Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemWhat do 'at risk' boys say about their schooling experiences ? : creating agency for boys' views and feelings about school( 2008)The following discussion outlines the theory and operational methods that inform a general ethnographical study, designed to understand the views and perceptions of three 'at risk' boys relegated to a specialised Victorian state school. The methodology hopes to empower the male students taking part in the study by giving emphasis to the didactic importance of their views, opinions and experiences expressed during a series of interviews in which they participate. It is hoped that the boys will be able to identify areas of education that need improvement, and define real life problems within their own learning experiences, so genuine male learning dilemmas and insights are generated and debated in the research. However, Connell (1989, 1995) characterises boys as `inheritors of an all conquering hegemonic masculinity' and this classic feminist perspective seems to be preventing the evolution of a boys' paradigm in education by diverting attention away from boys' educational issues by asking `which girls' and 'which boys' are specifically disadvantaged. This generic ethnographical study attempts a pro-male research project which holds boy's views, opinions and experiences paramount in the research logic processes, and makes use of key foci descriptors conceptualised in recent government research and programmes to discover how young males experience and dialogue about their schooling lives.
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ItemStudent expectations of the future( 1992)Specific aims of the study To investigate how present-day students view the future and their place in the workforce of the future. To establish whether or not students regard their present educational experiences as an adequate preparation for their future work. To investigate acceptance of unconventional futures scenarios as possible futures.
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ItemCurricula skills valued by parents of students attending special developmental schools( 1999)This study was undertaken to investigate the values placed on specific curricula skills by parents of intellectually disabled children. The study also examined the relationship between these values and selected background variables. In addition, this study identified the parental preferred length of time that should be spent on particular skills each week in the educational programs of their children. A two part questionnaire was used to collect the data. It consisted of items relating to the background characteristics of the respondents and curriculum items that parents of children with intellectual disabilities were asked to rate. Eighty-six parents in the Northern Metropolitan Region of Victoria provided data for this study. Space was provided for parents to indicate other skills which they felt would be important for their children to learn. Items were spread across four curricula domains: functional life, academic, social/friendship and 'other' skills. T-tests and analysis of variance were employed to determine the significance of differences between means of ratings on the variables. Several findings emerged from the study. Parents were found to prefer independent functional life skills and integrating social/friendship skills throughout their child's school life, while academic skills were consistently rated last. Consistent with these ratings was the further observation that self-help or independent living skills, communication and social skills, were categories highly valued by parents. Significant difference was found related to the age and gender of the children of parents making the ratings. No significant differences were identified for parent age or parent educational level. Independent functional life skills were rated higher for older children, particularly for boys while integrating social/friendship skills rated higher for older girls than for older boys. Recommendations for parent involvement in curriculum decision-making are included.
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ItemA case study approach to the student at risk of leaving school early( 2005)There are two components in this research. The first comprises identification of what characterises an at risk student using risk factors identified from the literature. The second comprises identification of the prevalence of these risk factors in one school and how this school identified and assisted these students in the context of the early school leaver literature. Fifty-two students from a Melbourne government high school and seven of their teachers participated in the research. Students were divided into three groups; at risk students who participated in an intervention program, at risk students who did not participate in an intervention program, and a low risk group. Both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analysed to investigate prevalence of risk factors and usefulness and relevance of the intervention programs. All students completed a 30-page survey consisting of a demographics page, the Academic Self-Efficacy Questionnaire, the Classroom Environment Scale (Real and Ideal Forms) and the Family Environment Scale (Real and Ideal Forms). The teachers completed the Teacher Report Form of the Child Behaviour Checklist. The at risk students participated in interviews and completed six monthly questionnaires. From these data, a profile of the at risk student was developed. At risk students are characterised as performing academically lower than low risk students, exhibiting more problem behaviours, are more likely to be male, to value friendships made at school, to find the work at school and the teacher relationships difficult, to hold aspirations to achieve year 12 and believe they are in control of their school experience. The students participating in an intervention felt it was valuable. The quantitative data revealed non-significant changes in these students' academic self-efficacy and trivial differences in their academic grades. It is clear that school aptitude results from as early as year 7, and student behaviours can help to identify students at risk. It is also clear that friendships formed at school serve as a buffer for these students. Significant events occurring in the nominated at risk students lives do not appear to influence their decision to leave school early. The results imply that schools have the necessary information to identify students at risk, but that intervention programs need to be designed specifically to target problem issues. Recommendations for the school are made in the hope that they can be communicated to educators and the broader community.
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ItemGirls & post school achievement : discourse, meaning & subjectivity( 1998)In an overall sense the concern of my research is the question of gender. It is concerned with girls' engagement with the discursive fields which make up their lives, their acquisition of meaning and formation of subjectivity. Specifically, my research is concerned with the role of discourse in girls' acquisition of meaning about gender, achievement and success, and the ways in which teachers can develop strategies to support girls to negotiate the complex and contradictory discourses which surround them. As a poststructuralist feminist researcher I assume a keen awareness of the semiotic, discursive dimension of the social and from such a perspective consider the question of gender in relation to girls' education and post school achievement and career success. Through an emphasis on the discourses and texts which make up schools and educational practices, such a perspective makes relevant the emotional, psychic and physical embeddedness of girls in the discursively constituted categories to which they belong. The study undertaken is a critical engagement with one of the discourses shaping girls' identities. It draws on data gathered from a focused analysis of a selection of four celebratory feminist texts. The complex and contradictory nature of the meanings within the texts are examined, and the potential of this genre of feminist discourses to remake meanings and challenge the gender order of society is explored. My own personal and professional biography and the focus of the literature review have fashioned the specific questions I posed.
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ItemThe attitudes of regular primary and secondary school teachers towards the inclusion of students with disabilities in their classrooms in Botswana( 2002)While there has been a recent trend towards inclusive educational placement of students with disabilities into regular classrooms world wide, little information exists regarding the attitudes of teachers in Botswana towards such practices. This study was undertaken to examine the attitudes of primary and secondary school teachers' attitudes towards the inclusion of students with disabilities into their regular classrooms in Botswana. A questionnaire seeking demographic information and another called 'Attitudes Toward Inclusive Education Scale' were used to collect data from primary and secondary school teachers. T-tests and Pearson Product Moment Correlation have been used to examine the relationships in attitudes towards inclusion between primary and secondary school teachers, and the significance of relationships between teachers' attitudes towards inclusion and the selected background variables. The major findings of this study were: 1. Teachers were more willing to include students with social disabilities (e.g. students who are shy and withdrawn ) than any other type of disability in their classrooms. 2. Teachers were more inclined to include students with academic problems than those with behavior (e.g. students who are physically aggressive towards others) and physical problems. 3. Teachers preferred to include students with behavior problems than those with physical problems. 4. Students with physical difficulties were the least preferred of all the types of disabilities for inclusion. 5. Teachers with smaller class sizes were more willing to include students with poor attendance records in their classrooms than those teachers with larger class sizes. 6. Teachers who had no students with disabilities in their classes, that is, no contact with students with disabilities, had more positive attitudes towards the inclusion of students of students whose academic achievement is 1 year below the other students in their classrooms, than those teachers who have had contact with such students. 7. Teachers with high level of confidence about the inclusion of students with disabilities had more positive attitudes towards the inclusion of students with disruptive behavior, and those who do not follow the school rules of conduct.
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ItemFacilitating school improvement through strategic and effective decision making: a case study of a Victorian rural secondary college( 2006)Having taught in three different secondary colleges, in terms of size and location and the way in which each school operates, I developed an interest in decision making processes used in schools. I believe that certain decision making processes are more effective than others in terms of facilitating school improvement. I have observed certain decision making processes that were ineffective and caused disharmony among staff, particularly with members of staff who were left out of the decision making process. Hence, I chose this study to highlight effective decision making processes and also to encapsulate the impact of effective decision making. Due to the broad nature of the topic of decision making and the volume of information on this subject, this study concentrates on two main theories. The first theory looks at methods of school management that increases the effectiveness of the school by drawing on the experience of the teaching staff and involving them in the decision making process within the school. By this method the principal might use a `collaborative' approach. This theory encapsulates the idea that more staff contributing towards making a decision is `better' than the individual making a decision, based on the view that this approach shows greater resourcefulness. The second theory comes from the notion that the school community is `better off' allowing the principal and the administrators who have experience and expertise in making decisions on particular matters using the individual decision making model. The underlying assumption for this theory is that the teaching staff will have more time in their classrooms, rather than spending time in making decisions that have little to do with the classroom teacher. This will then allow teaching staff to get on with the job of classroom teaching.
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ItemDisability, education and ethnic families: the changing Greek-Australian experience( 1996)This study set out to examine whether there would be a difference in the attitudes held towards people with disabilities by two different generations of Greek Australians. The first group were those who had spent their formative years in the mother country whilst the second had been born in Australia. It was assumed that the attitudes held would be shaped by both the experience and the communal value system. The working hypothesis was that the attitudes held by the Anglo oriented group of young Greeks would be more akin to the general community than to the Traditional Group. The literature indicates that children raised in a multicultural environment will begin to absorb the values of the dominant society even when their own ethnic group maintains a cohesive set of values and provides a context in which to live a fulfilling life. The literature suggests there are six areas where the Greek tradition might significantly vary from the dominant group. These can be illustrated by the specific questions:- causes attributed to disability, responsibility for care, access to social services, access and participation in mainstream education, access to employment, and the rights to personal development. A survey was undertaken to evaluate the attitudes system of the groups, two of Greek background and one of Anglo-Australians. The results, with two small exceptions confirmed the hypothesis and provided conformation of the proposition that attitudes towards disability are shaped by the cultural context in which one lives and schools need to take into account the structure of ethnic families of Greek background. To maximise the levels of cooperation and communication the family values must be understood and respected. For the schools to assist those with disabilities to achieve meaningful and satisfying lives it is necessary to ensure that the whole family unit benefits.
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ItemParents perceptions of enabling practices used by integration teachers in the western region of Melbourne Victorian government schools which have supported integration programs for children with intellectual disabilities( 1998)This study was undertaken to identify and compare the perceptions of 92 parents of children with intellectual disability from the Western Region of Melbourne toward enabling practices used by integration teachers in Victorian government schools. The study then proceeded to an investigation and evaluation of the success of the integration teachers in developing an adequate parent-integration teacher partnership. Details of parent background were found by questionnaire and each parent completed an adapted version of the Enabling Practices Scale (Dempsey, 1995). Enablement was found by factor analysis to be perceived by these parents to be composed of four facets, namely: support, collaboration, empowerment and autonomy. Parents from background other than English were slightly more positive than their Anglo counterparts towards collaboration with integration teachers. Parents in general were found to hold positive attitudes toward the enabling practices of integration teachers. From this, it was concluded that the integration teachers had been successful in establishing effective parent-teacher relationships in all four facets of enablement.
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ItemSuccessful leaders in successful schools: a case study of a government primary school principal in Victoria, Australia( 2006)The research examined the leadership behaviour exhibited by a principal of a successful school. It used a single case study of a successful primary school based in Victoria, Australia, using qualitative analysis involving structured open-ended interviews from the multiple perspectives of the principal, teachers, non-teaching staff, parents and students. This research ensured that teachers, other school staff, parents and students were able to comment and thus verify and add to the statements the principal made. The research continued work carried out by Day, Harris and Hadfield. It has contributed an Australian perspective to an international research project on this issue, the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP). The research found it was the principal who made a major contribution to the improvement of the school. Over his tenure as principal, and through his vision, dedication and passion, the principal improved the learning outcomes for all students at his school. He not only improved the academic nature of the school but created a safe and nurturing environment that encouraged the children to want to go to school and to succeed. The research reinforced a lot of what past research has suggested is required for a leader to make an impact or improve the situation in a school. He shared and articulated a clear vision that the staff made their own. The principal, being the main leader, and through empowering others, had made important contributions to student learning. He had mastered a core set of basic leadership practices, was and made everyone accountable for their results and performance, and sought and provided constant feedback. He was a spokesman and role model and defender of social equity and fairness. The research found that most of these qualities the principal displayed appeared to stem from the character of the man - his moral and ethical stance and his commitment to the principles of equity and social justice. His leadership style had extended beyond just transformational leadership to be better described as a highly political, value-led contingency model of transformational leadership. This research contributes to identifying the characteristics and skills that are necessary to create and maintain a successful school and to informing professional development programs for current and future principals.