Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe experience of transition and adjustment for mature-age, undergraduate students in their first year of university(University of Melbourne, 2015)
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ItemDevelopmental assessment and metacognition in teachers' professional learning and differentiated teaching(University of Melbourne, 2014)
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ItemMeasurement of the ability to generate higher order learning in MOOCs(University of Melbourne, 2016)
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ItemWhat effect does the coaching model of professional development have on the building of teacher capacity?( 2018)The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of the GROW coaching model of professional development on the capacity building of teachers in an educational context. Teachers have a significant impact on student outcomes and it is crucial to build their capacity to maximise their influence in the classroom. The provision of professional development is seen as a fundamental component of supporting teachers in building their capacity as educators, to implement strategies in the classroom, and to maximise their influence on students. Schools, government and the educational community at large have long made concerted efforts to build teacher capacity, aiming to reduce the large variance between teachers’ effects on student outcomes. The provision of coaching in various forms has been found to support the implementation of strategies in the classroom. This study aims to examine the influence of the GROW coaching model to develop teachers’ skills, knowledge and dispositions to build their capacity as educators. The study examines the implementation against the elements set out in Guskey’s Five Critical Levels of Professional Development Evaluation Model to understand the factors and conditions that foster implementation. The study utilised a criterion purposive sampling approach (Patton, 1990) and involved 24 coaches and coachees total. Participation in the study was voluntary and no incentives or reimbursements were offered for participation. A range of data was gathered and examined; the research design incorporated a mixed-methods approach that applied three complementary data collection tools including survey, interview and observation. The analysis of the data was conducted to inform the findings. The data collected through the open-ended online questionnaire and interview research instruments provided opportunities to explore, in closer detail, the responses of participants to key questions. These questions centre on identified coaching variables of teacher learning and how these are manifested in their practice both in and outside of the classroom. These responses provide an important insight into what changes may occur in teacher pedagogy and teacher disposition, evidenced through changes in the classroom environment and the teachers’ thinking processes. A thematic analysis based on Braun and Clarke’s (2006) 6-step framework was undertaken to systematically analyse the data. The codes were set according to elements highlighted by the Guskey model (2000), targeted on both teacher practice and student behaviours, changes in teacher professional practice outside the classroom showed changes in their dispositions as a teacher and reflections on their practice. The findings revealed that the GROW coaching model supported the professional development of educators to build their capacity as teachers across the areas of skills, knowledge and dispositions. The GROW coaching model supported teachers to implement various strategies in their classrooms. Factors that affected the program included: (a) the time set aside for teachers and coaches; (b) the relationship and level of trust between the coach and coachee; (c) the program and content knowledge of the coach; (d) the culture of the school; and (e) the allocation of coaches and how they were selected. The relationship between coach and coachee emerged as a key factor in the success of the program, and together with the allocation of coaches impacted on participants, especially when challenging their dispositions through “professional conversations”. The GROW model’s process and “sequence of questioning” raised awareness of teaching practices and provided a way for teachers to receive feedback on the implementation of strategies in the classroom. Further attention to the impact of the GROW coaching model for teacher capacity building and its effect on student outcomes is needed to better understand the relationship between “professional conversations”, coaching and impact on student outcomes. In the future, equal attention should be afforded to understanding the behaviour of teachers as they implement strategies in the classroom, and how professional development programs can best support their capacity building.
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ItemVCAL: growth and performance( 2015)This thesis examines a major curriculum innovation that was introduced into the upper secondary curriculum in the Australian state of Victoria in 2002 – the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL). Victoria is the only state in Australia which has developed a separate senior secondary certificate, a vocational certificate to sit alongside the general Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). The VCAL claims to be a comprehensive attempt to anchor vocational learning within the secondary school environment in Australia. The aim of this study is to investigate whether the VCAL has delivered on its promise to provide an educational opportunity for students for whom the VCE is not appropriate; an opportunity to experience success and move into appropriate pathways into further education and training and employment. It is important to assess the educational impact a vocational program like the VCAL has had within the senior secondary curriculum. To see this in context, the research literature on vocational and applied learning in schools is examined through various approaches that are used in the delivery of vocational and applied learning to school-age students internationally and in Australia. The research focuses on two main models of differentiation – whether they are predominantly school-based or employment-based and the age at which differentiation into academic and vocational programs occurs. The research also examines the effectiveness of these programs and their impact on school retention, student engagement and their ability to create effective pathways into a range of destinations, including further education, training and employment. The story of vocational education and training (VET) in the Australian state of Victoria is seen in an historical context as the researcher explores the history of curriculum change in Victoria over many decades, leading to the senior secondary offerings available today. The thesis concludes that the VCAL has on the whole been successful in engaging the VCAL students who participated in this study. It has also provided strong pathways in apprenticeships. However, pathways into employment in particular, full-time employment are less than optimal. The VCAL also continues to face many challenges, particularly in terms of perceptions and ownership at a local level. The thesis argues for a new educational philosophy and a redefinition of upper secondary curriculum to place VCAL as a credible alternative to the VCE. It argues for a redesign of the VCAL program requiring all VCAL students to enrol in the VCAL as an apprentice or trainee. Finally, it argues for a whole school approach and commitment to the VCAL program with strong leadership support and active involvement in the VCAL program.
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ItemInvestigating the effect of mathematics problem context on the performance of Year 10 students( 2016)This thesis is to revisit and scrutinise a possible effect of problem context familiarity, context engagement, and levels of context use on the performance of Year 10 students in PISA and PISA-like problems. Two research phases (i.e. a quantitative phase and a qualitative phase) shaped the design of this study. These research phases adhere to the mixed methods explanatory sequential design. The quantitative phase investigated whether an alteration of students' context familiarity and context engagement influenced the students' performance when solving PISA and PISA-like problems—that were controlled, to the best extent possible, in their textual and problem core features. There were two experiments that differed in the criteria for choosing the problem contexts (expert judgement vs students judgment). Then, students' performance was compared at different levels of context use. Later, the relationship between students’ performance and degrees of context familiarity, degrees of context engagement, and levels of context use was examined, principally using an ordinal logistic regression model. The qualitative phase used stimulated recall interviews to understand how students interpreted and experienced context familiarity and context engagement as well as the students' behaviours towards the accessibility of problems and the solution methods to the problems, and therefore students’ performance. The results of the quantitative phase showed that more familiar and engaging contexts did not improve students’ performance in either experiment, that the performance decreased as levels of context use increased, and that neither higher degrees of context familiarity nor higher degrees of context engagement affected the students' performance but higher levels of context use did. Added to this—and as part of the research work involved in the quantitative phase— a system to classify mathematical problems in terms of levels of context use was developed theoretically and validated statistically. Main results of the qualitative phase indicated that although students appeared to have a well-established understanding of context familiarity this was not strong enough to influence the use of the problem context as a resource to solve a problem that required the students’ interaction with the real-world context.
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ItemPsycholinguistic and cognitive factors that influence inferential reading comprehension by primary school students( 2018)While the ability to engage in inferential reading comprehension is central to success as a reader, many students have difficulty with this type of comprehension. This study examined the relationship between inferential reading comprehension of both narrative and factual text by primary school students, and psycholinguistic and cognitive factors such as vocabulary knowledge, working memory, text interrogative and paraphrasing ability. Results of this study provide increased knowledge of inferential reading comprehension and its implications for improved literacy teaching.
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ItemThe espoused and enacted personal practical theories of early childhood teachers inclusive classrooms( 2018)Using the lens of Personal Practical Theories (PPTs), this study investigated the complex interplay of early childhood teacher beliefs, knowledge and practice in inclusive classrooms within the boundaries of a typical preschool session. Broadly, this study sought to identify and explicate the driving forces behind how teachers conceptualised their practices when teaching in inclusive classrooms. This study also aimed to uncover the extent to which the espoused beliefs and knowledge of teachers are congruent with their enacted practices. Four highly experienced early childhood teachers in metropolitan Melbourne, Victoria, participated in this study, which used case study methodology. Data were collected through self-report questionnaires, classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. Results of this study show that these early childhood teachers had positive PPTs about inclusive education and beliefs about child-centeredness that are generally consistent with existing research. Also consistent with existing research is the finding that preschool routines and child diversity influence the types and frequency of teacher interactions, as well as the extent of congruence observed between early childhood teacher beliefs, knowledge and practice. Teacher professed learning goals for children were found to be congruent with their observed practice through the activity contexts within a typical preschool session. Findings of this study support that teaching experience and teacher ‘craft’ knowledge were significant in influencing beliefs and practice in inclusive classrooms, and impact on the extent of classroom adaptations and differentiated learning experiences for the children. Also evident from the results of this study were strong beliefs towards the socio-emotional development of children and limited evidence of teacher engagement with research and evidence-based practices.
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ItemMusic therapy as an anti-oppressive practice: critically exploring gender and power with young people in school( 2018)This project sought to locate music therapy within broader health, research, and education contexts, as a participatory and anti-oppressive practice for young people in school to explore issues related to gender and power. In parallel, the research aimed to expand music therapy as an anti-oppressive practice (Baines, 2013), specifically focusing on deepening music therapists’ understanding of critical issues related to gender, power, and young people in education settings. Predicated on the notion that schools can be both sites of violence, and microcosms for change-making, the project occurred during a time of significant shifts across education settings worldwide to respond to endemic gender-based violence (Chandra-Mouli et al., 2017). Meanwhile, young people themselves continue to demonstrate new forms of resistance to gender-based violence and dominant gender and sexuality norms (Bragg et al., 2018; Keller et al., 2018). This project responds to a need for approaches that support young people’s autonomy and challenge processes of pathologisation and individualisation; approaches that seek to understand social structures, and the ways in which young people are shaped by their relationships with these social structures, and with each other (Brunila & Rossi, 2018). Framed broadly as a participatory action research project, the study was informed by a series of music-based workshops conducted in the first year, exploring the issues that young people identified as most important in relation to gender. The project then established a music therapy group program in a government school. The school was located in the outer suburbs of Melbourne, with an index of community socio-educational advantage below the national average, and a high percentage of students with a language background other than English. This primary project took the form of a critical ethnography, and generated a wide range of data over nine months. Interviews were conducted with five staff and sixteen of the young people who participated in music therapy groups exploring issues related to gender and power. Discourses of risk and deficit emerged as critical issues to respond to in the project, and became a key focus of the four chapters of results. The research revealed the complex forms of violence that can occur when exploring gender-based violence in a school context, and how these relate to young people’s layered subjectivities and social positioning. The findings demonstrated a need to problematise and expand upon current responses to gender-based violence in the context of Australian education settings, especially where Whiteness and colonial relations remain profoundly underexamined. Chapter Six overviews the five broad, salient themes that emerged in relation to the role of music in creating conditions for young people to explore gender. Chapter Seven outlines the role of music therapists in supporting young people to do so, the unique skillset and critical lens required in this emerging practice, and a new method developed in the project: ‘Insight-Oriented Narrative Songwriting’. Informed by anti-oppressive and decolonial approaches to reframing violence and harm, music therapy is ultimately constructed as a practice congruent with shifting understandings and paradigms related to trauma. Overarchingly, the research exposes the complex conditions of power in schools, and explicates the potential of music therapy within these conditions, to support young people to resist discursive positioning, and rewrite their own subjectivities.
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ItemA path to flourishing: the role of emotion regulation in adolescent wellbeing and positive education( 2018)Emotion regulation (ER) is a widely recognized contributor to adaptive psychological functioning, and an important developmental task of adolescence. Positive education programs (PEPs) are school-based interventions that seek to enhance wellbeing and protect young people against the development of psychological distress and dysfunction. To date, the role and relevance of ER to PEPs remains unknown. The central objective of this thesis was to evaluate the relationship of ER with the full spectrum of mental health in an adolescent sample, and to determine the relevance of ER to outcomes of a best-practice PEP. A literature review explored methodological and conceptual considerations in the examination of ER in adolescent wellbeing. A second, targeted review of the literature (Publication 1) synthesized two fields of research, ER and positive psychology interventions, to reveal that processes of ER are meaningfully related to domains of wellbeing, including positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and health (i.e., the PERMA model). An exploratory study of 101 adolescents (age 14 -16; 36% female) was then conducted to assess the degree of covariance between change in physiological (i.e., heart rate variability; HRV) and self-report measures of ER (i.e., the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale; DERS) over the school year, to determine if including both measures in subsequent analyses provides a more comprehensive measure of ER than using one alone. Small, significant relationships were found between HRV and DERS total score, indicating that HRV and self-report represent related but largely distinct processes contributing to the ER construct. A second study of 119 adolescents (age 14-17; 50% female) then evaluated the cross-sectional relationship between multiple ER measures and domains of positive and negative psychological functioning. As predicted, after controlling for covariates (i.e., age and school), hierarchical regression analyses revealed that self-reported ER predicted resilience, perseverance, connectedness, and happiness; and fewer depression and anxiety symptoms. Higher HRV also predicted resilience and perseverance. Effect sizes were small to moderate. To explore the longitudinal relationship between ER and wellbeing, and to determine the role of ER in PEP outcomes, a third empirical study was conducted. This study examined the relationship between two self-report measures of ER and changes in wellbeing scores of 44 Year 10 adolescents (50% female, m age = 15.07) following a year-long PEP compared to a treatment-as-usual control condition (n = 36; m age = 15.11; 18.8% female,). Results of linear mixed modelling revealed that ER meaningfully predicted wellbeing over time. A time-by-group-by-ER interaction revealed that adolescents with low ER capacity enrolled in PEP reported improvements in happiness and social connection following PEP exposure, and benefits were sustained at least 6-months post treatment. Irrespective of treatment group, greater ER capacity was associated with higher wellbeing and resilience, and fewer symptoms of depression and anxiety over time. PEP did not improve students’ ER capacity. Overall, this thesis underscores the importance of ER capacity to the full spectrum of adolescent mental health, and indicates that PEP interventions may be extended and enhanced by conceptualizing them within a broader, theoretical ER framework. Finally, results provide preliminary support for the value of ER in differentiating students who are more likely to benefit from PEP participation, and suggest that current PEP models might benefit from the inclusion of explicit ER training and interventions.