Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses
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ItemNo Preview AvailableThe discipline of comparative education : some reflections on the nature of the discipline with particular respect to its status as a science(University of Melbourne, 1973)The discipline of Comparative Education is not well defined either in the area of its study, or in its methodology. In recent years those who have found a clearer approach to methodology in the methods of social science have brought these into Comparative Education. However, these are not new to Comparative Education. The foundations of social science lie in the positivist philosophy of post-Revolutionary France, and this philosophy had its effect on educational theory of the time, notably in the work of Jullien of Paris. Two broad traditions in educational, and related social, thought can be traced; that which begins with Jullien and is characterized by belief in science; and that which begins with Matthew Arnold, and which stresses cultural analysis. For all their differences, both have originated and been used in an effort to understand or achieve social order. The means of attaining social order have varied. The 'scientific' and 'cultural' approaches to Comparative Education need to be studied in their contexts to be understood, although both approaches have intellectual appeal and use outside this context. The historical development helps us understand the present state of the discipline. An analysis of the comparative method, as a part of the process of cognition, shows some of its possibilities and allows some criticism of the method as used in Comparative Education. Comparison is necessary in cognition, and its study increases our understanding of the manner in which comparison is used to divide perceived experience into categories. Since the categories made are dependent upon the culture of those who make them, comparative study of other cultures may make more conscious the manner in which this is done; comparative study may also show that apparently similar categories are, in different cultures or sub-cultures, not as they appear. Science is often regarded as a reliable means of obtaining objective knowledge. Closer examination shows that science cannot be seen as a method, for any of its methodologies are linked to concepts, meaning and assumptions. Further, science does not produce objective knowledge, but does produce agreed knowledge. It is necessary therefore to study the manner in which this agreement is reached, which means the study of science as a particular cultural formation. Often this is not understood by those who call upon the name of science to give legitimacy to their particular approach; one of the major uses of science is as ideology. Following the historical study of Comparative Education, the examination of some possible and actual uses of the method of comparison, and a study of the meaning of science, some attempt at, a methodology of Comparative Education is made. The work of a number of writers is examined, as are also a number of categorizations of methodology. A widely held position is that a search for functional relationships between tightly specified variables is the important characteristic of a scientific comparative method. The argument which arises from the study of comparison and of science however is that the important problems are those of the formation of categories, the means by which these categories are filled out or varied, and the nature of the relationship between the category maker, those whose education he studies, and those who read and act upon his work. Finally an analysis is made of the chief writings of the comparativists Edmund King and Harold Noah. These are taken as main representatives of the traditional cultural and scientific approaches to Comparative Education. Both writers are criticized, but King's work comes closer to the methodological position developed in this thesis.
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ItemThe school production : a study in four parts( 1991)An academic introduction to relevant material and an overview of the major philosophical themes and debates in Drama in Education over the past fifty years. This also provides important background information to the rest of the study, placing the school production, Drama, the teachers and the curriculum development work in a broader context.
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ItemThe effect of the employment of an overwhelming majority of lay persons as staff members on the teaching mission of the Sisters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus at Genazzano F.C.J. College, Kew( 1988)This paper will show how the teaching mission of the Sisters of the Faithful Companions of Jesus (F.C.J.) has been influenced by the laicization of staff since the advent of Commonwealth funding following the establishment of the Schools Commission in 1972 and will document the ways in which structures have changed and the composition of staff has been altered.
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ItemAn analysis of how an innovation is disseminated by using the origins of the vertical curriculum concept in Victorian State Secondary Schools( 1985)The purpose of this investigation was twofold. One aim was to discover the origins of the vertical curriculum structure that has made a considerable impact on state secondary schools in the last decade. The other aim was to establish how the idea spread throughout the system and why schools made this major change away from the horizontal curriculum. Three research methods were used in this study. Firstly, Education Department Secondary School Handbooks were studied to identify the vertically structured schools in 1975 and 1982. Secondly, a telephone survey was undertaken in order to find more information about each of the forty-four vertical models discovered in the 1983 Handbook. This survey also enabled the original innovative schools to be identified, key individuals to be established and communication links between schools to be drawn up. Finally, the key carriers of the concept were interviewed to gain in depth information on the innovation. The outcome from the data collected should assist in the understanding of how a major curriculum change can disseminate throughout the schools in an education system. These implications should apply to educational systems outside of both Victoria and Australia.
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ItemA.S. Neill and the Russells : theory and practice in English progressive education( 1990)This essay examines the theory and practice of both Summerhill and Beacon Hill within the context of the Progressive Movement in education in England during the inter-war period. It attempts to see both schools as the manifestation of all influences which had culminated in the development of educational theory as expressed by A.S. Neill and Bertrand Russell, before and while these schools were in operation. Evidence is used to demonstrate that while these two schools were widely regarded as being on the extreme libertarian wing of the progressive movement, and in fact shared many features, they were in fact quite fundamentally different in their aims and in the practical manifestation of them.
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ItemDichotomies and paradoxes of youth unemployment : a philosophical and comparative study( 1989)Youth unemployment (YU) and unemployment by choice (UBC) have been considered from four perspectives, labour market, economic aspect, education and social sciences. First the problem of YU in general and UBC in particular is outlined. For policy-makers and job-creators this information is obviously vital to avoid disappointments of predictions and results. Workaholics and UBC have totally different goals and values and choose accordingly. Then the economic perspective is considered: The economists' views and theories are analysed and comparative profiles of some OECD countries presented. Some of the other questions asked are: is there a nexus between excessive imports and unemployment and what may this indicate, and what solutions do some of the economic theorists present. This is followed by a comparative study of educational thrusts and training in various OECD countries. Again comparative profiles in various OECD countries are used in unravelling or demystifying this complex problem, which may be seen as at least partly a matter of choice of life-style. An attempt is then made to use principles from the social sciences to explain the personal, social and economic causes and effects of UBC and some recommendations are made.
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ItemThe effect of success and failure on self concept and anxiety( 1977)While there is considerable evidence of the relationship between self-concept and achievement, there is little experimental evidence of the effect of achievement on self-concept. Morrison (1973) provided such evidence, and the purpose of this study was to attempt to replicate Morrison's findings with regard to the effect of success and failure on self-concept with subjects of a younger age. In so doing a number of methodological improvements were made in order to more clearly establish the relationship between anxiety and self-concept, and to clarify the role of sex differences. The subjects of this study were 176 Form Three (Nineth Grade) students selected from four Melbourne metropolitan secondary schools. The experiment investigated the effects of success and failure as determined by performance on an anagram task on self-concept, as measured by the semantic differential, and on anxiety, as measured by a brief form of the STAI A-State Scale. Post-test scores were covaried for pre-test scores. The experiment provided strong support for the hypothesis that general self-concept changes as a result of a single experience of success or failure. Subjects who experienced success saw themselves more positively, while subjects who experienced failure saw themselves more negatively. R further experience of success and failure also had a highly significant effect on self-concept, with success following failure and failure following success being particularly effective in producing changes in self-concept. A similar pattern of results occurred in the case of anxiety. There is a strong indication that changes in anxiety and self- concept occurred independently. No significant sex differences were found. Support was also provided for the hypothesis that the response made to the anagram task would generalize to other similar stimuli. The highly significant results were discussed in the light of the probable self-concept development of subjects of this age. The effectiveness of success following failure, and failure following success in producing changes in self-concept and anxiety may have resulted from the difference between the level of expectation and subsequent achievement. Stimulus generalization was discussed as a potentially profitable area of future research regarding the relationship between self-concept and achievement.
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ItemPaper dolls : an analysis of the culture of femininity as represented in the teenage magazine, Dolly( 1984)With the growth of the women's movement, there has been an increasing interest in the place of women in history. This has produced evidence that women have had a far greater part to play in history than has been previously recognized. This absence is now being rectified by works such as Dale Spender's Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them, which gives short accounts of the philosophies and work of individual women. While they had considerable impact in their own time, most of these women have been unaccountably "lost" in male histories. The retrieval of their stories, and of the general history of day-to-day female existence, is an important area. It is not merely a matter of inserting female figures into existing histories, but of rewriting history to incorporate them. However, in the context of my study, I am more interested in the history of images of women, rather than a factual account of their lives. It is unfortunate but true that these images of "Woman" have an impact on our culture that supersedes the actions of the many women throughout history who have diverged from these images; therefore when studying women in relationship to society it is of more use it understanding the position assigned them rather than accounts of the achievements of individuals. I will touch on various writers who have studied attitudes to women at different times during the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon culture that Australia has inherited. DOLLY is a particularly blatant example of that control and interpretation. Inevitably, the contradictions inherent in the female culture, the conflict between ideology and the lived experience, are there as well. Capitalism is all-important, in the guise of consumerism, as advertising is the economic rationale of DOLLY. Similarly, DOLLY's relationship to that other massive ideological framework, the patriarchy, needs to be explored, as well as the impact the combination of the two has upon women. DOLLY is also about incorporation: it works to reconcile images and ideologies of the feminine that appear to be contradictory or disturbing. The increasing sexual freedom has to be dealt with; the role of the family and the cult of the individual, female solidarity and female competition have to be reconciled. All these and other factors have to be adjusted and smoothed over under a glossy surface. In its own way, DOLLY is a hegemonic masterpiece. Studying DOLLY does not merely involve locking at the magazine in isolation, but also reviewing the circumstances that give rise to this form of cultural artifact. The position of Woman in our culture, as embodying all the qualities not included in the "norm", is based on a male perspective of what the "norm" might be. This is taken to the point where even. women accept this image of themselves.