Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemAn inquiry into the success of the integration process in Victorian Post Primary schools( 2016-01-20)This study sets out to examine how teachers with integration responsibility within Post Primary schools and the student participants in integration perceive the levels and forms of success of the programs. After reviewing the relevant literature it became clear to the writer that the major barriers to success of integration are organizational and structural in nature and that the perceived level of success of programs appears to be linked to the ways particular schools are structured and administered. A survey of a sample of integration teachers and a sample of their students was conducted to examine whether there was a difference between the success of integration programs in schools that were collaboratively organized compared to those organized in a traditional way. Most Victorian Post Primary schools are basically conservative and traditional, but under pressure from many sources there is a shift towards being more flexible, open and collaborative. Integration teachers in all schools were expected by the Ministry of Education to act as agents of change but in general teachers appear to have assumed the role ascribed the remedial teacher. The findings of this study indicate that curriculum changes are taking place at a much faster rate in collaborative schools which place a value on student-centred learning. The administration of these schools was found to be active in initiating integration policy and programs, whilst in traditional schools it was the parents who were the significant initiators of integration. The collaborative schools also tended to provide more successful individual programs for their integrated students and obtained a higher allocation of physical and professional resources although both types of schools indicated a high failure rate in the area of needed resources. Overall there is evidence of a shift towards flexibility and co-operation in secondary schools but this is happening within a context of inadequate policy formulation, poor organization and sensitive resource provision, so it is not clear cut. The study indicates a need for policy orientated research regarding the provision of resources and investigation into professional development programs for teachers involved in meeting the needs of integrated students.
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ItemThe challenges of teaching physical education: juxtaposing the experiences of physical education teachers in Kenya and Victoria (Australia)( 2011)This qualitative study compares the experiences of Kenyan and Victorian secondary school Physical Education teachers. The main aim was to discover what Kenyan PE teachers could learn from their Victorian counterparts. In depth interviews were conducted with four experienced PE teachers, two each from Kenya and Victoria, using phenomenological research methods. The participants included both male and female teachers each with an average of 15 years teaching experience. The study sought to gain the teachers’ experiences on issues regarding curriculum, pedagogy and administration of PE programmes in secondary schools. From these experiences the study identified best practice in school PE, the challenges faced by teachers and how these challenges are overcome. Analysis of documents from the respective schools was used to supplement information gained from interviews and literature review. Findings suggest that the challenges facing PE are similar across countries and that teachers from both Kenya and Victoria feel PE is marginalized compared to other traditional curriculum subjects. However, PE in Victoria is a Key Learning Area (KLA) and is thus given more prominence compared to Kenya where it is an elective and non-examined subject. Consequently, Kenyan PE teachers can learn a lot from their Victorian counterparts in matters concerning curriculum time allocation, class sizes, teachers’ professional affiliation, examination and assessment, school sport, and use of technology, among others. However, while the importance of PE is widely acknowledged, competition from other academic subjects has forced many schools to reduce or cancel some PE programmes. Therefore, there is great need for teachers to collaborate and to share information on how to improve and to strengthen the delivery of PE programmes in secondary schools. This study illuminates the challenges faced by PE teachers both in Kenya and in Victoria by comparing and contrasting their experiences. It also explains how the said challenges can be overcome. Knowledge and understanding of these experiences may be of great help to education officials, curriculum planners and school boards. It may help them to devise better ways of supporting PE teachers and to provide professional development opportunities that would assist them to improve their professional practice as well as to make PE an enjoyable subject to students.