Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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Exploring the Role and In-service Professional Development of Government Secondary Schools Headteachers in Sindh, Pakistan

Shah, Dhani Bux ( 2022)

This qualitative phenomenological study explored the role of government secondary school headteachers and their in-service professional development (PD) in Sindh, Pakistan to understand their responsibilities and challenges, how they were supported to develop professionally, and the influence this development had on their work. A hermeneutic phenomenology methodology was employed by conducting semi-structured interviews and using thematic analysis of the interview transcripts to understand the experiences of participants. In total, forty-five semi-structured phone interviews were conducted with twenty-five research participants – twenty headteachers (two interviews with each headteacher) and five system managers (one interview with each system manager) selected to represent schools and systems in the province of Sindh. There were ten male and ten female principals from seven boys’ schools, six girls’ schools and seven co-educational schools. The system managers were all experienced educators and males. It was found that headteachers were performing several academic and administrative responsibilities, although the involvement was more administrative than academic. However, headteachers faced enormous challenges in leading their schools. Some critical challenges were a lack of basics due to electricity load-shedding, a shortage of furniture and a lack of clean drinking water. Others included a lack of funds, a shortage of teachers, managing professionally weak teachers, teachers’ unions’ issues, a lack of authority and COVID-19 problems. Nevertheless, some headteachers were making admirable efforts to address these challenges. Five PD features were uncovered: a lack of needs assessment to construct PD programs; curriculum was focussed on leadership and management, teaching and learning and financial management; PD programs relied on activity-based, and lecture-based teaching strategies; trainer selection needed to be based more on merit; evaluation of the learning relied on pre-test and post-test, and there was an absence of follow-up after the completion of a particular PD program. The findings reported benefits not only for the headteachers but also for teachers and students. Personally, headteachers’ confidence, communication and behaviour improved professionally; they learnt about new techniques, management trends, and innovations in school leadership and developed networking with other headteachers. Other PD benefits included headteachers helping teachers in academic and assessment matters, organising school-based PD and delegating tasks to teachers. This often resulted in a change in teaching practice, which was beneficial for students. Finally, this research may open a window for university professors, consultants, institutes, and governments to understand the role and challenges of headteachers, identify gaps and improve the design, delivery, and evaluation of headteachers PD. Keywords: school leadership, principals, headteachers, professional development, headteachers’ role, qualitative research, Sindh, Pakistan
Understanding the adoption of STEM teacher education in Australian universities

Stevenson, Emma Marie ( 2022)

Over the past two decades, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has arisen internationally. This emphasis on STEM has come from considerable dialogue around the need for economic growth, stability arising from innovation and 21st century skills in contemporary workplaces, and concern that there is declining student interest, enrolment, and performance in STEM subjects, courses, and careers (Hoyle, 2016; Huber et al., 2017). As STEM has become more prolific, the need for teacher preparation in this field has resulted in the introduction of STEM teacher education courses across many countries. Despite this growing number of programs, existing understanding is limited to the impact of individual programs on teacher learning, focus on singular perspectives, and predominance in the United States. Therefore, there is limited understanding and guidance available for individuals and institutes adopting STEM teacher education, which may impact the implementation of STEM education in schools and thus the achievement of the intended outcomes of this educational approach. To develop further understanding of STEM teacher education, this thesis studies its curriculum through the eyes of those involved in teacher education programs in Australia. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, this thesis investigates the experiences of course coordinators (n = 11), teacher educators (n = 13), and teachers (n = 10) across multiple sites (n = 13) and courses at Australian universities. Data were collected through qualitative surveys and semistructured interviews that explored participant perceptions of the influential factors, processes, and features of STEM teacher education curriculum. In doing so, this research contributes to a broader and deeper understanding of the uptake, development, and enactment of STEM teacher education, revealing the key influences, important procedures and contributors, and valued knowledge areas and learning activities in its curriculum. Highlighting the complexity of STEM teacher education, this thesis offers valuable insight for individuals and institutes adopting STEM teacher education.
The First Year Experience of university students in Chile

Rivera Munoz, Claudia Andrea ( 2022)

The first year of university constitutes a crucial stage in students’ adjustment to university. The first-year experience (FYE) of students in Chile is the subject of public policy efforts and scholarly discussions about access to higher education and retention. While there have been some empirical studies investigating student attrition and retention in Chile, the research to date has been narrow in scope, focussing mainly on factors affecting access and attrition. There is limited research that captures the complexity of students’ experiences in the first year of university, and particularly their experiences of university in times of major social disruption. This mixed-methods study investigated the first-year student experience in Chile during a period of mass demonstrations and the Covid-19 pandemic and analysed the factors influencing students’ transition and adjustment to universities over two years. One hundred and seventy-nine first-year students responded to an online survey about their university experience. Eight students participated in a series of semi-structured interviews over the first two years of their university studies. The findings suggest that commencing university studies with clear goals fostered students’ motivation and engagement in their studies. Peer interactions encouraged students’ sense of belonging to university, providing vital academic and emotional support, especially during times of isolation. Supportive interactions with teachers and adjusting teaching to accommodate students’ circumstances promoted students’ engagement with their studies and supported their wellbeing in challenging times. The findings of the present study reaffirm that supportive experiences with peers and teachers can facilitate students’ transition and adjustment to university. This aligns with international evidence and highlights the critical role that peers and teachers play in challenging times. The findings provide insights into the complexity of students’ FYE in Chile, highlighting its individual and context-dependent qualities. The findings of the present study have implications for universities and academic staff to better support students in their transition to university, especially during times of disruption.
Developing and validating an operationalisable model of critical thinking for assessment in different cultures

SUN, Zhihong ( 2022)

Critical thinking has become an educational priority worldwide, as it is considered to play a fundamental role in problem-solving, decision-making and creativity. Yet the evidence is mixed about whether and how our education system produces good critical thinkers, and this is particularly evident in studies of the relative performance of Chinese and Western students. This study began with the assumption that the mixed evidence might in part be understood as resulting from a mismatch between the expectations of critical thinkers and the model of critical thinking adopted for its assessment. A review of literature suggested that the mismatch might stem from difficulties in operationalising the current theories of critical thinking in assessments. Drawing on a range of multidisciplinary studies of critical thinking, an operationalisable model of critical thinking was developed that includes a cognitive skill dimension and an epistemological belief dimension. Three assessment instruments were designed to validate the multidimensional model. The two dimensions of critical thinking were assessed separately as per existing assessments practices, and in an integrated manner. Performances on the three assessments were examined based on the data collected from a convenience sample of 480 higher education students in Australia (N=233) and China (N=247). Rasch analysis was conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the three instruments. Latent regression analysis with Rasch modelling and latent profile analysis were conducted to compare the performance patterns of critical thinking competency between the sampled groups. The results showed that the instruments were reliable for the measurement of the intended construct model and performed in an unbiased manner across the sampled groups. The results produced by the two approaches (separate and integrated assessment) were consistent. The two approaches can provide useful information for different purposes. It was found that the students in the Chinese sample performed at a lower level than the students in the Australian sample on all of the assessment instruments, and the two samples showed different performance patterns between the groups in the two components of the model. The study concluded that the operationalisable model provides a way of understanding conflicting evidence about patterns of critical thinking found in different cultures, and may inform tailored strategies for teaching critical thinking.
Teachers’ valuing of power distance and their perceptions of interdisciplinary collaboration in a STEM setting

Yang, Yunying ( 2022)

Teacher interdisciplinary collaboration (IC) is becoming increasingly important in school-based STEM projects. Understanding the significance of teachers’ power distance value (PDV) when they communicate and collaborate to develop new STEM lesson plans is a major focus of this study. During IC, teachers must build relationships not only with peers in diverse disciplines, but also with those in different positions of power. The ways in which teachers interpret the power disparity that exists within partnerships have received scant attention despite its importance to research on collaboration and teamwork, however. This study was carried out using a concurrent mixed-methods approach (Bell, 2016), which included a questionnaire survey study with a large sample of primary and secondary school teachers (N = 523), as well as a multiple case study with a team of different subject teachers (N = 7) at one upper secondary school, in China. The quantitative study found that teachers with relative low PDV (n = 281) had a perception that the outcomes of their IC were significantly more integrated than their counterparts, that is, teachers with relatively high PDV (n = 242). The finding suggests that teachers with low and high PDV (relatively) have divergent perceptions on whether or not the knowledge exchange amongst teachers improves the outcomes of integrating STEM subjects. The qualitative study delved deeper into how teachers understand power and power disparity in the context of China’s high power distance culture. The results show that teachers with relative high PDV had a preference for a hierarchical, distant working network, while teachers with relative low PDV had a preference for an interactive, joint working network. Future research and practice are needed to improve teachers’ understanding of IC that is sensitive to variations in PDV held by individuals so they can have a more productive experience when working together to achieve STEM integration.
Young children's transmediated semiosis with artworks in residence

Wren, Julie ( 2022)

This study investigated how six four-year-old children made meaning when engaged with adult- created paintings and sculptures (static, moving and sound-producing) created by nine professional artists. These prime-source artworks were chosen for their potential to resonate with the children’s predilections, as determined by their teachers and parents. The artworks were installed in five ‘residencies’ in the children’s classroom for a duration of one week each, across two preschool terms. The artists, located in the Perth regions of Western Australia, shared a context reflected in the artwork’s themes and artistic qualities, and which resonated with the children’s social-cultural experiences. Studies in art galleries/museums have shown the effectiveness of hands-on approaches to learning in which children were actively involved in thinking for themselves and constructing their own ideas (Piscitelli & Penfold, 2015). Hence, children were immersed in unique aesthetic experiences through ongoing, repeated viewings, and interpretations of the artworks. Qualitative case study methodology (Stake, 2010; Yin, 2018) was used to document children’s semiosis – how multimodal meaning was made across sign systems. Children generated and expanded meaning cyclically through multimodal representations and communications (Kress, 2010). Meaning-making was socially mediated and transmediated between children’s oral, visual and embodied modes while engaged with the artworks (Suhor, 1984). This study provided an opportunity for a unique collaboration between the teachers, parents (at home) and the researcher, where observations of the children’s activities provided different perspectives that were regularly discussed, probed, verified and documented. Children’s play- based activities in response to the artworks was captured through digital video recordings and researcher field notes, and children’s drawings, paintings and 3-D creations were photographed. Video and photography were transcribed, and data were reduced through indexing, summarising, and coded using QSR NVivo 12, from which themes emerged. The findings revealed the children’s repertoire of sign-making proclivities and encounters were multisensory activities of noticing and forming individual connections with the artworks. Opportunities to view the artworks repeatedly involved perezhivaniya–experiencing of an imagined, but nevertheless emotive struggle for meaning (Vygotsky, 1925/1971). Perezhivaniya were resolved through socially mediated activities such as the zone of proximal development - where the more expert children/adults supplemented and scaffolded other children, and where all individuals were involved in transmediation activities, often through play. The study highlighted the significance of focusing on children’s semiosis, transmediation and social mediation activities in learning and development.
How Can We Teach/Learn Emotion Words and Complex Abstract Meanings? – A Relational A/r/tographic Conversation In-between Images and Words

SAJADI, NEDASADAT ( 2022)

This a/r/tographic doctoral research is a pedagogical, cultural, methodological, and theoretical dialogue between a written exegesis and an a/r/t exhibition. Together, this 50/50 dynamic responds to this research, serving as a contiguous outcome. As an Iranian a/r/tographer I invite the viewer/reader to follow and engage with multimodal discussions by moving in-between the two inter-connected spaces of words and visuals. In this rhizomatic research, I explore the dynamics in-between images and words in communicating the complexities of meaning that are affected by our experiences and, in turn, continuously affect our understandings. I ask, How and to what extent can a/r/tography as a living inquiry contribute to the learning of complex abstract concepts such as emotion words and inter-personal/cultural meanings? Through entangled artmaking/writing, this a/r/tographic inquiry calls attention to uncertainty, process, and knowledge in the making. It introduces Persian miniatures as culturally specific artworks to stimulate learning with the unfamiliar. The entanglement within this arts-based educational research, addresses the overlooked or less discussed gaps which often result from commonly practiced, linear, established, or result-focused systems. Therefore, it offers a chance to interrupt the expected and negotiate meanings through affect. The thesis forms two parts: a written exegesis and creative component. The creative component comprises narrative colour-pencil/B&W illustrations on paper, acrylic painted/collaged paper mache sculptures, prints, and images on foam boards and acetate sheets. The creative outcomes of the research were presented and captured through a physical exhibition held at The University of Melbourne’s Graduate School of Education, prior to completion, on 1 April 2022. This completion exhibition provided a space of reflection which led to the curation of a final virtual a/r/t exhibition. To create a living and accessible collection/exhibition, all creative works have been photographed, scanned (JPG files), or processed as 3D models and assigned an individual digital object identifier (DOI). These artworks are stored in an online open access repository, called Figshare, and within the Pedestal 3D digital data management platform. As a collective, these digitised artworks were housed and then recorded to an immersive virtual space inside Mozilla Hubs which constitutes the a/r/t exhibition contributing to 50 percent of this doctoral research.
Victoria's change-model to TAFE: Building a framework for tertiary education

Riordan, Martin Gerard ( 2021)

This thesis presents the findings of research into institutional change and how structural re-modelling of TAFEs in Victoria may be assessed as fit-for-purpose for institutions operating in tertiary education. Technical and Further Education (‘TAFE’) in Australia developed a distinctive identity during the twentieth century as a college network established by state and territory governments to deliver technical qualified training in skills that were identified as economically important to productivity. Yet institutional arrangements were not static: vocational education that was identified by the Commonwealth and implemented under states and territories, branded as TAFE colleges, grew to dominate Australia's cities and regions for skills training. Irrespective, subsequent Commonwealth policy directed a fundamentally different market-based micro-economic industry-led reform architecture. This involved the reorientation of vocational education in Australia to be funded and regulated under the auspice of micro-economic reform national policy, influenced with support from business lobby organisations managing the impact of industry restructuring with re-training and its costs, and meeting skill needs in a digitised economy. This institutional change triggered incremental transformation across Australia's complex federalism and shared institutional structures, and ultimately impacted TAFEs as state organisations. In the case of Victoria, which was promoted as the centre for national manufacturing, a challenge was not only the institutional implementation of required industry restructuring which had prospered for industry under formerly pre-competition policy protectionist regulation, but management of TAFE organisations under its control. The thesis is focused on empirical case studies which analyses three Victorian TAFEs that registered for higher education provision during these years; tracing the original legislative purpose for TAFE Institutes to better support wider community participation in higher level skills, how these arrangements transpired and their transparency, and the issue of sustainability. The methodology is examined under the lens of intra-organisational empirical case studies, referenced by conversations with organisational actors. The interviews were conducted with past and current TAFE senior executives whose job was to navigate through what became a dramatic period of change covering the decade 2009 to 2019, which heralded the change-over from years of fixed TAFE funding arrangements to open-market competitive vocational education funding. The thesis applies gradual change theoretical modelling to these TAFE Institutes, adopting an empirical research method that records the insights and reflections of that leadership through this change. This intra-organisational analysis seeks to explore the challenges of organisational leaders through changing institutional dynamics, and the extent (or otherwise) of strategic change modelling, while also reviewing outcomes including suitability of TAFE governance. The research question is to explore if, or to what extent, does the conceptual framework of gradual institutional change assist to explain (and model) the policy changes at the Victorian TAFEs during this change environment. The thesis contends this may be a viable framework that may enable predictive modelling of change for TVET institutions, as public and private sector organisations manage their sustainability in a broader competitive tertiary education sector.
Fit for purpose: the extent to which perceptions of effective curriculum leadership align with the AITSL Lead Standards

Lamont, Caitlin Victoria ( 2022)

The Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership is responsible for professional standards for teachers in Australia. This study examined the Lead level Standards to ascertain possible alignment with practices of middle curriculum leaders in secondary schools in Melbourne, Australia. Ten middle curriculum leaders with various curriculum responsibilities were interviewed from across six Catholic and independent school settings in Melbourne, Australia. Curriculum leadership practices were found to align closely to Standard 2; ‘Know the content and how to teach it’, Standard 3; ‘Plan for and implement effective teaching and learning’, and Standard 6; ‘Engage in professional learning’, as these Standards broadly detail curriculum development activities. Practices discussed by participants which did not align closely with the Standards were collaboration and management of staff, suggesting that there are gaps within Standards. Gaps between practice and the Standards are apparent as leadership actions are not addressed specifically, but rather the Standards aim to describe actions that promote quality teaching. As middle leaders can simultaneously be understood as teachers and as leaders, this gap demonstrates that the Lead Standards are not completely fit for purpose. The middle leadership work was shown to be context sensitive and context responsive, with significant possibility to impact on student learning.
Exploring Chinese international student conceptualisation and language use about wellbeing

Huang, Lanxi ( 2022)

A significant number of students at the higher education level study abroad for part or all their program. International students face various challenges in their studies, from academic structures that are different from their home country and language barriers to psychological and sociocultural issues. These challenges increase the risk for high levels of distress and physical and mental illness. Support for mental health and wellbeing is becoming a significant concern, with existing supports criticised for often being inadequate or inaccessible. As students’ academic performance and overall overseas experience are highly correlated with their mental health and wellbeing, it is important to identify strategies to better support international student mental health and wellbeing. This begins with the need to better understand how international students perceive, experience, and communicate about and for wellbeing. This thesis focuses on one international student population: Chinese students in Australia. Chinese international students constitute about one-third of all international students in Australia and face both language difficulties and cultural-based stigma towards seeking mental health and wellbeing support. The project includes three studies that explored lay conceptualisations of wellbeing and identified students’ language use about and for wellbeing, how students experience wellbeing, and their perspectives and preferences of activities that maintain and improve wellbeing for themselves and others. A modified prototype analysis approach was applied, which involved an online survey and semi-structured interviews. In the online survey, 123 participants created a list of wellbeing components, rated the listed wellbeing components and indicators, and wrote both high and low wellbeing narratives. Participants also freely reported activities that strengthen their wellbeing. To provide additional depth and understanding, a subset of 30 students was interviewed about their perceptions, language use, and experiences of wellbeing. Study 1 demonstrated that Chinese international students’ conceptualisations of wellbeing are prototypically structured, including several central and peripheral components, such as security, positive relationships, and self-strength. In Study 2, fifty-four meaningful words and phrases were identified that students used to communicate about and for wellbeing, including hobbies, passion, and family. Participants viewed physical illness, mental illness, and negative perspective/emotions as indicative of low wellbeing. Notably, perceptions varied when students wrote or spoke in English versus Chinese. In Study 3, participants indicated that a sense of competence, feeling supported and connected, and low levels of pressure contribute to their wellbeing, and that intrapersonal activities, like personal growth and development, were their primary approach to strengthening wellbeing. Through prototype analysis, thematic analysis, phenomenographic analysis, and language analysis, this dissertation comprehensively explores Chinese international student wellbeing conceptualisations, wellbeing language, and wellbeing experiences. In particular, the findings broaden the conceptualisations of wellbeing for the lay population of Chinese international students, offer a snapshot of the words/phrases used around wellbeing, identify the experiences and pathways that strengthen their wellbeing, and provide new data of population wellbeing through a holistic lens.

Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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