Faculty of Education - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 2 of 2
-
ItemLiteracy assessment in the early years: teachers at work in a changing policy paradigm( 2020)This thesis reports on a mixed-methods, two-phase study, which focused on the literacy assessment practices of early years teachers and literacy leaders in Catholic schools in the Melbourne archdiocese in a period following the devolution of assessment responsibility to schools. Phase 1 of the data collection resulted in 76 literacy leaders’ responses to a questionnaire on literacy assessment practices in their schools. In Phase 2, semistructured interviews with 23 early years teachers and seven literacy leaders were conducted to investigate their literacy assessment beliefs and practices. Importantly, the thesis reports on the participants’ interrogation, innovation on, resistance to, or acceptance of both previously mandated and current options around literacy assessment priorities and practices. Additionally, the thesis explores assessment in the early years within the contemporary high-stakes assessment environment which is characterised by heightened levels of teacher accountability. Bernstein’s (1990, 1996, 2000) pedagogic device is used as a theoretical framework to examine the complexities and tensions of policy enactments at the school and classroom level. Findings from this study illustrate that early years teachers’ literacy assessment work is complex due to working in a “boundary zone” of tension and compromise where, on one hand, they are encouraged to engage in age-appropriate, child-centred early years pedagogies yet, on the other, are mandated to assess and report against system-wide primary curriculum standards.
-
ItemMapping the emergence of literacy-related knowledge in preschool students( 2009)This short-term longitudinal study investigated the emergence of literacy-related knowledge in typically developing preschool children aged between 3- and 6-years of age. The study comprised 68 children (42 males, 26 females; M age = 4.70, SD = 0.70) recruited from two early childhood settings and allocated to one of three age based cohorts (younger n = 17, M age = 3.83, SD = 0.16; middle n = 22, M age = 4.42, SD = 0.26; older n = 29, M age = 5.42, SD = 0.23). Each child completed a comprehensive suite of individual assessment tasks that incorporated oral, phonological, orthographic, alphabet and print knowledge, in addition to some aspects of conventional literacy knowledge (e.g., reading, writing). The tasks were re-administered six months later and complete literacy data were obtained on all measures for 54 children. Children's performance was compared across the three age cohorts and over the time of the study in order to examine the developmental progression of literacy-related knowledge during the preschool period (Study 1). The concurrent associations between measures of emergent literacy-related knowledge and conventional literacy knowledge were also explored for each of the cohorts (Study 2). Nonparametric and parametric analyses revealed group differences on many of the measures, particularly between the older preschool children and the two younger cohorts. Study 1 further demonstrated that literacy-related knowledge emerges early in some knowledge areas and that considerable growth in literacy-related knowledge occurs over a relatively short period of time, particularly between the ages of 4- and 5-years. Study 2 demonstrated that the associations between measures of emergent and conventional literacy knowledge generally increased with age and over time, indicating that emergent literacy-related knowledge and conventional literacy knowledge become more strongly associated during the preschool period. Overall, the results of this study indicate a clear developmental trend towards conventional literacy knowledge that commences in the preschool period. Important implications for early childhood education policy and practice are discussed.