Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemAims, men or money?. the establishment of secondary education for boys in South Australia and in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales - 1836 to 1860( 1980)Young children bring with them to school a certain amount of science knowledge gained from their everyday lives. What they "know", whether right or wrong, may be the result of interactions with family, television, computer programs, books, peers or visits to environmental locations, museums or science centres. In this study, children who have been at primary school for between two and three years are asked to describe their knowledge and their sources of information. The extent to which school factors are influencing their science knowledge is investigated. A survey was developed and protocols trialled before fifty-seven children aged eight and nine years at a provincial Victorian government primary school were surveyed to establish their home background and family interest in science, their own attitudes and feelings toward science and the efficacy of their science experiences at school. Interviews were carried out with nine students, selected to represent a broad range of attitudes to science, in order to gain more detailed information about their specific understandings of a number of topics within the primary school science curriculum and the sources of their information. The students' responses revealed that where they were knowledgeable about a subject they could indeed say from where they obtained their knowledge. Books were the most commonly cited source of information, followed by school, personal home experiences and family. Computers and the internet had little influence. Students who appeared to have "better" understandings quoted multiple sources of information. Positive correlations were found between enjoyment of school lessons and remembering science information, liking to watch science television or videos and remembering science information, and liking to read science books and remembering science information. Mothers were also linked to the use of science books at home, and the watching of nature TV shows at home. There are several implications for the teaching of science at early years level. Teachers need to be aware of powerful influences, from both within and outside of the classroom, which may impact on children, and which may be enlisted to help make learning more meaningful. The research indicates the importance of home background, parental interest and access to books, and notes the under utilisation of computers and lack of visits to museums and interactive science centres.
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ItemAnother world like here : futures studies and early childhood education( 1995)This thesis examines the discipline of futures studies and its potential for application in early childhood education. The need for an increased futures-orientation in education is established by a survey of the overwhelmingly negative commentaries of youths on the topic of the future. These comments, it is argued, point to a vacuum of understanding about the future which educators should seek to counterbalance. This task should be particularly emphasised by early childhood educators since they share a commitment to the central objective of laying foundations for life-long learning. Futures studies offers a useful methodology for this task. The thesis examines the major tenets of futures studies and its translation into primary and secondary educational settings. The applicability of futures studies to early childhood education is established by demonstrating the many principles which futures studies and early childhood education share in common. A futures-focused curriculum need not involve the educator in any radically new philosophical and educational frameworks. It, rather, provides a means of extending and re-articulating existing developmental objectives from the vantage point of new perspectives. The thesis resolves the issue of whether or not futures concerns are beyond the reach of four and five year olds by examining how pre-school children conceive time and the future. Young children are seen to possess many of the qualities which futures studies seek to re-instill in adults and older children. The educator should seek to capitalize on this by combining the positive aspects of children's innate perceptions of future time with the more abstract 'adult' understanding of time. A research project on pre-school children's attitudes towards the future sheds further light on their understandings of the future while also enabling their own opinions on the topic to be heard. The thesis then defines the principal objectives of a futures-focused curriculum and translates them into practical learning experiences. It concludes by exploring the implications of the findings contained in the thesis for early childhood education and by discussing some of the ways in which the educators themselves might come to terms with the issues articulated in this study.
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ItemMulticultural education : an account of the construction of an object of public knowledge( 1982)This thesis examines major statements about Multicultural Education enunciated by Federal government bodies over the past decade. In doing so, it seeks to identify the ideological aspects of the knowledge thereby constructed and to determine the manner of that construction within an historical context. In particular, it is argued that, by almost entirely ignoring the issue of social class, and concentrating on ethnicity as the major issue to be addressed, Multicultural Education has become a means of ideological control in the education system of our society. An examination of models of Multicultural Education is also carried out, informed by concepts drawn from core curriculum theory. This leads to a model, presented in curricular terms, which avoids the inconsistencies that are identified in the analysis of the major statements.
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ItemThe influence of Chinese sociocultural values about education on the educational outcomes of Chinese students in Australia( 1996)This is a study into how Chinese sociocultural values attached to education have influenced the academic performance of Chinese students. The scope of this investigation is resident students of Australia whose parents have migrated to Australia. These students are largely educated in Australia. In the literature review reference is made to studies of Chinese cultural values including works by M. Bond, G. Hofstede, F. Hsu, D.T. Nakanishi and H.W. Stevenson. The methodology employed is appropriate to Chinese collective culture of small group bilingual interviews of parents whose children are 'excellent students. A proforma is used to collect profiles of the participating parents so that significant information about these participants can be taken into consideration when various factors are speculated and surmised. The study has focussed on a group of Chinese parents who are largely bicultural / bilingual, well educated and motivated to promote their children's opportunities to survive Australia where they lack social contact or capital. Underpinning and threading through this wish to see progress for their children is the undying cultural values attached to being, an educated person within the Chinese concept of "self".
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ItemA philosophical analysis of the concept of education( 1989)The thesis critically examines some of the concepts involved In the elucidation of the concept of education developed by R.S. Peters who says that education Is a family of processes whose purposes are the development of desirable states of mind. In particular, it critically examines the concept of mind built into Peters' conception of education and argues that Peters is correct to imply that the mind cannot be reduced to brain states. Education, I .claim is a telological concept primarily concerned with the transmission of cultural values. The thesis begins by briefly looking at behaviourist views of mind, and introduces the Identity Theory as an attempt to provide a better explication of the nature of mind. Feigl's views on the nature of mind are examined, in particular, his attempted reduction of the mental to the physical. His rejection of the concept of emergence is challenged and what is meant by the reduction of one theory to another is elucidated. It is concluded that the mental cannot be reduced to the physical. The features of scientific explanation in general are explored. It Is found that scientific explanation is applicable largely in physical science contexts, and so is of limited use in explaining the concept of mind, and so the concept of education. Teleological explanations are examined, since it is apparent that education is a teleological explanation. The question of whether teleological explanations can be reduced to non-teleological explanations is considered. It is found that there are at least three forms of teleological explanation, (i) functional explanation, (ii) goal-directed explanation and (iii) purposive explanation. It is clear from an examination of these that education is explained in terms of purpose. An examination of the concept of intention and its relationship to action forms a major portion of the thesis. The problem of whether there can be several descriptions of one action is considered, as well as whether Intentions are entailed by desires. The relationship between actions and events is considered, discussing in particular the concept of cause. Five uses of the term "cause" are outlined. It is postulated that the causal power In agent causation is the "act of will", which forms part of the intention to act. The concept of a process, and some of the ways in which it may be defined, is examined. The concept of development is briefly considered in the light of the analysis of the concept of a process. It is concluded that education may be termed a super-process. As a process, education can never be completed, but continues throughout an Individual's life. The purposes of education and what might be meant by desirable states of mind are discussed. The primary purpose of education, it is asserted, is the imparting of values. The question of who decides what states of mind might be termed desirable is considered and it is concluded that it is society, or the community who decide what values are to be imparted.
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ItemJewish secular humanist education in Australia( 1997)The purpose of this thesis is to examine the nature, origins and implications of the recent development of Jewish secular humanist education in Australia; as represented by the establishment of the JSH School in Melbourne in 1992: the first of its type in Australia. This thesis explores the interactive relationship between three key concepts: education, identity and community. The study is set against five contexts: the development of the Jewish community in Australia, the development of Jewish education in Australia, the development of Jewish secular humanism as philosophy, issues of Jewish identity for individuals and community and the community/education interface in the wider society. In the light of these contextual insights, the reception, viability, implications and impact of this recent educational initiative on the Australian Jewish community is given close consideration. The findings suggest that although the reception of the JSH School in its first five years has been mixed to generally positive, the viability and future development of the School and similar enterprises looks promising. The author believes that the knowledge and insights gained from this research study offer readers and practitioners a substantial illumination of the subject as well as providing the author with considerable guidance in her professional educational practice, and may guide others working in the field of community-based education.
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ItemReturning home : the cross-cultural education of Australian missionaries from Latin America( 1998)The purpose of this study is to investigate the experiences of Australian missionaries returning from Latin America and relate these to the training provided by the mission organisations that sent them. This thesis focuses on the issues related to culture adjustment and the pattern of instruction used by mission organisations to keep missionaries psychologically, spiritually, physically and socially whole throughout the international cycle. The study includes an examination of pre-departure, on-field and post return education strategies used to create smooth cross-cultural transitions and successful re-entry into the Australian culture from Latin America. Data was collected from both mission organisations and missionaries and the different interpretations of training needs were examined. Qualitative methodology has been used in this study because reverse culture shock encompasses underlying human cognitive elements and thought processes that affect behaviour and communication. Evidence from the study indicated that there are no specific, formal education programs developed by the mission organisation to deal with the problems associated with re-entry. This thesis recommends that the mission organisations involved in this study need to exercise a duty of care towards their missionaries and to drastically overhaul their cross-cultural education programs.
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ItemGirls & post school achievement : discourse, meaning & subjectivity( 1998)In an overall sense the concern of my research is the question of gender. It is concerned with girls' engagement with the discursive fields which make up their lives, their acquisition of meaning and formation of subjectivity. Specifically, my research is concerned with the role of discourse in girls' acquisition of meaning about gender, achievement and success, and the ways in which teachers can develop strategies to support girls to negotiate the complex and contradictory discourses which surround them. As a poststructuralist feminist researcher I assume a keen awareness of the semiotic, discursive dimension of the social and from such a perspective consider the question of gender in relation to girls' education and post school achievement and career success. Through an emphasis on the discourses and texts which make up schools and educational practices, such a perspective makes relevant the emotional, psychic and physical embeddedness of girls in the discursively constituted categories to which they belong. The study undertaken is a critical engagement with one of the discourses shaping girls' identities. It draws on data gathered from a focused analysis of a selection of four celebratory feminist texts. The complex and contradictory nature of the meanings within the texts are examined, and the potential of this genre of feminist discourses to remake meanings and challenge the gender order of society is explored. My own personal and professional biography and the focus of the literature review have fashioned the specific questions I posed.
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ItemDisability, education and ethnic families: the changing Greek-Australian experience( 1996)This study set out to examine whether there would be a difference in the attitudes held towards people with disabilities by two different generations of Greek Australians. The first group were those who had spent their formative years in the mother country whilst the second had been born in Australia. It was assumed that the attitudes held would be shaped by both the experience and the communal value system. The working hypothesis was that the attitudes held by the Anglo oriented group of young Greeks would be more akin to the general community than to the Traditional Group. The literature indicates that children raised in a multicultural environment will begin to absorb the values of the dominant society even when their own ethnic group maintains a cohesive set of values and provides a context in which to live a fulfilling life. The literature suggests there are six areas where the Greek tradition might significantly vary from the dominant group. These can be illustrated by the specific questions:- causes attributed to disability, responsibility for care, access to social services, access and participation in mainstream education, access to employment, and the rights to personal development. A survey was undertaken to evaluate the attitudes system of the groups, two of Greek background and one of Anglo-Australians. The results, with two small exceptions confirmed the hypothesis and provided conformation of the proposition that attitudes towards disability are shaped by the cultural context in which one lives and schools need to take into account the structure of ethnic families of Greek background. To maximise the levels of cooperation and communication the family values must be understood and respected. For the schools to assist those with disabilities to achieve meaningful and satisfying lives it is necessary to ensure that the whole family unit benefits.
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ItemThe Irish Christian Brothers' first mission to Sydney, 1843-1847( 1981)Three Christian Brothers came to Sydney from Ireland in 1843 at the behest of the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith in Rome. For more than ten years prior to their arrival the missionary priests in Australia had been making overtures to the Founder of the Christian Brothers, Br Edmund Ignatius Rice, to send brothers to educate the sons of poor Catholic people in Sydney, most of whom were Irish convicts or ex-convicts. Rice refused on the grounds that he did not have enough brothers in his young Religious Congregation which had commenced in 1802, had received approval from Rome in 1821 to formulate Religious Rules, and had finalised its Rule Book in 1832. An Irish Priest, John McEncroe, had made the first approach to the Christian Brothers because he had first-hand knowledge of their work among the poor in Ireland and in England. The Benedictines, William B. Ullathorne and John B. Poldings approached the Superior-General of the Congregation in writing and by personal visits to Ireland, but Michael Paul Riordan Who had replaced Br Rice as the leader of the Congregation was forced. to refuse them, on the grounds that he too was short of men and that the isolation of Australia could be a problem for a Religious Congregation in the early stage of its development. There was an added problem of money - not only from an expense point of view, but because the Rule required that the brothers teach the poor gratuitously; and there had been mention made by the Benedictines of government money being offered for the Sydney project. This matter had an added sensitivity for Riordan as he was a firm advocate of gratuitous instruction. He had been successful in withdrawing the schools of the Brothers from the Irish National System because state aid violated the Brothers' Vow of Gratuitous Instruction. News of Governor Bourke's intention to introduce Lord Stanley's Irish National System in New South Wales in the eighteen thirties and of Bishop Polding's compliance in the matter had reached Riordan and the Christian Brothers at an inauspicious time. There seemed little likelihood that the Benedictines would entice the Congregation to Australian shores under the prevailing circumstances. The conditions remained unaltered, but Polding changed his strategy of appeal. In 1842, at the time he was delivering his first report to Rome as Vicar-Apostolic of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, he took the opportunity of pointing out to the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith that the faith and morals of the children in the former convict colony were at stake unless the Irish Christian Brothers came to the rescue. His knowledge of Church politics won the day. Rome spoke at a time Riordan needed Papal help to settle a crisis within the Congregation. Almost as a 'quid pro quo', the Superior-General despatched three young Religious Brothers (all under the age of thirty) on the same boat to Sydney as the now-elated Polding and his other recruits in 1843. To the delight of the Irish Catholics of Sydney each brother was given charge of a school close to the centre of the city. Poor boys flocked to the schools in large numbers and the brothers instructed them daily in religious and secular knowledge, using the monitorial methods in which they had been trained and the text books (mainly Readers) which the Irish Christian Brothers had published. The schools were non-fee-paying, and the brothers' Vow of. Gratuitous Instruction was kept intact, as they received only their upkeep from the diocese. The arrival of the Christian Brothers coincided with the first elections for the partly elected Legislative Council set up by the 1842 Constitution Act and with the setting up of an Inquiry into the state of education in New South Wales. In the former the brothers got their first taste of colonial sectarianism and of Irish hooliganism. In the latter they were able to make a positive contribution to proceedings, particularly as one of their number was called as an expert witness. The whole venture gave the appearance of being a most successful missionary project, fulfilling the aims both of the young Religious Congregations of the Brothers of the Christian Schools of Ireland and of the ancient Benedictine Order of Priests. It fitted perfectly the Denominational System of schooling which had been put on a firm basis by Bourke' 1836 Church Act. The monitorial method whereby one brother instructed up to two hundred boys was ideal for the much-needed education of the Irish masses. The brothers themselves, being Irishmen, were compatible with the Irish Catholic colonists. Then, almost without warning, in 1847, four years after the commencement of their apparently successful work, the three young Irish Christian Brothers closed their schools and returned to Ireland. The present thesis has as its central theme the story of the Christian Brothers' first Australian Mission, attempting an analysis of the forces which caused them to undertake the task, of the factors which contributed to the success of their education of Irish poor boys in colonial Sydney, and of the circumstances surrounding their decision to abandon the project. The work encompasses a study of colonial life in the period leading up to the arrival of the Christian Brothers, and during their stay in Sydney, with particular emphasis on the part played by the Irish and by the Catholic Church in Australian life in the eighteen forties. An attempt is also made in the present work to examine the state of the major Christian Churches of the period, looking at the roles of religious leaders in Church and State, and at the part played by the laity in Church life. As the Christian Brothers' Australian Mission consisted of educating the masses, the thesis has as its second major theme the involvement of Church and State in the various attempts to establish a viable education system in New South Wales. Finally there is an analysis and interpretation of the work of Bishop Polding and his Benedictines in the Australian Catholic Church, simply because it was Polding who brought the Christian Brothers to Sydney and it was an altercation with the Benedictines which caused the Brothers to return to Ireland. Polding was originally offered the See of Madras but chose instead the challenge of the "peculiar" convict See of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land. He brought with him to the Antipodes religious zeal, boundless energy and English Benedictine ideals. Zeal and energy were essential to the gargantuan task of carrying the Catholic faith to the distant shores of a vast, unexplored continent, peopled by savages, outcasts and policemen. With a handful of equally zealous priests Polding went about his mission, bringing solace and the sacraments to exiled Irishmen. His English origins made him officially acceptable to the Home Office which would have cared little about his Benedictine origins. Polding, however, saw his Benedictinism as the source of all that was good in him as a missionary and as a man. With the singleness of purpose that drove him into the outback on horseback, in search of souls, Polding pursued his high-minded aim of making the Australian Church one large Benedictine Mission. His own Benedictines who should have shared his vision failed him - in England by not sending him co-workers, and in Australia by not living up to Benedictine ideals. Polding was forced to seek help from Catholic Ireland; missionaries, including members of a young teaching Religious Congregation called Christian Brothers, joined Polding in his zealous apostolate, but failed to share his Benedictine dream.