Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemProblematising the present: the historical contribution of consultancy to early childhood education in Australia: 1960-1985( 2017)Consultative approaches in Victorian state funded kindergartens operate presently as the Preschool Field Officer (PSFO) program. Described as a service delivery model (DET, 2015a), the PSFO program is designed to ‘ensure that early childhood teachers and educators continually improve their capacity to provide young children who have additional needs with the experiences and opportunities that promote their learning and development, and enable then to participate meaningfully in the program’ (DET, 2015a, p. 8). Contemporary documents detailing the PSFO program have been recently revised within the context of shifts and reforms to early childhood education in Australia. The provision of early childhood education has arguably changed since the Council of Australian Governments (COAG, 2009) endorsed ‘Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia’ (EYLF), the first national framework in Australia. Providing guidance to all practitioners working in early childhood education, including PSFOs, principles, practices and outcomes are framed within a model of collaboration with children, families and educators. Significantly, the EYLF advocates for practitioners to view children as competent learners (DEEWR, 2009). Currently, Victorian early childhood programs operate under both the national EYLF and the Victorian Early Years Learning Development Framework (VEYLDF), the Victorian State Government document introduced in 2009. This document guides early childhood professionals to work with children from birth to eight years through a focus on outcomes, practice principles and transitions. Positioned within these curriculum documents, early childhood educators’ practices thread between early years’ programs and also the school-based Victorian Curriculum and transition to school frameworks. Underpinned by Foucault's genealogical approach (1977) and ethnography, this study critically examines written and visual documents, by examining and rendering visible complex processes and discursive shifts from the 1960 – 1985 timeframe. Texts selected for examination included contemporary and past Victorian State Government documents and visual images authorised by the National Union of Australian University Students (Roper, 1971). By interpreting the complex processes and changes over this timeframe, an opportunity presents to understand by attempting to make meaning of what might be now known about contemporary consultative services operating in Victorian kindergartens. The findings in this study indicate that in contemporary times discourses of governmentality dominate consultative practices, compelling PSFOs to enact ‘techniques and procedures for directing human behaviour’ (Foucault, 1997, p. 81), in a myriad of complex and contradictory manners. Juxtaposed with practices in the past, I argue that (inter)relating multiple discourses have historically dominated early childhood education. Discourses include: health with supervision, additional needs education with developmentalism, and community organisations with welfare and arguably remain deeply embedded in contemporary consultative practices, forming part of current governing agendas. What may be missing is that children and families are often swept up in the governmentality of consultancy, both historically and currently. Under the guise of collaborative partnerships and capacity building, where children and families are viewed as capable and listened to, it may be argued that consultative practices appear inclusive of the voice of children and families. However, while it appears that this is a shift away from a deficit-based approach, it emerged through the analysis of the data that a lack of transparency and authenticity pervades in these relations. In contemporary times the PSFO program as a consultative body, has come to be an authoritative entity in preschools. Revealing discourses is one means to problematise what may be (un)known about claims which prevail as truth and the authority accorded to circulating privileged agendas and productive moments, but also points to times which are rendered silent. Examining power-knowledge relations producing dominant discourses can rupture certain truth claims and open possibilities to reconstruct new ways to conceive consultative practices in kindergartens and also for a reconceptualisation of ‘understanding of how to do things differently’ (Ailwood, 2004, p. 30).
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ItemLooking into "A BLACK BOX" - vocational education and training for international students in private registered training organisations in Melbourne, Australia( 2014)This study investigated and analysed situated realities influencing international students’ outcomes in seven commercial for profit private Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers in Melbourne, Australia. It draws from the notions of social structure – a system of human relations – as its theoretical and analytical lens to explore how the restructuring of the VET system using the competitive training market model in Australia reorganised the way it is understood and practised. The study shows that commercial for profit private VET providers operating in a competitive VET market mostly emphasise profit imperatives and education-migration policy frameworks to conceptualise and define international students’ characteristics, expectations, learning and educational outcomes. The study used a mixed methodology consisting of both quantitative and qualitative techniques to gather data in seven research sites in Melbourne. It used a longitudinal survey of international students; in-depth interviews of training managers and quality assurance auditors; and a survey of vocational teachers to gather the research data. General systems theory and interpretive approaches were used to analyse these data. The findings were triangulated to form core themes and sub themes comprising the contexts of delivery and assessments, international students’ characteristics and outcomes, and teacher pedagogic practices and perceptions. The study offers a basis for understanding how the intertwined, complex and situated mechanisms in a market model for VET combine to influence international students’ outcomes and skills training in general. It shows that when international VET students’ purposes for undertaking VET in Australia are divergent and shifting, the competitive training market model policy dimensions, which frame their participation, are mostly neither aligned nor congruent with the students’ expectations and aspirations for participating. Most international students’ educational and employment aspirations were not met; their prior employment and educational experiences were not emphasised; they were narrowly represented, conceptualised and defined in migration terms; and most of them were working in jobs unrelated to their training. It further shows that the situated factors influencing international students’ outcomes in commercial for profit private VET RTOs in the study are interconnected with the market model for VET, policy imperatives, international students’ characteristics and aspirations and the market-based environmental demands. Hence these factors, particularly the way international students and their providers are represented in the education-migration discourses and the way courses are delivered, cannot be understood in isolation. By implication, the construction of educational policy frameworks, which enable the naming of values inherent in the training packages model, must include international students’ learning contexts, expectations and purposes for studying in commercial for profit private VET providers. But, this cannot be achieved in a training environment where perceptions about the skills, knowledge and work-readiness of the graduates from this sector are viewed to be inconsistent with what their qualifications claim they have. Hence, policy makers and educators must reconstruct the purposes of VET outside the education-migration framework to include the internationalised VET cohorts’ educational and employment expectations and aspirations. Overall, the study shows that policy imperatives (interpretation and reinterpretation of policy), training packages implementation, teacher pedagogic choices and teaching and learning resources in a business environment influenced commercial for profit private VET provider contexts in the study, particularly international students’ aspirations, experiences and outcomes. Whilst some international students used VET as a pathway into higher education, to get a job in their field of training, to build and broaden their knowledge and skills and to improve their credentials with the hope to gain a better future, most of them made these choices at a severe cost to their aspirations and goals. By implication, the competitive VET market system elements may not be congruent with the other components of the education system and that the other components of the system do not support each other. Hence the study argues that international students and commercial for profit private VET providers’ contribution can only be more clearly understood and more substantially recognised if their characteristics, relationships in the delivery contexts and the discourses informing their participation are comprehensively mapped and analysed.
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ItemStrategies of policy steering: the transnational work of the OECD in education policy( 2013)In his thesis, Bryan Wood examined the role the OECD now plays in steering education policies of its member states. He explored the strategies the OECD has developed to enhance its effectiveness, helping to reshape our understanding of teachers' work.
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ItemIdentity, integration, adult migrant English as a Second Language (ESL) programmes and Melbourne Institute Language Centre( 2012)This case study used a qualitative dominant mixed methods research (MMR) design to examine the integration of adult migrants in Australia. In adopting a socio-cultural theory (SCT) framework, it examines wider policies, such as immigration and citizenship, but it particularly focuses on government-funded English as a second language (ESL) policy and programmes. In so doing, it seeks to describe the context in which this ESL delivery occurred – a multi-campus language centre in a large and entrepreneurial Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institute in the State of Victoria – and the ways in which migrant students and language centre personnel perceived and experienced ESL programmes delivered at this centre. It also seeks to locate this study within its historical and socio-political context and, as a result, discourses regarding issues related to integration, such as national identity, social cohesion, ‘Australian values’ and multiculturalism, are considered. In recognising that integration is a process that takes time, this study is longitudinal in design, and a core group of migrants (N=14) was researched over a two-and-a-half-year period. The views of some of the language centre’s staff members were also examined over time. The findings from this study suggest that English was perceived by stakeholders – and experienced by migrants – as a significant facilitator of integration, and the language centre’s ESL programmes were seen to provide both psycho-social and economic integrative benefits for migrants and Australian society. Suggestions and recommendations are made regarding possible avenues for future research into integration and adult host language programming, as well as broader, related policy.
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ItemJob seekers, traps, and Mickey-Mouse training( 2012)Students have become commodities in a new market-driven Australian training system and according to the literature, increasingly subject to poor quality training. Some courses have not been adequate or appropriate for the learning needs of the students, nor industry requirements, and therefore flout the policy goal of a skilled workforce. This thesis aims to explore pathways to employment for African migrant women who undertook a Certificate III course in aged care, but remained unemployed in an area of apparent ‘skills shortage’. Utilising an ethnographic methodology, a small sample of migrant women graduates of aged care Certificate III courses participated in the study – some had been successful and others unsuccessful in obtaining employment in the field. A small sample of aged care team leaders were also interviewed. Sub-standard training qualifications were identified by participants as the biggest barrier to employment. Research findings suggest that fast-tracked, private for-profit training provision is likely to be of poor quality in comparison to public not-for-profit training provision. Findings also indicate that agents of various guises, often with conflicts of interest, have been recruiting students with apparent insufficient and even misleading information about courses. For the long-term benefit of society and the economy, a recognition of the role of well-resourced and funded public training institutions is recommended. If government continues to enable competition for funding between private and public training providers, adequate measures need to be in place to ensure more responsible disbursement of government funds in the training sector. Training providers need to be adequately checked before funds are allocated to them; including for their capabilities such as student support services, partnerships and track record of employment outcomes, but not overly audited and monitored so that professional accountability innovation and quality are stifled. Consumers need to be informed, protected and have bargaining power to be able to compete with the demands of large corporations and international markets. A Labour Market Entry Model (LMEM) is proposed that is a three pronged approach, managed and informed by an ethical local governance structure, of i) policies for quality training ii) career pathway information and iii) work creation for target labour, such as the migrant women, to overcome some of the barriers that they may face and to strategically reduce poverty and related issues in localities where there are concentrations of disadvantage. Until policies and resources are better directed towards a LMEM, partnerships of local agencies should enable residents and employer brokers to clarify career interests and aptitudes along with labour market entry requirements of local employers. They should also raise awareness on how to select a quality training course and determine which training providers and courses should be accepted into community spaces.
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ItemRethinking indigenous educational disadvantage: a critical analysis of race and whiteness in Australian education policy( 2011)This thesis examines Indigenous school education in Australia, through analysing themes of difference, race and whiteness in contemporary education policy. The study asks why educational inequality and disadvantage continue to be experienced by Indigenous school students, despite concerted policy attention towards redressing these issues. It seeks to better understand how Indigenous education is represented in policy and scholarly debates and what implications this has for Indigenous educational achievement. I argue that in order to succeed Indigenous school students are often expected to assimilate into an education system that judges success according to values and expectations influenced by an invisible ‘whiteness’. The investigation of these issues is framed by insights and approaches drawn from three theoretical frameworks. Michel Foucault’s concepts of ‘discourse’, ‘disciplinary power’, ‘regimes of truth’ and ‘normalisation’, and Iris Marion Young’s work with issues of difference, ‘cultural imperialism’, oppression and justice are brought into critical dialogue with critical race theory (CRT). In particular, CRT is engaged as an attempt to bring some new perspectives to understandings of race and difference in Australian education policy. This combination of theories informs an examination of policy (and policy related texts) guided by Foucauldian discourse analysis and critical policy research methods. Through my analysis I develop a number of arguments. First, that the combined theoretical approach I engage is useful for uncovering some of the silences and assumptions that have typically influenced attempts to achieve educational justice for Indigenous Australians. Second, in the documents I analyse, the ways in which Indigenous students are described commonly positions them as deficient and suggests that these deficiencies are to be remedied through exhibiting more of the behaviours and attitudes of non-Indigenous students. Third, that the commitment to ‘inclusion’ within the policies analysed is important, but typically maintains a relationship in which a powerful and central white ‘norm’ remains invisible and dictates how and when the ‘Other’ is included. Fourth, that in seeking to understand equity issues for Indigenous students it is important to look also at the broader education system and its dominant values and goals. Through analysis of policies related to education for ‘all students’, I suggest that educational success is commonly identified and assessed according to ‘white’ norms, within schools that are expected to improve and be accountable within a neo-liberal agenda, which is largely supportive of standardisation and sameness, and not readily accommodating of ‘difference’. Overall, this study has attempted to bring some important conceptual approaches to analysis of current education policy in Australia in order to build greater understanding of Indigenous educational disadvantage. It has sought to open possibilities for addressing issues of race and justice that are characterised by listening, support of difference and responsibility, and commitment to disruption and discomfort.
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ItemPlagiarism in higher education: confronting the policy dilemma( 2010)Plagiarism is a problem that all universities have to address, not only to maintain academic standards, but also to maintain institutional reputation and confidence in the tertiary sector. In a global context of massification combined with competition for students, government funding, and income, these are crucial concerns. Policy is a central avenue for defining acceptable behaviour and for signalling that institutions are prepared to deal with activities contravening their expectations. However, plagiarism presents distinct challenges for policy, many of which arise from its amorphous nature. This study analyses the language, content and structure of policy according to the principles of social constructionism, using policy documentation related to student plagiarism from all 39 Australian universities. It is the first comprehensive, sector-wide survey of policy on plagiarism that also provides detailed analysis of depictions of plagiarism. This research shows the ways in which plagiarism is depicted as a problem for universities, and thus develops new insights into the relationship between conceptualisations of plagiarism as an offence and institutional responses to cases of plagiarism. The linguistic analysis approach of Appraisal is used as a device to analyse selected sections of policy documentation. These data are supplemented by interviews with people experienced in formulating and implementing policy on plagiarism. The study found that policy attributes multiple causes to unintentional plagiarism: misunderstanding; lack of knowledge; and carelessness. While it is acknowledged that there may be contributing factors, intentional plagiarism is attributed solely to student choice. Moreover, plagiarism is commonly depicted as an offence. Student intention is the key criterion for determining the severity, and the intensity of response, for any specific instance of plagiarism, although policy does not always express this explicitly. There is variation across the sector in the key criteria presented in policy. This thesis concluded that institutional policy acknowledges the complexity of plagiarism in its range of criteria and possible responses to individual cases. However, depicting minor and/or unintentional plagiarism as an offence may have some undesirable consequences for teaching and learning. This study offers broad recommendations for policy in minimising the predominating depiction of plagiarism as an offence; for approaching the criteria by which the severity of instances of plagiarism and the intensity of the institutional response to these cases are assessed; and for acknowledging the different contexts of coursework and research students.