Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemWorking through tension : a response to the concerns of lesbian, gay and bisexual secondary school students(University of Melbourne, 2001)
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ItemRetheorising equity in everyday routines in early childhood : a poststructuralist action research story(University of Melbourne, 2010)
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ItemParent-professional relationships in early intervention for children with hearing impairment : the Malaysian experience(University of Melbourne, 2010)Establishing collaborative parent-professional relationships is one of the central values of the family-centred approach to early intervention (Blue-Banning, Summers, Frankland, Nelson, & Beegle, 2004; Dunst, 2002; Park & Turnbull, 2002). The shift from a professionally-centred to a family-centred approach in early intervention has been documented in western countries over the last three decades (Brader, 2000; Espe-Sherwindt, 2008). However, there is a dearth of similar reports based on studies conducted in Asian countries, such as Malaysia. This study describes parent-professional relationships in the context of early intervention for children with hearing impairment in Malaysia. Twenty-two parents of children with hearing impairment and ten professionals who provided early intervention services to the parents were recruited from four programs in Kuala Lumpur and surrounds. The majority of parents were mothers, and all the professionals were speech-language pathologists who had been consistently working with the family for at least one year prior to this study. There were two stages of data collection. During Stage 1, all the parent and professional participants individually completed questionnaires. The questionnaires investigated the beliefs, interaction behaviours, and quality of relationships of the parents and professionals involved in this study. The parent participants also responded to two additional domains of investigation: family functioning and service satisfaction. Five parent-professional pairs who reported highly positive relationships in their questionnaires participated in Stage 2. They were firstly videotaped during an intervention session, and then interviewed separately about their parent-professional interactions. The videotapes were used to study the pairs� interaction behaviours. The interviews provided insights from these participants on their roles and interactions in their parent-professional relationships. The questionnaire, video, and interview data were firstly analysed separately, and then were triangulated to generate case studies. Results yielded from all sources of data have been reframed according to the relational and participatory helpgiving practices (Dunst, Johanson, Trivette, & Hamby, 1991; Dunst & Trivette, 1996). Relational helpgiving practices were strongly evident in this study, such as professionals displaying positive interpersonal skills, and establishing positive relationships with parents. Furthermore, positive attitudes towards parent capabilities were also found, where the parents� knowledge about their child, and the parents� roles as their child�s teachers at home, were highly valued by the professionals. The participants in this study not only believed in equal relationships, they also ranked their parent-professional relationships as equal. However, the participatory helpgiving practices were markedly absent from this study�s findings. The professionals� specialized knowledge and skills, decisions, and behaviours, were the driving factors in the intervention. The professionals also assumed many leading roles in intervention, such as the decision maker, planner, controller, and instructor to parent. Parent involvement, although deemed as important, was defined by the professionals as parent compliance to professionals� instructions. Other less empowering roles assumed by the parents, such as the non-participating observer in intervention session, indicate inequality in the parent-professional relationships. Being trained in a professionally-centred model, the professionals focussed their intervention on the child, rather than on the family. A generic program for all families was also implemented by the professionals. This may help to explain the family�s report that their own strengths and resources being under-utilized, and their specific family needs not addressed by the professionals. The presence of relational helpgiving and the absence of participatory help giving identify the parent-professional relationships in this study as characteristic of a family-allied model of intervention rather than family-centred.
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ItemProactive aggression in children : self-preservation or cruelty(University of Melbourne, 2009)
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ItemCircumscription and compromise theory : its impact on occupational preferences and outcomes(University of Melbourne, 2009)
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ItemBecoming green : the formation of environmental ethics in outdoor education(University of Melbourne, 2008)This thesis investigates and critically analyses key social and educational discourses on environmental ethics and explores what it means to be an environmentally ethical person and to enact environmentally ethical practices. It addresses the dynamic and complex relationships between subjectivity, ethics and pedagogy, specifically investigating the formation of environmental ethics among university students who are undertaking or have undertaken a course in Outdoor and Environmental Education (OEE) in Victoria, Australia. The study is located within interpretive methodological traditions and draws on a range of resources, including a qualitative longitudinal study of tertiary OEE students and a case study of OEE graduates teaching in secondary schools. Concepts drawn from poststructuralist theories inform the analysis of interviews, case studies, curriculum materials and popular discourses related to environmentalism. Three main lines of analysis are developed. The first is an investigation of the formation of what I describe as �green subjectivity�, that is, the processes by which tertiary OEE students and graduates understand, negotiate and practise environmental ethics and become �green�. The Foucauldian concepts of�government� and �technologies of the self inform the analysis of how Outdoor Education discourse and practice, linked to wider public discourses of education and the environment, shape possibilities for being and becoming green. The term �becoming� refers to both the process of how individuals develop green subjectivities over time and the argument that green subjectivity, as with other forms of subjectivity, is not fixed and final, but instead is in-process, dynamic and unresolved. Second, the claims, dangers and limitations of current conceptions of green ethics are examined, particularly in relation to neo-liberal and individualising practices. It is argued that the formation of green subjectivity in Outdoor Education coheres with the socially-dominant moral imperative to be a self-reliant, rational and responsible citizen, and I outline the shortcomings of an environmental ethic that is largely motivated and regulated by moral prescription and obligation Third, the possibilities for alternative imaginings of green ethics are investigated. I argue for an alternative to a common conception of environmental ethics as based on moral codes and norms, and propose a view of ethics that encourages individuals to actively and self-consciously fashion and question their own ethical existence m relation to the environment. This argument develops from the qualitative empirical studies of students, and draws on the Foucauldian concept of �aesthetics of existence� to bring greater analytic attention to the emergence of, and possibilities for, new forms of green subjectivities based on resistance and self-transformation. Overall, the thesis considers the implications of these three arguments for the teaching of Outdoor and Environmental Education, and for pedagogical practice more broadly, especially in relation to the importance of�place� and the spatial dimensions of pedagogy. Throughout, methodological discussions are accompanied by metareflections. These provoke a critical and reflexive review of guiding theoretical frameworks and offer a critique of pedagogical practice. The thesis concludes with suggestions for how the proposed reconceptualized view of environmental ethics and green subjectivity could be taken up in pedagogical practice.
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ItemDeveloping a framework for a pedagogical grammar of conversational English(University of Melbourne, 2008)