Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemSchools and teacher training in the Veneto (Italy) 1815-1870( 1974)Education in the Veneto (also known as Venezia Euganea) was given, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, mainly by religious Orders of both sexes. Little was done for the mass of the people. The most famous order was the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), principally concerned with secondary and university education. The teachers in this Order had to complete the rigorous course of the inferior colleges (corresponding to the later gymnasiums and lyceums) and the superior course (corresponding to university level). Those permanent teachers whose task it was to train other teachers had to complete even further university level studies. Uniformity of teaching techniques and methods was part of the Jesuit system. Under the guidance of experienced teachers the student received a thorough training in these techniques and methods. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1773 Gasparo Gozzi was given the task of planning reforms, but little change occurred. From 1805 to 1814 the Veneto became part of the Italic Kingdom set up by Napoleon. Various decrees sought to improve the quality of education and teaching but as these were mainly communal responsibilities they remained mainly in the hands of private institutions and religious orders. However, all teachers were required to make an oath of loyalty to the King (Napoleon) and provisions were made for the training of teachers for State Schools. The training took place either in selected major elementary schools (a three month course) or in normal schools (a six month course). When Austria returned to the Veneto it set up a state school system modelled on that of Austria itself. The teacher was confined to a rigidly prescribed curriculum and his work was closely supervised by an inspectorial system. Major difficulties arose in providing sufficient schools, trained teachers and enforcing the compulsory education provisions. Austria continued and extended the provisions for elementary teacher training made during the Italic Kingdom. Detailed instructions were set out regarding syllabii and teacher duties and responsibilities. The teaching method favoured in the elementary schools was the "normal" method which was composed of four parts - the use of initial letters, the use of tables, the use of reading in unison and the use of interrogations. The Austrian model also served for secondary education. After elementary school the students proceeded onto either a gymnasium or a technical school. These technical schools provided more practical courses and taught modern languages in contrast to the gymnasium where purely classical (Latin and Greek) were offered. The government prescribed the subjects to be taught and the texts to be used in all government, communal and episcopal schools, at least until the Concordat, signed between the Church and Austria in 1855, when the Church was given a freer hand in this area. The Austrian government also restricted the independence of private institutions which had a long tradition in the Veneto. When the Veneto became part of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1866, the numbers of schools were increased in all areas and a re-organized system of teacher training was introduced.
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ItemPayment by results as an innovation in Victorian education: with particular reference to the period 1868-1878( 1978)From 1863 to 1905 Victoria paid its teachers under the system of "payment by results". This system had been introduced in England by the Revised Code of 1862 and a version of it was adopted by the Victorian Board of Education in 1863. The essence of the system was that portion of a teacher's salary became directly dependent on the performance of his students in examinations. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that the system of payment by results was an unjust system based on unsound principles and that it encouraged teachers to concentrate too much of their efforts on the teaching for "results". The outcome was an excess of mechanical teaching, of "cram" and of rote learning. The system was unsound in principle because it was not based on any proven theory of pedagogy, but was introduced in order to satisfy a desire for economy and efficiency. It was unjust because it was based on an unfounded lack of trust in Victoria's elementary school teachers - as evidenced by the results regulations and, indeed, by the whole concept of payment for "results". We will see that built into the results formula were various punitive clauses which operated to penalise teachers unfairly for factors over which they had little or no control. Furthermore, under this system teachers were to become the only servants of the State whose livelihood depended, to a certain extent, on the "results" they produced. With the Education Act of 1872, the Education Department of Victoria came into existence - replacing the old Board of Education - and it inherited, and continued to apply, the system of payment by results. Under the new Minister of Public Instruction, the Education Department continued to support the principle of payment for "results". However, from 1873 to 1878 - as evidenced by a study of the Minister's and Inspectors' reports to Parliament - we see emerging a greater willingness on the part of the Department to concede that there was a good deal of merit in the complaints of teachers, and some important concessions were made accordingly. In 1877, Charles Henry Pearson was appointed to conduct a one-man Royal Commission into education in Victoria and, while Pearson found certain faults with the system of payment by results, he still believed that it was correct in its principle and should be retained in order to ensure a continued diligent effort on the part of the teachers. Pearson did, however, make some important proposals. He recommended that less of a teacher's income should be dependent on the "results", and he favoured doing away with the punitive regulations relating to age and attendance. These proposals would, he believed, eliminate many of the problems relating to mechanical teaching, to "cram" and to rote learning. His proposals, however, were not put into effect, and we see that, while certain amendments were made to the results regulations, and various proposals put forward for its modification, the essential nature of the system of payment by results remained unchanged throughout the life of the Board of Education - and for the first six years of Departmental control.