Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemSandwiched in between: radiographers as instructors( 1993)This qualitative study is concerned to hear the voices of radiographers who act as instructors in the professional practice development of students and qualified colleagues in the medical radiation sciences. Ten medical imaging technologists from a number of major public hospitals were interviewed. The radiographers’ voices are presented speaking to their experience of the work of the radiographer as practice, the work of the radiographer as instruction, their relationship to the teaching institution and their involvement in the qualifying year of professional practice known as the intern year. The study considers some theoretical and methodological issues that attend on the hearing of the voices of the radiographers who act in this instructional role. An eclectic theoretical position is presented and allied to a methodological strategy that acknowledges the dangers of speaking for the respondents, ethical considerations in the collection of the data, and the issue of interpretation of texts. A number of themes emerging from the texts that represent the voices of the radiographers are discussed including radiography and gender, radiography and instruction and radiography and professionalism. Some suggestions for further research are made.
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ItemEducation and training for mask theatre( 1991)Mask is neglected in contemporary Western theatre, and yet the West has a cultural need for mask, because of its function as a tool for exploring and enabling relationship between the individual, the community and the environment. Curriculum in mask is based upon transitional experience, whereby the student is brought to realize, through dialogue, a relationship between themselves and the mask. This relationship engages the student subjectively as well as objectively. The role of the teacher, of both mask making as well as mask animation, is to deepen the relationship the student has with the mask. The mask making curriculum is about finding methods for the realization of Impulse. Impulse is the result of dialogue between the mask maker and the emerging mask. The mask making process is about finding a visual language for analysis and development of the emerging mask. The mask animation curriculum involves finding methods for developing and deepening a relationship with mask. This occurs through play, the student exploring and deepening their response to the mask within a heightened realization of the mask's cultural meaning.
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ItemA study of self-beliefs in children aged 8 to 12 years old in the domain of mathematics( 2002)Theories of self-efficacy, self-concept, self-worth and causal attributions have formed the framework for a large number of studies in educational fields. The reflections children make in learning contexts have rarely been linked to these concepts. Just as rare has been the qualitative classroom-based research on these concepts. This study provides information and analysis on qualitative and quantitative data related to 8 to 12 year old children's capability beliefs, self-worth and reflections in the subject of mathematics. It recognizes that children are agents of their learning as well as affected by their learning; their beliefs are integral to successful learning. The investigator and children attend a medium sized primary school in a middle socio-economic area of metropolitan Melbourne, in Victoria, Australia. The range of data is examined in two sections: one for the whole sample of 154 students, one for a grade 3 class taught by the researcher. Findings of the study indicate children tend to maintain positive maths self-beliefs in a year, self-concept effects performance more than other researched beliefs, and, while there is a substantial relationship between various capability beliefs, they also differentiate within particular contexts. Some quantitative results confirm prior research; some are contrary to expectations, for example, maths self-concept tended to predict maths achievement better than specific self-efficacy. A learning/intervention program trialled with one class led to improvement in children's subject value, self-beliefs and task behaviour, though alternative explanations for this are reasonable. All names used in this document are fictional, thereby protecting the confidentiality guaranteed to participants consenting to this study.
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ItemFinancial literacy and competency( 1993)This study attempts to identify and prioritise the knowledge, skills and attitudes which will equip secondary school students to become financially literate and financially competent in their future personal money management. A theoretical profile of financial literacy and competency is developed in light of relevant literature, a selective review of curriculum documents and textbooks, and a context analysis. The profile forms the basis for a questionnaire survey in which bank managers, financial counsellors and investment advisors were asked to rate the importance of sixty-nine items. Based on the perspectives of the financial practitioners completing the survey, thirty-eight items were identified as having a strong or very strong claim to be included in financial literacy and competency education. Items involving skills and attitudes were seen to be more important than those focused on knowledge. Highest priority was given to those items centred on an informed and responsible use of credit. In addition, high priority was attached to items related to realistic consumer spending, contracts, financial advice, saving, consumer ethics, consumer protection laws and budgeting.
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ItemThe teacher, the students and the drama: using an ethnographic approach to study three drama classrooms( 1994)This is a study of educational drama. An ethnographic approach has been adopted in order to ground the research in the experiences of drama teachers and students in three classroom settings. As the participant observer and teacher-researcher I collected and analysed data in order to inquire into the drama curriculum in action. The case studies are presented in a narrative style designed to evoke key features of each context and to provide engaging interpretive accounts of the participants’ drama experiences. The research design was modified in response to the problems of methodology that were encountered as the study proceeded. The collaborative structure of the third case study, involving the classroom teacher and the students as partners in the research process, is proposed as the preferred model for classroom-based research and for professional development. On the basis of the study, an ethnographic approach is found to provide drama teachers with the reflective means to improve teaching practice. The study illuminates the influence of the school and classroom context on the participants’ perceptions of drama; divergent views between the teacher and the students about the purpose of the drama curriculum are seen to constrain the quality of the drama. In this study, participants valued the drama they encountered with an intensity that transformed the classroom setting, giving them access through an aesthetic experience to an alternative world or to another world view.