Faculty of Education - Theses
Permanent URI for this collection
Search Results
1 - 10 of 222
-
ItemInfluences in curriculum change, a case study : the introduction of P.S.S.C. physics in Victoria(University of Melbourne, 1988)
-
ItemComputer-assisted instruction for the mildly mentally retarded child : a case study(University of Melbourne, 1986)This study examines how a computer-based delivery system of instruction can be reconciled with the special needs attending the training and education of mildly mentally retarded children. The single-case approach is adopted and involves Sarah, who is a mildly mentally retarded seventeen year old girl. Computer programs dealing with "survival" skills such as money handling, telling time and basic reading were tested on Sarah using a microcomputer in her home under parental supervision. To assess the effectiveness of these programs, pre- and post-treatment baselines were established by means of a diagnostic test (KeyMath) and a devised test specifically intended to mirror the concepts treated by the programs. It was found that most of the programs' objectives were not realised, although the null hypothesis of an equality between the pre- and post-treatment test means was rejected. It is concluded that the methodology adopted should have made greater allowance for the single-case nature of the study and the child's individuality. The recommendation is for replication studies or a study embracing fewer parameters.
-
ItemImplications of the relocation of basic nursing education from hospitals to colleges of advanced education : a pilot study(University of Melbourne, 1986)Nursing in Australia is a system in change. The role, function and place of practice for the nurse has expanded, and basic nursing education is being relocated from hospitals to Colleges of Advanced Education. A comparative analysis was made of the views that members of the general public and nursing profession hold regarding the image, role and function of contemporary nursing, together with the implications of the relocation of nursing education. Data was collected via a questionnaire. The main findings indicate that (1) the general public hold a traditional view of nursing; (2) nursing is viewed as a profession; (3) the meaning of nursing is influenced by the professionals' work or study environment; (4) an increased number of males are entering nursing via the college-based system; (5) 'practical competency' was the overriding reason for preference of nurse to give personal care; (6) although all groups except hospital students believe that nurses should be prepared in tertiary institutions, there was lack of evidence to justify this move due to lack of support for the arguments that nurses will be better educated, that the standard of delivery of nursing care will be higher, and that tertiary education will enhance the professional development of nursing.
-
ItemThe impact of technology on the secretary and its implication for educators(University of Melbourne, 1988)The aim of this thesis is to examine the effects of the current technological revolution on women holding secretarial positions in the workforce, and the consequent implications for educators in the Secretarial Studies area. Major considerations during the discussion are the sexual segregation in the working environment and the tenuous positions that women have come to hold as a result of short sightedness, capitalist exploitation, and technological change. Other areas discussed are the health and safety hazards linked to the use of computer equipment, opportunities for up-grading for the more highly educated secretary, evidence of de-skilling for those possessing keyboarding skills only, and the necessity for management to overcome outdated attitudes towards the secretarial role. It is concluded that the secretary has generally been adversely affected by the new technology but only as a direct result of societal attitudes and values which relegate women to low status, gender specific employment. Education is viewed as the only realistic avenue open to alleviate the problem inherent in a society clinging to outmoded views during a time of rapid technological change.
-
ItemUtopia, community and education : Robert Owen and the co-operative movement, Britain 1800-1845(University of Melbourne, 1986)Mankind seems to entertain a perennial dissatisfaction with the present. The ideal of a better, even perfected, future is also perennial and equally likely to occur in the individual consciousness as the collective one. In times of turmoil and hardship, the more visionary individuals have articulated schemes for a better future, and these have become known as 'utopias'. This thesis represents an exploration of one episode of utopian thought. Robert Owen's vision for a better world was formed against the background of the industrialization of Britain early in the nineteenth century. In the following analysis of Owen's thinking, three contentions are posited: 1. Owen and the followers of his doctrines saw an inextricable link between education and the community. 2. Owenism can profitably be interpreted within the context of the tradition of utopian thought. 3. The concept of community provides a wholeness and unity in Owen's thinking. The first chapter examines the nature of utopian thought, something which appears necessary to understand Owen's concept of the community. Subsequent chapters deal with Owen's design for the ideal community, the mode of education he felt should attend this, and the links between the two. The conclusion summarizes and draws together the above contentions, considers the possibilities for further research, and argues for the relevance of Owen as a possible theoretical precursor to current educational thinking which emphasizes the role of the community.
-
ItemIdeology critique and the production of meaning : a critical approach to selected urban education material( 1989)Ideology critique, when applied by educational research to the ideational content of curriculum materials, has evoked negative connotations of partiality and bias, mis-representation of social reality, and ultimately, of untruth. This thesis attempts to assert a more positive sense of "meaning production" for curriculum critique and shift emphasis away from representation towards signification. Part 1 reviews the management of questions of ideology and education by the sociology of school knowledge and curriculum research. I argue in Chapter 1 that strategies of ideology critique, along structuralist and culturalist lines of difference, have inadequately addressed issues of critical subjectivity, hegemony, and social transformation that is posed by radical education. Four curriculum studies of text book analysis are discussed in detail, in terms of their attachment to the sociology of school knowledge and in terms of the "bias and balance" discourses that they produce. Meaning production is used to enhance, rather than displace, practices of ideology critique, in ways that the case study analysis seeks to develop. The urbanism kit that is analysed in Part 2 is undertaken as a means to ground these issues, rather than to render a consummate curriculum analysis. Critical reading of the case study materials in Chapter 2 is enabled by the urban theory of Manual Castells. His ideology critique of urbanism and reformulations of urban system, urban planning, and urban social movements, are utilised to the extent that theoretic productions of the case study materials in Chapter 3 are analysed in terms of their constitutive discourses, rather than in terms of determinations about whether they are biased or ideological. Chapter 4 examines this process of signification further. Our inquiry shows that not only are understandings about "the city" produced, but, discourses about knowledge-production and about individual subjects are set up at the same time. Analysis of the case study material also indicates that balance is not necessarily built-in as a result of a commitment to provide diverse expert opinion. This has implications for those practices of curriculum criticism and curriculum construction which attempt to locate and redress bias as well as promote critical thinking. The directions suggested here are disposed towards problematising categories of analysis, especially categories such as "society" and the "individual", and towards opening up questions about what is produced as knowledge.
-
ItemStarting age at primary school and subsequent retention rates, behavioural and learning difficulties, and academic achievement in the middle and upper primary school( 1989)A study of 1380 grade 3, 4, 5, and 6 primary school children at four metropolitan schools was undertaken to examine the relationship between school starting age and retention rates, referral rates (for behavioural, learning, behavioural and learning difficulties, individually or aggregated), and performance on a range of achievement tests. Six different entry age group categories were identified according to entrance age in the child's preparatory grade year. These were underage starters (younger than 4 years 6 months), younger-entering starters (4 years 6 months to 4 years 9 months), normal-entering starters (4 years 10 months to 5 years 1 month), older-entering starters (5 years 2 months to 5 years 5 months), and overage starters (older than 5 years 5 months) . The last category was split into two separate groups comprising those who had repeated kindergarten, and those who had been held back at home and had not attended kindergarten. These groups were used in computation, though some of these groups were amalgamated subsequently in some chi square analyses because of low expected cell numbers. The youngest entrants (underage and younger-entering children) were found to be significantly more likely to have been retained for a year at primary school than their normally older classmates. Risks of retention dropped with increasing age on commencement, except in the case of overage entrants who had not attended a kindergarten. Preparatory grade, grade 2 and grade 3 were the most common grades chosen for retention. The academic achievement of children retained in Preparatory grade to grade 6 was significantly lower than that of the nonretained children at grades 4, 5, and 6. There was no significant difference at grade 3 level. Retained younger-entering, underage children and girls were found to be significantly more likely to be referred for learning difficulties, and retained younger-entering and underage children had significantly higher rates of referral for aggregated (multiple) causes than other entry age groups. Significant differences between older-entering and younger-entering children were not found with respect to academic achievement as measured on a range of achievement tests. However, significant differences favouring overage starters who had repeated kindergarten and other entry age group children were observed at all grade levels and in a variety of achievement tests, though not in a uniform manner. Younger-entering children were significantly more likely (across the whole sample) to be referred for learning difficulties and aggregated referral rates than other entry age groups. This applied to both girls and boys. Significant differences were also observed for aggregated referral rates with the underage and younger-entering students, and overage starters were also more likely than other entry age groups to have been referred for behavioural or learning difficulties, or both. Boys were significantly more likely to be referred for behavioural difficulties, behavioural and learning difficulties, and aggregated referral rates than girls. When children who had been retained were removed from the calculations, it was found that children who had repeated kindergarten had significantly better achievement in the range of tests utilized in the study, than all other entry age groups. This held across the four grades though not in every test with every entry age group. There were no significant differences between nonreferred children and those referred but who had not repeated a year, in any of the referral categories. Suggestions are made for future research.
-
ItemInfluences at work on the shaping of a Catholic girls' secondary school( 1989)1988 is the twenty-fifth year of the existence of Ave Maria College, a girls' Catholic secondary school at West Essendon, established in 1963 by the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. This thesis endeavours to trace the forces which shaped it - the sociological, religious, political and economic forces which influenced its growth. It examines the background and development of the College under the guidance of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary, the handing over of the College to the the Catholic Education Office on the departure of the sisters in 1975, the subsequent administration by an Interim Board of Management and its eventual development as an autonomous College within the Catholic Education system, and the laitization of the College which is a feature of many Catholic secondary schools of the 1980's.
-
ItemThe confused Frenchman : some considerations of 'freedom' in Rousseau's writings and its educational implications( 1987)The focus in this thesis is the concept of 'freedom' and, more specifically, how this concept is used by Rousseau. An attempt will first be made to clarify the meaning of 'freedom' and then Rousseau's discussions about it will be examined. Particular emphasis will be placed on an analysis of educational freedom and what Rousseau writes about it, especially in Emile. It will also be argued that the ideal political freedom that Rousseau proposes in The Social Contract is an extension of the freedom he talks about in Emile. Some critics have levelled the charge that Rousseau is not consistent in his definitions of what constitutes freedom and Max Rafferty has even referred to him as 'the confused Frenchman'. In this thesis it will be argued that this confusion is only apparent and not real. In this respect, the critical literature about Rousseau's theories on freedom will be analysed in an attempt to show that there is indeed an internal consistency of definition in Rousseau's works and that his view is of positive, rather than negative, freedom.
-
ItemThe holistic nature of literary knowledge : a perspective of authorial meaning and legitimate significance as a unique aesthetic experience( 1986)Literary knowledge represents the state of affairs in the holistic nature of literature. Within the scheme of co-ordinates that constitute the holistic nature of literature, legitimate aesthetic experience cannot occur unless a valid interpretation of meaning is considered as the probable intention of the author. Understanding meaning initiates legitimate aesthetic experience as opposed to an aesthetic awareness that inadvertently distorts authorial intention to satisfy wishfulfilment gratification of the audience. Validity in interpretation implies satisfying the conditions of knowledge, in that agreement in .judgements about literature is possible. Yet, though meaning may satisfy the conditions of objectivity, each legitimate aesthetic experience is peculiar to the individual's empathic relationship to the valid interpretation. . The significance of the text may be an ineffable aesthetic experience which is a self-evident form of knowledge. The synthesis of Hirsch's theory of 'meaning and 'significance' with Hirst's belief that literature is ? 'unique form of knowledge' gives a dual nature to, and foundation for, the epistemological status of literature. Consequently, there is justification for teaching literary knowledge in texts and procedural knowledge for construal of valid interpretation. Interpretation and criticism have different functions. One attempts to give coherence and objectivity to textual meaning, while criticism imbues a valid interpretation with a 'unique' knowledge that is relative to the dynamic of history and the dialectic of criticism. If students are to perceive in some degree the holistic nature of literary knowledge, then trainee teachers ought to be familiar with the synthesis of Hirsch and Hirst which is a primary principle both in the construal of textual meaning and in the attempt to express legitimate aesthetic experience.