Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe road map to building new dreams: raising a child with developmental delay or disability( 2011)Research on early childhood education emphasises the importance of quality in early childhood intervention. This study examines the quality of Early Childhood Intervention Services based on parents’ experiences raising a child with developmental delay or disability. The study builds on the philosophy of Family-Centred Practice and professionals’ experiences with family-centred interventions. A qualitative case study approach was adopted to gain insight about families who are raising a child with additional needs. Nine in-depth parent-interviews and three focus groups with professionals were conducted in the first two terms of 2010. The case explicates the experiences of parents and professionals who were associated with Specialist Children’s Services in a metropolitan region of Victoria. The research concentrated on the first point of entry to early intervention, the referrals process and the waiting list. It also addressed parents' experiences, priorities and expectations. As a small-scale study, it examined parents’ and children’s needs as well as children’s access to therapy in early intervention. It also investigated community support and parent-professional relationships in the context of early childhood intervention services. The study found that family-centred intervention is beneficial to both parents and children with developmental delay or disability. However, to implement an effective family-centred approach, practitioner support in the form of professional development, supervision and peer mentorship is required to develop professionals’ reflexivity and self-efficacy in family-centred interventions. The study also identified strategies to promote effective practice, gaps in universal and specialised services, and implications for policy.
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ItemWorking to learn: the co-operative education program in an information systems business degree( 2011)The thesis presents the findings of a case study centred on a co-operative education (co-op) program within an IT business degree in an Australian university. The aim of the study was to uncover the extent to which the development of generic employability skills can engage key stakeholders and provide the means to sustain program improvement. A multi-disciplinary literature review across the fields of workplace and organisational learning, professional formation, adult learning, higher education, co-operative education and work integrated learning uncovered a diverse range of views, tensions and gaps regarding placement programs. In depth interviews were conducted with a small cross-section of stakeholders to uncover their views of individual needs, expectations and actual outcomes. An analysis of the data highlighted the diversity of co-op placement settings, the uniqueness and value differentiation of individuals involved, and the breadth of opportunities for learning, professional formation and individual development. Each individual was found to experience co-op differently and the learnings they took away were subjective. However what emerged from the study was the relational and social nature of self-determination and the multiple “I”, “you” and “us” identities. Students developed senses of the self through actively engaging in the co-constructed and co-participative practice of exercising agency to emerge as budding professionals. The Emergence Model of Professionally Engaged Learning is proposed, a relational model that encompasses the individual, social and contextual dimensions of work-based learning. The Model is designed around three interdependent, interlinked activities that encourage individual and social agency through (a) engaging in mutually satisfying and rewarding workplace relationships (relationship development), (b) promoting work-related knowledge construction and re-construction (knowledge development) and (c) nurturing and growing communities of practice (network development). The proposed Model necessitates the engagement of stakeholders across various levels of organisations and the University so that placement programs can be responsive to changing needs, strategic in direction, intentional in design and sustainable in practice.
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ItemCultural competence in medical education: a university case study( 2011)Medical educators have embraced cultural competence as an initiative to address disparity in health care outcomes. In New Zealand, this disparity in health outcomes is most clearly visible in the health outcomes for Māori people. This study goes beyond describing initiatives in implementing cultural competence curricula in schools of medicine, to examining the relationship between perceptions and practice. This research applies Argyris and Schön’s (1978) conceptual framework of ‘Theories of Action’ in a rich and nuanced case study of one medical school to analyse the congruence between perceptions and practices of cultural competence curricula, and to investigate approaches to organisational learning. Argyris and Schön’s framework is augmented with Hafferty and Franks’ (1994) taxonomy of curricula – the formal, informal and hidden – to describe the range of curricular practices. The research finds that if there is to be congruence between perception and practice, educators need to be aware of the governing values and variables that influence their practice. Existing models of cultural competence initiatives may be theoretically underdeveloped and under supported, and have the potential to further marginalise the very population that they are designed to serve. The thesis proposes a reconsideration of the role and place of medical humanities as a core and essential foundation on which to build efforts in cultural competence. Further, it also proposes that approaches to organisational learning and reform in cultural competence would benefit from a coordinated and strategic approach, and, therefore, a model of a Cultural Competence Community of Practice is outlined. It is a model that can be applied regardless of the meaning a school of medicine attaches to the notion of cultural competence, and can build on existing strengths within the organisation.
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ItemRates of family violence and associated factors in a treatment seeking group of problem gamblers( 2011)Literature to date suggests that problem gambling is a risk factor for family and intimate partner violence. Some findings suggest that the relative odds of experiencing intimate partner violence is ten times higher for women whose partners were problem gamblers and that over half of problem gamblers report being victims or perpetrators of intimate partner violence. This study examined the rate of family violence in an Australian treatment seeking problem gambling sample. Participants (n = 141) were problem gamblers presenting to a counseling service for the first time. Problem gamblers who reported experiencing family violence victimisation in the previous twelve months represented 18% of those surveyed and those who reported family violence perpetration in the previous twelve months represented 19% of the sample. Victims of family violence reported that members of their immediate and extended family were the perpetrators of the violence against them. In contrast, perpetrators of family violence reported that the victims of their aggression were all members of their immediate family. Such variation in the reported familial relationships involved in family violence emphasises the need for research on family conflict to extend beyond intimate partner violence and child abuse to an exploration of wider family violence. Demographic factors, gambling behaviour characteristics, and psychological factors were measured. The main outcome measures used were the PGSI problem gambling severity index, Gambling Motivations Questionnaire (GMQ), Kessler – 6 (K6), Primary Care – Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Screen (PC-PTSD), Adult Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Self Report Scale (ASRS). Further distinctions were found between victims of family violence and perpetrators, through the examination of possible comorbid factors in three distinct areas: demographic factors, gambling behaviour characteristics, and psychological factors. No demographic factors were found to be associated with family violence. However, participants who reported family violence victimisation also reported higher rates of PGSI problem gambling severity, GMQ coping motives, gambling related impending legal matters, K6 psychological distress, PC – PTSD post traumatic stress disorder, and ASRS attention deficit hyperactivity disorder than participants who did not report family violence victimisation. Participants who reported family violence perpetration also reported higher rates of PGSI problem gambling severity, GMQ social motives, gambling related impending legal matters, and BIS impulsivity. These findings highlight the need for a brief screening tool that can be used in clinical settings with those experiencing family violence, problem gambling or related psychological distress to detect problem gambling severity, family violence issues and the potential existence of comorbid psychological problems.
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ItemCan conflict resolution education help young refugee students cope in the classroom?( 2011)In the present study, a six week classroom-based conflict resolution program was trialled within mainstream and English language school settings to better understand the social and emotional needs of students with refugee backgrounds. The program, Play Fighting Fair, worked to create an inclusive classroom environment, strengthening relationships between students and staff by facilitating sessions about how to effectively cope with conflict. Mixed methods were used to gain insight into the experiences of students, staff and researchers/outsiders within these settings, and to measure social and emotional outcomes over time in order to evaluate the program’s effectiveness. Baseline and post-test data was collected from 80 students regarding their exposure to traumatic events, time in Australia, psychosocial functioning and coping styles— productive, nonproductive, reference to other (Adolescent Coping Scale; Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993). Within the sample, students with refugee backgrounds (38 in total) tended to be older, were more likely to be of Middle Eastern or African origin, to have been in the country less than a year and be attending a specialist English language school than non-refugee immigrant (19) and local (20) students. As expected, significant positive correlations were found between exposure to trauma and age, as well as exposure to trauma and nonproductive coping style across the sample at baseline. Contrary to expectation, an ANCOVA controlling for age did not find that refugees indicated more exposure to traumatic events compared to immigrants or locals. Follow-up chi-square analyses on traumatic event items revealed that refugees were more likely to have been exposed to a sudden death of a person, fire and war-zones. ANCOVAs controlling for age compared refugee, immigrant and local students on coping styles at baseline. When asked how they coped with interpersonal conflicts refugee students indicated reference to other coping style significantly more than immigrant or local students. In particular, refugee students were more likely to use coping strategies such as seeking spiritual support or seeking to belong. For refugee students, the effect of seeking spiritual support was higher in English language school settings compared to mainstream, and vice-versa for the effect of seeking to belong. In order to assess the utility of the program, univariate analyses of post-test coping style scores controlling for baseline scores and age were compared for intervention and comparison groups for Mainstream and Language school settings respectively. Simple contrasts indicated nonproductive coping style reduced significantly more within the intervention group versus the comparison group in the Language school setting. Qualitative observations and ratings of the program by the researcher/facilitator and teachers involved are integrated with quantitative findings to answer research questions. Findings are discussed in relation to previous literature from research with young refugees, as well as studies into the effectiveness of social and emotional learning/conflict resolutions programs in schools. The study’s limitations and implications focus on how findings can be used to improve policy, practice and research into the mental health of young refugees attending Australian schools.
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ItemInformal learning at work: the art of learning by doing( 2011)In contemporary Australian society, educational institutes – schools, TAFE Colleges and universities – are well-recognised as places of formal education. However, there are many people who, upon reflection, would admit that much of what they know and can do, particularly at work, has been acquired, not during formal institutional education but outside of those institutions, while at work, either doing or attempting to do, their work. This research draws on the works of educational researchers and theorists including Dewey, Vygotsky, Piaget, Ryle, Knowles, Nonaka, Illeris, Choo, Jarvis, Schön, Billett, Hager, Beckett, and others. The research initially reviews theories relating to learning such as behaviourism, cognitivism and constructivism. I then move on to those relating to adult and workplace learning, such as Knowles’ Andragogy, Dewey’s purpose, and Illeris’ three dimensions of learning, before finally reviewing the more holistic or organic theories of human learning put forward by Jarvis, Beckett and Hager, Schön, and others. This framework of theories is then used to provide the base upon which this research is built. Eight case studies of adults at work, and their encounters with novel situations, are analysed and discussed to formulate an understanding of the processes involved in this type of learning and the value it provides to both the informal learners and the organisations in which they work. Finally, what is learned from both the literature and the eight cases studied, is combined and distilled to provide an understanding of this type of learning, and identify its defining characteristics.
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ItemLearning through simulation: powerful, purposeful and personal( 2011)Simulation has been in use for many years in the education of health professionals. The value of this as an educational pedagogy is under-researched. While there have been some valuable studies, these mostly focus on the technical aspects of simulation. The aim of this research was to examine simulation beyond the development of technical skills, to determine the validity of simulation in the development of higher-order thinking and clinical judgement. Simulation has been in use in one form or another in the development of health care professionals for many years. Until recently simulation was generally seen as an adjunct to the education and training process, and not part of the overall development of the professional. However in more recent times with the reduction in the availability of clinical practicums and the increased demand for these placements, simulation has become a more important part of the educational process. Yet the research into the effectiveness of simulation in the development of the health care professional is currently under researched as discussed above. For this reason it is an area requiring further research. This is a qualitative study involving educators and students from nursing, medicine, paramedicine and the fire brigade. Eighteen educators and eighteen students were interviewed through semistructured interviews. The observations were restricted to the pseudo-authentic workplace and consisted of seven educators, forty-six students from paramedicine and the non-emergency patient transport sectors. A review of curriculum documents was also undertaken to locate and assess the espoused views of the teaching organisation on simulation in the education of their students. The findings were triangulated to provide reliability to the results. This research has shown that simulation is a pedagogy that can assist in the development of higher-order thinking and judgement-making during “hot action”. This study has identified that the development of higher-order thinking and judgement-making through public reflection occurs best in the third phase of a simulation. In conclusion, simulation is a powerful learning and teaching pedagogy, and can be considered as one of the active learning pedagogies. Furthermore, if the simulation is well constructed and executed, it can provide valid experiences for the participants. These experiences can provide for the development of an epistemology of practice with highly developed higher-order thinking and clinical judgement capabilities.
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ItemMind the gap: education reform policy and pedagogical practice( 2011)As a study in policy impact analysis this research investigated policy penetration in the case of mathematics teaching in six Victorian government secondary schools to gauge the degree of reform policy traction achieved. It found further evidence of the policy-practice gap observed in the literature. The study argues that reform policy expectations lack adequate theoretical understanding of how pedagogical practice is socially constructed, and proposes a more realistic and defensible conceptualisation of teachers’ professional knowledge.
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ItemTheories of change: monitoring and evaluation capacity development in the government of Tanzania( 2011)The topic of this thesis is the development of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) capacity in the public sectors of developing countries. The purpose of the study is to deepen our understanding of how capacity in M&E develops in the complex public sector developing country contexts. The premise is that identifying the assumptions and propositions underpinning how public sector capacity is expected to develop are instrumental to this understanding. The thesis proceeds through an in-depth case study of the Government of Tanzania, using a ‘theories of change’ approach that examines the interrelationship between context, mechanisms and outcomes. The theories of change approach aims to bring to the surface these three elements to highlight how change is expected to occur, whether the theories espoused are similar to those that are in use, and whether they are partial, confused or contradictory. From the theories of change that emerged through the review of Government of Tanzania M&E capacity development efforts, this thesis found that there has been limited consideration of context and mechanisms while desired outcomes are articulated more clearly. This situation has resulted in inadequate recognition of the barriers to introducing monitoring and evaluation to a complex developing country, unrealistic expectations, ineffective capacity development strategies being used and limited learning about how to improve success. The implication of these findings is that there is a critical need to change the current approach to developing M&E capacity development in the Government of Tanzania if the desired outcomes are to be realised. The suggested approach requires much deeper evaluative thinking and theorising about change processes, commitment to evaluation for learning and openness about the complexities and uncertainties of international development.