Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemReporting on school performance in Victoria, an international perspective and implications for school leadership( 1996)Social, economic, cultural and political trends can change in nature and importance over time and influence government schools systems. The degree of precision and the style with which the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of a government school system monitors school performance varies over time and can be inconsistent with that which has been used by his predecessor. The government school systems of England and Victoria are examples of school systems that appear to have experienced similar stages of development and have shared similar social, economic, cultural and political trends. These changes have produced inconsistencies for schools in those systems over time. Employees within government school systems are required to respond quickly to changes in their roles and responsibilities. Field officers who work with schools on behalf of the CEO can become a liability to the school system as ambivalence towards their role develops in schools and as technology for reporting on financial matters as well as student achievement and other aspects of school performance improves. The feelings of those employed within a school system can be a major barrier to their coping with inconsistencies brought about by change. One view is that adaptation to this inconsistency can be assisted by having access to incentives to adjust to change or by having an understanding of one's own inconsistencies. Government school system organisation as well as leaders can influence the behaviour of teachers and students and therefore, arguably, influence school performance and how it is reported. Possible changes in the cognitive activity of principals and teachers that might be influenced by feelings and associated with ambivalence, can also be connected with the concepts of transactional and transformational leadership and school system organisation. It appears that, ultimately, the continued existence of government school systems might well depend upon the extent that schools within those systems accept the authority of the CEO.
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ItemHow leadership is manifested in Steiner schools( 2005)The purpose of this research was to determine how leadership is manifested in Steiner schools. These are schools with no principal or formal leadership structure. An intensive study was conducted of one independent, fee-paying Australian Steiner school catering for children aged 5 to 18. A descriptive case study methodology was used employing individual interviews with 10 staff members of the school, and document analysis. The administrative structure of the school was found to be much more complicated than that of a traditional school, although similar to Steiner schools in general. There were 21 mandated groups that existed in order to administer the school, the most notable being the College Of Teachers. The operation of the school was best described as a democracy. Benefits of the school structure included a feeling of inclusion in the leadership and management of the school, the opportunities for many staff to assume roles of responsibility in mandated groups and an adaptability of the organisation. Problems found included a lack of clarity of roles, resistance to leadership and the time to make decisions. Leadership was found to be highly democratic, with no official leader in the organisation. However, there was found to be an unofficial leadership structure based on merit and experience, with several prominent individuals identified, and one in particular. The research is significant in that it has explored an alternative school leadership structure - one that is problematic but also has significant benefits.
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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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ItemAn investigation into early childhood science within an emergent curriculum framework( 1997)A considerable interest in the concept of emergent curriculum has been generated by the early childhood centres of Reggio Emilia in Italy. This study traces the progress of a science project on spiders in an Australian early childhood centre which purports to have an emergent curriculum. In particular, this study sought to answer the question: What form does a science learning project take in an early childhood class that purports to have an emergent curriculum philosophy? What are the processes involved? What are the roles of the main players? Was this curriculum truly an emergent one? How did it fit with the different perspectives being taken to emergent curriculum in the literature? Did science learning take place? How did this learning fit with current views on science learning in the literature? Using a participant observation approach, this study looks at factors that characterise the processes and the players in this project and considers these in the context of current views on emergent curriculum and early childhood science. Results indicate that while the curriculum in this centre was clearly ‘emergent’, it differed in some minor aspects from both the Reggio Emilia model and the American model of emergent curriculum. The approach used was consistent with the social constructivist approach to science teaching and was clearly conductive to the children's science learning. The study shows that emergent curriculum is a very appropriate approach for science learning.
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ItemThe role of the Curriculum Co-ordinator in selected independent girls' schools( 1994)The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of the Curriculum Co-ordinator in selected independent girls’ schools in relation to Schwab’s (1983) model and to elaborate his theory in practice. Three Curriculum Co-ordinators were asked to participate in the study, the methodology of which involved diary keeping and interviews based on the programme used by Wood (1992) in the professional development of senior staff. The general findings of the study supported the usefulness of Schwab’s model and proposed a typology of leadership styles of curriculum deliberation showing its relationship to management and policy determination in the school. (For complete abstract open document)
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ItemDeepening Australian democracy: what can schools do?( 2000-11)The term, ‘civic deficit’, has been used to describe a situation in which a significant proportion of Australian citizens display low levels of knowledge and understanding of, and low levels of engagement with, Australian political and constitutional arrangements. This civic deficit has attracted increased attention by governments, policy makers, and the broad educational community within Australia in recent years. The Report of the Civics Expert Group (1994) identified school education as a major site in which to address this deficit, and the past decade has seen increased emphasis on civics and citizenship education in Australian schools. The thesis critically examines the role of civics and citizenship within Australia secondary schools. It does this, not purely from an educational perspective, but from within the broader context of the contemporary Australian political system. This thesis regards citizenship as inherently a political concept, and develops the notion of democratic citizenship as the most significant element of this. It is argued that democratic citizens are more than merely knowledgeable about their nation’s democratic traditions, government institutions and constitutional arrangements. While these elements of civics and citizenship education have a role, democratic citizens are genuine members of their political community. It is argues that they are inquisitive participants in that community.
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ItemThe network nation : the relevance of this for possible educational and general public administrative structures and strategies in the 1980s and 90s( 1983)In this thesis consideration is given to the inter-relationships between a number of key concepts and reports in educational and general public administration which have been produced over the last decade. Networking is the inter-connecting concept. In the first half of the thesis the emphasis is on the current relationships between the key themes and educational and general public administrative structures and strategies. In the second half a variation on the “brainstorming” technique (involving purely the author rather than a group of individuals) has been used to produce a scenario of possible educational and general public administrative structures and strategies in the 1980s and 90s (with and emphasis on the possible inter-relationships between these structures and strategies, the key themes, and communication networks) A case study then follows which links the key themes and the scenario by including discussion of one senior educational administrator’s perceptions of probable futures for a particular education system. It is concluded that there is great potential for new technologies to assist with the restructuring of educational and general public administration. Recommendations on how this could be achieved are given.
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ItemThe work of the denominational and national boards of education in Victoria 1850-1862( 1965)Any historian has many difficult decisions to make concerning his choice of material, for the educational historian the problem is no less difficult. Should be concentrate on the complex issue of relations between church and state which influence both education and the life of the whole community, or should he allow his educational interests to anchor him in the classroom itself, and so develop a history of pedagogies which only rarely asks what is happening in the wider community? Should he take some issue, such as teacher training or inspection, and trace it through a period of time, or should he endeavour to see the way in which various activities are carried on in a more limited period? Both these vertical and horizontal views of history are necessary, for without the one history can appear static, and without the other the interaction of various forces can often be ignored.
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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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ItemCulturally different and successful?: case studies of gifted Vietnamese secondary students( 1993-01)There is concern in the literature that gifted children from ‘culturally different’ populations, such as Hispanics and Blacks, are underrepresented in special programs due, in part, to the often insensitive traditional methods of identification used that do not detect particular abilities that are valued and promoted within that particular culture. Contrary to these findings, studies indicate that gifted Asians are in profusion. They present themselves as excellent, motivated students and it is almost expected that they will achieve highly in the areas of mathematics and science. The focus of this paper is a study of seven highly capable secondary school boys of Vietnamese background. In several of these cases the children have had huge hurdles to overcome including the death of a mother, escape by boat, life in a refugee camp, parents whose skills are not being utilised as well as being ‘different’. Despite this they have been successful. A case study approach was adopted to look at the nature of these students, the role of the parents and the attitudes towards giftedness. The aim is to present a holistic view of the child rather than obscure their unique characteristics in a muddle of statistics of a large scale study. This paper takes the position that it is dangerous to make such generalisations and that although gifted from the same cultural group will have certain similar traits, the assumption that common values will automatically apply to them should be curtailed as the particular circumstances of the individual child leads to different manifestations in each.