Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses
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ItemMaking the transition : cultural reproduction in the market-place( 1985)This work relates to the cultural, economic and behavioural characteristics of two groups of young people who have recently left school and, either embarked upon a career pathway via tertiary education or on to long-term unemployment. Theories of cultural reproduction and anomie were examined in an attempt to account for the pathways that the two groups had taken. Two anomalies were discovered; students from migrant or working-class backgrounds who were succeeding in higher education and some working class unemployed young people who were beginning the slide into the under class. Cultural reproduction theory was found not to exactly or accurately account for outcomes and life chances whereas anomie theory was found to be a reasonable explication for the state of malaise of a number of those young people interviewed.
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ItemPeer tutoring in a tertiary institution( 1987)This thesis aims to explore and assess the potential of Peer Tutoring as a teaching strategy for student-teachers who need to improve their written language skills. Specifically it addresses students' attitudes to Peer Tutoring from an organisational perspective, and their attitude towards the effectiveness of the strategy to further develop written language skills. The study was conducted during 1986 with first-year English students enrolled in the Bachelor of Education (Primary) Course at Melbourne College of Advanced Education. In this study three research tools were used = formal interviews, two questionnaires, and an analysis of students' written work. Interviews were conducted with six students on completion of their Peer Tutoring program. Questions focussed on their attitude to Peer Tutoring as a teaching strategy, the success of the approach for them, problems they encountered with the approach and suggestions for more effective management of the program. Following the interviews, students completed a questionnaire designed to confirm and give data additional to that already collected. All first-year English students completed a four-item questionnaire, related to Peer Tutoring at the completion of the subject. These questions were designed to assess all students' attitudes to the effectiveness of Peer Tutoring as a teaching strategy, whether they were involved in the program or not, and to provide feedback for more effective program management. Assignments were collected at the completion of the program, and were analysed in terms of the student's attitude towards Peer Tutoring as a teaching strategy and the gains made in written language skills. The data clearly indicates the value of Peer Tutoring as a strategy for students in their first year of teacher-training, and major recommendations have emerged from student comment as to more effective program management in the future.
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ItemThe year co-ordinator in selected Victorian metropolitan independent schools : profile, practice and prospects( 1987)This study was designed to examine the position and role of the Year Co-ordinator in selected Victorian Metropolitan Independent schools. The principal objectives of the study were: (i) to discover what sorts of persons undertake this role and establish whether they have personal, academic and career characteristics in common; (ii) to look at the year co-ordinator's perception of the role; and (iii) to examine the career interests of year co-ordinators and, in particular, to gauge their opinions on how well their present role is preparing them for future responsibilities, such as Deputy Principal or Principal. A questionnaire was distributed to forty AHISA affiliated Independent schools in Victoria. Twenty eight valid responses were received. Six Principals returned their questionnaires stating that the position of year co-ordinator did not exist in their schools. The schools who did not reply were telephoned and it was established that year co-ordinators did exist in those schools.
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ItemAn analysis of education provision to older non-English speaking background youth with minimal or interrupted schooling in the Richmond/Collingwood area( 1987)This study is an analysis of educational provision in the Richmond/Coilingwood area for young people aged 16 to 24 years of age, of migrant or refugee background, who have a history of minimal or interrupted schooling. These students are mostly of Indo-Chinese or Timorese background , and face severe problems relating to their lack of literacy and poor English proficiency. Many of these students are unaccompanied refugees and face economic hardship in Australia. Educational programs running in five postprimary schools, two TAFE colleges and two language centres are examined in light of their relevance to the needs of these students. It emerges from this study that a small number of institutions provide responsive quality programs for this group. There are, however, general problems relating to the low status and marginalization of ESL programs in most of the institutions. These problems are compounded by a lack of funding, unsympathetic administration, ignorance of the issues and difficulties relating to accreditation. In some institutions, no provision at all is made for these students. Needs emerging from these issues may be summarized as follows. A greater awareness of the educational requirements. of this group must be developed. An informed collaborative approach must be adopted to respond to these needs in the form of appropriate ESL programs. Policy and administrative support must be forthcoming to assist in achieving these goals.
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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 migrant student "Australianization" and academic performance( 1986)This investigation aims to examine the claim that migrant children are frequently low level school performers. It is also an attempt to explain the observable discrepancy in overall school achievement between diverse groups defined as "ethnic" that is, having a family background in which English is not the mother-tongue. Behavioural and home based variables influencing the school performance of these groups are discussed and analysed. Ethnic and non ethnic groups used in the study were drawn from inner suburban students who were in their grade 6 year in 1982.' Each child completed numeracy and word knowledge tests and examination of results displayed that as a whole, the migrant sample scored at an inferior level to the "Australian" Sample albeit that the top students came from both categories. Throughout, Australian,is taken to signify children with two parents whose mother-tongue is English and whose general family environment, encompassing cultural and attitudinal elements, reflects that common to the majority of members of the same social class. Correlations between the extent of Australianization of the family and performance scores of children revealed that Australianization appears to be a positive factor only when it involves developed language adoption in addition to general behavioural adaptations. The tests reveal that lower test scores are in each case associated with limited English language ability.
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ItemThe integration of a Down's Syndrome child into an independent school( 1989)Integrating students with impairments, disabilities or problems in schooling does not only mean that these students participate in the educational programmes and the social life of regular schools. It also necessitates the development of procedures and programmes to ensure that their participation is maintained and continued. Integration of these students represents a change in Ministry of Education policy in Victoria, but due to the complexity of social implications involved when adapting to the alterations of any value system, the change becomes multi-dimensional. This thesis examines the impact the enrolment of a five year-old girl with Down's Syndrome had on one Independent Girls' School in Melbourne, Victoria. The thesis is presented as a case study over a three year period, and focuses on the changes made by the staff members involved with the child; changes within the infant area of the school, and school policy changes made as a result of the child's enrolment. In analysing these changes, the issues that were examined and the findings that were made have been discussed, and the responses made by the staff and the school have been recorded.
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ItemDifficulties in maintenance of ethnic language and culture in a multicultural society: with particular reference to Italian families in Melbourne( 1981)The growing political awareness and acknowledgment of Australia's multicultural society produced in the seventies an increasing number of reports on the needs of the ethnic communities. The Government acknowledges that it is now essential to encourage the development of a multicultural attitude in Australian society to foster the maintenance of cultural heritage and promote intercultural understanding. The long-awaited signs of widespread implementation of stated policies and recommendations have been disappointingly slow in emerging. This is attributed to the slowness of a change in attitude throughout the community. Because the Australian school system is not in tune with the multicultural society of today, children of ethnic parents are not receiving equal education opportunities with their Australian peers. Through lack of recognition of their ethnic language and culture by schools, children of ethnic parents are rejecting their mother tongue. In a series of case studies of Italian families in Melbourne, the mother's attitude was seen as the most important factor in language maintenance at the present time. Attitudes were seen to differ, not according to social class, educational level or region of origin, but according to individual values and beliefs. The importance of maintenance of ethnic language and culture for the traditional cohesiveness of the Italian family ethos is stressed, but is seen as resting on a tenuous thread.
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ItemInstruments of cultural preservation in the Greek community of Melbourne( 1989)To the world Australia represents a uniform social environment, whilst the Australian stereotype is one of the blonde, athletic, down-to-earth individual. A closer examination however, of the Australian cultural framework reveals that the Australian citizen is quite different from that stereotype. Australia is far from culturally homogeneous, there are countless cultural groups that work, live and survive in their unique social groupings. The aim of this minor thesis is to examine the Greek Community of Melbourne. After giving a historical background of its early years I will examine the many and varied areas of cultural Preservation i.e., the Church, Brotherhoods, the Greek School, the Press, Cafenion etc. Throughout this minor thesis I will assess how culturally intact this community has remained. The specified areas have to be examined so as to establish their cultural maintenance techniques and to assess the extent of their traditional links with Greece. The ground work for this minor thesis began with my contact with the Greek community and my personal desire to explore those facilities which had become a part of my personal and social experiences as a functional Greek mother. My teaching experience at Richmond High School during 1981-1987 proved to be an invaluable resource, as it gave me a realistic insight into the wider issues of cultural maintenance. Consequently I gathered a wealth of material from Parent-Teacher nights, Report-Nights etc. which gave diverse insights into the hopes, ideals and expectations of the Greek Australian. The face to face contact with young Greek Australian students on the other hand, gave me the chance to assess how successful those cultural facilities had become in the second generation Australian-Greek. My findings are very heartening for the existing system of cultural maintenance. At the moment it is at its peak performance, catering for the needs of a primarily youthful community. Future success will largely depend on the second generation's desire to replace Australian Anglo-Saxon social experiences with the predetermined Greek ideals of social existence and family commitments.
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ItemA comparative study of ten Victorian Protestant girls' school histories 1875 to 1920( 1985)In recent years a number of histories of independent girls' schools have been published and it now seems an appropriate time to draw together some aspects of this history. This thesis will trace some of the common features of these histories with a view to explaining the changes in the development of female education in Victoria during the period 1875 to 1920.(From Introduction)