Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemFrom the general to the particular : connecting international classroom research to four classrooms in Brunei Darussalam( 2009)This doctoral research project set out to investigate whether large-scale international classroom studies have the capacity to connect with and offer insights into the classroom practices of individual teachers in Brunei Darussalam (hereafter, referred to as Brunei). In this study, the categorising scheme and results of the 1998-2000 Third International Mathematics and Science Video Study (TIMSS-99 Video Study) were used to examine the practices of four Grade 8 mathematics classrooms in Brunei. The practices documented in the four Brunei classrooms were then compared with the practices identified in the seven countries that participated in the TIMSS-99 Video Study. The comparative analyses were made possible by the application of the analytical codes of the TIMSS-99 Video Study to the Brunei video data. Adapting the Learner's Perspective Study (LPS) data collection methods (lesson sequences, interviews and an additional questionnaire) in combination with the analytical framework of the TIMSS-99 Video Study, generated a substantial body of detailed data about each of those four classrooms, sufficient to characterise the practices of those classrooms using the TIMSS-99 Video Study coding scheme and to support comparison with the TIMSS-99 Video Study findings. Connecting the generality of the TIMSS-99 Video Study findings to the specificity of the four classrooms studied in Brunei revealed both similarities and differences between the patterns of practice evident in the international and local data sets. In addition, the study addresses the question of how these similarities and differences might be used to inform classroom practice among the four Brunei teachers. Certain characteristics were common to the 20 Brunei lessons analysed: (i) The consistent shortness of the Brunei lessons (about 22 minutes), (ii) The consistent use by the Brunei teachers and their students of short spoken public utterances (typically less than five words); and, (iii) The relatively high "connectedness" of the Brunei mathematics lessons in comparison with those lessons analysed in the TIMSS-99 Video Study. One reading of my findings is that between-teacher variations problematise the usefulness of national typifications of practice. On the other hand, studies such as the TIMSS-99 Video Study can offer us salient dimensions of practice that alert us to characteristics of familiar classrooms that might otherwise go unnoticed.
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ItemSchool evaluation practice in Japan : case studies of four public schools in Hiroshima( 2006)This thesis analyses and discusses recent developments in the practice of school evaluation in Japan. Such an investigation was considered to be valuable because there appeared to be little research that had elucidated how Japanese schools actually set about self-evaluation. Therefore, this thesis aimed to identify ways in which school evaluation occurs and how it can be embedded in Japanese public schools. To achieve this aim, four questions were posed to find out: (a) how evaluations are carried out in Japanese schools, specifically in the Hiroshima Prefecture; (b) how such school evaluation contributes towards school improvement; (c) what constitutes 'best evaluation practice' in the Japanese school context; and (d) how other Japanese schools can be assisted to introduce best evaluation practice. To find answers to these questions, a qualitative case study approach was used and data were collected from four Japanese public schools (two primary and two middle schools) in Hiroshima City. The four case schools were selected because they had previously participated in a pilot project of school evaluation and, therefore, were considered to be exemplary. Other information was obtained from a local education board and an educational training centre. Findings from the data analysis demonstrated that: 1. School evaluation in Hiroshima involved a form of Action Research and comprised both school-self evaluation and external evaluation; 2. Positive impacts on teachers from the evaluation experience (both individually and collectively) were considered to contribute towards an evolving process that could eventually lead to overall improvements in the quality of school education in the Prefecture; and 3. 'Best evaluation practice' in the Japanese school context comprised: (1) Systematic planning and implementation of the evaluation; (2) A clear vision and relevant goals set by school principals in relation to all school activities; (3) Involvement of all school staff in undertaking evaluation tasks; (4) School evaluation models that were instigated by schools, rather than imposed by those outside the school; (5) The prioritisation of school goals and improvement strategies; and (6) Teachers who were motivated regarding improvement. It was also suggested that there was a particular local educational culture underlying the embedding of school evaluation in Hiroshima. Such a context was regarded as one of the enabling conditions related to the advancement of school evaluation in the Prefecture. Based on these findings, the research produced some useful lessons regarding how to introduce successful evaluation so that other Japanese schools might be encouraged to evaluate their own practices.
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ItemMauritius and inclusion : a study of teachers' attitudes toward the inclusion of students with special needs in regular primary schools( 2006)This study was undertaken to investigate the attitudes of regular education teachers toward the inclusion of students with Special Needs in regular education classrooms in Mauritius. In the context of Ajzen's (1991) Theory of Planned Behaviour, a survey and case studies were undertaken in Mauritius. The data was used to identify teachers' attitudes, to explore teachers' intentions and to investigate teachers' inclusive classroom practices in regards to the inclusion of students with Special Needs in their classrooms. A three-part self-completion questionnaire was used to collect the data. Part 1, the STATIC-MR scale, consisted of an expanded version of Cochran's (1997) Scale of Teachers' Attitudes Toward Inclusive Classrooms. Part 2 collected background information about teachers. Part 3 gathered data regarding teacher training and professional development. In addition, the survey instrument included an open-ended question, which required respondents to comment on inclusion in Mauritius. Six hundred and seven regular education teachers from a non-proportionate, stratified sample of 62 primary schools took part in the survey and follow-up case studies of eleven teachers were carried out. SPSS and QUEST software were utilised to analyse the data. Results yielded high reliability for the STATIC-MR scale, (Cronbach alpha: .89) and each individual item had an alpha value above .88. Using a one-parameter Rasch model rating scale analysis, four bands of attitudes were identified. In the first band, 4.9% of the teachers were found to be very agreeable with inclusion. In the second band, 35% were found to be agreeable with inclusion. In the third band, 51.7% were not so agreeable with inclusion because certain conditions were not present; yet teachers in this band thought that students with Special Needs should not be placed in special schools. The fourth band revealed that 8.4% were opposed to inclusion. Responses to the open-ended question: 'What suggestions would you like to make about the inclusion of students with Special Needs in regular education classrooms in Mauritius?' indicated that teachers greatest concerns were logistical in nature (32.8%). Logistical concerns were about large class sizes, lack of space and time, unavailability of specialist support and lack of parent support. Teachers also had professional concerns (20.5%), philosophical concerns (11.3%), concern related to the advantages to the student with Special Needs (4%), concerns related to the disadvantages to students with and/or without Special Needs (7.5%). Other teachers expressed the need for parent involvement (2%), or favoured integration rather than inclusion (7%) or were categorically opposed to inclusion without a specified reason (15%). Descriptive analyses identified differences in attitudes between teachers in different school sectors, teachers of different grades, teachers with different class sizes, and teachers with different training and qualifications. The 572 respondents, teachers of 8,560 students, reported 3135 students with Special Needs (16.3%) in their classes. They identified students having health or physical differences (9 %), students with behaviour differences (24 %), students with learning differences (63%), and students with other differences (4%). Several major findings emerged from the study. The majority of teachers surveyed indicated that they had no Special Education Qualifications (93%), no in-service training related to inclusion or disability (91%), and yet were willing to be trained for inclusion (77%). Correlation and regression analyses revealed a strong correlation between teachers' intentions (willingness to be trained) and their attitude toward inclusion. Several background variables of teachers correlated with teachers' attitudes and with teachers' intentions. Primarily, class size appeared to have some effect on teachers' attitudes and teachers' experience with inclusion and in-service training an effect on teachers' intentions. Follow-up case studies of the eleven teachers explored the modifications and adaptations teachers made to accommodate students with Special Needs in their classes. Teachers' reports of modifications allowed for them to be placed along a spectrum ranging from 'preventive' to 'intervene traditionally' to 'traditional', similar to Stanovich and Jordan's (1998) spectrum. Results of the interviews with the eleven teachers indicated a strong association between teachers' attitudes and their behaviours. The more positive the teachers' attitudes, the more likely they were to address the needs of students in their classes. This study provided discussion of the implications of the findings and made recommendations for improving teachers' attitudes toward the inclusion of students with Special Needs in Mauritius.
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ItemPrincipal and teacher perceptions of the leadership role of principals in Hong Kong Protestant Christian secondary schools following the change of sovereignty to China( 2004)This research investigated the phenomenon of principal leadership in Hong Kong Protestant Christian secondary schools following the change of sovereignty to China on 1st July, 1997. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological methodology, 9 principals and 16 teachers were interviewed about their perceptions of principal leadership. They were from within a network of secondary schools administered by the Sponsoring Body (SB)-a council of churches of one Protestant Christian denomination. Transcripts were analysed with techniques drawn from that of phenomenology, hermeneutics and case study, and verified with documents collected from the interviewees. The perceived leadership role of principals was found to be complex and multi-dimensional, with 18 leadership themes described and 14 themes where change was noted in the leadership role due to the change of sovereignty. Comparing the themes of the principals and the teachers, the degree of similarity was judged to be high, indicating that the principals generally enacted their leadership role as they described. Based on the research findings and comparison with the leadership literature, a Christian principal leadership model was constructed, that consists of four leadership conceptions which correspondingly inform four broad leadership roles: (1) Christian leadership-administering Christian education-the principal led prayer, spoke in assemblies and supported religious programs. (2) Instructional leadership-teaching and learning-indirectly practised by the principal who delegated the Deputy Principals and the subject or department heads to share the supervisory role. (3) Transformational leadership-transforming the school community the principals showed the characteristics of transformational leaders. (4) School-based Management-SBM and development-official implementation in 2000 required relevant leadership, highlighting the characteristics of increased accountability and heavy workload. These roles were further connected to the leadership functions derived from the 18 themes. This model emphasizes the principal leadership role being enacted on the basis of Christian principles, committing education to God, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
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ItemA Case study of retention policy strategies and their impact on Weixi Lisu ethnic minority students, Yunnan Province, the PRC( 2003)The overall aim of this research is to explore the current national and provincial ethnic minority education policies related to retention rates and their implementation strategies, together with their impact on the ethnic minority groups in Yunnan Province in the 1990s. As Yunnan Province has strong representation of 25 ethnic minority groups in the People's Republic of China within its population, the problems associated with ethnic minority education is particularly relevant and complex. One of the most serious issues to emerge in the education of ethnic minority groups is the high dropout rate resulting in low school retention rates. This thesis, in particular, focuses on the Weixi Lisu schooling retention rates in Weixi Lisu Autonomous County of Yunnan Province, the People's Republic of China in order to explore the specific factors that affected retention rates, and the ways in which the implementation strategies impacted on Weixi Lisu. As a result, policies and strategies to improve the Weixi Lisu schooling retention rates are recommended to assist the provincial government to design policies to increase the retention rates of ethnic minority students in Yunnan Province. A contextual analysis includes a discussion of Yunnan's geographical location, its socio-economic development and the factors associated with ethnic minority groups' education. The literature, then, provides an insight into ethnic students' education and retention issues. It focuses on the low retention rates in Weixi Lisu Autonomous County. From the literature review questions emerging included: What are the factors that affect retention rates? What policy strategies have been effective in increasing the retention rates? How do low school retention rates impact on the Weixi Lisu community? Within the qualitative paradigm, the research questions, methodology and interview schedule are discussed. Five themes emerged from the analysis of the data. It was found that a basic cause of low retention rates is the lack of economic development, which expresses itself in a high level of poverty. The main fording is explored and examined within the context of the literature research. It is a key recommendation that overcoming poverty and developing self-management of schools at the local level would improve the enrolment rate and retention rate. This research provides valuable information for those involved in education planning, education policymaking within the Yunnan Education Commission and Ethnic Minority Affairs of Yunnan Province, and for other governments interested in these policy issues. Researchers in the areas of education and culture who would ford this valuable resource.
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ItemClinical congruence : where graduate nurse clinical reality meets organisational clinical requirements( 2004)In the mid 1980s, education associated with the requirement for registration as a Nurse in the State of Victoria moved from a hospital-based system into the university setting. This move brought with it many and varied requirements for change within the health care setting. The students of nursing were now no longer a part of the workforce, they were transient visitors in the patient care setting with very specific clinical requirements to be met; and they were there for less time! This research project is not about whether this change in preparation should have occurred. It is well accepted amongst the profession that this was necessary to raise the status of the nursing professional. We now have registered nurses with a primary degree in nursing or health science. The question here however, is what clinical capacities do the newly graduates and registered nurses have when they enter the clinical workforce, and what clinical capacities are required by the health care institutions that are employing them. Have these institutions an accurate and realistic knowledge of the clinical capacities of the newly graduated registered nurses they employ? This research concentrated on the self-perceived and reported clinical capacities of newly graduated registered nurses as they entered the clinical environment and the clinical capacities required by the clinical areas that employed them. Clinical congruence was then measured between these two sources. The findings demonstrated that in a supported environment, where graduates can expect and receive clinical support and mentorship, clinical congruence:is likely to be achieved. However, in an environment where clinical skills are required to be undertaken at an unsupervised level, there were a significant number of distinct clinical skills for which the graduates report unpreparedness. Graduates and Nurse Managers alike agreed that increased clinical experience during the undergraduate preparation time is optimal, but the universities indicated that the fiscal and chronological constraints of a three-year degree program, in an environment where there is a cost incurred for the clinical experience, is difficult to achieve. This research demonstrates, in a tangible way, the need for a supported Graduate Transition Program to facilitate the consolidation and / or achievement of clinical competency for the graduates as they enter the workforce. This support will assist in ensuring the maintenance of a dynamic nursing workforce into the 21st century to meet the needs of the Victorian community at a time when it is most vulnerable during the period of ill health.
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ItemMandated improvement: an examination of the impact of the school accountability framework in Victoria, Australia( 2002)This research set out to examine the impact of the Victorian Government's Accountability Framework, on three primary schools. Located within a naturalistic paradigm, this case study research focused on the understandings and experiences of principals, other school leaders and teachers, as they completed the first three-year cycle of implementation. Using the Hargreaves, Shaw and Fink (1997) Change Frames as the basis for interviews with participants, it was revealed that participants across the three schools faced many personal and professional challenges, as they engaged in processes of charter development, charter implementation and review. A mix of administrative, leadership, socio-cultural and educational factors impacted both positively and negatively on the implementation. A number of these factors were found to relate directly to political challenges of the period. The study reveals a key weakness in the Accountability Framework's capacity to translate findings arising from the self-evaluative components (Annual and Triennial Review) into teaching and learning practices. The findings suggest that there is a risk that some schools may `institutionalise' the practices of charter development, implementation and review, to meet Education Department of Education and Training expectations, but without significantly addressing the real needs of students within the Framework's processes, strategies and outcomes. A number of recommendations are offered to help strengthen the impact of the Framework on school improvement practices, and especially teaching and learning outcomes.
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ItemPerceptions of teacher evaluation in Pakistan: a case study from Peshawar District( 2008)Profound changes are taking place in education including teacher evaluation and teacher effectiveness over the past few years. This signifies a paradigm shift from the traditional to more sophisticated `state of the art' approaches to teacher evaluation. Central to the debate on teacher evaluation have been the purposes it serves and the criteria against which teachers are evaluated. While review of the evaluation literature indicated widespread agreement on the importance of teacher evaluation, there was little convergence of views on the appropriate criteria and processes. To gain an understanding of the purposes, procedures and criteria of teacher evaluation, the study adopted a qualitative, case study approach. Interviews were conducted with secondary school teachers and principals in Peshawar district of the North West Frontier Province in Pakistan. A total of forty interviews were conducted, twenty five with teachers and fifteen with school principals in the case study district of Peshawar. The data analysis produced several key findings. First, the thesis reveals that teacher evaluation in schools in Peshawar is overwhelmingly used for accountability (summative) rather than formative purposes. Second, teachers are evaluated against generic criteria not based on any empirical research. Third, the processes adopted are messy and unstructured. Fourth, evaluation is not linked to career structure. Fifth, teacher pay has been linked to evaluation which is based on student outcomes. From these findings, an integrated model of teacher evaluation was developed. Although the study's findings are based on a single district, in a particular context, these are likely to be of use to school teachers, principals, educational researchers and policy makers in various contexts. It will contribute to the scarce discourse on teacher evaluation issues in Pakistan.
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ItemThe cognitive styles, learning strategies and vocational interests of South-East Asian and Australian students( 2003)Many factors are involved in the way an individual gains an understanding of Mathematics. Their cognitive style, i.e. way they code information for further processing in the brain, is one of these. The learning strategies that they use when a mismatch exists between their preferred style and the material presented to them is another. Riding and Rayner (1998) have developed a model for the whole learning process which contains two dimensions of cognitive style, the Wholist/Analytic and the Verbaliser/Imager dimensions. In the same way as individuals have different preferred cognitive styles, they also express different vocational interests. Holland (1985) developed a model for describing and assessing these vocational interests, the RIASEC model. Cultural factors may influence both an individual's preferred cognitive style and their vocational interests. This study investigates the effect of cultural factors in both these areas, looking particularly at the cultures of South-East Asia and Australia and the cognitive styles and vocational interests of students undertaking a first year university Mathematics course. Cultural differences were found in both areas. Students from South-East Asia (27 males and 17 females) tended to have a more visual cognitive style than Australian students (27 makes and 16 females), particularly when they learnt to read first in a character-based language. In accordance with the values of their Confucian-heritage background, the students from South-East Asia scored more highly on Holland's Conventional scale than did Australian students. In this study, support was also found for several aspects of Riding's Cognitive Control Model. One of these was the use of a Complementary cognitive style as a learning strategy when a mismatch occurred between an individual's preferred learning style and the material presented to them.
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ItemMusic education in day care and pre-school( 2002)When I started out on this research I had two concerns. The first of these related to the general neglect of musical development in early childhood and its broader social and cultural significance. The second related to the special challenge associated with being an itinerant music specialist concerned with teacher education in the performing arts in day care centres and kindergartens. A window of opportunity opened up for my research in 1998 with the Federal Government's adoption of a National Framework for Accreditation of Child Care Centres that specified amongst its criteria the fostering of creative development and aesthetic awareness in early learning centres. My career background as a performing musician and music specialist in schools had provided me with essential knowledge of classroom music teaching and provided some awareness of the need at a practical level to conform to the social logic and community storylines of new settings. I had also been a proprietor of an early education centre in which I had taught music so was aware of the rules, regulations, procedures and protocol that operated in these settings as well as public interest in improved educational services in the day care centres. It was never my intention to measure the level of musical attainment or basic skills of the children. I sought initially to research and represent existing provision and practices of music education in the early childhood centres through a collaborative research agreement with directors and proprietors of the centres and to appraise the potential influence of a peripatetic music specialist in encouraging or empowering the generalist preschool teachers in this area. My initial view was that this was an issue of making staff more comfortable and confident in delivering a form of participatory community music programs in early learning centres. The research was re-defined after a pilot study showed that the poor employment practice and the regulatory regime in the centres meant staff had little or no time for personal-professional involvement in my sessions with the children and a lack of experience or training among staff mitigated against discussion. The redefined collaborative research agreement was a more conventional autoethnography in which I would represent my experiences as a provider over extended periods as a visiting music specialist in each of 5 centres. The research is still a social representation of the dilemma of early childhood music in the sense that arts education was understood at a number of symbolic levels, corporate and educational, to be worthwhile but neglected, but the representations do not quote staff in the centres to the same degree that I had anticipated. To understand this change in research direction is to understand in large measure the problem of music education in the centres. These social representations of music education in each centre are constructed at the intersection of my purposes and social reality in each centre where I was trying to understand the prospects and the conditions for Arts Education. The social representations are primarily theories of lay knowledge in early music education in Australia. The focus of the research has been on a form of thought and its products of which the staff seemed largely unaware. I was seeking to anchor and objectivize music education in these representations. These are globalizing processes. In the representations I sought to anchor my music teaching in each centre by a globalizing process that shows how I made the world of each centre simpler and more manageable. I was showing myself and attempting to show others how one copes with the complexity of music education at this level by grouping musical events and instruments or equipment used together with the children and showing them as similar or equivalent in my accounts. Similarly, I sought to objectify or reconstruct events for the reader that were technical and complex, into something that was less differentiated, similar to something already known and into something conventional. My hope is that these representations can be incorporated into the symbolic social environment and become ontologized in the artistic work of staff and others in early childhood centres.