Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe effect of evolutionary thought upon selected English and American philosophers who influenced educational thought, 1850-1916( 1963)This thesis has a twofold aim. First, I wish to show that the theory of evolution, especially in its Darwinian form, influenced the development of the philosophies of Herbert Spencer in England, and C.S.Peirce, William James and John Dewey in America. Secondly, I wish to examine critically those portions of these particular philosophies that have been of importance to education. It will be seen that one of these aims is essentially historical, while the other is philosophical. As these two aspects of the task are apt to become confused, they have been treated in separate chapters. The basic chapter is the first, for in it the connection between science and other disciplines is investigated. In some of the later chapters it will be shown that thinkers such as Spencer and Dewey pre-supposed that such connections exist. Chapter one is thus devoted to the discussion of key terms such as "scientific laws", "theory of evolution" and "mechanism", whilst Chapter two deals with Herbert Spencer and his place in the history of education, and Chapter three contains a critical examination of Spencer's ideas in the light of points raised in the first chapter. There is a similar arrangement in the chapters on the pragmatists. The period 1850 to 1916 was chosen for investigation because these two dates mark the years of publication of Herbert Spencer's "Social Statics" and John Dewey's "Democracy and Education" respectively. During the intervening years the theory of evolution had remarkable influence on many facets of intellectual life, and it would be surprising to find that education remained unaffected.
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ItemEstablishing a multi-sited disposition for ethnographic research in the field of education( 2008)This thesis responds to the challenge of how educational research might be practised in a contemporary world that is no longer necessarily organised by nearness and unity. Focusing on ethnography, it argues for what a multi-sited disposition contributes to research in the field of education. By giving prominence to the notion of multi-sited ethnography. as it has been developed by the anthropologist George Marcus this thesis shows how ethnography conceived this way is now necessary in educational research. The study brings together recent concepts from anthropology with Australian educational ethnography, providing an analysis and reconstruction of how to go about doing ethnography in a world that is characterised by partial connections. To highlight the contributions to education of this research disposition, the final part of the thesis provides an exploratory account as an example of how to approach a specific research topic in this field. In sum, this thesis makes a unique contribution' to educational research by providing an ethnographic approach for the study of contemporary educational lives.
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ItemToward a competent society : a critical analysis of H.G. Well's conceptions of social change and the education programme he designed to effect that change( 1989)This thesis developed out of initial research on Raymond Williams's conceptions of culture, society and education. Williams had argued that 'a long revolution' was evident in human affairs, from which a common culture must finally emerge. It was a matter of survival for it to do so. Williams saw culture as 'our common life' and argued that it was the proper field in which criticism and selection of what was of value to the common life should take place. It must eventually be organized on a global basis and deliberately constructed by means of participatory democracy. To achieve these ends, Williams demanded an education that would promote a competent society governed by human needs and not by inherited models. (See particularly, Raymond Williams, The Long Revolution (London, 1961; Penguin edition, 1965), esp. p.174, and Raymond Williams, Towards 2000 (Penguin Books, 1986). It seemed that in the social and political writings of H.G.Wells, there were many antecedents to Williams's ideas. Wells was engaged in promoting a deliberate revolution in human affairs akin to Williams's idea of a 'long revolution'. It was meant to effect profound social change, culminating in the formation of a global society and thereby rescuing the human species from impending disaster, even extinction. It seemed worthwhile to explore some of these antecedent ideas in Wells's writings and to examine the claims he made for them. This thesis accordingly examines the ideas of H.G.Wells on social change with particular reference to his models for world order and the means by which this change was to be achieved - revolution and education. It is argued that Wells posited a competent society as the ultimate goal of human endeavour and effective social change, a society distinguished by full control over its destiny and the ability to extend a life of complete satisfaction to all of its members, yet there are a number of contradictions that would operate to frustrate that realisation.
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ItemSocial area indicators and educational achievement( 1982)This study was concerned with the development and validation of a national indicator of educational disadvantage which would be suitable for guiding resource allocation decisions associated with the Disadvantaged Schools Program in Australia. The national indicator was constructed by using a series of stepwise regression analyses in order to obtain a linear combination of census based descriptions of school neighbourhoods which would be highly correlated with school mean achievement scores. A correlational investigation of the properties of this indicator showed that it was an appropriate tool for the identification of schools in which there were high proportions of students who (1) had not mastered the basic skills of Literacy and Numeracy, (2) displayed behavioural characteristics which formed barriers to effective learning, and (3) lived in neighbourhoods having social profiles which were typical of communities suffering from deprivation and poverty. A theoretical model was developed in order to estimate the optimal level of precision with which indicators of educational disadvantage could be used to deliver resources to those students who were in most need of assistance. This model was used to demonstrate that resource allocation programs which employ schools as the units of identification and funding must take into account the nature of the variation of student characteristics between and within schools. The technique of factor analysis was employed to investigate the dimensions of residential differentiation associated with the neighbourhoods surrounding Australian schools. Three dimensions emerged from these analyses which were congruent with the postulates of the Shevky- Bell Social Area Analysis model. The interrelationships between these dimensions and school scores on the national indicator of educational disadvantage presented a picture of the 'social landscape' surrounding educationally disadvantaged schools in Australia as one in which there were: high concentrations of persons in the economically and socially vulnerable position of having low levels of educational attainment and low levels of occupational skill, low concentrations of persons living according to the popular model of Australian family life characterized by single family households, stable families, and separate dwellings, high concentrations of persons likely to have language communication problems because they were born in non-English speaking countries.
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ItemA case-study examination of the concept of open access education( 1982)The purpose of this study is to explore means whereby some of the problems currently and commonly encountered by teachers engaged in the teaching and learning processes of secondary education may be eased. This is done by means of an examination of the concept of open access education. As the outcome of a literature review, a definition delineating the ideal is projected. Three schools accepting the philosophical underpinnings of the concept of open access education are investigated and compared with this definition. Criteria are then proposed for the open access education concept to be encompassed within the current system of secondary education in Victoria. From the practice is developed the theory. The examination of the schools accepting the concept of open access education disclosed improved efficiency in teaching and learning due to such factors as:providing the means to cater for individual needs at required levels, decreased stress for teachers and students, a positive motivation and high morale. From the theory engendered through this practice, new practice may be generated.
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ItemCritical pedagogy and its application to curriculum policy( 1991)Curriculum theory can be seen as social theory because a curriculum interrelates knowledge and social practices that legitimate the dominant culture. The relationship between society and schooling is reflected in the curriculum; a critical pedagogy attempts to reveal the ideological content within the curriculum as it is related to the question of power. An analysis of schooling and the curriculum traditionally has been divided into two main categories. The functionalist mode comprises various human capital economists, such as Becker (1964), who give emphasis to the functional role between schooling and economic and social requirements. In this case, schools' role is to prepare their students for the job market.-Within this functionalist mode, a more critical analysis has also been developed by Bowles and Gintis (1976) and Carnoy and Levin (1976), among others, who argue that schools reproduce the prevailing class structure. The other tradition wants to see schools as autonomous so that schools can be used as initiaters of social and political_ change, as was emphasized by Dewey (1916) and other progressive educational theorists. This paper addresses the question of whether different classes can benefit From the same academically oriented curriculum. Bourdieu and Passeron [1977) argue that the educational system merely reproduces the cultural capital which has been distributed before students enter education; those with the highest amount of cultural capital will benefit most from schooling. The same argument is taken up by Bantock [1965) who maintains that working class children are for cultural reasons likely to be inhibited from gaining the best of education even if they were given equal chances; because, as he continues to argue, 'high culture' for the working classes is meaningless. Thus, these different writers would agree that members of the working class are inhibited because of their working class culture rather than their measured IQ. Jencks (1972) and Boudon (1974) in a slightly different way argue that the class inequalities which have deeply structured roots, and are maintained by social forces, are beyond the reach of equalitarian educational reform. However, it will be argued in this paper that schooling must promote a common culture for all if all participants in schools are to benefit equally. An 'organic' curriculum suited to either class will only cement and fortify class divisions. Instead, this paper argues for the adoption of a strict academic curriculum as a means of redistributing knowledge, and thus political power, so that education may be disengaged from serving the ands of an exploitative, capitalist economy.
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ItemUndergraduate course preferences of students with some previous tertiary education( 1982)The thesis is an examination of the factors which affect the course choice of applicants to tertiary institutions. The sample is taken from the 1977 applicant cohort registered with the Victorian Universities Admissions Committee. The applicants in the sample are those who had already been enrolled in tertiary educational institutions for at least one year, prior to their application in 1977. The aims of the study are to examine the effect of previous tertiary experience, employment experience, age and sex on the course choice of the applicants. The data used in the study were taken from:. application files held by the Victorian Universities Admissions Committee. The results of the analysis are compared with the results of studies carried out in Australia and overseas which described the vocational and educational choices of students entering tertiary institutions for the first time, and subsequently transferring to other institutions in some cases. The main difference between this study and those which preceded it is that the applicant sample in this study contains persons aged from seventeen years to more than sixty-five years, whilst previous analyses had been confined in the main to the young applicants. A comparison is made between the course choices of the young applicants, aged 22 years or less, and the older applicants, aged 23 years or more. The results of this study are similar to those already published. Nevertheless some new information about the effect of the Victorian tertiary education system - the number and nature of the institutions - on the choices of applicants is presented. In addition the study makes available a comparison of age groups which has not yet been attempted elsewhere. The study shows that applicants of all ages have two objectives: the first, to obtain a qualification which will enable them to find satisfying employment; the second, the study a course which provides them with interesting activity which enables them to find personal satisfaction. In the main students wish to undertake the second objective at a University, whilst vocational training is sought at. a variety of institutions. The prestige and academic standing of the institutions is an important factor in the determination of the applicants' choices, and as a result many are not satisfied in their application.
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ItemAn evaluation of aspects of the proposition by Professor G.H. Bantock that "ultimately education both formal and informal is concerned with cultural transmission"( 1976)This thesis explores both the meaning and the application of. Bantock's assertion. Firstly, the notion of 'culture' is examined. I3antock identifies two common interpretations of the word: the anthropological and the Arnoldian 'pursuit of excellence.' He claims that his understanding is somewhere between the two. However, an analysis of his works shows that his thinking for education is far more identifiable with the Arnoldian idea of culture as what people should do, than it is with the anthropological notion that culture is what the people do. The meaning of I3antock's assertion about education's 'ultimate concern' is then examined with respect to his recommendations on curriculum. Bantock usefully distinguishes between 'cognitive' and 'affective' learning. Yet this distinction is not as sharp as one might expect: the criterion of the rational - or cognitive - as the arbiter limits his recommendations affecting curricula. If education is to be transmitted, this entails a discussion of how the transmission is to take place. �3sntack rejects 'discovery methods' as a mesas to transmit cultural values. The validity of his rejection is disputed both on the grounds of his failure to perceive the structure underlying discovery methods and the motivation of these methods. Transmission has to be undertaken by someone: thus, the role of school and not - school is examined, and the role of the teacher is explored. The former is affected by the whole area of the responsibility of the educator to his society; the latter is complicated by the fact, not explored by Bantock in any depth, that the teacher himself is necessarily involved in the wider community. lf cultural transmission is to be seen as the ultimate concern of education, then other claimants need to be described and assessed. The thesis examines the claims of self-realization, social improvement and social .usefulness, and proceeds to examine what claim cultural transmission knight have against other claims. The thesis examines the contribution which cultural transmission has over and against other claimants: its complementary nature, its sense of continuity with the past and for the future, and its dynamic spirit are explored. Finally, the thesis seeks to assess the contribution of G. H. Bantock to educational thinking. Negatively. there is a criticism of his failure to recognise the pluralistic nature of modern society, and his tendency to over-simplify the attitudes of those with whom he disagrees. But, positively, he does draw attention to the need for educational discourse to identify aims, his open-ness to a changing society, and his identification that the decisions affecting education are less and less in the hands of educators.