Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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    The effect of evolutionary thought upon selected English and American philosophers who influenced educational thought, 1850-1916
    Phillips, D. C (1938-) ( 1963)
    This thesis has a twofold aim. First, I wish to show that the theory of evolution, especially in its Darwinian form, influenced the development of the philosophies of Herbert Spencer in England, and C.S.Peirce, William James and John Dewey in America. Secondly, I wish to examine critically those portions of these particular philosophies that have been of importance to education. It will be seen that one of these aims is essentially historical, while the other is philosophical. As these two aspects of the task are apt to become confused, they have been treated in separate chapters. The basic chapter is the first, for in it the connection between science and other disciplines is investigated. In some of the later chapters it will be shown that thinkers such as Spencer and Dewey pre-supposed that such connections exist. Chapter one is thus devoted to the discussion of key terms such as "scientific laws", "theory of evolution" and "mechanism", whilst Chapter two deals with Herbert Spencer and his place in the history of education, and Chapter three contains a critical examination of Spencer's ideas in the light of points raised in the first chapter. There is a similar arrangement in the chapters on the pragmatists. The period 1850 to 1916 was chosen for investigation because these two dates mark the years of publication of Herbert Spencer's "Social Statics" and John Dewey's "Democracy and Education" respectively. During the intervening years the theory of evolution had remarkable influence on many facets of intellectual life, and it would be surprising to find that education remained unaffected.
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    The origins and early history of the State secondary school teachers in Victoria, 1872-1926
    Reid, G. A ( 1968)
    In tracing the history of state secondary school teachers in Victoria from their origins in the primary teaching service until 1926, this study covers the areas relevant to teacher status - viz., teacher training, conditions and associations - and an attempt has been made to evaluate the progress made towards professional status. The Diploma of education course, initially a two-year University course aimed to train teachers of academic subjects, was instrumental in raising the academic and pedagogical qualifications of secondary teachers. It was, however, inadequate in that it did not train teachers in sufficient numbers, and it was always starved of finance and essential resources. The Diploma was supplemented by the post- Intermediate Trained Teacher's Certificate courses in manual and Domestic Arts and Commercial subjects. Because the education Department played a significant role in both systems of training and the teachers had no control of training standards, the progress that was made was achieved without reference to the teachers, and was offset by the increasing numbers of temporary teachers employed in the secondary schools. No significant progress was made by secondary teachers in determining their professional conditions. These were almost entirely decided by the centralized administration which widened and tightened its influence. Professional freedom in areas such as curricula was further limited by the uniformity imposed by the public examination system. State secondary teachers were willing conformists to these pressures restricting their professional activity, and directed most of their energy towards regularizing their position within the public service. Even in this sphere, they achieved little: their salaries were relatively poorer in 1926 than they had been in 1912, it took thirteen years to gain a Classification Board, and they rarely succeeded in gaining concessions even on minor matters. Hence state secondary teachers were enthusiastic supporters of the movement towards the uniting of all teachers within the one Union which culminated in 1926. By 1926, then, the greatest gain that state secondary teachers had made was in their training and qualifications. For the rest, their steps towards professional status were faltering and often retrograde.
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    The platonic tradition and the beginnings of modern education
    Kovacs, Martin Louis (1918-) ( 1965)
    The threefold aim of the present study is a) to investigate the evolution and the main characteristics of the thought which led up to and underlay most of the educational assumptions in the principal German states about the beginning of the nineteenth century; b) to establish if 'ideas' affecting education and appearing as entirely novel at the same time were not actually conceptions with a very long past; c) to discover if there be sufficient ground to recommend a scrutiny of the continuation of the same undercurrent of thought with a view, to its possible contribution to the emergence of the 'New Education' of the Australian states; from the first decade of this century. (From Chapter 1)
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    Education and state control in Victoria, 1900-1925
    Badcock, Alfred Maxwell (1912-) ( 1963)
    This is an attempt to make sample assessments of State-controlled education in Victoria in the first quarter of this century, to define the nature of State control and to judge of its quality and effectiveness. The term 'State control' has been interpreted to include partial and indirect control as well as that which is complete and direct: hence Part III has been devoted to control exercised by the State over private and denominational schools, for this extension of the State's arm was characteristic of the period. Within the State's own Department system, the whole field proved too vast for one thesis: therefore, on the assumption that the system at the Primary level was fairly well established before the turn of the century and that other Melbourne researchers are covering the field of technical education, attention in Part II has been focussed on the establishment of State high-schools. Part I, on administration, naturally treats of the system as a whole. Another limitation imposed by space and time concerns sources of material. Any assessment must embrace causes as well as results, and in that even the sample field proved too large for detailed consideration of a wide range of causes, attention has been concentrated on internal evidence -- that is, evidence contained in Department documents and reports. Apart from practicability where evidence is embarrassingly plentiful, one justification of this approach is that in the period under survey Victorian State-controlled education was dominated by the strongest and most influential of its several Directors, Mr. Frank Tate. It has been the fashion to count this domination to the credit of Victoria's first Director and to the great advantage of the State. But one of the assumptions underlying the commentary in the pages that follow is that in a democratic society the professional administrator and his officers should not be obliged or even permitted to determine the social objectives underlying the processes of education. It is theirs as experts to determine the most appropriate means by which the goal shall be reached after it has been determined and defined by the community through its elected representatives. (From Introduction)
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    Native education by the Methodist mission in the New Britain district 1875-1950 with particular reference to New Ireland and the coastal areas of the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain
    Gibson, Graham H. ( 1961)
    The region with which this thesis is concerned is the Methodist Overseas Mission District of New Britain. In the large island of New Britain, this area covers the north-eastern part of the Gazelle Peninsula, and Nakanai on the north coast 150 miles west of Rabaul. The District extends from New Britain to the Duke of York Group, to New Ireland and the various islands about it, the most important of these being Lavongai or New Hanover, Djaul, and certain islands of the Namatanai Chain, notably Tabar and Lihir. These places together form the Methodist District of New Britain. (From chapter 1)
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    The influence of Alfred Williams, and the Price ministry, on public education in South Australia
    Beare, Hedley ( 1964)
    The immediate problem confronting an education historian of the period which includes the lifetimes of Alfred Williams and Thomas Price is the paucity of other investigations on the trends and developments in South Australia at the time. While clearing, breaking the soil, and then farming my selection, I have been made continually aware that my field is a small enclave in miles of unbroken, virgin bush. As a consequence, I have had to look at the lie of the land as well as the quality of the crop, to combine as it were the two jobs of surveyor and agriculturalist. Of all the men who have been permanent heads of the State's education services, only one, John Anderson Hartley, has so far been the subject of critical research. In a State as comparatively small as South Australia, the impact of personalities on the State system is likely to provide the reasons for reform and practice, since one man here and there could in fact be the monarch in so small a kingdom. Thus as this investigation has proceeded, it has become increasingly clearer to me that there are rich areas to be examined outside my frame of reference. The influence of W.T. McCoy, a powerful Director from 1919 to 1929, must soon have to be estimated. H.J. Adey, who is often mentioned in the following pages, seems to me to have given a many-sided contribution to South Australian education, but as yet he is revered without many people knowing exactly why. Dr. Charles Fenner, as initiator of Technical Education after 1915 and then later as Director, is another who needs a just appraisal. The Directors alone, it seems to me, warrant closer attention by research scholars before the history of our State's education can properly be told. Furthermore, the mark of Dr. A.J. Schulz has been left indelibly on Teacher Training in this State if for no other reason than that he controlled the destiny of the State's only Teachers College from 1908 until 1948. My interviews with Mr. Ben Gates and Mr. Reg. West also emphasized the impression that these men were themselves the fabric of the history, for what has happened in the high schools since such schools were instituted has to a large extent been the result of the actions and policies of these men. Yet such extensive areas of research lie virtually unexplored; and without critical research there cannot be a balanced or definite account of how South Australian education has developed. (From Preface)