Faculty of Education - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 4 of 4
-
ItemInfluences on the academic progress of males in a TAFE business course : a case-study approach( 1998)This study is concerned with the academic achievement of young Post-VCE male students undertaking the TAFE Associate Diploma of Business (Marketing) at Swinburne University of Technology's Hawthorn Campus. All had failed to secure a university place. The research sheds light on the influences that contribute to an apparent lack of achievement among these young men while in TAFE. Specifically, it identifies, as significant, inflated expectations of their academic ability, threatened identities as successful learners, the socio-cultural construction of masculinity in their predominantly middle-class secondary schools, and their perceptions that TAFE is best suited to tradesmen. These many influences on academic outcomes can be drawn into two interrelated themes concerning socio-cultural constructions of hegemonic masculinity within their secondary schools, and how this generates a particular view of what it is to be a successful male learner. Thus conditions are established under which these young males have a tendency to over-estimate their academic ability, leading to unrealistic course choices at the end of VCE, which then positioned them for failure. Their inability to secure a university place was, for many, a point of rupture, presenting a threat to their identity, both as a successful learner and as a successful young man. In an effort to protect their 'threatened identities' they sought out a TAFE business course at a multi-sectoral institution to disguise their student status. However, once enrolled in this course they came to realise that their preconceptions of TAFE were unfounded, the classes were not peopled with tradesmen, and the standard was more professional and 'harder' than they had anticipated. This together with the realisation that many other students were similar to themselves, allowed them to maintain their identity as successful learners and ultimately provided them with the opportunity to articulate into a degree course or secure a valued 'white collar' position.
-
ItemThe effects of ability grouping on the achievement and self-esteem of year 7, rural students( 1997)This study investigated the achievement and self-esteem effects of ability grouping of a cohort of Year 7 students in a small country secondary school. Intelligence was used as a control variable to determine whether ability grouping enhanced the academic performance of students. Results indicated that no inequitable spread of achievement benefit between high aptitude and mid-low aptitude groups occurred during the project. After eight months the differences between the groups on academic, general, home and social self-esteem subscales remained the same as at the beginning, although there was some non-significant evidence of a decrease in academic self-esteem in the mid-low aptitude groups. The academic self-esteem decrease was reflected in the general self-esteem of one of the mid-low aptitude groups but not in the other. The results were rather ambiguous with regard to academic self-esteem, with considerable variation occurring across the groups across different times.
-
ItemA comparative study of the performance of former TAFE students who articulated into the RMIT accountancy degree 1994-1995( 1997)The primary objective of this thesis was to determine whether the 111 former Technical and Further Education (TAFE) students, who articulated into the Accounting Degree at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT) in 1994 and 1995, performed at a different academic level than students who did not articulate. The findings of this research are a useful test of government articulation policy and provide feedback to institutions so that they can adjust their student intake to provide maximum efficiency and equity. Previous research has been remarkably consistent in its results, with all studies finding little difference between the academic performance of TAFE background and non-TAFE background students. The current research, however, revealed a different picture for the course under investigation. On all the measures of academic achievement employed, except persistence, ie subject pass rate, grade point average, subject gradings, passes on the first attempt and results in individual subjects, the former TAFE students performed at a significantly lower level than the non-TAFE population. When the results were analysed for the independent variables, year of intake, gender, study mode, enrolment status and age, the pattern of unfavourable differences in performance for the ex-TAFE population was reinforced. Thus, it was concluded that there was an association between origin of students and academic achievement. The explanation posed for the difference between the findings of this thesis and the prior research related to the high proportion of articulation students present in the RMIT Accountancy course, amounting to some 30 per cent of the government funded intake, and the possibility that less able students were selected in order to meet internally imposed TAFE background quotas. At a more fundamental level the build up of articulation students was related to the operation of an 'unmet demand' model of articulation. Under this model the pressure for articulation comes from students who have been reluctantly diverted into the TAFE system upon completion of Year Twelve, but who still hold a very strong preference for a university education.
-
ItemSucceeding academically at a working-class school: some case studies( 1990)In this pilot study, I chose to interview only academically successful students because I wanted to identify as many as possible of the factors that might be unique to this group. In a larger study it would be necessary to interview the unsuccessful as well to establish whether the characteristics identified were in fact unique to the successful students. (From chapter 1)