Faculty of Education - Theses
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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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ItemProvision for students experiencing learning difficulties in independent, single campus, Protestant secondary girls' schools in Victoria( 1996)This study examines the support policies and provisions for students experiencing learning difficulties in five Protestant, independent, secondary girls' schools in Victoria. A multiple case study, utilising special teacher interviews and surveys of students' parents, was preferred. Supplementary information came from examination of school related documentation, school directories and selected interviews with students, parents and education professionals. Schools' reluctance to provide sensitive information impeded data collection in this study. Schools would not allow direct access to families and two even refused to forward a survey to students' parents. During interviews teachers showed considerable reluctance to share information concerning numbers of students experiencing learning difficulties, selection procedures and programs. Four major influences were revealed in the study: religion, government policies, funding and market forces. Other significant issues emerging included teachers' expressed need for on-going teacher training, and concern about the Disability Discrimination Act (1992). Parents highlighted the need to preserve student confidentiality. Both teachers and parents expressed positive views of the wide range of support services available in their schools, particularly increased parent involvement, inclusive/integrated education and the need for increased funds. Christian ethics rather than Protestantism influenced school provisions and hidden agendas revealed were selective enrolment practices and competition among the schools. Five recommendations were formulated: the need to clarify the implications of the 1992 Disability Discrimination Act for independent schools, further inter-school cooperation, employment of special education staff in all independent schools, formation of a parent lobby and further theological research into the religious and social responsibilities of church founded schools.
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ItemParental choice: non-government secondary schools in the Ballarat region( 1981)This study grew out of suggestions that there was a drift in students at the secondary level from government schools to the independent schools at Ballarat. Later, evidence presented by the Regional Education Office at Ballarat showed that there was indeed an observable shift in enrolments. The study was primarily concerned to see if those parents who enrolled their children at the secondary level for the first time at an independent school in 1980 had in fact considered sending their children to a state secondary school. It was thought necessary to broaden the scope of the study to understand the reasons why parents opted to send their children to the 'independent schools. First, a study of the parents' attitudes towards education at the secondary level is undertaken. Second, the personal and family background of the parents from the various schools is revealed so that differences between the parent bodies can be ascertained, Finally, the study attempted to reveal reasons why the parents chose to send their children to independent schools, and whether those reasons are in harmony with the aims of the schools as set out in their various prospectuses. The picture based on empirical evidence of the independent schools of Ballarat as perceived by the schools themselves, and by the parents who chose to send their children to these schools, is then used as background to search for qualitative evidence for the drift which has occurred.