Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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    Selection in Queensland secondary education
    Rayner, S. A ( 1952)
    The aim of the present thesis is to survey the origin and mature of selection in secondary education in Queensland and to compare the prognostic value of different methods of selection in the State schools in the metropolitan area with a view to suggesting better methods of educational selection and guidance.
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    Secondary education in Van Diemen's Land, 1820-1857
    Noble, Gerald W ( 1972)
    The history of the establishment of any school system is necessarily an account of contrasting individuals and their diverse attitudes and efforts. Van Diemen's Land is no exception; the only factor enjoyed in common by nearly all of the private schoolmasters was their motivation - want of a more lucrative or appropriate occupation. Few schools prospered in Tasmania in the period up to 1850 for the colony lacked the prosperous middle-class that supported the English public and proprietary schools. A convict, Thomas Fitzgerald, was appointed as the first public schoolmaster in 1807 but nothing of a secondary nature was attempted until 1819. From that point a number of schools can be traced. The most remarkable would be those conducted at Pressland House, Melville Street, Hobart Town, by a succession of capable schoolmasters, in Launceston by Charles Price, and at Ellinthorp Hall, near Ross, by Mrs.G.C.Clark. However, the most insignificant seminary made some contribution to the traditions of culture and education in Tasmania, and for this reason, each founder deserves to be considered, whether of the English or Scottish tradition, Rugbeian or parochial school derivation, trained or self-taught, emancipist or free settler. Whilst free enterprise provided the temporary educational needs of Van Diemen's Land, Church and State pondered ways to establish more permanent institutions. The efforts of Archdeacons T.H.Scott and W.G.Broughton came to nought but activities commenced with the arrival of Sir John Franklin in 1837, a governor determined to set up a public school of the Arnoldian pattern in Tasmania. John Philip Gell was selected as foundation headmaster and, until the College could be built, he conducted the Queen's School. This venture failed during the severe economic depression in 1843. Sir John Franklin's successor, Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, did not share his predecessor's enthusiasm for the College so in its place the Church of England planned a Church-sponsored system of schools. Bishop F.R.Nixon promoted a fund-raising drive, largely in England, which resulted in the establishment in 1846 of Christ's College, a grammar school and quasi-university, and two feeder schools, Hutchins School in Hobart Town and the Launceston Church Grammar School. At about the same time another group, composed largely of Dissenters, launched a High School in Hobart Town. Both the High School and Christ's College failed during the 1850's but the two feeder schools survived the economic troubles and Tractarian disputes of the period. It is clear that in all these schools, although economic and political factors played decisive roles, the most significant factor was the character of the persons organizing and controlling the schools. It is necessary therefore to see what manner of men worked for education in Van Diemen's Land in the first half of the nineteenth century.
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    The origins and early history of the State secondary school teachers in Victoria, 1872-1926
    Reid, G. A ( 1968)
    In tracing the history of state secondary school teachers in Victoria from their origins in the primary teaching service until 1926, this study covers the areas relevant to teacher status - viz., teacher training, conditions and associations - and an attempt has been made to evaluate the progress made towards professional status. The Diploma of education course, initially a two-year University course aimed to train teachers of academic subjects, was instrumental in raising the academic and pedagogical qualifications of secondary teachers. It was, however, inadequate in that it did not train teachers in sufficient numbers, and it was always starved of finance and essential resources. The Diploma was supplemented by the post- Intermediate Trained Teacher's Certificate courses in manual and Domestic Arts and Commercial subjects. Because the education Department played a significant role in both systems of training and the teachers had no control of training standards, the progress that was made was achieved without reference to the teachers, and was offset by the increasing numbers of temporary teachers employed in the secondary schools. No significant progress was made by secondary teachers in determining their professional conditions. These were almost entirely decided by the centralized administration which widened and tightened its influence. Professional freedom in areas such as curricula was further limited by the uniformity imposed by the public examination system. State secondary teachers were willing conformists to these pressures restricting their professional activity, and directed most of their energy towards regularizing their position within the public service. Even in this sphere, they achieved little: their salaries were relatively poorer in 1926 than they had been in 1912, it took thirteen years to gain a Classification Board, and they rarely succeeded in gaining concessions even on minor matters. Hence state secondary teachers were enthusiastic supporters of the movement towards the uniting of all teachers within the one Union which culminated in 1926. By 1926, then, the greatest gain that state secondary teachers had made was in their training and qualifications. For the rest, their steps towards professional status were faltering and often retrograde.
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    A consideration of the notion of discipline as it is used in educational discourse, and an examination of some aims, beliefs, assumptions and justifications implicit or explicit in statements about practice of discipline in Victorian high schools
    O'Brien, Leslie Bernard ( 1969)
    Chapter 1 ... Introduction. The thesis aims to clarify the use of the word discipline in educational discourse, and to examine critically some aims, beliefs, assumptions and justifications implicit or explicit in statements about practice of discipline in Victorian High Schools. The connecting thread is to be found in the relationship between what is thought and said about discipline and what is done in the name of discipline. Chapter 2 ... The definition of Discipline. The main contexts in which the word is used in education, (a) discipline in learning and (b) discipline in moral-social behaviour, are circumscribed, and defining characteristics, systematization, organization and deliberation, are established. Further lines in the rough sketch map of meaning are drawn in by reference to various frames of reference in which the notion is involved ... (a) for the first context, learning psychology, definitions of mental discipline and subject disciplines, and concepts of mind, (b) for the second context, psychology, sociology, ethics, philosophy and linguistics. In learning, Ryle's dispositional concept of mind and Dewey's definition of intelligence are linked to the notion of discipline; and in behaviour, internalization, either of coercion or of co-operation, is suggested to be central to the notion. Finally, the process-product ambiguity in 'discipline' and relationships between the two main contexts, are discussed.' Chapter 3 ... Discipline in Learning. Current curriculum revision in Victorian High Schools is considered, particularly the plan to 'break down' subject-discipline boundaries. The notion of structure in language and in knowledge is explored to defend subject-disciplines. Consistencies are traced between notions of flexible, open-ended concept-structures, theories of subsumptive learning, dispositional concepts of mind. If mind is defined as the individual acting purposefully and intelligently to 'control' environment by structuring generalizations about relationships, the individual is insofar self-disciplined. 'Structure' is considered central to notions of knowledge, mind, self-discipline and curriculum and hence is a basic concern of formal education.' Chapter 4 ... Discipline in Moral-Social Behaviour. Uncertainty about aims, confusion in methods, and lack of consistency in the use of discipline in its two contexts, are examined in statements about discipline of moral and social behaviour in High Schools found in reports, 'codes' of discipline, special courses of study, and suggestions on classroom management. The notion of self-discipline is examined as a moral-social aim and those conditions and methods which encourage or inhibit the realization of this aim are discussed. Self-discipline is finally defined as an outcome of a total school experience in which work-centred co-operation, mutual respect and rational indirect prescription of behaviour are prominent.
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    Liberal education in England in the 1860s
    de Motte, Eardley St. A ( 1963)
    The nineteenth century controversy on the components of a liberal education resulted in a significant modification in educational thought on the subject, a subject which has had a large place in the minds and practices of educators in Europe for two millenia. Variations in emphasis, fresh statements of the content and product of a liberal education, occurred in the five or six periods into which historians divide the epoch of European civilisation from ancient Greece to the modern period. In all cases the ideal never varied appreciably, although the means were at times mistaken for the end. In England a lively interchange of opinion took place during the nineteenth century which came to a head soon after the 1850's; and the decade to be studied shows an interesting development in the challenge of an educational tradition. As it often happens after movements of reform have reached a certain intensity, there appeared a reaction, conflict and adjustment in thought and activity, particularly in the field of secondary education. The development was important, since the outcome of the controversy affected not only English education but also those systems in other parts of the globe that have been profoundly affected by British culture. (From Chapter 1)
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    Secondary education in the Australian social order, 1788-1898: a study in the evolution of the theory and the curriculum of secondary education, and the methods of teaching, in the changing Australian social order
    French, E. L ( 1958)
    In spite of all the hard words said about educational histories there should be no need to justify the historical study of education. The school, like the Church or the Theatre, is a social institution: if we may write the history of one, we may write the history of the others. As to the peculiar value of the enterprise, there will be differences of opinion; the distinctive values of the study of history are again in question. Suffice to say that it is the writer's suspicion that the debate on the content and method of secondary education, which has been conducted with considerable vigour in Australia in the past twenty years or so, would have been more fruitful if, to the various capacities brought to it, there had been added the capacity to see the problems of secondary education in the perspective of their development. It is surely not unimportant that the architects of educational policy should he enabled to see their problem in depth.