Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemApproaching the undiscussable : investigating learning in an educational policy making organisation( 2004)This study investigates the learning culture in the Professional Support & Curriculum Directorate, part of the policy-making section of the New South Wales Department of Education in Australia. It is based on the premise that organisations learn through the collaborative efforts of the staff who work in them. This learning results from an alignment of two theories: the 'espoused' and the 'enacted'. The 'espoused' theory represents the organisation's intent and usually resides in written documents. The 'enacted' theory is demonstrated through the organisation's practice. When these theories fail to align, the organisation's capacity to learn becomes inhibited. The gap between these two theories is 'undiscussable'. It creates tensions that the organisation does not discuss. The participants in this study were staff members located in the Professional Support & Curriculum Directorate. They included administrative and support staff as well educators and the Directorate's leaders. Data were gathered from these staff members using a survey and interviews. By comparing and contrasting their perceptions and experiences of the Directorate's 'espoused' and 'enacted' theories, the study describes the nature of the Directorate's learning culture and its effect on the staff. A model for learning in organisations, derived from the literature, provided the theoretical frame for this investigation. The study identified that the respondents experienced tension in their practice because their 'espoused' theories did not align with the Directorate's 'enacted' theories. This tension represented four 'undiscussables' or processes that hindered its learning: absence of trust, treating knowledge as a product, harmful 'knowledge-power' relationships and a 'failure' to examine critically the educational and socio-political assumptions on which its work was based. The study concludes with a description of the type of learning organisation that the Professional Support & Curriculum Directorate could become if it discussed these undiscussables constructively.
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ItemTaking social capital into account when implementing educational policy : implications of the Kirby report for social capital in Ironbark( 2002)There is a growing body of research around the concept of social capital that suggests that there are connections evident in relation to successful educational achievement and employment, and high rates of social capital. Social connectedness - one of the outcomes of having social capital - is held to be very important for young people of post-compulsory school age, particularly in the current economic climate. This exploratory study will examine the problem: What can social capital mean in post-compulsory education policy, and in the manifestation of that policy?' This study examines The Ministerial Review of Post Compulsory Education and Training Pathways in Victoria, commonly referred to as The Kirby Report. Kirby takes the view that the links are strong between community and social values, the economic future of the state, and educational outcomes for young people. Within this report and its recommendations, the concept of social capital and its contribution to building community values is deemed to be one of the broad requirements of the community in relation to young people and their experiences in education and training. The concept of social capital and the effects of the growth or reduction of social capital within rural communities is also examined, and it is the links between social capital, the implementation of the recommendations of a report such as Kirby, and the ramifications of these links for a rural town in North-East Victoria of 2,500 residents, that provide the framework for this study.
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ItemA philosophical analysis of the concept of education( 1989)The thesis critically examines some of the concepts involved In the elucidation of the concept of education developed by R.S. Peters who says that education Is a family of processes whose purposes are the development of desirable states of mind. In particular, it critically examines the concept of mind built into Peters' conception of education and argues that Peters is correct to imply that the mind cannot be reduced to brain states. Education, I .claim is a telological concept primarily concerned with the transmission of cultural values. The thesis begins by briefly looking at behaviourist views of mind, and introduces the Identity Theory as an attempt to provide a better explication of the nature of mind. Feigl's views on the nature of mind are examined, in particular, his attempted reduction of the mental to the physical. His rejection of the concept of emergence is challenged and what is meant by the reduction of one theory to another is elucidated. It is concluded that the mental cannot be reduced to the physical. The features of scientific explanation in general are explored. It Is found that scientific explanation is applicable largely in physical science contexts, and so is of limited use in explaining the concept of mind, and so the concept of education. Teleological explanations are examined, since it is apparent that education is a teleological explanation. The question of whether teleological explanations can be reduced to non-teleological explanations is considered. It is found that there are at least three forms of teleological explanation, (i) functional explanation, (ii) goal-directed explanation and (iii) purposive explanation. It is clear from an examination of these that education is explained in terms of purpose. An examination of the concept of intention and its relationship to action forms a major portion of the thesis. The problem of whether there can be several descriptions of one action is considered, as well as whether Intentions are entailed by desires. The relationship between actions and events is considered, discussing in particular the concept of cause. Five uses of the term "cause" are outlined. It is postulated that the causal power In agent causation is the "act of will", which forms part of the intention to act. The concept of a process, and some of the ways in which it may be defined, is examined. The concept of development is briefly considered in the light of the analysis of the concept of a process. It is concluded that education may be termed a super-process. As a process, education can never be completed, but continues throughout an Individual's life. The purposes of education and what might be meant by desirable states of mind are discussed. The primary purpose of education, it is asserted, is the imparting of values. The question of who decides what states of mind might be termed desirable is considered and it is concluded that it is society, or the community who decide what values are to be imparted.
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ItemTransforming professional development goals( 1996)The overall purpose of this study was to investigate the nature of goals as understood by the participants involved in the various stages of implementation of a professional development program, and the ways in which the goals were transformed as the program was implemented. In this thesis, "stage" is used in the sense of sequence, rather than development. The participants in the study were members of each of four stages of implementation of a professional development program, designed to support curricular reform, for teachers of mathematics. The development and implementation of the program were categorised into four stages. These can be identified with the actions of the participants: program initiators; program developers; workshop presenters and the teachers who would ultimately implement classroom content described in the program. The investigation involved description and analysis of the language used by the participants and how it communicated the character of their understanding of the goals. It is assumed that a participant's awareness of the goals influences the way the program is implemented. Data were collected from a range of documents used in the program, during interviews, via questionnaires and through observations of training sessions. For each stage of implementation, the main goals were summarised. Of particular interest was the way in which the goals were changed; as evidenced by the changes in meaning of key words and phrases. These changes were evident with respect to several key groupings into which the goals were classified by the researcher. The choice of words and phrases by participants at each stage revealed the nature of their goals. It was found that the goals of the initiators were usually to do with the altering of teacher practice. The developers' goals, while also concerned with altering teacher practice, were less directed. The goals as understood by the presenters were to do with promotion of a change in attitude in teachers (rather than practice), while the teachers' understanding of the goals were to do with relating the proposed change to their practice. In general participants at each stage had an understanding of the goals of the program that made sense to them, were achievable, and conformed to their perceived role in the program. For a given grouping of goals, there was a great diversity of both key words and phrases, and in meaning of goals as they were articulated at each stage. At times there was little change in the words used, and yet a large corresponding change in meaning. For other key groupings there was a great change in the words and phrases, with little alteration in the essence of the goal. Overall the character of the changes in goals, as understood by the participants at each stage of the professional development program, related to their perspective according to their role. This emergent character appears to be able to be generalised to all professional development programs This point of view ranges from that of a policy perspective, where policy solicits a change in teacher practice, to a practice perspective where the adaption of policy is sought in order to tie it with existing practice. The implications of this study are discussed concerning the effect that the transforming of goals in curriculum initiatives and professional development programs might have on the success of implementing changed teacher practice.