Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemEvaluation for Evidence-Based Performance Management: Understanding and Measuring Performance Managers’ Perceptions( 2020)A common claim is that high-performing organizations use evidence-based practice to manage staff performance, herein called performance management. The literature showed that the implementation of performance management policies is crucial because even well-designed performance management models fail if they are not implemented as intended (Armstrong, 2015). Given that behavior can be mediated by perception, this thesis focused on the perceptions held by implementers of performance management that might mediate their implementation of performance management policies. This is important because, despite the research on evidence-based performance management, there remains a gap in understanding and measuring the perceptions held by the implementers. Moreover, there is a sizeable gap between performance management research and practice due to a plethora of obstacles like poor access to reliable research. Three sequential research stages were conducted focusing on item generation, scale development and scale refinement and validation, respectively. An initial set of 130 items was developed, based on a thematic analysis in the narrative literature review and a scoping literature review study (Stage 1). These items were reduced to a set of 55, then 41 items in Stages 2 and 3, respectively, using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, Cronbach’s alpha calculations and examination of conceptual importance of data from a combined 589 survey respondents. Furthermore, the effect of several antecedent factors was tested using multivariate analysis of variance. The thesis findings enhanced the extant understanding by presenting perception of performance management as a broad concept encompassing two higher order factors (Perception of Efforts and Perception of Results) and eight lower order factors (perception of Performance Evaluation, Documentation, Organizational Support, Supervisory Support, Climate, Turnover, Critical staff Withdrawal and New staff Withdrawal). The findings also added to the literature on the effect of antecedent factors, particularly age, work role, organizational size, industry sector and workforce experience. Finally, the thesis further narrowed the gap between research and practice by creating a theoretically grounded and empirically validated performance management perceptions scale for organizations to use in in evidence-based performance management.
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ItemLink between teacher-student relationship, student emotional wellbeing, coping styles, classroom engagement and peer relationships( 2007)This research explored the link between teacher-student relationship, student emotional wellbeing, coping styles, peer relationship and classroom engagement of year 8 students. The participants were Catholic school students and the focus was limited to English class and teacher. The data sources were a Student-Survey (SS) and the Adolescent Coping Scale (ACS) (Frydenberg & Lewis, 1993). The first component of the research was scale development, to validate the hypothetical categorization of items in the scales; the second was the testing of the hypotheses. Teacher-student relationship was highly correlated with classroom engagement and coping style-solving the problem. The correlation between other variables was positive but not significant.
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ItemA study of transformational and transactional leadership among leaders at the Rajabhat University, Thailand( 2007)The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the leadership styles and organizational culture in The Rajabhat University in Thailand as viewed from the leaders' and non-leaders' perspectives. The study examined leadership behavior based on the notions of transformational and transactional leadership. A survey research methodology was used to gather data from six departments in The Rajabhat University. A total of 96 leaders and 99 non-leaders responded to the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ), and 95 leaders and 101 non-leaders responded to the Organizational Description Questionnaire (ODQ). Leaders perceived their leadership styles to be transformational. Conversely, the non-leaders perceived the leadership styles of their leaders as highly transactional. These results were confirmed by the results of the organizational culture surveys both leaders and non-leaders agreed that the organizational culture were moderately transformational and highly transactional, with non-leaders viewing organizational culture as more transactional than that viewed by the leaders. Transformational leadership culture has been associated with improved organizational outcomes These findings suggest that organizations like The Rajabhat University may need to develop a more transformational leadership culture.
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ItemInstitutional influences on approaches to teaching within a flexible university : a cultural historical investigation( 2010)This study investigated the teaching approaches of two business academics located within an Australian university developing its flexible teaching and learning practices over the past twenty years. The interview subjects are highly regarded educators with formative backgrounds in on-campus or off-campus distance teaching. Each has had a long professional relationship with the researcher in her centrally situated position's as an educational developer within the institution. A review of the student learning literature pertaining to teaching and learning approaches in the higher education sector over the last thirty years, shows that "teaching approaches" can influence "student learning approaches"(Ramsden, Paul 2003) and outcomes, (Biggs, J. 2003; Lizzio, Alf, Wilson, Keithia & Simons, Roland 2002) however "institutional influences" upon teaching approaches seems to be substantially overlooked. (Kernber & Kwan 2000) The academics were invited to participate in this study agreeing to retrospectively review and discuss their teaching in three progressive phases of their working history. They were invited to consider their teaching approach using the Approach to Teaching Inventory (Trigwell, Prosser et. al. 2005) in order to reflect upon their personal positioning (Harre September 2004), institutional practice and societal rhetoric in relation to an academic life in various periods of their teaching history. Discursive analysis has been undertaken of the resulting conversations guided by Cultural Historical Analysis Theory, (Vygotsky 1978, Engestrom 1987). This investigation reveals profound institutional influences on the approaches of teachers to their work. Influences on academic life have usually been studied independent of the Higher education teaching and learning literature. This study points to an urgent need to integrate these research interests to inform understanding of material transformative activity for policy makers in higher education.
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ItemLearning for independence : the learning experience of some East Timorese scholarship students in Australia 2001 - 2005( 2007)The people of East Timor voted for independence in a UN sponsored referendum in 1999. The departing Indonesian Army left widespread devastation in its wake. In 2000 the first students left independent East Timor to take up scholarships around the world to help build its human resource. This thesis reports on research into the learning experiences of some members of the early groups of East Timorese scholarship students at different universities in Melbourne. Their experience during the scholarship period is analysed through the framework of adult learning including formal, non-formal, informal and unintentional learning. The students have learned English, taken their studies seriously, created their own community, and, through the support movement for East Timor, have had a range of opportunities to participate in the host community. Despite their formal educational experiences, they are enthusiastic learners committed to contributing to the development of East Timor. This thesis indicates that educators and those in the community support movement can learn from, and contribute to, the learning experience of future students from East Timor. It discusses some attitudes in the student community, shows the students' learning from observation of, and. participation in aspects of the Australian community, and their imagination and citizenship commitment in adapting their learning to the East Timorese.. context.
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ItemFrom "great!" to "gr8!" : register shifts across CMC modes : a case study of three boys with varying literacy abilities( 2007)The aims of the current study were to observe A) the extent to which various ability level students demonstrate control over register in the three CMC modes of SMS, email and Word documents; and B) the extent to which these students are aware of these shifts in register. Data was collected by using a video recorder to capture how three students, Alex, Jasper and Eric, typed an SMS, an email, and a school-based text as a Microsoft Word document. Each student then discussed their texts in an interview, using the footage as a think-aloud protocol. All sessions were carried out with individual students, each lasting no more than 20 minutes. Data were analysed using the Hallidayan theory of register, taking into account its sub-categories of field, tenor and mode (Halliday, 1985a; 1985b; Eggins, 2004). The video footage indicated that Alex and Jasper, the students with higher literacy abilities, were able to switch between abbreviated codes and academic written English, demonstrating an understanding of the different communicative requirements of both informal and formal texts. The linguistic analysis illustrated that these students were very comfortable in using both Shorthand codes and conventional spelling in their SMS and email messages, and demonstrated a sophisticated use of the generic, syntactic and especially, lexical structures in their formal texts. However, Eric, identified by his teacher as having lower literacy abilities, was less comfortable in using abbreviations in his SMS and email; a less sophisticated structure in his formal text even showed some register confusion. The interviews revealed Alex's and Jasper's awareness of their register choices, evident across their texts. Although Eric also showed an awareness of these, his texts show he demonstrated these shifts to a lesser extent. Alex and Jasper also revealed positive attitudes towards, and an exploratory use of CMC modes. However, Eric's surprising aversion to technology suggests that some teenagers may be uncomfortable with the abbreviated language associated with some forms of CMC. Results show that, contrary to populist beliefs, (such as Texting 'is not bar to literacy;' cited in Thurlow, 2006, p. 699) the relationship between Shorthand codes and academic written English is multifaceted. Alex's and Jasper's awareness of composing texts with varied tenor allowed them to make appropriate register choices, whereas Eric's choices of code were more restricted. This study suggests that clearly, there are more complex variables operating, which should be examined in a wider array of students in future investigations.
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ItemCollaboration : the key to the resilient learner( 2007)In what ways may Collaborative Teamwork and Social Development be linked as they inform Resilience in the Middle Years.' This thesis examines the key role that small group collaboration may play in the social development of student collaborative skills, particularly of a pro-social nature, developed by classroom practice. The study involves Victorian middle years students and a mixed method approach is applied. Quantitative analysis allows student questionnaire response data to be examined to facilitate understandings of the performance of collaborative groups and qualitative analysis of student interview data allows deeper understandings of student interactions to emerge. These collaborative skills include shared planning, monitoring and assessment, supportive behaviours and a commitment to ensuring successful group outcomes. Motivational factors including those based on interest, self-efficacy and attribution are referred to. A collaborative learning model is also described. Personal learning and development that may result from collaborative group work is described in the context of the individual's resilience and personal growth.
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ItemWhat is a quality rubric? : curriculum design, state frameworks and local assessment of secondary science( 2009)In explicating Science the science teacher is likely to say, 'I have reached Chapter 9!' Bureaucracy has its own logic and State curriculum writers have pushed for results that looked rational: results that could codify, sort and explain to their masters. The schools and universities have responded. The rubric has recently entered the teacher lexicon as a quasi professional tool for instructional planning and student assessment in the public domain as a response to central accountability requirements in relation to mandated curricula and standards of student and teacher performance. The rubric is characteristically a grid which defines any piece of instruction, a list of anticipated educational attainments, stated as criteria, against levels or standards of attainment, stated as descriptors. The rubric has become a public statement, a quasi contract written by groups of teachers in a school that identifies what can be expected in terms of teaching behaviours and student learning, in the name of a school or the state. But how would the quality of a rubric be discussed or assessed in relation to science education? The study explores the use of rubrics to support situated cognition and social constructivist science teaching. This thesis does not investigate the question of educational 'quality' per se. It does not set out to prescribe or stipulate ideals. Nor does it recommend how teachers ought to use rubrics to measure or assess such ideals. Rather it is an ethnogenic study of the judgements made about the qualities of the rubrics designed and used by science teachers and a particular group of students in an inner urban secondary school. The students in this study are enrolled in the Select Entry Accelerated Learning program at Hill View Secondary College which seeks to engage them in higher levels of educational involvement and attainment.
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ItemPower relations in policy making : a study of the emergence of TAFE degrees( 2008)In 2002, the Victorian state government moved decisively to settle the long standing policy debate in relation to the role of TAFE (Technical and Further Education) in higher education, by allowing TAFE institutes to offer specialist undergraduate degrees to full fee paying students. For over a decade CEOs of the largest metropolitan TAFE institutes had campaigned for a policy change to allow TAFE institutes to offer higher education qualifications. Their political actions challenged the dominant policy discourses which constructed TAFE as a provider of vocational entry level training. Given the long standing opposition to the concept of degrees in TAPE from within and without the TAFE sector, the purpose of this study is to analyse how the policy to allow TAFE institutes to offer higher education was articulated, formulated and implemented and with what effects. The conceptual framework in this poststructural policy analysis draws on the British sociologist Ball (1990a, 1990b, 1993, 1994) and his colleagues Bowe and Gold (1992) and the French historian and philosopher Michel Foucault (1977, 1978, 1980, 1984a, 1984b, 1984c, 1991a, 1991b, 1991c, 2003, 2004). Ball's (2007) analysis of the competition state is used to interpret the relationship between the state, the economy and TAFE policy. Foucault's concepts of discourse, power, disciplinary technologies and governmentality are used to analyse policy making. Power relations in policy making are analysed in the contexts. identified by Bowe, Ball and Gold (1992), the context of influence, policy text production and practice and Ball's (1993, 1994) contexts of outcomes and political strategy.
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ItemDiagnostic reasoning teaching : an analysis of expert teacher behaviour in a clinical setting( 2008)Clinical reasoning is a cognitive process that uses data collected from and about a patient to make a diagnosis and develop and implement a therapeutic plan. Clinical reasoning may be usefully divided into diagnostic and therapeutic reasoning. Diagnostic reasoning is a problem solving task of categorization where information from the patient interview, physical examination and investigations are used formulate diagnostic hypotheses (a differential diagnosis) and eventually (and ideally) a single diagnosis. Therapeutic reasoning derives a therapeutic plan from the diagnosis and the wishes of the patient and implements the plan in the context of specific measurable outcomes. The diagnostic reasoning processes of novices and experts have been extensively evaluated. A variety of reasoning strategies have been identified including causal, probabilistic, deterministic and hypothetico-deductive reasoning and pattern recognition. Clinicians use, at different times and with different patient problems, any or all of these strategies. Novices are more likely to use causal and hypothetico-deductive reasoning whereas experts are more likely to apply pattern recognition. The quality and fidelity of the diagnostic reasoning process is also (and substantially) influenced by the knowledge organization of the clinician. Novices are more likely to have their knowledge organized as prototypes and instance scripts which rely on bioscience knowledge and less clinical experience whereas experts use illness scripts and semantic networks which are rich in data collected from their previous experience and relies little on bioscience knowledge. The teaching of diagnostic reasoning changed substantially with the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) curricula by medical schools from the late 1960s onwards. PBL employs the principles of adult learning theory and hypothetico-deductive reasoning to explore clinical cases in the bioscience years of the medical course. The implementation of PBL curricula resulted in greater student and teacher satisfaction but there is little evidence that the knowledge and skills of the students are different to traditional more didactic curricula. A small body of evidence suggests that students of PBL courses have better diagnostic reasoning skills. The teaching of diagnostic reasoning in the clinical years of a medical course is less well understood. Traditional patient-based discussions at the bedside or in a tutorial room have been the mainstay of clinical education for many years. The effectiveness of this style of this traditional "bedside" clinical teaching to teach diagnostic reasoning has not been evaluated but many recommendations about teaching and learning styles have been published. In order to examine the teaching of diagnostic reasoning by expert clinician teachers a model of novice diagnostic reasoning was developed from the literature which was used as a framework for analysis. In this model three phases of novice diagnostic reasoning were identified - data acquisition, problem representation and hypothesis generation and refinement. The study presented in this thesis examined teacher behaviour in six seminaturalistic "bedside" tutorials designed to promote diagnostic reasoning discussions. Each tutorial was led by an expert teacher, who had won the teacher of the year award (determined by student vote), with a group of medical students in their first clinical year and an experienced simulated patient. The simulated patient delivered a script that was deliberately diagnostically inconclusive. Each session was videotaped and analysed using Studiocode (video analysis software). The coding first attributed each utterance to the teacher, a student or the patient. The teacher utterances were then sub-coded to the phases of the novice diagnostic reasoning process (data acquisition, problem representation and hypothesis generation/refinement). Teacher utterances in each phase of the novice diagnostic reasoning model were examined to identify illustrative examples of teaching behaviours consistent with excellent teachers (derived from the previous literature) including requests, direct instruction, questioning/probing, scaffolding, modeling and feedback. Finally, in the hypothesis generation and refinement phase of each tutorial, teacher utterances were further examined for illustrative examples of the teaching of causal, probabilistic, deterministic and hypothetico-deductice reasoning and pattern recognition. Six expert teachers participated in the tutorials (3 physicians and 3 surgeons, 4 male and 2 female). The teachers, on average, spoke for 56% (range 43-64%) of the tutorial (average length 56 minutes). Physicians and surgeon talk proportions were not different (56% vs 56%). Of the teacher utterances 55% were coded to the hypothesis generation/refinement phase, 31% to the data acquisition phase and 3% to the problem representation phase. During the data acquisition and hypothesis generation/refinement phases of the tutorial illustrative examples of direct instruction, questioning/probing, scaffolding, modeling and feedback were identified in the teacher utterances. In the problem representation phase only illustrative examples of direct instruction, modeling and feedback were identified. In the hypothesis generation and refinement phase illustrative examples of the teaching of causal, probabilistic and hypothetico-deductive reasoning and pattern recognition course but not deterministic reasoning were identified in the teacher utterances. This study examined the behaviour of expert teachers in semi naturalistic tutorials designed to promote the teaching of diagnostic reasoning. In these tutorials the teacher typically spoke for more than half of the tutorial. The teacher utterances were coded into all three phases of the novice diagnostic reasoning model but least time was spent in the problem representation phase. Illustrative examples of excellent teaching behaviour were identified in most of the phases of the novice diagnostic reasoning process. Illustrative examples of most diagnostic reasoning types were identified in the tutorials. The results of this study would suggest that further research is required to determine the "optimum" teacher talk time in a clinical (and other) tutorial and the effectiveness of teaching about the problem representation phase of diagnostic reasoning.