Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemGeelong High School 1909-16 : a study of local response( 1978)The years 1909-16 saw the expansion of public secondary education within Victoria. It represents the working out of certain aims and policies for secondary schools between a centralised Education Department in Melbourne and the local communities that were financially involved in the provision of these facilities. This thesis will attempt to identify the forces shaping the development of Geelong High School. It will outline the aims and values of this community and evaluate the significance of their perception of what secondary education should be about. The study will look at the role of the Education Department - its director, its administrative philosophy and the attitude of the State Government towards the expansion of secondary education. The study will examine the interplay of these factors with the significant contribution of the school's educational leadership and philosophy. The main argument of the thesis is that the success of Geelong High School was to a large extent due to its support from a middle class. They saw in the school opportunities for their children resulting from an education that was financially beyond them at the prestigious fee-paying public schools. In responding to these needs the school would survive in spite of almost overwhelming odds in its early years. A comparative study with Colac Agricultural High School will be made to clarify the point that it was community support, and not legislation and regulations from the Department, that was to be the main reason for the success of Geelong High School.
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ItemSelfoverestimation and scholastic success( 1977)Three weeks before the end of year final assessments at school, 133 boys from forms one, three and five at a Victorian secondary school produced a self rating (SR) in six areas, general academic ability, industriousness in maths and in English, friendliness, and predicted final mark in maths and in English. Each student also rated all other members of his class in these six areas. The composite of these scores produced a group rating (GR) of each student in each of the six areas. The SR was then compared with the GR. If the SR>GR the student was defined as overestimating himself. The other two possible outcomes of this comparison were SR=GR (realistic) or SR
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ItemSchool in the middle years : four Melbourne independent boys middle schools( 1978)This study revolves around the proposition that there is sound reason for the formation of an identifiable new stage for the schooling of children in the middle-years. Firstly, on the grounds that the transfer from primary to secondary school creates unnecessarily dramatic changes. Such changes not only involve adjustments to different teaching styles, different objectives and different organization patterns, but also to new people and strange surroundings. They also involve a choice of secondary school which, in spite of comprehensive trends, still narrows vocational opportunities. The provision of middle schools would enable the delaying of such choices with two less significant transfers. Secondly, on the ground that the grouping of children in the 10-13 age range would promote a closer examination of their special development needs, it would, encourage, if not force teachers to think outside traditional structures about the combination of the best in primary and secondary approaches, about the characteristic needs and important teaching principles, and about subject priorities and organizational patterns most appropriate to this stage. The following questions therefore provide the basis for the compilation of the material that follows. 1. (a) How are primary and secondary schools different? (b) What primary and secondary ideals and methods may be combined to best cater for the middle-years group? 2. (a) What are the special characteristics of the middle-years group? (b) What may the principle objectives for middle-years schooling be? 3. (a) How may the middle school be conceptualized? (b) What curriculum structures and organizational patterns may be most appropriate? These three general themes have been developed in sequence in each of the four sections of the thesis so that some of the problems are introduced in the first section, and in conjunction with this an attempt is made to introduce the boys themselves. The literature review on the other hand, establishes a basis for clarifying main propositions and the three research reports reviewed in this section come from Victoria, Scotland and New Zealand. The Victorian study was part of a dissertation completed in 1976 by the author. The choice of this work with the Scottish and New Zealand studies was not made with a comparative analysis in mind. Rather, these studies are included because they represent, as far as we can ascertain, the only major studies in this field. Although it is not possible at this stage to formulate specific hypotheses, in the third section there is an attempt to bring to light priorities for the schooling of children in the middle-years. Then the comparison of the four independent boys' middle schools follows and as far as possible, the three themes are developed here also. The thesis is titled "School in the Middle Years: Four Melbourne Independent Boys Middle Schools". It is a new field and these preliminary wanderings, although too general at times, seek to bring some of the problems into focus. The comparison of the four middle schools (Camberwell Grammar, Caulfield Grammar - Malvern House, Xavier College - Kostka Hall and Melbourne Grammar - Grimwade House) becomes in one sense a preliminary survey on which decisions about the development of this as an experimental study may be considered. In the final chapter this is taken up briefly, and one would hope to have the opportunity to take the study further at a later stage. This dissertation originally grew out of an examination of the primary to secondary school transition and some quite general but important conclusions emerged. These are here summarized. Strong links need to be established between teachers and students involved with the primary and secondary school transition. These links need to be formed between teachers at the Grade 6 and Form 1 levels, particularly in Education Department schools. During the year prior to transition, students require careful counselling and guidance with regard to selection of schools and in matters relating to the day-to-day organization and geographic layout of the secondary school to which they will go. Matters specifically relating to secondary school: time table, specialist rooms, methods of teaching, general expectations and the secondary school life style, all need emphasis. The possibility of special new-student orientation days and the careful use of counsellors and guidance officers is here highlighted. The teaching atmosphere in the first year of the secondary school needs to be carefully considered. It is desirable that the one teacher/one class relationships common to primary schools be continued as far as possible in order to provide security for students in an otherwise strange secondary school atmosphere. The clear differences between the primary and secondary schools, their different approaches to teaching and general philosophy need to be understood by teachers involved with students at the pre- and post-transitional stages. An understanding of these similarities and differences is fundamental to an understanding of the problems students face. Children will develop best when education is a continuing and an uninterrupted experience. This ideal has the best chance of being achieved in the one-campus school where divisions within the school can be established to match the growth stages of students and provide new challenges at all levels. The departmentalized approach in the secondary school is vastly different to the self-contained classroom approach in the primary school. Wherever possible these differences need to be understood and minimized by making adjustments to teaching methods and organization at the senior-primary and the junior-secondary levels. There is evidence to suggest that some students regard transition as an exciting new adventure with inbuilt growth opportunities. Teachers and parents need to present the opportunities in the secondary school in these terms. There is a liking amongst many students for the challenge of the new and an eagerness to experience those things that are different. There need not be a shrinking from added pressures. It is important that parents should be kept in close touch with teachers and Headmasters as decisions are made about the most appropriate secondary school, and as information is disseminated about the beginning-of-year procedures for enrolling students. Personal discussions and school visits are strongly recommended. There is not one age considered to be most appropriate for the primary-to-secondary-school transition. There is, however, some evidence to indicate that students of poorer ability from working-class type homes are likely to be more successful at the age of 12 or 13. It is asserted that given one to two more years of development these praticular students will make a more successful transfer to their new school. More advanced students from homes that provide educationally stimulating support are most likely to make satisfactory progress as they transfer to their new secondary school. These are the students who are likely to approach the challenge and the responsibility of their new school with plenty of confidence and a certain amount of adventure. The concept of a middle school, providing for children between the ages of 9 and 13 is promoted as an educationally and psychologically sound solution to the problems of transition as they are known in the present two-school system. Two less disturbing changes, from primary to middle and middle to secondary school, should provide for more effective sequencing of learning experiences over the twelve or thirteen years of schooling. The following conclusions which more particularly relate to the nature of schooling for the middle-years group, provided a basis for examining and comparing the four selected middle schools. It is not suggested that the comparison of these schools necessarily validates the conclusions, but it should help to clarify them. It is felt that the middle school should be a place that provides for the integration of experience through the continuance of a home-room system and for the specialization of experience through the use of subject teachers. If the primary school's preoccupation with the present and the secondary school's increasing concern for the future can be borne in mind, then the middle-school may be able to achieve a useful blend: security with enrichment, a grounding in basics with diversity and adventure, a ready response to the immediate and present with a sensible view of life to be faced in the future, a main concern for the process with certain realism about the importance of the end product. It is considered that the middle-school should aim firstly at fostering the intellectural growth of its students, including the development of critical faculties, inventiveness and creativity. Then secondly, at psychological health, promoting self esteem in interested, optimistic, active and expressive individuals. And finally the middle-school should aim to produce in its students a social sense, concern for the good of others and a desire to serve for the betterment of community. It is also concluded that the middle school curriculum will best cater for youngsters at this intensely personal, vulnerable but expansive stage if the creative arts can be structured near to the centre of things. What is being considered here is a school where the main medium for fulfilling student needs and for their exercising within the basic skills, is the creative and expressive aspects of curriculum. Thus we provide the means whereby activities in English, maths or social studies may be explored and where these experiences may be enriched. Chapter VIII begins with a general description of the four schools; Camberwell Grammar Junior School, Melbourne Grammar - Grimwade House, Xavier College - Kostka Hall and Caulfield Grammar - Malvern House. This is followed with an account of survey procedures including the design of questionnaires and methods for compiling and presenting data. Material here is again presented within the three themes of the thesis and then there is a description of the "fifth school", an interpretation of the sum of staffs' opinions about the life and style of the four schools. This is not an ideal school and the three main propositions stated above cannot be validated in this way. However, the survey enables a reflective commentary providing support and raising questions where necessary. The final Chapter of the thesis deals with the question of how this study may be taken up experimentally. There is a sense in which it is only possible at this early stage to declare the issues and provoke the search for clearer definitions. The multiple regression model is presented as one possible means for analysing the success of middle-schools in terms of their unique objectives; it is presented as one method suitable for comparing the four middle-schools with each other or with alternative schools.
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ItemA comparative study of primary school social studies in three Australian states : Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia, 1952-1975( 1976)This study is concerned with the way in which Primary school Social Studies curricula have been revised, organized and developed from 1952 to 1975 in three Australian States - Victoria, New South Wales and Western Australia. As few commercially produced Social Studies courses, or indeed Social Studies units, have been forthcoming in these States, coverage in this thesis concentrates on those syllabus revisions which have been produced by Revision Committees organized by the respective Education Departments in these States. Underlying factors which have been instrumental in Social Studies revisions and their final outcome - a Social Studies Syllabus - have been analyzed by considering those constraints which form a part of the Curriculum Materials Analysis System (1967). The constituent six part cluster questions have been used in horizontal analysis to highlight features of Social Studies courses in the 1950's as compared to those of the 1960's, and the most significant changes which have occurred in the most current revisions. From courses which presented a high degree of uniformity in their emphasis on facts, social living and citizenship, have emerged State revisions which, though differing in format and degree of inclusiveness, reflect attributes commonly associated with 'new' Social Studies.
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ItemFormal adult education in Victoria, 1890 to 1950( 1971)This history deals mainly with four official groups: a sub-committee of the University of Melbourne, the Extension Board; a voluntary agency symbiotic with the university, the Workers' Educational Association; the Joint Committee of these two; and a later, separate statutory body, the Council of Adult Education. Because, however, it is concerned with education it also takes note of some social history, history of ideas, and biographies. Adult education in Victoria has always been an offering made by its providers, rather than the result of a demand from potential students; and the innovations made, as each provision proved inappropriate to the community, have been based on an ideal or an idea. Those ideas appear to have been formed largely from two sets of pre-suppositions: some overall view of the nature of man, and some view of educational rigour - what degree of systematic teaching or learning was appropriate. In particular, the period under review saw the end of the motivating force of philanthropy in adult education, and the rise of something closer to the concept of a welfare service for all taxpayers. Chapter One covers the background of ideas abroad before 1891, and the institutions that embodied them in Victoria. Chapter Two takes the beginning of University Extension as the first major provision of adult education, embodying a philanthropic ideal originating in England. Chapter Three introduces the W.E.A., who challenged philanthropy and achieved state subsidy for the learning of the workers, now called upon by universal suffrage to share in government. The workers failed to cooperate with the movement, and Chapter Four details the hopelessness of both the Extension and the W.E.A. ideals as guides to practice, and the consequent parasitism of the Victorian W.E.A. on the university. Chapter Five covers the rejection of the W.E.A. from its entanglement in the counsels and finances of the university, its eventual extinction, and the successful move of the Director of Extension to push the management of adult education off the campus. Chapter Six is a brief overview.
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ItemAn analysis of the recent reform movement in education, with special reference to Victorian secondary schools in the late nineteen sixties( 1977)The school reform movement in the nineteen sixties accompanied unprecedented change in culture and society. Curriculum reform was attempted throughout much of the developed world; in Victoria, the Curriculum Advisory Board was formed, and the Education Department initiated the Curriculum Reform Project for secondary schools. But the reform movement was complex; there were several distinct groups within it (deschoolers, educational technologists, and liberal humanists) whose aims and methods were often contradictory. The major reform philosophy in Victoria was liberal humanist and expressed most notably in the writings of the Director of Secondary Education, R.A. Reed, whose Curriculum Reform Project was not necessarily successful in its own terms, but nevertheless had a significant effect on secondary schooling in Victoria. The reform movement demonstrated how complex is the phenomenon of educational change; it is obviously more complicated than is suggested by the ideas of circular change or pendulum swing, and is perhaps best seen as resulting from the disturbance of equilibrium in a strong field of forces. Attempted liberal reform in Australia has led to the formation in 1973 of the Australian Council for Educational Standards, a group dedicated to the resistance of reform. There is presently a crisis in education, a crisis marked by uncertainty. The crisis should be resolved by encouraging alternatives in education, and by reorganizing educational institutions so that they can become more flexible and adaptable.
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ItemWhat are the objectives of the State College of Victoria at Frankston courses as perceived by students, lecturing staff (education), and teachers in the field( 1975)The purpose of this study was to investigate the Objectives of the State College of Victoria at Frankston as perceived by students, lecturing staff (in Education) and teachers in the field. The number of cases used was 227, including 25 first year private students, 40 first year studentship holders, 25 third year studentship holders, as well as 23 College education staff and 114 supervising teachers, of which only 61 replies were of value. The subjects were required to complete an open ended questionnaire on what they believed 'are' the objectives of the S.C.V. and what 'should be' the objectives. An inspection of the responses was made by using Content Analysis. It appeared that the responses fell into three fairly clearly defined areas of Objectives, viz. Professional, Academic and Personal Development. Further examination of the data indicated that an item had a positive or negative valence, i.e., the respondent indicated approval or disapproval of the item as an Objective. The Objectives were raw scored, and the frequency of mention was converted to percentages of the whole group being scored. This was done for both +ve and -ve valence, thus indicating whether a respondent was critical of or favourable to the perceived College Objectives. Further data was obtained by asking College lecturers and teachers in the field to rate on a scale +5 to -5 whether the College was doing what it should be doing in achieving College Objectives. The findings indicate that there is general agreement about the current levels of professional objectives as perceived by the different groups. there is consistent demand for more professional studies, except from college lecturers in Education. Colleges are seen by all groups as having an academic content which should be decreased markedly at all levels. Colleges are recognised as having a low personal development level which all but critical teachers agree needs to be significantly increased.
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ItemThe State College of Victoria( 1977)The Martin Report's proposal that the control of teacher education outside universities should be by statutory state Boards of Teacher Education funded partly by the Commonwealth, was initially rejected. However the states gradually relinquished some control as the demands for expanded teacher education facilities became more urgent. At the same time, the Commonwealth Government, anxious to assist smaller colleges of advanced education and their growth prospects, offered substantial funding for teacher education within smaller c.a.e.'s. In Victoria, pressure from the principals and staffs of the teachers' colleges through their respective associations led to negotiations for the independence of teachers' colleges. An advisory Teacher Education Authority was proposed by the Education Department as an initial step in the evolution of teachers' colleges to independence. Later, an Education Department Committee proposed the formation of a Victoria Institute of Teacher Education, as the umbrella authority supervising independent member colleges with their own Councils. These latter proposals would finally constitute the basis of the State College of Victoria Act. In 1970, the Minister of Education established the Victorian Fourth University Committee which considered the possibility of established teachers' colleges forming a multi-campus fourth university. However the question of the relationship between a fourth university and teachers' colleges was left unresolved by a substantially divided committee, so the Minister accepted the view of the V.F.U.C., supported by the V.A.P.T.C. and the C.T.C.S.A.(V.) that the colleges establish a separate co-ordinating authority. The Minister established a Committee of Advice to help implement the proposal. In the meantime, the Commonwealth Government announced significant policy alterations to the funding of teacher education. State teachers' colleges which were being developed as self-governing tertiary institutions under the supervision of an appropriate co-ordinating authority would be funded on the same basis as universities and colleges of advanced education. By the end of 1972 the State College of Victoria Act was passed by the Victorian Government. The teachers' colleges outside Education Department control, which included Melbourne Kindergarten Teachers' College, four Catholic teachers' colleges and Mercer House (Associated Teachers' Training Institution), had actively participated in the negotiations for an independent co-ordinating authority. With the support of the State Government and the funding of the Commonwealth Government, Melbourne Kindergarten Teachers' College had little difficulty negotiating entry as a foundation member of the S.C.V. Four Catholic teachers' colleges joined together to form the Institute of Catholic Education and applied for admission as a single entity to the S.C.V. Negotiations for its entry, which extended over eighteen months, were finally successful. Its success was considerably enhanced when the Commonwealth Government offered funding to approved 'private' teachers' colleges. In the meantime, Mercer House negotiated for entry to the S.C.V. as a separate entity without success, but finally agreed to amalgamate with the S.C.V. at Toorak in 1975.
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ItemA comparative study of three state colleges of Victoria - Burwood, Frankston, Toorak, 1973-1976( 1977)On the 25 October 1972, Lindsay Thompson, the minister for Education, introduced into the Legislative Assembly of the Victorian State Parliament a Bill that was to create the State College of Victoria. Under this legislation the State Teachers' Colleges ceased to be administered by the Education Department and became an autonomous body in tertiary education. The aim of this thesis is to study the background to the formation of this institution. To look at the struggle for independence fought by individuals and associations connected with the Teachers' colleges and the lengthy enquiries and official panels established by the government. Chapters two, three and four are studies of three constituent colleges of the S.C.V., Burwood, Frankston and Toorak, in regard to their courses, staffing, organization and finance. following the gathering of this material an attempt is made to juxtapose these elements of the three colleges during the first three years of their independence, to try to establish similarities and differences in the data gathered. Comparative analysis is then attempted to draw conclusions regarding the progress, objectives, growth or setbacks the colleges have experienced and to try and establish why such results are evident. Finally two major questions are discussed. What is the future of the State College of Victoria system and what is the future of the individual colleges under study. To try and fathom out these problems the opinions of several people closely connected with the S.C.V. system and the Victorian Education Department were sought. The answers to both questions at this stage remain suppositions for they are presently under formal review by two State Government committees.