Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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    Uneasy lies the head : the repositioning of heads of English in independent schools in Victoria in the age of new learning technologies
    Watkinson, Alan Redmayne ( 2004)
    This study explores the discursive practice of six Heads of English in Independent Schools in Victoria during a period of major cultural change. This change has been associated with huge public investment in New Learning Technologies and shifting perceptions and expectations of cultural agency in communities of practice such as English Departments in Schools. In this social milieu tensions exist between the societal rhetoric of school management and marketing of the efficacy of NLTs as educational realities and discursive practices at a departmental level, embodying and embedding academic values and attainments. In their conversations with the author, the Heads of English reveal much about themselves and the nature and distribution of their duties and responsibilities within the local moral order of their schools and with their individual communities of practice. A model is developed of the dual praxis of the Heads of the Heads of English, mediated by autobiography and historically available cultural resources in a community of practice. As agents concerned to both maintain and transform their local culture of English teaching, and consequently the whole school culture, the Heads of English account for themselves as responding to their own `sense of place' in their own community of practice, but also the `structure of feeling' of the period by which their achievements and standing are known. This study of the persons of the English co-ordinators draws upon both Positioning Theory and critical realism to reveal the dynamic nature of both their identity and the social organization of English teaching in schools.
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    The link between secondary education and the chemical industry in Victoria
    Rushbrook, Leonie ( 1994)
    This study investigates the existing links between the chemical industry and secondary education in Victoria. The current views of the chemical industry towards their involvement with secondary schools and secondary teachers' perceptions of industry are examined. The authors' personal perspective based on professional participation in industry and in education forms an integral part of the study. The major factors that currently impact on the link between education and industry are outlined. The effectiveness of recent initiatives, both national and international for the development of closer links are examined. Key personnel in schools. and industry were interviewed in order to examine the current relationship between secondary schools and industry. The extent to which each party takes responsibility for incorporating this relationship as an important factor contributing to the chemical industry's future is also examined. This study reveals that the number of initiatives aimed at securing a closer link between secondary schools and industry within Victoria are limited and the overall coordination and direction of this link is inadequate. Recommendations are therefore put forward to improve this situation.
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    Geelong High School 1909-16 : a study of local response
    White, David Llewellyn ( 1978)
    The years 1909-16 saw the expansion of public secondary education within Victoria. It represents the working out of certain aims and policies for secondary schools between a centralised Education Department in Melbourne and the local communities that were financially involved in the provision of these facilities. This thesis will attempt to identify the forces shaping the development of Geelong High School. It will outline the aims and values of this community and evaluate the significance of their perception of what secondary education should be about. The study will look at the role of the Education Department - its director, its administrative philosophy and the attitude of the State Government towards the expansion of secondary education. The study will examine the interplay of these factors with the significant contribution of the school's educational leadership and philosophy. The main argument of the thesis is that the success of Geelong High School was to a large extent due to its support from a middle class. They saw in the school opportunities for their children resulting from an education that was financially beyond them at the prestigious fee-paying public schools. In responding to these needs the school would survive in spite of almost overwhelming odds in its early years. A comparative study with Colac Agricultural High School will be made to clarify the point that it was community support, and not legislation and regulations from the Department, that was to be the main reason for the success of Geelong High School.
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    Aims, men or money?. the establishment of secondary education for boys in South Australia and in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales - 1836 to 1860
    Noble, Gerald W ( 1980)
    Young children bring with them to school a certain amount of science knowledge gained from their everyday lives. What they "know", whether right or wrong, may be the result of interactions with family, television, computer programs, books, peers or visits to environmental locations, museums or science centres. In this study, children who have been at primary school for between two and three years are asked to describe their knowledge and their sources of information. The extent to which school factors are influencing their science knowledge is investigated. A survey was developed and protocols trialled before fifty-seven children aged eight and nine years at a provincial Victorian government primary school were surveyed to establish their home background and family interest in science, their own attitudes and feelings toward science and the efficacy of their science experiences at school. Interviews were carried out with nine students, selected to represent a broad range of attitudes to science, in order to gain more detailed information about their specific understandings of a number of topics within the primary school science curriculum and the sources of their information. The students' responses revealed that where they were knowledgeable about a subject they could indeed say from where they obtained their knowledge. Books were the most commonly cited source of information, followed by school, personal home experiences and family. Computers and the internet had little influence. Students who appeared to have "better" understandings quoted multiple sources of information. Positive correlations were found between enjoyment of school lessons and remembering science information, liking to watch science television or videos and remembering science information, and liking to read science books and remembering science information. Mothers were also linked to the use of science books at home, and the watching of nature TV shows at home. There are several implications for the teaching of science at early years level. Teachers need to be aware of powerful influences, from both within and outside of the classroom, which may impact on children, and which may be enlisted to help make learning more meaningful. The research indicates the importance of home background, parental interest and access to books, and notes the under utilisation of computers and lack of visits to museums and interactive science centres.
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    Life at the top : an examination of the career experiences of female principals in the state secondary system
    Power, Mary A ( 2000)
    This thesis examines the career experiences of female principals in the Victorian state secondary education system. It explores their experiences and the career decisions which have led them to their current position. The research documents the reactions of these women to the changes to the role of the principal that were instituted by the Kennett government. Findings suggest that the concept of a planned career path focused on attaining the goal of a principalship does not fit with the experience of most of the women in this research project. Instead, career was only one of a number of competing life concerns. Their decision to aim for the principalship was taken when seeking a new challenge in their teaching career. The support and encouragement of peers and leaders within teaching was crucial. Some diminution in family responsibilities was frequently a catalyst for change. In deciding to apply for the principal class, the pattern was to limit their applications to schools which were geographically accessible to their home and which were seen as compatible with their educational philosophy. The current ambitions of the female principals were related largely to a desire to see their school as successful. The experience of female principals in the 1990s under 'Schools of the Future' highlights the multi-faceted demands and pressures inherent in the principalship. The research data reveal the resentment felt by many female principals at what are perceived to be role demands antithetical to educational leadership. The research shows also that whilst respondents espouse a participatory style of leadership, the nature of the principal's job requires a range of management styles. Whilst a majority were positive about the principal's role, many were wary of the ever increasing workload and critical of certain role demands linked to a more competitive educational climate. A desire and search for balance between the public demands of the job and the private sphere of personal life was a constant theme that emerged from the research data.
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    A cross-age comparative investigation of students' attitudes towards computers as a tool to support learning in years 7-12 science classes
    Waddington, Carolyn ( 2000)
    This thesis documents a cross-age comparative investigation of students' attitudes towards computers as a tool to support learning in Years 7 - 12 science classes. The study was set at the secondary school campus of an independent girls' school in Victoria. The secondary school is broken into three relatively autonomous groups, the Junior Secondary School (JSS), the Middle School (MS) and the Senior School (SS). Data was collected by a survey administered to 1215 students in Years 7 -12 science classes. Results of the survey were analysed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and post hoc Bonferonni analyses. This study aimed to investigate the ways computers are used in science classes. Word processing and the internet were the most common computer uses across the school. A comparison of students in JSS, MS and SS's preferred frequency of use of computers in science classes was undertaken. JSS students preferred to use their computers more frequently in science classes when compared to MS and SS students. An investigation of the uses of computers in science classes that students found beneficial to their learning of science concepts was undertaken and compared across the three school groups. Students' attitudes towards computers as tools to support learning in the science classroom was investigated. The majority of students in all school groups felt the computer was a beneficial support for learning when completing assignment work and was a beneficial tool for presentation. However, it depended on the number of years of computer experience in science classes as to whether students felt the computer was of benefit to their learning of theory or practical work. Aspects of computer use at school in general, that students liked or disliked was determined. The stage of the curriculum that students were currently in, was the major determinant for the students' attitudes towards the use of computers as a support for learning.
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    An inquiry into the success of the integration process in Victorian Post Primary schools
    Wolf, Merrilyn Ann ( 2016-01-20)
    This study sets out to examine how teachers with integration responsibility within Post Primary schools and the student participants in integration perceive the levels and forms of success of the programs. After reviewing the relevant literature it became clear to the writer that the major barriers to success of integration are organizational and structural in nature and that the perceived level of success of programs appears to be linked to the ways particular schools are structured and administered. A survey of a sample of integration teachers and a sample of their students was conducted to examine whether there was a difference between the success of integration programs in schools that were collaboratively organized compared to those organized in a traditional way. Most Victorian Post Primary schools are basically conservative and traditional, but under pressure from many sources there is a shift towards being more flexible, open and collaborative. Integration teachers in all schools were expected by the Ministry of Education to act as agents of change but in general teachers appear to have assumed the role ascribed the remedial teacher. The findings of this study indicate that curriculum changes are taking place at a much faster rate in collaborative schools which place a value on student-centred learning. The administration of these schools was found to be active in initiating integration policy and programs, whilst in traditional schools it was the parents who were the significant initiators of integration. The collaborative schools also tended to provide more successful individual programs for their integrated students and obtained a higher allocation of physical and professional resources although both types of schools indicated a high failure rate in the area of needed resources. Overall there is evidence of a shift towards flexibility and co-operation in secondary schools but this is happening within a context of inadequate policy formulation, poor organization and sensitive resource provision, so it is not clear cut. The study indicates a need for policy orientated research regarding the provision of resources and investigation into professional development programs for teachers involved in meeting the needs of integrated students.