assigning meaning, and the way that different cultural values and expectations can influence participants’ responses. The researcher sought to develop research methods and tools that would effectively elicit the children’s responses, supporting them in the unfamiliar research environment, while remaining sensitive to their preferred ways of communicating. This is a qualitative multiple case study that focuses on three individual students from diverse cultural and schooling backgrounds, with the school’s music program being the issue or concern upon which they offer their different perspectives. Both within-case and cross-case analysis was utilised, and a phenomenological approach to the inquiry was embedded within the case-study structure and research design. Data were gathered by means of interviews and participant observation, and were analysed and interpreted for emergent categories and themes, and for the additional meanings hidden between what was not said, or within awkward language, using interpretive poetics methods and direct interpretations of individual instances. Discussion points and conclusions include the significance of the music pedagogy in building shared understanding among culturally-diverse children, the impact of culture shock on children’s perceptions, the importance of social learning contexts for newly-arrived children, and methodological challenges and recommendations for research with a similar cohort of children.
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ItemSexuality, silence and teachers: negotiating heteronormativity in school cultures( 2009)This paper explores lesbian and gay teachers’ understandings of how their sexuality interacts with the Victorian secondary state school culture in which they work. With the aim of investigating the relationship between heteronormative schooling cultures and queer teachers, six same-sex attracted teachers were interviewed. The interviews were analysed, using discourse analysis, in order to examine teachers’ understanding of their school culture and its intersection with their sexual identity. The analysis and discussion showed a divide between teachers who chose to be out to students and those who did not. Most of the participants felt that their level of openness about their sexuality linked closely to their personality and that this dictated how much of their identity they wished to be on display at school. This often had a flow-on effect to how they managed other issues, such as addressing homophobia in their school. Participants were concerned about being labeled a pedophile or being seen as trying to recruit students to homosexuality and were therefore conscious of not looking or acting too stereotypically gay. This suggests that lesbian and gay teachers expend more energy and are more conscious of their demeanor than straight teachers in the heteronormative school cultures in which they operate. Despite there being legal protection for lesbian and gay teachers in government schools, on the ground there is still tension within schools about opening a dialogue with students about sexuality.