Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemRemediating the elementary mathematics of prospective primary school teachers( 1980)Three areas are reviewed: the knowledge of prospective primary teachers of basic mathematics, remediation programs in mathematics and the use of calculators as a learning aid in mathematics. A remediation program is described involving a diagnostic pre-test and consequent assignment to one of three treatments: self-study, group tutorials or individual tutorials. The purpose of the 10 week program is to help prospective primary teachers meet a competency requirement in mathematics which is mandatory for progress beyond the third semester of a six-semester course of primary teacher training at a Victorian university. The program covers understanding and knowledge of place value, whole number decimals and fraction operations, percentages, averages and measurement including metrics. The group tutorials were given one of two treatments: the use of calculators during the remedial program, or the same program without calculators. Seven hypotheses related to the effects of the program are described. Post-testing after the 10 weeks of the program showed very large gains by each of the three groups. However the calculator group showed no difference from the non-calculator group, a finding consistent with the literature. Discussion of the results and pointers for future study conclude the study, with one recommendation being that mathematics specialists be appointed to primary schools.
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ItemLearning organisations and their educational impact in a corporate environment( 1995)This thesis is a study of learning organisations and their educational impact in a corporate environment. It provides an overview of the theory of organisational learning, and of learning organisations and describes several models of learning organisations. The important principles of holism and explicitness are established. Examples of learning organisation practices in overseas enterprises are compared with two case studies of Australian organisations which are aspiring learning organisations. These practices are then critically reviewed leading to the development of a new model for learning organisations, based upon 'empowered leadership', which explains holism and explicitness in detail. It concludes by addressing the issue of what learning organisations provide educationally, using the emerging prominence of 'life-long learning' as a focus.
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ItemA contract with education : Alice Hoy, 1893-1976( 1988)This is a biographical approach to the personal and intellectual development of Alice Hoy, a development which in turn shaped her contribution to teacher education in Victoria. The period I have covered does not go beyond Hoy's retirement from the Education Department and is concerned with her professional life during that time. Her work as a committee woman on various educational boards and councils is not included. Hoy was a pupil at the private University High School in the first decade of this century; in her first degree, a BA at Melbourne University, her major study was History which she continued with her MA, and later study of Law confirmed a natural tendency towards logical argument and gave her an LLB. After taking her Dip.Ed., Hoy became a teacher with the Education Department at the old University Practising School, and from there was invited to do Method lecturing at the School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Her early contribution to teacher education was made through her lectures at the School of Education and at the Melbourne Teachers' College as well as through the practical work at UHS, while her textbook on civics was used widely in schools. Her appointment is the first Principal of the Secondary Teachers' Training Centre was the high 'point of her career. She began the Centre, which became the Secondary Teachers' College, in 1950, and remained Principal until her retirement at the beginning of 1958.
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ItemWhat are the objectives of the State College of Victoria at Frankston courses as perceived by students, lecturing staff (education), and teachers in the field( 1975)The purpose of this study was to investigate the Objectives of the State College of Victoria at Frankston as perceived by students, lecturing staff (in Education) and teachers in the field. The number of cases used was 227, including 25 first year private students, 40 first year studentship holders, 25 third year studentship holders, as well as 23 College education staff and 114 supervising teachers, of which only 61 replies were of value. The subjects were required to complete an open ended questionnaire on what they believed 'are' the objectives of the S.C.V. and what 'should be' the objectives. An inspection of the responses was made by using Content Analysis. It appeared that the responses fell into three fairly clearly defined areas of Objectives, viz. Professional, Academic and Personal Development. Further examination of the data indicated that an item had a positive or negative valence, i.e., the respondent indicated approval or disapproval of the item as an Objective. The Objectives were raw scored, and the frequency of mention was converted to percentages of the whole group being scored. This was done for both +ve and -ve valence, thus indicating whether a respondent was critical of or favourable to the perceived College Objectives. Further data was obtained by asking College lecturers and teachers in the field to rate on a scale +5 to -5 whether the College was doing what it should be doing in achieving College Objectives. The findings indicate that there is general agreement about the current levels of professional objectives as perceived by the different groups. there is consistent demand for more professional studies, except from college lecturers in Education. Colleges are seen by all groups as having an academic content which should be decreased markedly at all levels. Colleges are recognised as having a low personal development level which all but critical teachers agree needs to be significantly increased.
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ItemAn analysis of the literature surrounding the theories of systematic design & constructivism to ascertain the relevance of each approach for the learning of soft skills-- Is the systematic model for designing Web-based training suitable for all learners?( 2002)The purpose of this paper is to analyse the literature surrounding the educational theories of systematic design and constructivism to ascertain the relevance of each approach to developing web-based training programs appropriate for both the development of soft skills in industry as well as appropriate to the needs of different learners. The systems approach, which advocates set objectives and criterion-referenced testing, has dominated the design of training for many years. However many current web-based training programs are not enabling learners to achieve the standards of performance required to compete in a global economy. Organisations are interested in developing employees who can solve complex problems and apply their knowledge to new situations. To achieve this goal organisations will need to utilise more Constructivist design strategies as they are best suited to complex, ill-structured knowledge domains. Emerging from the literature was support for the position that novices benefited from the more structured and linear approach of the systems model, whereas advanced learners required a more constructivist learning environment that advocates an open and problem-based approach, allowing more learner control and input.
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ItemThe evaluation of training( 1990)The focus of this study is on program evaluation as it applies to training and development initiatives in a large Australian organisation. The purpose of the study was to investigate an evaluation methodology that could be built in to a training program to provide information about the program's effectiveness and its impact on the target population in order to make decisions about program improvement, expansion, or termination. The trends in program evaluation that were applied in this area included contributions from the work of Michael Scriven who proposed a needs based evaluation as opposed to goals based evaluation, Bob Brinkerhoff who proposed a six stage model based on the Action Research process, and Michael Patton who focused attention on the information needs of program stakeholders, amongst others. Development of an evaluation process and methodology based on the Action Research process was achieved through research into three separate training and development programs implemented in the Broken Hill Proprietary Company Ltd over a four year period.
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ItemA comparative study of three state colleges of Victoria - Burwood, Frankston, Toorak, 1973-1976( 1977)On the 25 October 1972, Lindsay Thompson, the minister for Education, introduced into the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian State Parliament a Bill that was to create the State College of Victoria. Under this legislation the State Teachers' Colleges ceased to be administered by the Education Department and became an autonomous body in tertiary education. The aim of this thesis is to study the background to the formation of this institution. To look at the struggle for independence fought by individuals and associations connected with the Teachers' colleges and the lengthy enquiries and official panels established by the government. Chapters two, three and four are studies of three constituent colleges of the S.C.V., Burwood, Frankston and Toorak, in regard to their courses, staffing, organization and finance. following the gathering of this material an attempt is made to juxtapose these elements of the three colleges during the first three years of their independence, to try to establish similarities and differences in the data gathered. Comparative analysis is then attempted to draw conclusions regarding the progress, objectives, growth or setbacks the colleges have experienced and to try and establish why such results are evident. Finally two major questions are discussed. What is the future of the State College of Victoria system and what is the future of the individual colleges under study. To try and fathom out these problems the opinions of several people closely connected with the S.C.V. system and the Victorian Education Department were sought. The answers to both questions at this stage remain suppositions for they are presently under formal review by two State Government committees.
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ItemThe history of the development of specialist teaching training programmes for teachers of migrant children, 1947-1973( 1983)Information concerning the development of specialist teacher training programmes for teachers of migrant children is fragmentary, being scattered through some 130 published and unpublished documents. The aim of this thesis has been to present, with some degree of order and continuity, that information in a single volume. The resulting compilation is largely descriptive, though some analysis and interpretation could not be avoided. To supplement and to substantiate some of the data collated from the numerous documents, the experiences of a number of teachers who have taught significant proportions of migrant children between 1947 and 1973 have been related. Some of these experiences were gathered by means of a questionnaire which was completed by teachers who had responded to advertisements placed by the writer in The Sun (August 4, 1983) and The Age (August 15, 1983). The advertisements are included as Appendix A.1, and the questionnaire as Appendix A.2. Other experiences were gathered by means of personal interviews with a number of teachers. A full list of all persons from whom information was gathered appears as Appendix A.3. The paper concentrates on the development of specialist teacher training programmes within the Federal and State education systems, with only brief mention of developments within the Catholic education system. Such concentration is not intended to reflect a view that efforts made by the Catholic Church towards the problems of migrant children are insignificant. Indeed, the Catholic schools bore a very substantial share of the influx of migrant children and faced immense educational difficulties as a result, yet they succeeded in making as good a job as possible under the circumstances. Because the history of developments within the Catholic education system is a considerable area on its own, and because much material in that area has already been documented by Carmel O'Dwyer (Responses of Government and Catholic Educational Authorities to the influx of migrants, 1950-1960, with special reference to the experience of a selected group of schools conducted by the Victorian Sisters of Mercy),1 Michael Elliot (Migrant Education in Fitzroy, 1965-1975),2 and Denis Moore (The initial response to the migrant presence in four inner suburban Christian Brothers' schools as revealed in the inspectors' reports and other available sources),3 those developments are not included in this history. The population elements to which the discussion refers to as 'migrants' are those people from 'non-English speaking' origin, excluding Aboriginals. 1. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1977. 2. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1977. 3. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1981. The introductory chapter briefly outlines the Federal Government's immediate steps to provide some training for teachers of adult migrants, and serves to highlight the official indifference outlined by Chapters II, III and IV, to the needs of training for teachers of migrant children until the late sixties when short in-service training courses were introduced. Chapter V traces the history of these short courses. Chapter VI presents the development of in-service teacher training under the Child Migrant Education Programme, the development of some tertiary courses leading to awards, and the development of pre-service courses, all of which take place in the emerging notion of 'multiculturalism'. The initial assumption levelled at teachers of migrant children was that no special training in migrant education was necessary because no special effort was necessary to teach migrant children. If teachers were kindly and understanding, and approached the problem with good sense, migrant children in their care would be rapidly assimilated. Requests for specialist help were made as early as 1954, but a general lack of appreciation of the problem by administrators ensured that these requests were unheeded. The contents of the Haines Report and the Dovey Report in the late fifties vindicated the belief that teachers of migrants did not require special training. The Dovey Report in particular lulled disquiet about the problems of migrant school children, for the four years immediately following its release witnessed only a few ad hoc and unco-ordinated attempts to draw attention to the need for teacher training. By the mid-sixties, however, a number of changes in educational thought were responsible for some new developments in migrant education. It became a public issue, and a number of surveys highlighted its needs. The result was the introduction in Victoria in 1968 of some short in-service teacher training courses. The inadequacies of these courses were soon felt. A survey conducted in New South Wales in 1969 prompted the Commonwealth Government to assume responsibility for the development, management and financial control of child migrant education. Financial assistance was provided to cover the cost of special training courses for teachers, in the method of teaching English as a foreign language. These four-week courses were introduced in 1970. At the same time, and in the setting of a developing notion of multicultural education, the first specialized teacher training course in migrant education to be offered by an Australian tertiary institution was developed. This course led to the award of the Diploma of Migrant Teaching, and commenced at Armidale Teachers' College in 1973. By the end of 1973, some other tertiary institutions were developing graduate and pre-service courses. The history of the development of specialist teacher training programmes obviously does not end in 1973. That year was chosen as the cut-off date for this history for two reasons. Firstly it was, as stated previously, the year in which the first specialized course was offered by an Australian tertiary institution. Secondly, by 1973 the stage was set, in terms of an awareness of the urgent need for pre-service and in-service teacher training,, for the developments that were to take place from 1973 to the present time.4 4. Cf. L. Sislov, Conceptions of Bilingual Education; the contexts in which conceptions emerge and certain practical pedagogical initiations emerging therefrom in Australia and other countries. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1982, Chapters 9 and 10.
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ItemThe influence of accelerating technological change on staff development within a specific department of a TAFE college( 1984)In this thesis the influences of rapidly accelerating technological change on staff development practices and requirements within TAFE college have been investigated. Although the investigation is directly related to one specific department, which is particularly influenced by rapidly changing technology, a broad-based review of literature covering the various aspects of technological change, TAFE and its changing role,and the generally accepted phases of staff development,was found to be necessary. From this review of literature specific implications have been drawn. To relate these implications, drawn basically from theoretical literature, to the practical requirements of a teaching department, a descriptive case study, involving the department and its teaching staff members was conducted, the relevant data collected and analysed. From the review of literature and the analysis of the departmental data a series of conclusions have been drawn and recommendations made. Finally, to complete the exercise, an integrated development programme for the department has been proposed.