Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemSOTF principals' roles and preparation(University of Melbourne, 1995)
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ItemRole perceptions and professional development needs of primary school principals in schools of the future(University of Melbourne, 1995)This thesis was designed to explore and analyse how primary school principals perceived their role and their professional development needs within the current restructuring of public schooling in Victoria in Schools of the Future. The thesis also examined gender differences in role perceptions and professional development needs. The literature underpinning the study reviewed the theory and research related to restructure and reform in public schools; the Schools of the Future in Victoria; leadership and the evolving role of the principal; gender differences in leadership; and professional development needs of principals. The role perceptions and professional development needs were sought through a questionnaire using as its framework eight Key Result Areas (KRA's) categorising the principals' role as published by the Directorate of School Education (DSE, 1994). The KRA's were specified in terms of management and leadership tasks derived from the literature related to each area and these formed the items in the questionnaire. A total of 192 principals from Intakes 2 and 3 Schools of the Future were surveyed to ascertain their perceptions of the items used to define the KRA's as a description of their role, their professional development needs and any gender differences in perception. The qualitative responses included in the questionnaire were clustered into themes for analysis. The findings in the study showed that the principals found high agreement with the items defining the KRA's as a relevant description of their role definition across and within each KRA. The study also found that principals gave the highest priority of importance in their role to educational and cultural issues, and a lower priority in importance to administrative issues. Furthermore the emphasis in the professional development needs of principals was centred around educational and personnel issues. Gender differences in perception were dramatic. Female principals tended to have a much broader conceptualisation of their role than did their male colleagues. Another major finding was that males and females had different professional development needs which has implications for the development of relevant professional development programs for primary principals. Further insights into role perception and professional development needs of principals emerged in the qualitative data, especially the conflict between how principals and the school community perceived their role, and how they perceived that the DSE perceived their role. Recommendations for further research and implications for the professional development of principals are explored at the conclusion of the thesis.
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ItemSchools of the Future and curriculum development and implementation : an investigation( 1995)Restructure of the Ministry of Education has ensured that schools are no longer centrally administered but are self-managing within the Schools of the Future program under the Directorate of School Education. As a result, changes have occurred in many areas including administration, financial management, staffing structure and teacher support in areas such as curriculum. This study investigates three schools that are members of the Schools of the Future Pilot Program and seeks to find the effect that the changes from the Program, have had on Curriculum Development and Implementation. The study reviews the literature available on the topic, in particular the notion of self-managing schools in Victoria. Therefore it reviews information on the Schools of the Future Program. It also seeks to understand the effect of changes in curriculum policy and the provision of professional development. The study also seeks to explore the effect of leadership style on the implementation of curriculum within a school. Qualitative research methods were employed when data was collected from the three participating schools. The schools were selected for the following reasons: (i) they are members of the Schools of the Future Pilot Program(or Intake 1); (ii) they are situated in a similar socio-economic area; (iii) the author had ready access to those schools. By applying grounded theory technique to the data a model was developed - The Curriculum Triangle. This model is a suggested representation of what is occurring in the selected schools and could be used further to analyse data from schools, and thus generate the possible areas requiring professional development and curriculum leadership.
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ItemPrincipals' perceptions of their roles and preparation for leadership positions in "Schools of the Future"( 1995)The objective of this study was to gain an understanding of how principals perceived their roles to have changed since the introduction of the Schools of the Future program, and how they were prepared for their new leadership roles. Devolution and self-management are the major concepts underpinning the Schools of the Future initiative. As such, the Directorate of School Education has been downsized and many of their previous responsibilities have been delegated to schools. A case study methodology was chosen as the most appropriate for the study in that generalisation of the findings was not intended, due to the small number of participants involved in the study. The experiences and understandings of five primary school principals were sought by means of interviews. The findings of the study indicate that the participants have perceived a considerable change in their roles. There was unanimous agreement that the management dimension of their role had become more prominent in their job. They also reported that they have had to accept increased financial responsibility and accountability compared to the previous system. On the whole, the participants expressed satisfaction with the program. Their main concern was the apparent job overload associated with the implementation phase. In relation to the preparation process, the findings of this study indicate that emphasis was placed on preparing principals to handle self-management in their schools rather than on generic management skills. The focus was therefore, on topics such as self-development, use of technology in schools, change management, financial management, and so on. Various preparation programs initiated by the DSE and professional associations were made available to principals. The participants' feelings about the preparation process was that it was adequate and appropriate. Their main worry was that the process was rushed. As such, they have not had enough time to work out strategies of implementing what they had gathered from the training. The study raised the issue of whether the introduction of the self management concept in Victorian schools will lead to improved student outcomes, which is the major objective of the Schools of the Future initiative.