Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

Permanent URI for this collection

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The year co-ordinator in selected Victorian metropolitan independent schools : profile, practice and prospects
    McDonald, Graeme Ernest ( 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.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    A comparative study of ten Victorian Protestant girls' school histories 1875 to 1920
    Johnston, Carol ( 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)
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    "Are you satisfied?": review of parental attitudes towards the curriculum of an independent girls' secondary school
    Edwards, Jane ( 1985)
    This thesis examines the attitudes of parents to a range of issues concerning the content and application of the educational programme of a small independent girls' school in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. The material that forms the basis of the thesis was gathered from information supplied in response to questionnaires sent to all parents of daughters in the senior school, supplemented by a limited number of interviews. The intention of this review of the school was to establish the extent to which the school's educational programme reflected the wishes and needs of the present parent-body, to establish whether there were any areas of substantial dissatisfaction that need immediate attention, and to determine whether there were particular reasons why parents chose this school as such information could assist in the development of a particular style for the school. The thesis analyses the one hundred and ninety-eight responses to the questionnaire (with some illumination given by the interviews of twenty-eight parents) and suggests areas for change. However, the overall impression gained from the analysis is that the present parent-body is extremely satisfied with the school.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Independent schools and children of high intellectual potential
    Blackler, Deane (1952-) ( 1990)
    Independent Schools and Children of High Intellectual Potential In the current, rather volatile, educational climate, the community in Victoria is engaged in considerable debate about the putative merits and demerits of the proposed changes to post-compulsory schooling, the consequent flowback to curriculum and methodology in the P-10 years, and the consequences for the nature of our society. It is in this context, on the eve of the implementation of these changes, that this minor thesis proposes that teachers in non-systemic, independent schools continue to need to be made aware of the ways in which students of high intellectual potential might be identified and have their particular needs met within the constraints of the present system, so that the opportunities for the achievement of excellence might be explicitly realized. A survey has been conducted in order to establish, in a broad way, what is being done for children of high intellectual potential in non-systemic, independent schools within a 25-kilometre radius of the GPO, Melbourne. These schools have been surveyed by questionnaire. This questionnaire was designed to enquire about schools' entry policies, preliminary testing of students, the ways in which these tests are employed to group students and in which curriculum areas, at what levels any differential programs operate, the theory and research which informs the schools' policies, the oversight and implementation of these provisions or programs, and the nature of the schools' commitment to recognizing and meeting the needs of the highly able. The results of the questionnaire suggest that the single sex girls schools are more aware of and sensitive to the needs of able students and the ways in which the curriculum might be differentiated to meet those needs than either the single sex boys schools or the coeducational schools. While there is a general awareness of the issue of able students in many schools, there is, with a few notable exceptions, a lack of the firm knowledge and understanding of the ways in which those needs might be met by adopting specific identification measures, by modifying the traditional group structures employed in schools, and by systematically differentiating the curriculum for able students within and across particular learning domains. There is clearly a continuing need for the provision of further professional inservicing of all teachers to assist them in recognizing the needs and fostering the capacities of the intellectually able young in schools, that these students might be afforded the opportunities to realize their maximum potential.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The changing role of the headmaster?: a study of two Ivanhoe Grammar School headmasters, 1915-1974
    Bell, Timothy J. ( 1985)
    The organization of this study is straightforward. The first chapter discusses the origin of the Headmaster tradition and school management. The second chapter reviews the development of educational administration and its relationship to business administration. The third and fourth chapters deal with a study of two Ivanhoe Grammar School Headmasters, 1915 to 1974. The last chapter examines the different leadership styles of the headmasters and concludes that although these styles may vary, due to a variety of factors, the function of a headmaster remains basically the same.