Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses
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ItemThe attitudes of teaching college students to the role of primary teacher( 1978)The particular problem chosen here was one of 'normative consensus': to what extent were 150 second year students in the State College of Victoria at Geelong in agreement as to the forms of behaviour which could be regarded as appropriate when acting the role of primary teacher? More specifically in this case how much consensus was there regarding the role of the primary teacher in given situations as seen through the students' eyes, and as they perceived the college lecturers and the practising teachers to view this role? The students were asked to complete a set of four role-norm inventories developed by Foskett (1969). Each inventory contained 45 identical questions which examined four main areas of teaching, attitude to pupils (15 items) attitude to colleagues (10 items), attitude to parents (10 items) and 10 items concerning the teacher's attitude to the community. The students answered the inventories from four points of view: - R.N.I. 1 as they thought they ought to behave; R.N.I. 2 as they intended to behave when they began teaching; R.N.I. 3 as they thought the college lecturers would like them to behave and R.N.I. 4 as they thought practising teachers would behave. The norms and expectations were measured on a 5 point Likert-type scale. The data from the inventories were used to obtain the mean and standard deviation for each item. The means were then compared, item by item, to see if significant differences existed between the various role-setting at .01 level of significance. There was one item of significant difference between R.N.I 1 and R.N.I. 2, 12 between R.N.I. 1 and R.N.I. 3 and 21 between R.N.I. 1 and R.N.I. 4. The results indicated that students tended to identify with their college lecturers and to be opposed to the way they perceived teachers to behave, especially in the area of classroom interaction. Various weaknesses of the research methods employed were examined but nonetheless the evidence that the process of teacher training might serve to produce conflict between the novitiate teacher and the school was considered strong enough to warrant further investigation.
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ItemPolicies in primary teacher training in Victoria 1850-1950( 1978)During the nineteenth century, Victoria adopted the British method of educating and training primary teachers for schools of the state. This apprenticeship based system lasted under a variety of guises (pupil teacher system, junior teacher system and student teacher system) until 1951, when it was replaced by a course of previous training at several state teachers' colleges. Most aspects of the system adopted from Britain were introduced in 1852, but they soon underwent a number of changes which made them more suitable for local needs. The supply aspect of the system dominated training because of re-occurring state financial crises. This was despite the vigorous criticisms of many professionals who emerged during and after several teachers' associations were formed between 1873 and 1886. Their criticisms gradually became much less superficial and much more directed at the system's underlying theoretical base. A significant element in the original pupil teacher system was the training institution (normal school) where the young apprentices received more advanced general and professional preparation. The training institutions in Victoria also offered previous training courses for students with some secondary education but with no experience as pupil teachers. Up to 1870, the institutions were affected by shortages of funds and serious denominational disputes, but then, a state funded secular training establishment developed and became the forerunner of the residential teachers' college erected near the University of Melbourne in 1888. These institutions contributed to the growth of a sense of professionalism amongst the colony's primary teachers. After 1900, successive ministers, faced with the opportunity of abolishing the apprenticeship based system, chose short term reforms rather than a system of previous training. However, after a long series of educational misjudgements and frustrations, due mainly to government economies, the moribund apprenticeship system of preparing primary teachers was concluded in 1951, and previous training introduced. Amongst the reasons for the abolition of the student teacher system were the strong political activities of such groups as the Education Reform Association, and the absence after 1948 of the cheap supply advantages the student teacher system and its predecessors had offered. For one hundred years the education authorities had maintained rigid control over the supply and training of its primary teachers. Hence, whenever one of the frequent supply or financial problems occurred, it was usually overcome by a government decision to increase the proportion of apprentices or by other temporary measures which paid little heed to any damage to the quality of the Service.