Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemSocial area indicators and educational achievement( 1982)This study was concerned with the development and validation of a national indicator of educational disadvantage which would be suitable for guiding resource allocation decisions associated with the Disadvantaged Schools Program in Australia. The national indicator was constructed by using a series of stepwise regression analyses in order to obtain a linear combination of census based descriptions of school neighbourhoods which would be highly correlated with school mean achievement scores. A correlational investigation of the properties of this indicator showed that it was an appropriate tool for the identification of schools in which there were high proportions of students who (1) had not mastered the basic skills of Literacy and Numeracy, (2) displayed behavioural characteristics which formed barriers to effective learning, and (3) lived in neighbourhoods having social profiles which were typical of communities suffering from deprivation and poverty. A theoretical model was developed in order to estimate the optimal level of precision with which indicators of educational disadvantage could be used to deliver resources to those students who were in most need of assistance. This model was used to demonstrate that resource allocation programs which employ schools as the units of identification and funding must take into account the nature of the variation of student characteristics between and within schools. The technique of factor analysis was employed to investigate the dimensions of residential differentiation associated with the neighbourhoods surrounding Australian schools. Three dimensions emerged from these analyses which were congruent with the postulates of the Shevky- Bell Social Area Analysis model. The interrelationships between these dimensions and school scores on the national indicator of educational disadvantage presented a picture of the 'social landscape' surrounding educationally disadvantaged schools in Australia as one in which there were: high concentrations of persons in the economically and socially vulnerable position of having low levels of educational attainment and low levels of occupational skill, low concentrations of persons living according to the popular model of Australian family life characterized by single family households, stable families, and separate dwellings, high concentrations of persons likely to have language communication problems because they were born in non-English speaking countries.
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ItemProblems with power, problems with Foucault : a political analysis of class, knowledge and history( 1985)The primary focus of the thesis is power analysis. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first part is an appraisal and critique of Michel Foucault's theory of power, involving an argument that power (and politics) should be understood only in specific sites. The second part, power and class, involves an argument that the concept of class is of little value for specific power analysis. The third part, power and knowledge, involves an argument that the politics of knowledge should be understood only at the specific points of the production and reproduction of particular knowledges. This part also involves an argument that the category intellectuals is of little value for specific analyses of the politics of knowledges, that those agents often referred to as intellectuals are better understood in their specific form(s) at the specific points of the production or reproduction of particular knowledges. The fourth part, power and history, involves an argument that the politics of history should be understood only at the specific points of the production or reproduction of particular histories. This part also involves an argument that the politics of particular histories can usefully be analysed in a way similar to that some recent literary theory suggests as a productive way of analysing the politics of particular literary texts.
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ItemThe Language Development Project, Phase II : a case study in co-operative curriculum development and the role of formative evaluation( 1985)The Language Development Project was a major initiative in national curriculum development, the first of its kind in language education in Australia. The study focuses on three major themes or constructs underlying Phase II of the project, its developmental phase and explores their implications for national curriculum development in the Australian federal context and for English language education in Australian schools. As such it is essentially an exercise in construct evaluation, a formative approach to the evaluation of outcomes. Central to the conception of Phase II of the Language Development Project was a view of language and learning inherited from Phase I of the project and encapsulated in its tripartite model of language education learning language, learning through language, learning about language. Equally central to the work of the project was a view of curriculum development predicated on the belief that there was a need for a national approach to language education and that this national approach could best be achieved through a co-operative effort involving the centre (CDC) and the States and Territories. Underlying this co-operative model was a commitment to school-based curriculum development and to involving teachers in the development of curriculum materials. The most important feature of these central constructs was that they were developing models, based on the assumption that curriculum development, at least in the language area, is an evolutionary process, moving through exploration and discovery towards definition. This open-ended, emergent quality, together with the co-operative nature of the project, placed particular demands on the design of an evaluation which would be responsive to the changing needs of the project at the national level while respecting the autonomous nature of the component projects. The study analyses the development of these three major constructs - the tripartite model of language education, the cooperative model of curriculum development and the collaborative evaluation model - as they were exemplified in the experience of the project examines their relationship to the wider context of practice, and explores their implications for the development of a practical framework for the English language curriculum the resolution of ambiguities in the co-operative model of curriculum development and the development of a reconstructed model for the formative evaluation of co-operative national programs.
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ItemThe theory of educational inequality in Australia, 1900-1950( 1985)This thesis investigates the terms in which the problem of educational differences was posed by Australian intellectuals during the first half of the twentieth century. The investigation seeks to understand the social and historical limits of research into social differences in education, and makes problematic the degree of relative autonomy of this inquiry from the prevailing social and political arrangements which it sought to address. It attempts to demonstrate how the historically evolved. social norms of a particular class, in respect of participation in school and the acquisition of a positive disposition to school, became enshrined in official and scientific discourses on education as the natural and normal attributes of childhood and youth. The thesis examines the texts of leading figures in education and others who became interested in educational problems in their role as social commentators and critics. As a rule, these intellectuals advocated more schooling for greater national productivity and a more informed citizenry, adjustments to the curriculum in accordance with the 'needs' and expected life trajectories of different social groups of children, and finally, a more efficient alignment of school selection and ability. Along these lines, education was to play a major role in achieving the 'democratic ideal'. While there were arguments about the methods and criteria for achieving these goals, there existed in parallel an almost complete unanimity and consensus among these writers as to the questions to be raised. Whether as academics, educational researchers, bureaucrats,. politicians or scientists, they believed Australia had been inadequately served by its education system and that substantial reassessment and adjustment was required, in anticipation of a 'new order' to come. At the same time as the resources of the State were being mobilized to create a system of schools based on this vision, a science of education was emerging which permitted the school population to be ranked and allocated, along apparently scientific lines. Psychology became concerned with the problem of individual differences in the State school population, and developed in such a way that State schooling, and the posing of the problem of school differences, played a mutually ratifying role. The system of private grammar schools largely remained immune to psychological inquiry. Psychological reasoning pre-figured a solution to social differences in virtue of its overall affirmation of the particular form of State schooling offered (specific practices of school organization in line with 'normal' performance, divisions of knowledge into yearly packages), but also by the material and cultural demand to regulate the length and type of schooling in the post-primary stages. The science of natural differences among individual pupils served the administrative problem of selection into a differentiated school system, and ultimately permitted the social distribution of participation and achievement to be represented as the product of individual differences.
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ItemCulture, literature and the humanities: a study of the development of the ideas of literary and humanities studies in the western world from the Renaissance, with special attention to the writings of F.R. Leavis( 1981)Australian educational authorities have been both vague and ambivalent in their attitude to humanities studies in tertiary education, seeing them as culturally beneficial to the individual rather than as useful to society. These attitudes can be traced back to the renaissance, when humanities studies developed as the proper kind of education for a gentleman. These studies were nevertheless vocational, as they prepared the student for the , role of civic leadership. The ideal was sharpened in the nineteenth century when humane or liberal studies were seen as a specific corrective to the materialism of industrial society. This ideal was further developed by F.R. Leavis, who argued that society required people strenuously trained to consider values rather than techniques, ends rather than means. English literature, he believed, was uniquely fitted to provide such training, as it embodied a tradition of values developed from the collective experience of the people. Behind this ideal lay an imperfectly articulated theory of the function of the social artefact of language in the development of the individual. At the heart of his ideal there was, however, a contradiction, as he believed that the collective tradition embodied in literature could be maintained by an elite removed from the work of society. This contradiction accounts for the fact that his work has inspired both radical and reactionary educational practices in secondary and tertiary education. His critical and educational methods are now seriously challenged by cultural theories which emphasize the determinate nature of literary work and of language itself. Nevertheless, his ideas still provide a valid analysis of the social usefulness of the humanities.
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ItemThe historiography of Australian education: the production and reception of four major texts, 1951-1978( 1985)This study is an inquiry into how historical knowledge is produced, socially defined and legitimated. The inquiry is conducted through the medium of four major history of Australian education texts initially produced at Melbourne University and used as texts in the first History of Australian Education course in the Faculty of Education at Melbourne University. The texts are J.S. Gregory 'Church and State and Education in Victoria to 1872', R. Fogarty 'Catholic Education in Australia 1806-1950', A.G. Austin 'Australian Education 1788-1900' and G.M. Dow George 'Higinbotham: Church and State'. The thesis is divided into two parts: Part I is a critical reading of each of the four texts uncovering the organizing theoretical pre-suppositions which these historical works share in common, namely theories of the liberal state. In demonstrating how theory organizes these historical works some of the processes of the production of history are revealed; in particular the selection and interpretation of sources. Part II is a history of the reception of each of the texts and reveals the processes by which the texts are made available for consumption and are socially defined and legitimated. The processes of production and reception are not separate and distinct; however, it is more convenient to consider the two processes more or less separately and hence the division of the thesis into two parts. Part I is a formal/theoretical analysis of the texts which draws selectively on the structuralist criticism of Althusser and the early Macherey to develop a mode of critical reading appropriate to understanding the processes of production of historical texts. Part II, the historical analysis of the texts' reception during the period 1951 to 1978, demonstrates how the various contexts in which the texts have been inscribed activate definitions of the texts' value, truth and significance and place them in a hierarchy of other historical works. Bourdieu's notion of an intellectual field provides a framework for understanding these processes by which a field of the history of Australian education is constructed and seeks legitimacy as 'good' history. However, the methodology for such an analysis is drawn from the work of the later Macherey, Renee Balibar and their English counterpart, Tony Bennett. (From Chapter 1)
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ItemExplorations in curiosity: breadth and depth of interest curiosity styles( 1985)Educational writers have often extolled the "natural curiosity" of the young child and then lamented its demise as the child has proceeded through formal schooling. Some writers have suggested programmes whereby that natural curiosity can be nurtured and ripened rather than allowed to die. This thesis explores the construct of curiosity isolating those elements which both provide a fruitful synthesis of current knowledge, and also generate further understanding of human curiosity. Examination of the ways in which the term curiosity has been used in the research literature indicates that a construct of curiosity subsuming two distinct styles has the potential to integrate what is currently known and also to provide direction for further research. The two styles suggested by review of the literature are breadth of interest curiosity, an orientation towards seeking varied and changing experience, and, depth of interest curiosity, an orientation towards investigating new ideas, events and puzzling phenomena. Prominent among theories which have attempted to explain the processes which occur when curiosity is aroused, are the "optimal arousal" and "cognitive" theories. One representative of each is examined in detail with particular attention given to isolating the essential differences between them. A third theory considered, and one not usually linked with theories of curiosity, is "differential emotions" theory. With its emphasis on emotion processes as key motivational variables, and its notion of affective-cognitive structures, this theory provides a comprehensive framework which when applied to an analysis of curiosity, offers important insights into the processes operating when curiosity is aroused. Within this framework the two curiosity styles represent the operation of different affective-cognitive structures. In order to establish the validity of these proposals as to the nature of curiosity a number of empirical studies was undertaken. The factorial structure of current measures of curiosity for adults was examined, and using the results of that examination a new scale, the Two Factor Curiosity Scale, was constructed specifically designed to measure the two factors of breadth of interest and depth of interest curiosity. A number of validation studies for this scale are reported. The internal structure of the Two Factor Curiosity Scale was examined through the application of factor analytic techniques and the factor structure of the scale was found to match the predicted structure. In a further study the scale's construct validity was assessed by investigating the relationships between scores on the breadth and depth components, and scores on a widely used occupational interest inventory. The Two Factor Curiosity Scale was shown to have construct validity. The nature of the two curiosity styles as affective-cognitive structures was also investigated through examining the pattern of basic emotions reported in situations representing both breadth and depth of interest curiosity. Important similarities and differences in the pattern of emotions associated with each curiosity style further confirmed the validity of this two factor formulation of curiosity.
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ItemMoral development in early childhood( 1984)This study is of moral development in young children, with a focus on justice as fairness, a term appropriate to the life experience of three- and four-year-old children. The subjects were twenty-eight children attending two groups in a preschool centre (sessional kindergarten), eighteen female and ten male. The ages ranged from three years four months to four years eight months at the commencement of the study. The children were studied for one year at their kindergarten. Five problem areas were explored: (1) moral reasoning; (2) behaviour in peer conflict interactions; (3) relationship between moral reasoning in response to hypothetical dilemmas and behaviour in real-life conflicts;(4) construction of an instrument to describe and measure early moral reasoning and behaviour; (5) moral education within a preschool setting. Semi-structured interviews using Kohlberg-type dilemmas, and naturalistic observations of spontaneous social interactions in free play situations, were the methods used. Pretest and post-test interviews and observations were six months apart. Teachers of one group of children participated in a moral education project which included a process for using naturally-occurring peer conflict in the kindergarten to facilitate moral development.
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ItemThe place of religion in commercial television in Australia from 1956 to 1978( 1980)This subject could be treated in different ways. In this thesis it is treated historically. The matter under examination is the failure of religious programming to find a secure, prominent and effective place in commercial television despite the apparent advantage of having the authority of the Broadcasting and Television Act (1956) and the Australian Broadcasting Control Board to support it. In particular, Section 103 stated that: A licensee shall telecast from his station Divine Worship or other matter of religious nature during such periods as the Board determines and, if the Board so directs, shall do so without charge. The Australian Broadcasting Control Board further specified in its Programme Standards, 1956 that station time and reasonable facilities should be provided free of charge to the churches, that time should be allocated among the various denominations in proportion to the number of adherants and that such arrangements should be made by mutual agreement between the commercial licensees and representatives of the churches. However, as the Royal Commission on Television had predicted in 1955 the question of control over licencees assumed pre-eminent proportions. Its recommendation that the Control Board should have a reserve of authority was not incorporated into the Act with the result that the Board was not empowered to enforce its Programme Standards. Even when it was apparent that the commercial licensees were resisting the attempts of the Control Board to administer the Act, the Liberal-Country Party Government refused to give any support to the Board. The thesis argues that the development of religious television in Australia was seriously impeded because the Broadcasting and Television Act gave the Control Board no power to enforce either Section 103 or the Programme Standards relating to Section 103. It is argued that the Liberal-Country Party Government consistently supported and protected commercial vested interests because it took for granted that the public interest in commercial television was best served by its being a successful business enterprise free to develop popular programming within a free enterprise system. Against the Board's advice, broadcasting legislation moved relentlessly towards self-regulation in programming for commercial licensees. S116 of the Constitution which stated that The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion or for imposing any religious observance of or prohibiting the free exercise of any religion and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth, was frequently used as an argument by commercial licensees against the legality of mandatory religious programmes. The question of whether S103 contravened S116 was never tested but the possibility of contravention further weakened the authority and the power of the Board. The Board itself, especially because of the ineptitude of its Religious Advisory Committee, and its failure to clarify the place and purpose of religious programmes in a pluralist society became a major cause of tension between the church agencies and the commercial licensees. The thesis further argues that the churches' agencies demonstrated a paternalistic attitude to television by attempting to impose their requirements, values, views, objectives and standards, all of which were characteristic of their particular denominations and incompatible with each other, without giving proper consideration to the nature of the medium or the needs of the audience. They therefore had little hope of dealing with a hostile industry. Such fragmentation also made it impossible to find the resources to compete with secular programmes. The churches also accepted the privileged position of being free to pursue their own vested interest in a commercial enterprise rather than to develop another concept of community television in the public interest. Nor were the churches able to resolve the basic theological dilemma of what image or concept of religion should be presented on commercial television. However, even if the churches had been able to present a form of Christianity that met the approval of all denominations, whether liberal or conservative, the question of its proper role would have remained. For religion to have a secure, prominent and effective place in commercial television the churches will have to establish a relevance not simply to the community but to the community by means of television. That is almost certainly beyond the resources of the churches in Australia and may be beyond the combined resources of the licensees, the Broadcasting Tribunal and the churches.