Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

Permanent URI for this collection

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Measuring the development of professional learning teams
    Robertson, Pamela L. ( 2012)
    In many schools, groups of teachers are meeting regularly with the intention of improving their practice so they can enhance the learning of their students. These groups, often known as professional learning teams or professional learning communities, have been shown to be an effective means of changing classroom practices and improving student learning (Bolam, McMahon, Stoll, Thomas, & Wallace, 2005) Team activities such as interpreting evidence of student learning, examining the effectiveness of teaching and assessment strategies, and collaboratively planning teaching are integral to the process, as is creating a culture of engagement that increases the involvement of teachers in these collaborative practices. The purpose of this study was to design an instrument to measure the degree to which professional learning teams engage in activities that have been identified as improving the teaching practices of members and enhancing the learning of their students. The study took a criterion-referenced measurement approach and utilised item response modelling (Rasch model) in the analysis. This study produced two online questionnaires for teachers; one that concentrated on the activities undertaken by the team and the other that measured the engagement of teachers in the functioning of the team. It showed that it is possible to distinguish between the sophistication of functioning of professional learning teams and to distinguish between the engagement of teachers in the functioning of professional learning teams. It was possible to describe different levels of sophistication and engagement which can be used by researchers investigating professional learning team functioning. These levels have been combined into two developmental progressions. It is hoped that teachers will be able to use these progressions to enhance the functioning of their teams.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Lying on the floor: young peoples' approaches to creativity in the music classroom
    BOYLE, ROSEMARY ( 2012)
    In recent times, the importance of fostering creativity in music education has been at the forefront of discussion and writing about music curricula. By asking students to explore their creativity in the music classroom we allow them to investigate their originality and help them to become more expressive, self-assured, and independent individuals. However, adolescents are often inhibited in their quest for self-expression. Although there are studies looking at the processes involved in creative music activities for kindergarten, primary and tertiary students, less attention has been paid to fostering creativity in secondary students. And because the notion of creativity has many interpretations, this study includes a review of literature exploring perceptions of this concept. As my pedagogy is situated in student centered music education, it also traces the growth of this movement. The aim of the study is to explore the inhibiting factors that impinge on adolescents who are asked to produce creative musical responses. The setting is a unique rural school, with a mixed population of Australian and international students, that offers education leading to the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma. This action research involves semi-structured interviews, students’ reflections on these music activities as well as my participant observations. The analysis of the data is used to review current classroom practices and inform new teaching directions.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    English language development in remote Indigenous Australian children: song making, music software, text production and community
    WOOLLEY, NOLAN ( 2012)
    In a remote Australian Homeland Learning Centre for Indigenous children the lone teacher conducted a qualitative investigation of how music authoring software can be used to generate student interest in writing texts for songs. Working against odds that included limited or no electricity, no internet connection, fluctuating student attendance rates and lack of equipment, the teacher used his own MacBook computer and GarageBand software to encourage students to sing the texts/lyrics they had written and ultimately mix them down with pre-recorded music samples. This qualitative study presents an ethnographical investigation of the school and its children, and an auto-ethnographical narrative of the researcher’s experiences. In doing so it documents teaching and literacy learning sessions during one school term. Data were collected as samples of written text, my own annotated notes and journal entries, and mp3 files of student songs amongst other items. The study showed two key things: First, apparently disengaged students can produce meaningful and sustained written text as long as the curriculum is structured around teaching and learning strategies that cultivate student collaboration. Second, multimedia has the power to promote student engagement, improve attendance and foster a sense of student wellbeing if used in culturally appropriate ways. Taking a broader view, purposeful, expressive and culturally appropriate writing activities combined with multimodal text production were shown, in this case, to affect a positive change in student attitude and literacy development.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Musical futures in the primary (elementary) years
    McLennan, Rebecca Louise ( 2012)
    Music is an important part of young people’s lives for self-expression, enjoyment and identity formation, and it is vital that school music is able to engage all young people. A music classroom approach, Musical Futures has been found to have a positive impact on the re- engagement of young people at the secondary level (Hallam, Creech, & McQueen, 2009, 2011; Jeanneret, 2010; Jeanneret, McLennan, & Stevens-Ballenger, 2011). Years Five and Six (10-12 year olds) are grouped into the middle years of Five to Nine (10 – 15 year olds) who share common engagement needs. This study explored whether Musical Futures could have a similarly positive impact in the upper primary years as it has had in the lower secondary level. The research was a collective case study following two Australian schools which used the Musical Futures approach to music education in Years Five and Six. The study used a mixed methods approach including interviews, focus group discussions, observations and surveys to gather data. The results of the study found that Musical Futures had a positive impact on students’ engagement, musical skills and knowledge and social learning in the two case study schools. The conditions supporting the positive impact were closely aligned with principles of engaging middle years students. The study provided a number of key recommendations for schools considering implementing Musical Futures in the primary years. While it acknowledged that each case is different, the study suggested that the age of primary students should not discourage teachers from using this learning approach in their music classroom.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    The map is not the territory: reconsidering music improvisation education
    Wallace, Michael Edmund ( 2012)
    This paper examines contemporary theory on music improvisation learning and teaching. It highlights how music improvisation education is being reconsidered, and the implications of this reconsideration for academic practice. The aim of the research is to emancipate. In this sense the topic engages critical theory to evaluate literature so as to provide a way forward for music improvisation education. The inductive document analysis undertaken examines a variety of document forms to seek recurring themes and thematic relationships. This qualitative investigation is framed by ecological systems theory/methodology (Borgo, 2007; Clarke, 2005), which sees knowledge as embodied, situated and distributed. Music education centres on the performance of repertoire, often neglecting the creative processes of improvisation and composition. This study finds the dominant improvisation education methods which stem from jazz as limited in scope. Jazz improvisation education commonly centres on patterns and models and a harmonic imperative (chord–scale theory). Such approaches do not holistically embrace the immediacy, preparation, embodiment and social interaction of the improvisation process, which ecological systems theory seeks to acknowledge. In a broader setting, the Dalcroze, Kodály and Orff early childhood methods centre on improvisation as play, perhaps reflecting Piaget’s concrete operational stage. Subsequent levels of music education, perhaps viewing play as immature, neglect the embodied, situated and distributed elements of ecological improvisation. Paynter and Schafer, through their Cagean prioritisation of critical listening, exhibit some elements of ecological systems thinking. I conclude that the educational methods utilised by free improvisers, such as Stevens, Dove, Dresser and Bennink, engage the learner holistically through embodied, situated and distributed practice. It is recommended that such educational methods, which involve community practice, be introduced into music academies to reflect the ecological nature of improvisation.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Job seekers, traps, and Mickey-Mouse training
    Davis, Sarah Margaret ( 2012)
    Students have become commodities in a new market-driven Australian training system and according to the literature, increasingly subject to poor quality training. Some courses have not been adequate or appropriate for the learning needs of the students, nor industry requirements, and therefore flout the policy goal of a skilled workforce. This thesis aims to explore pathways to employment for African migrant women who undertook a Certificate III course in aged care, but remained unemployed in an area of apparent ‘skills shortage’. Utilising an ethnographic methodology, a small sample of migrant women graduates of aged care Certificate III courses participated in the study – some had been successful and others unsuccessful in obtaining employment in the field. A small sample of aged care team leaders were also interviewed. Sub-standard training qualifications were identified by participants as the biggest barrier to employment. Research findings suggest that fast-tracked, private for-profit training provision is likely to be of poor quality in comparison to public not-for-profit training provision. Findings also indicate that agents of various guises, often with conflicts of interest, have been recruiting students with apparent insufficient and even misleading information about courses. For the long-term benefit of society and the economy, a recognition of the role of well-resourced and funded public training institutions is recommended. If government continues to enable competition for funding between private and public training providers, adequate measures need to be in place to ensure more responsible disbursement of government funds in the training sector. Training providers need to be adequately checked before funds are allocated to them; including for their capabilities such as student support services, partnerships and track record of employment outcomes, but not overly audited and monitored so that professional accountability innovation and quality are stifled. Consumers need to be informed, protected and have bargaining power to be able to compete with the demands of large corporations and international markets. A Labour Market Entry Model (LMEM) is proposed that is a three pronged approach, managed and informed by an ethical local governance structure, of i) policies for quality training ii) career pathway information and iii) work creation for target labour, such as the migrant women, to overcome some of the barriers that they may face and to strategically reduce poverty and related issues in localities where there are concentrations of disadvantage. Until policies and resources are better directed towards a LMEM, partnerships of local agencies should enable residents and employer brokers to clarify career interests and aptitudes along with labour market entry requirements of local employers. They should also raise awareness on how to select a quality training course and determine which training providers and courses should be accepted into community spaces.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Developing thinkers in English for Academic Purposes programmes
    Munro, Barbara ( 2012)
    This thesis is a theoretical enquiry, which focuses on some of the problems already identified by empirical research related to developing thinking in learners enrolled in English for Academic Purposes programmes in Australia (EAP). Rather than researching through an empirical study to identify already highlighted or further problems related to developing thinking, this thesis seeks to illustrate how the previously identified problems can impact on attempts to develop better thinking in EAP. To highlight the reality of these problems, an example of an attempt to develop thinking through a discussion is taken from my own teaching. After identifying three main problems, the thesis seeks to illuminate possible solutions based upon synthesised and selected ideas from prominent literature in the thinking movement in general education. The solutions are not empirically proven, they will be discussed in terms of suggesting ways to improve the attempts of developing better thinking in EAP. Firstly, by suggesting a change in the way thinking is viewed. Secondly, by introducing views that will help formulate solutions to the problems related to developing thinking. Thirdly, by contributing ideas for developing thinking that are usable for teachers and may provide a platform for further empirical research into how better thinking can be developed in EAP in Australia. This thesis seeks to answer two questions: 1. What are some of the issues in seeking to develop higher order thinking in students enrolled in English for Academic Purposes programmes in Australia as identified in literature? 2. How can we develop better thinkers in EAP programmes?
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Engagement and autonomy: their relationship and impact on reading comprehension for junior-secondary English literature students
    Watson, Jennifer Louise ( 2012)
    A qualitative, inductive design explored the effects of two differing approaches to teaching comprehension of narrative texts on students’ task engagement and text enjoyment, and comprehension. Using one junior-secondary, mixed ability English class in a suburb of Melbourne (Victoria) the study compared and contrasted an approach allowing considerable student autonomy with one that is teacher-directed. It considered for which students, and under what circumstances, one might be more constructive. A grounded theory approach (Charmaz, 2006) was used to derive analytic theories from the particular situational and social context. The results demonstrate a complex relationship between engagement and comprehension. They highlight that academically weaker students can be more engaged by increased autonomy, and academically more able students can be disengaged by greater autonomy and prefer the more ‘predictable-to-them’, authoritative approach to instruction. Furthermore, the students’ views of knowledge and their corresponding efficacy beliefs can contribute to the extent of their engagement and ensuing achievement. It is proposed that teachers consider, more explicitly, students’ attitudes toward instruction. Additionally, by diversifying and allowing choice of both the activities to assist comprehension and the ways comprehension is assessed, teachers may be better able to facilitate students’ potential.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Introducing instrumental students to improvisation
    Dipnall, Mark Fairlie ( 2012)
    Improvisation has been an integral component of music practice throughout a variety of world musics, such as the Indonesian Gamelan, Japanese Kabuki Theatre, African drumming, Australian Indigenous music, Klezmer music, the Indian Raga, Jazz and Popular music. Instrumental tuition, within the present system of Western Education, on the other hand, tends to emphasise an early and ongoing commitment to the reading of notated music. Some of the literature in the area suggests that the emphasis for instrumental tuition should be concerned with improvisation thus producing opportunities to achieve a more personalised and independent result with music expression. By including improvisation within regular tuition the student instrumentalist could feel more at one with his or her own voice and imagination, rather than attempting to take on the role of reproducing the character and style of another person's notation. This thesis focussed on the development and provision of improvised music activities with high school students from Years 10 and 11. Consideration was given to how these improvised music activities might have impacted not only their improvisational skills but also broader attitudes to music. The study included a specifically designed curriculum emphasising improvisational techniques. It was constructed and implemented over a ten-week period with accompanying interviews, questionnaire and video. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the implementation of this curriculum and how it could assist the learning and teaching of improvisation. The study's performance-ensemble consisted of rhythm and lead instrumentalists where all participants had the opportunity to engage with specific instrumental techniques that assisted the expression of improvisation. Simultaneously, all participants had the liberty of managing the lesson-content with original extemporised melody and composition. The results showed the participants experienced increased confidence with improvisation. The conclusion suggests that improvisation be viewed as an integral component within the teaching and learning of instrumental music.
  • Item
    Thumbnail Image
    Item evaluation of the reading test of the Malaysian University English Test (MUET)
    Yusup, Rusilah Binti ( 2012)
    The present study is an item-level evaluation of the reading test of the Malaysian University English Test (MUET), the high-stakes entrance test for Malaysian pre-degree students. It comprises an in-depth analysis of student responses at item level as an explanation why this compulsory entry test appears to be formidable challenge for test takers. The study aims to assess the quality of the test items from the framework of two widely used psychometric theories – classical test theory (CTT) and the Rasch model. Additionally, it examines the effects of item features and examinees’ characteristics in determining the difficulty level of the test items. These two issues have been explored by using regression analysis and differential item functioning (DIF) respectively. The findings of item analysis demonstrate the complementary nature of CTT and the Rasch model as useful tools for test design and evaluation. The study also reports that item difficulty of this reading test is influenced largely by question format features (particularly plausibility of the distractors) rather than passage-related variables and question-type variables. DIF analysis points out that natural/real differences are seen as a possible explanation for variation between the various groups being examined. These findings, though subject to limitations, have practical implications for instruction, test construction and educational research. Also, it provides directions for future exploration of several issues identified through this study. Due to the limitation of the study, it only focuses on one of the four components of MUET, that is reading test.