Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemUneasy lies the head : the repositioning of heads of English in independent schools in Victoria in the age of new learning technologies( 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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ItemImage of home economics and its market position in secondary schools( 2003)The aim of this study was to identify the image of the subject Home Economics in relation to its market position within secondary schools. For the purposes of this research project, market position was measured by the number of students who proceeded with Home Economics as a senior course of study at the VCE level. With a predicted shortage of Home Economics teachers, it was important to establish students' perception of the subject as they are the potential undergraduates for the teaching profession of Home Economics. Teacher views were also important to determine whether their perception of Home Economics was the same as that of students. A mixed-method approach of data collection was selected. A survey was conducted amongst Home Economics teachers who were members of the Victorian Home Economics and Textiles Teachers' Association. Qualitative data were obtained from one teacher focus group and two student focus groups from independent schools. The most significant finding of the research was that the image of Home Economics amongst students was positive but also depended on the promotion of the subject by the Home Economics teacher in that school. It was also found that it was not image of the subject that determined its market position but the lower scaling of the subject in relation to other VCE subjects, particularly those perceived as `academic'. Thus, the `academic' status of Home Economics was found to be the critical factor determining whether or not students chose the subject at senior levels. This issue must be addressed in order to encourage more students to elect Home Economics so that the, potential pool of Home Economics undergraduates increases.
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ItemAn action research approach to introducing problem-based learning in a higher education setting: a study in a School of Dental Science( 2001)This study employed an action research approach to curriculum change in the School of Dental Science at The University of Melbourne. The curriculum change involved the implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) in a number of subjects in the Bachelor of Dental Science (BDSc) degree course. The impetus for this change arose from a 1997 curriculum review as well as wider changes in the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences of which the School is a part. Action research provided a means of involving academic staff in the planning and implementation of curriculum change. The appropriateness and effectiveness of action research as an approach in this context is fully discussed. Key issues in the study were the nature of the educational change in this particular situation; the manner in which change was implemented; the reactions of both staff and students to change and the way in which the PBL curriculum evolved. The process of educational change is rarely a straightforward one and this study reinforces this view. A complex and powerful mix of individual beliefs about teaching and learning, organisational structures, tradition, professional values and a diverse student body all combined to make the change process in this setting demanding and challenging. It is the response to this challenge by this group of educators that this study illustrates.