Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemWhat happens to liberal arts graduates? : an examination of their preparation for and experiences of the labour market( 2000)This study investigates the career progress of graduates from a liberal arts degree over an extended period of time. It explores the employment preparation undertaken by these graduates or provided through their education, their early labour market experiences, and the extent to which they develop satisfactory careers. This information is significant because of the continuing pressure on universities to improve the employability of graduates to meet workforce demands, and an increasing 'supply of graduates who expect positive outcomes as a result of their tertiary education. The report provides useful information to arts students so they can make informed decisions about preparing for post-university work and their career development. The data collected may also contribute in different ways to the practices of Arts faculties and employers of graduates. The study found that a considerable proportion of arts graduates experienced uncertainty and a less than straightforward transition to post-university employment. Not all of the graduates believed that the arts degree had assisted them in securing work, however, many were happy they had studied the course. Whilst approximately seventy per cent eventually attained higher level positions, twenty per cent remained in lower level work. Further study was the main source of career development. No differences were found between males and females regarding occupational attainment although males earned higher salaries. In comparison with other studies, arts graduates in the present study were more likely to be in non-graduate work than graduates from other fields.
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ItemValues and the teaching of history to junior secondary school students( 2006)Entitled 'Values and the teaching of history to junior secondary school students' this thesis aims to explore the value of history as a subject for study by junior secondary school students and the role of values in the teaching of history. A focus on the types of knowledge that teachers bring to their professional practice forms part of the groundwork for the study. Professional knowledge is considered as pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge (Darling-Hammond, 1999; Shulman, 1986, 1987). These branches of a teacher's knowledge are discussed in relation to the teaching of history. History is broadly identified as a field of knowledge (Carr, 1961; Hexter, 1971; Leinhardt, 1994; Marwick, 1983), a discipline for study (Ang, 2001; Collingwood, 1946; Leinhardt, 1994; Levstik, 2000; Marwick, 1983; Rogers, 1984; Skilbeck, 1979) and a subject within the school curriculum (Board of Studies, 2000; Foshay, 2000; Macintrye, 1997; Mays, 1974; Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA), 2004, 2005). The value of teaching history to junior secondary school students is broadly considered in terms of the knowledge and understanding that can be developed through the study of history as a school subject. The embedded nature of values within teaching is acknowledged and distinctions drawn between social/community values, general educational values taught through history and more specific values associated with the study of history. The research is situated within the qualitative paradigm (Denzin & Lincoln, 2000, 2005; Flick, 2002; Strauss & Corbin, 1990) and involved a case study (Bassey, 1999; Denzin & Lincoln, 2000; Merriam, 1988; Stake, 1995, 2000, 2005; Stenhouse, 1985; Yin, 2003a, 2003b) conducted at the junior secondary level that included the participation of the researcher, three other history teachers and students from Year 7 and Year 8 history classes. The methods used to collect data included an initial session with the teacher-participants and, at the conclusion of the study, a debriefing focus group with the teacher-participants, lesson observation and post lesson small-scale student discussions. The data gathered from this investigation is presented as a number of narratives (Bage, 1999; Bruner, 1986; Clandinin & Connelly, 2000; Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Freebody, 2003; Mishler, 1986; Stake, 2000). The researcher contributes to these narratives as a teacher of history. The study affirms the value of teaching history to junior secondary students, recognizing an association with broad educational values (Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST), 2005; Gilbert & Hoepper, 1996, 2004) and subject specific values, such as, sharing knowledge about the past (Fitzgerald, 1977). Values that are imparted through the study of history are categorized as general and specific and are closely linked to skills. The study is premised on the beliefs that thinking about practice (the past and the present) may enlighten future history teaching and learning (Schtin, 1996) and that 'mindfulness' (Leinhardt, 1994) is an essential characteristic of history teaching that engages both the teacher and student in the learning process.
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ItemThe mind, the imagination, the feelings, the body: tertiary drama education in the 1990s( 1996)This study aims to investigate the impact of the aesthetic and aesthetic education, critical theory and critical pedagogy on tertiary drama in three Bachelor of Arts courses. The relative influence of these three areas has been principally gauged through interviewing key drama academics all of whom are involved in the design and teaching of undergraduate drama courses across three universities. Particular emphasis has been given to the first year of higher education. The overall objective of the study is to reflect on current tertiary drama education practice and to contribute to scholarship in the field of drama studies in higher education.
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ItemComputerised accounting systems, curriculum and business needs( 2007)Globalisation, information technology, and in particular the development of sophisticated Computerised Accounting Systems (CAS) software, have become driving forces that continue to enhance and transform business needs and practices. A review of the literature suggests that the design of current accounting curricula does not sufficiently expose students to the concepts of globalisation and technology. This study aimed to discover the extent to which existing Australian CAS curriculum models did reflect business needs. Guidance was sought from the literature and from academics' accounts of how they develop the CAS curriculum, and the perceptions of business needs of business professionals, (key knowledgeables and young gun managers), and current students with business experience were explored. The study also considered the match between the CAS curriculum offered at the university where the researcher is employed as a lecturer and business needs, through an exploration of what the cohort of current students with business experience perceived the subject to offer. A mixed-method research strategy of enquiry, using two separate methods of data collection, was used, to better understand the relationship between curricula and business needs. This approach provided numeric trends from the quantitative research and detail from the qualitative research. The study was conducted in three phases: a survey gathered data relevant to the current students with business experience and the young guns, an Internet search for appropriate subject descriptions was made and an analysis was undertaken, and interviews provided rich data as the perceptions of academics, key knowledgeables, young guns and current students with business experience were explored.. Rogers' (2003) adoption-diffusion study influenced the analysis of data gathered from the Internet search for Australian relevant subject descriptions. Academics were classified into adopter categories on the basis of innovativeness of curriculum content, and thus provided a basis for understanding the aims of their CAS curriculum, their perceived importance of business needs to the curriculum, and why a particular software became a feature of the curriculum. The data was analysed thematically and the key findings were drawn from the participants' experiences in business and at university. All participants were aware of the increasingly dominant role of CAS in business but a variety of different opinions and beliefs were presented as to the value of CAS as a part of university curricula. However, the overall view was that the academic's response must prepare students to participate in the business world, by ensuring curriculum content included learning processes, teaching practices and software offerings that would provide appropriate business solutions. The findings showed a number of impediments to future curriculum design that need to be addressed. These include academic inadequacies, pedagogical beliefs and practices related to the place of software applications in curriculum design, the need for different software solutions for different business problems, and cost factors related to the decision to introduce new technologies. Recommendations were made as to appropriate topics to include in future curriculum design. All cohorts agreed that enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions will be the future business software solution of choice to both large and small to medium enterprise (SME) businesses, and a solution was proposed for innovative curriculum design in order to master the complexity of such applications.
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ItemResearch priorities in accounting education( 1993)This study addresses the issue of research into the education process within the accounting discipline. In the first stage of the study a comprehensive review of all literature relating to accounting education is carried out with the intention of codifying and classifying work done by Australian accounting academics in this field. In the second stage, accounting academics in Victoria were surveyed to ascertain their views as to the importance and relevance of research into accounting education issues from the viewpoint of the accounting profession and themselves as individual academics. A priority rank list is developed to identify the items that are considered of most importance and which have the greatest potential from a research perspective. Accounting common core of knowledge, quality of teaching, utilisation of computers in accounting courses, communication skills and student success emerge as the most important issues worthy of future research attention. The final stage compares these priority areas as identified by the respondents to the survey, with the work done to date as evidenced by the literature reviewed.
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ItemLearning to write scientific discourse( 2000)This thesis describes the perceptions of a group of first year science students about writing tasks during first semester of their tertiary studies. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data from students. An interview was also conducted with one key science lecturer. The questionnaire and interview responses were analysed using the framework of four features of scientific academic writing - Generic Structure, Content, Surface Level Features and Access. The students' questionnaire and interview responses provided insights about their perceptions of the differences between writing at school and at university and also about the difficulties they experienced with learning to write scientific discourse. The students came to realise during the semester that they were not adequately prepared to cope with writing across the range of scientific genres or with the more sophisticated level of contextual knowledge required in their university studies. The interview with the science lecturer revealed a gap between the students' and the lecturer's perceptions that may be a factor in the problematic nature of learning to write scientific discourse at university. While the students did not appear to consider the language of science relevant to their contextual knowledge, the lecturer indicated that he perceived the language of science to be intrinsically bound with a command of the content. The students also indicated that the lecturer's expectations about discourse requirements were not sufficiently explicit. The lecturer, on the other hand, indicated that explicit instructions about discourse requirements were provided for students. This study signals the need for closer collaboration between Communication Skills lecturers and science subject lecturers in bringing the perceptions of the students and the lecturers closer together. The Communication Skills lecturer can assist students to learn the required scientific discourse by working alongside science subject lecturers to collaboratively provide in-context, explicit instruction, scaffolding and modelling of specific written tasks.