Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemRemediating the elementary mathematics of prospective primary school teachers( 1980)Three areas are reviewed: the knowledge of prospective primary teachers of basic mathematics, remediation programs in mathematics and the use of calculators as a learning aid in mathematics. A remediation program is described involving a diagnostic pre-test and consequent assignment to one of three treatments: self-study, group tutorials or individual tutorials. The purpose of the 10 week program is to help prospective primary teachers meet a competency requirement in mathematics which is mandatory for progress beyond the third semester of a six-semester course of primary teacher training at a Victorian university. The program covers understanding and knowledge of place value, whole number decimals and fraction operations, percentages, averages and measurement including metrics. The group tutorials were given one of two treatments: the use of calculators during the remedial program, or the same program without calculators. Seven hypotheses related to the effects of the program are described. Post-testing after the 10 weeks of the program showed very large gains by each of the three groups. However the calculator group showed no difference from the non-calculator group, a finding consistent with the literature. Discussion of the results and pointers for future study conclude the study, with one recommendation being that mathematics specialists be appointed to primary schools.
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ItemA contract with education : Alice Hoy, 1893-1976( 1988)This is a biographical approach to the personal and intellectual development of Alice Hoy, a development which in turn shaped her contribution to teacher education in Victoria. The period I have covered does not go beyond Hoy's retirement from the Education Department and is concerned with her professional life during that time. Her work as a committee woman on various educational boards and councils is not included. Hoy was a pupil at the private University High School in the first decade of this century; in her first degree, a BA at Melbourne University, her major study was History which she continued with her MA, and later study of Law confirmed a natural tendency towards logical argument and gave her an LLB. After taking her Dip.Ed., Hoy became a teacher with the Education Department at the old University Practising School, and from there was invited to do Method lecturing at the School of Education at the University of Melbourne. Her early contribution to teacher education was made through her lectures at the School of Education and at the Melbourne Teachers' College as well as through the practical work at UHS, while her textbook on civics was used widely in schools. Her appointment is the first Principal of the Secondary Teachers' Training Centre was the high 'point of her career. She began the Centre, which became the Secondary Teachers' College, in 1950, and remained Principal until her retirement at the beginning of 1958.
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ItemThe history of the development of specialist teaching training programmes for teachers of migrant children, 1947-1973( 1983)Information concerning the development of specialist teacher training programmes for teachers of migrant children is fragmentary, being scattered through some 130 published and unpublished documents. The aim of this thesis has been to present, with some degree of order and continuity, that information in a single volume. The resulting compilation is largely descriptive, though some analysis and interpretation could not be avoided. To supplement and to substantiate some of the data collated from the numerous documents, the experiences of a number of teachers who have taught significant proportions of migrant children between 1947 and 1973 have been related. Some of these experiences were gathered by means of a questionnaire which was completed by teachers who had responded to advertisements placed by the writer in The Sun (August 4, 1983) and The Age (August 15, 1983). The advertisements are included as Appendix A.1, and the questionnaire as Appendix A.2. Other experiences were gathered by means of personal interviews with a number of teachers. A full list of all persons from whom information was gathered appears as Appendix A.3. The paper concentrates on the development of specialist teacher training programmes within the Federal and State education systems, with only brief mention of developments within the Catholic education system. Such concentration is not intended to reflect a view that efforts made by the Catholic Church towards the problems of migrant children are insignificant. Indeed, the Catholic schools bore a very substantial share of the influx of migrant children and faced immense educational difficulties as a result, yet they succeeded in making as good a job as possible under the circumstances. Because the history of developments within the Catholic education system is a considerable area on its own, and because much material in that area has already been documented by Carmel O'Dwyer (Responses of Government and Catholic Educational Authorities to the influx of migrants, 1950-1960, with special reference to the experience of a selected group of schools conducted by the Victorian Sisters of Mercy),1 Michael Elliot (Migrant Education in Fitzroy, 1965-1975),2 and Denis Moore (The initial response to the migrant presence in four inner suburban Christian Brothers' schools as revealed in the inspectors' reports and other available sources),3 those developments are not included in this history. The population elements to which the discussion refers to as 'migrants' are those people from 'non-English speaking' origin, excluding Aboriginals. 1. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1977. 2. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1977. 3. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1981. The introductory chapter briefly outlines the Federal Government's immediate steps to provide some training for teachers of adult migrants, and serves to highlight the official indifference outlined by Chapters II, III and IV, to the needs of training for teachers of migrant children until the late sixties when short in-service training courses were introduced. Chapter V traces the history of these short courses. Chapter VI presents the development of in-service teacher training under the Child Migrant Education Programme, the development of some tertiary courses leading to awards, and the development of pre-service courses, all of which take place in the emerging notion of 'multiculturalism'. The initial assumption levelled at teachers of migrant children was that no special training in migrant education was necessary because no special effort was necessary to teach migrant children. If teachers were kindly and understanding, and approached the problem with good sense, migrant children in their care would be rapidly assimilated. Requests for specialist help were made as early as 1954, but a general lack of appreciation of the problem by administrators ensured that these requests were unheeded. The contents of the Haines Report and the Dovey Report in the late fifties vindicated the belief that teachers of migrants did not require special training. The Dovey Report in particular lulled disquiet about the problems of migrant school children, for the four years immediately following its release witnessed only a few ad hoc and unco-ordinated attempts to draw attention to the need for teacher training. By the mid-sixties, however, a number of changes in educational thought were responsible for some new developments in migrant education. It became a public issue, and a number of surveys highlighted its needs. The result was the introduction in Victoria in 1968 of some short in-service teacher training courses. The inadequacies of these courses were soon felt. A survey conducted in New South Wales in 1969 prompted the Commonwealth Government to assume responsibility for the development, management and financial control of child migrant education. Financial assistance was provided to cover the cost of special training courses for teachers, in the method of teaching English as a foreign language. These four-week courses were introduced in 1970. At the same time, and in the setting of a developing notion of multicultural education, the first specialized teacher training course in migrant education to be offered by an Australian tertiary institution was developed. This course led to the award of the Diploma of Migrant Teaching, and commenced at Armidale Teachers' College in 1973. By the end of 1973, some other tertiary institutions were developing graduate and pre-service courses. The history of the development of specialist teacher training programmes obviously does not end in 1973. That year was chosen as the cut-off date for this history for two reasons. Firstly it was, as stated previously, the year in which the first specialized course was offered by an Australian tertiary institution. Secondly, by 1973 the stage was set, in terms of an awareness of the urgent need for pre-service and in-service teacher training,, for the developments that were to take place from 1973 to the present time.4 4. Cf. L. Sislov, Conceptions of Bilingual Education; the contexts in which conceptions emerge and certain practical pedagogical initiations emerging therefrom in Australia and other countries. Unpublished Master of Education Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1982, Chapters 9 and 10.
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ItemThe influence of accelerating technological change on staff development within a specific department of a TAFE college( 1984)In this thesis the influences of rapidly accelerating technological change on staff development practices and requirements within TAFE college have been investigated. Although the investigation is directly related to one specific department, which is particularly influenced by rapidly changing technology, a broad-based review of literature covering the various aspects of technological change, TAFE and its changing role,and the generally accepted phases of staff development,was found to be necessary. From this review of literature specific implications have been drawn. To relate these implications, drawn basically from theoretical literature, to the practical requirements of a teaching department, a descriptive case study, involving the department and its teaching staff members was conducted, the relevant data collected and analysed. From the review of literature and the analysis of the departmental data a series of conclusions have been drawn and recommendations made. Finally, to complete the exercise, an integrated development programme for the department has been proposed.
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ItemAdvancement for women in organizations: a training perspective( 1980)This thesis will attempt to add a practical case history to the growing body of literature on special 'In-house' training programs for women. A special training program for women was designed and implemented in the South Australian Public Service as part of that organizations' overall Affirmative Action Plan to effect Equal Opportunity. The literature review (Chapter I) determines and explores the nature of the barriers women experience at work today and considers the alternatives in overcoming them from an 'In-house' training perspective. A complex interplay of internal barriers within the woman herself and external barriers created by the organization is offered as an explanation of the real problem women are facing at work today. 'In-house' training, amidst other 'Equal Opportunity' strategies which are designed to take account of the whole organization system, is offered as a partial solution to the problem under consideration. An exploration of the nature of the 'In-house' training which should be offered by the organization is then undertaken. In this regard the case 'for' and 'against' special training programs for women is presented; the former position being advocated by this writer. As this 'Women in Organizations Workshop' program was one of the first of its kind developed in Australia an attempt has been made to detail the history of the development of the program and consider the question 'why' it was developed and implemented in the South Australian Public Service in 1977. A modern Administrative Theory, known as 'Systems Theory' has been used as the conceptual framework for this historical analysis which is contained in Chapter II. Chapter III also uses the conceptual framework of 'Systems Theory' to detail the actual 'Women in Organizations Workshop' program content, design and its management by the two women lecturers of the Training and Development Branch of the Department of Further Education in South Australia. The 'Women in Organizations Workshop' program, being a pilot program, was evaluated by various groups throughout 1977 and 1978 (Chapter IV). The Occupational Psychology Branch of the Public Service Board of the South Australian Public Service undertook a rigorous, formal evaluation of the program. This Branch represented the major client of the workshop program. They interviewed a substantial proportion of the workshop participants, two months after the completion of the program. A 'significant incident' method was employed which required interviewers to state whether they had employed skills, knowledge and attitudes gained in the workshop, at their workplace by recalling a specific situation. The two women lecturers' evaluations of the program are then detailed, these being both formal and informal. A final evaluation is given, that-of the Review Committee established in 1978 to evaluate the overall Training and Development activities of the Training and Development Branch of the Department of Further Education. All evaluations conducted of: the program considered it as a great success. Finally, a conclusion (Chapter V) is given which offers recommendations as to the value of this experiment conducted in the South Australian Public Service. Congruent with the research it is argued that currently, special 'In-house' training programs for women are viable and necessary given their current status in the workforce. However these programs are of an essentially short-run duration (approximately 5 to 10 years). An 'Androgynous Management Style' is offered as the future management model to be utilized in all management training programs. The total organization is then considered from a 'Systems Theory' perspective; strategies to implement Equal Opportunity, apart from (or in addition to) 'In-house training' are mentioned.
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ItemThe role of the teacher education officer in a country regional office( 1982)Policy statements on decentralization of the Education Department of Victoria preceded the establishment of educational regions, initially on a trial basis, in 1972. The establishment of the Australian Schools Commission and the granting of autonomy to teachers' colleges led to changes in the administration of pre-service and in-service training for teachers. In recognizing these changes the Education Department established positions for teacher education officers in the regions . Few of the duties proposed for teacher education officers had been made the direct responsibility of the regional director. The practice of regionalization was new to Victorian education, and an opportunity was provided to investigate a group of persons across the state located in decentralized units. As a divisional representative in a regional office the teacher education officer had a dual responsibility to the division and to the region. The administration of in-service development programs and the performance of other duties of teacher education officers provided a focus for this study. This study concentrated on country teacher education officers and looked at the task requirements, job specification and perception of performance for these officers. A number of possibilities were suggested for the study. Because of the small number of individuals in the group a field study was chosen. The group of teacher education officers was scattered across the state and operated from regional offices. Material was collected using a questionnaire and a telephone interview. Because of the small number of subjects in the study, it was not possible to use statistical analysis on the findings. The information provided in the study is of a descriptive nature.