Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses
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ItemA study of moral positioning in sites of high-rise public housing: exploring ontologies of pro-environmental practices in Australia and Mexico( 2017)This doctoral research addresses the dearth of sustained research on the pro-environmental practices of individuals and communities living in high-rise public housing. This ethnographic cross-site study focuses on two high-rise sites: Collingwood high-rise public housing, in Melbourne, Australia; and Tlatelolco high-rise public housing, in Mexico City, Mexico. The thesis, drawing upon Positioning Theory (Harré) and Site Ontology (Schatzki) as its main theoretical frameworks, revealed the ontological meanings of each site and the moral positions that helped to sustain or disrupt the pro-environmental practices of residents. What emerged were new understandings of how pro-environmental practices can be conditioned by past experiences, attachment to place, material infrastructure, the social production of fear, and the lack of reinforcement of social rules.
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ItemTeaching academics’ perceptions of ‘Asia Literacy’ and its integration into undergraduate curricula: A case study in three Australian universities( 2017)The imperative of including Asia in education has been Australia’s national interest since 1970s, which has been reiterated under successive policies through the promotion of ‘Asia literacy’ in terms of Asian languages and studies. While its relevance to Australian students in economic, political, social, cultural and intellectual terms has been widely discussed in public policy and academic contexts, recently, the place of Asia has gained currency and traction in Australian higher education in light of universities’ strategic focus on Asia and graduate attributes linked to intercultural competence. Despite this, after more than four decades of work to build ‘Asia literacy’, its meanings and pedagogical strategies remain unclear (Halse, 2015; Halse et al., 2013; Rizvi, 2013, 2015; Salter, 2013, 2014, 2015). The poor understanding of this concept in higher education, coupled with a notable absence of studies on pedagogical implications of ‘Asia literacy’ for different curriculum domains, points to a pressing need for evidence-based and theorised research to inform a better articulation of university strategies on Asia in teaching practice. To address this, empirically, this study investigated the notion, value and integration of ‘Asia literacy’, and factors that may influence this integration. Theoretically, this study contributes to the knowledge field by adopting a sociological view of curriculum for investigation, which has not provided a major perspective of research on ‘Asia literacy’. Drawing on Young’s (2008) social realism and Maton’s (2014) Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) as major conceptual lens, this study explored the disciplinary principles that underpin curricular integration of Asia, and academic’s agency in navigating the idea of ‘Asia literacy’ within their disciplinary conditions. Given this fresh perspective, this supported an exploratory case study approach that took place in undergraduate programs at three Australian universities with institutional approaches that favoured students’ intercultural/international development to optimise opportunities for exploration. The focus on disciplinarity further informed the selection of disciplines that represent distinctive knowledge fields (Trowler et al., 2012). This study has identified the layered notion of ‘Asia literacy’ associated with cultural differences, internationalisation and languages; its multifaceted roles in enhancing students’ employability, cultural engagement and worldviews; and its curricular integration through discipline-specific strategies. The nuances of teaching practice of ‘Asia literacy’ offer insights into how disciplinary structures and academics play out in the integration, their interplay with other important factors such as students and external bodies in different disciplines, and the tension of how ‘difference voices’, as Ashwin (2014) describes, seek to legitimate knowledge of Asia. To advance the understanding of ‘Asia literacy’, this study proposes a reconceptualisation to encapsulate the contextual meanings for higher education: it unpacks the conceptual complexity and the place of Asia for undergraduate curricula. It identifies possibilities for curricular integration of Asia across the university. It highlights the specialisation of disciplinary structures, and urges universities to take this into account in policy-making, and improve visibility of their directives to incentivise academics’ articulation of the Asian focus in teaching practice. Finally, it suggests promising areas for future research in methodological and theoretical aspects.
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ItemExplorations of the moral socio-cultural contexts of the intentional action of physics teachers: case studies to inform practice and teacher education( 2017)This study seeks to explore the intelligibility of physics teaching and the dynamics of the processes of personal professional identity formation processes. The teachers’ reflections in association with their vision, motivation, understanding and practice in their daily discursive practices have been carefully explored from multiple semi-structured conversational interviews and classroom observations. In this study I attend to the situational, cultural and social identities of ten physics teachers, at different stages of their careers; student teachers in training, early career and experienced teachers, in their autobiographical accounts, analysing their subject positions as classifications, participant roles, viewpoints and interactive positions in their schools and beyond. Positioning theory has been used to locate the agency of the teachers in their accounts of dynamic social episodes, and to deeply explore the complexity of the multiplicities of their social realities, evidenced in their discursive practices, that is in their alignment of both their “doings and sayings”. Pronoun Grammar Analysis (PGA) has been utilised to better locate the teacher as agent, in their own positioning in their own storylines and the social impact claimed for them. The use of PGA has assisted in illuminating and interpreting the teachers’ “technologies of the self”, against the local cover, secret and sacred stories. The teachers’ storylines seemed to be consistently impacted upon and influenced by the teachers’ institutional setting and also by past and present members of their school communities of practices. The teachers explained what they “do” and clearly described their understanding of their duties, as those that were imposed upon them in the concrete local social context of teaching in general, and of physics teaching specifically. They discussed how they had come to make practical sense of what physics teaching meant to them in their own classroom, but at the same time, also how their teaching had come to be adapted to how teaching was already being performed, and valued in their schools. There are many ways in which to approach and analyse the identities that emerge and unfold in research materials. In this study the teachers’ identities have been approached as historically, socially and culturally produced positions, as processes that are in permanent state of becoming. This study has found, and suggests that we need more complex ways to better understand the multiple “ways of being” that are required to be an effective teacher in school setting generally, and particularly as a physics teacher. The study has general implications not only for a richer study of identity formation of physics teachers but also the use of narrative accounts presented in the case studies in the study for pre-service programmes and faculty development.
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ItemContained art experiences for young people, staff and an a/r/tographer in Nicaragua: implications for art education and wellbeing( 2017)Contained Art Experiences (CAE) was developed as an art practice in response to my work with Si a La Vida (SALV), a small Non-Governmental Organisation that supports young people and families who have experienced trauma through poverty, violence and neglect in Nicaragua, Central America. Within this cultural setting, I explored CAE as a new quality art practice with the aim of enriching participants’ capacities of awareness of self and other, to assist them in strengthening relationships that contribute to resilience and wellbeing and in responding more positively to their cultural reality. CAE was developed through my prior experience, blending three constructs: attachment theory and attuned relationships; art making and wellbeing; and culture, art practice and recovery from trauma. CAE invited participants to consider and express their experiences and feelings through their art making within an environment where they were valued and where they sensed the presence of an attuned relationship. My exploration of CAE was a qualitative investigation, guided by a/r/tography and case study methodologies that interacted together to create and inform a trans-methodological frame for the study. This frame allowed me to gather data through observations, artefacts and interviews resulting from the participation of 40 young people and two staff in CAE over a five-week period at SALV. Data gathered from reflection and artefacts during my time in Nicaragua recognised my participation in CAE as a/r/tographer. I analysed the data through a process of sifting and sorting that allowed a deeper and refined analysis, and brought a greater clarity to the emerging themes of participation, expression and new thinking. Weaving text and the creative work, The Altar, I responded to these themes. The Altar is an installation consisting of four elements set in a scene of a Catholic altar, with my choice of materials, techniques, and subjects informed by my interaction with the cultural context of Nicaragua. This text/creative response identified that participation in CAE allowed individual expression of experiences and feelings, and contributed to changed thinking and behaviour in young people, staff and a/r/tographer. Further, CAE contributed to their sense of value and the development of pro-social behaviours for young people. CAE informed teacher professional practice and their relationship with students, and provided a reflective practice for me, as a/r/tographer, that informed my relationship with participants and contributed to the process of implementing CAE. This is a small-scale study, however, I suggest that participation in CAE has implications for art and wellbeing as a new addition to quality art practices in a broader setting in education. CAE may provide a model of teacher professional learning and teacher reflective practice, and offer a relationship-centred student wellbeing approach that may support students who have experienced trauma.
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ItemActing with care: how actor practice is shaped by creating theatre with and for children( 2017)Research has investigated the backgrounds, dispositions and skills of artists working with children in both school and in out-of-school contexts (Ascenso, 2016; Brown, 2014; Galton, 2008; Jeanneret & Brown, 2013; Pringle, 2002; Pringle, 2009; Rabkin, Reynolds, Hedberg, & Shelby, 2008; Waldorf, 2002). Actors make a significant contribution to this work but few studies focus in depth on how they create theatre with and for children. Incorporating constructivist, phenomenological (Van Manen, 1990) and case study methodologies, this research investigates the practice of nine actors who create theatre with and for children in diverse contexts. Drawing on document analysis, surveys, semi-structured interviews and performance observations, the research explores two key questions: What characterises the practice of actors who create theatre with and for children? and How is actor practice shaped by working with children? This thesis explores actor practice in relation to being, doing, knowing and becoming (Ewing & Smith, 2001). Shaped to be outward facing and ‘pedagogically tactful’ (Van Manen, 2015), actor practice gives emphasis to four key qualities: listening, reciprocating, imagining and empathising. When creating theatre with and for children, pedagogically tactful actors are guided by a sense of care and respect. This thesis adds to the discourse about artists working with children, making actor practice visible and drawing attention to their beliefs, goals, motivations and acting techniques.
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ItemA study of online citizenship practices of Chinese young people( 2017)This thesis is positioned at the intersection between studies of citizenship in China and studies of the Chinese internet. It complements these two bodies of scholarship by investigating young Chinese internet users’ online engagement through the lens of citizenship practice. More specifically, it looks into young Chinese internet users’ online activities to understand how they practice their citizenship online and what these practices mean to them as citizens. Thirty-one urban Chinese aged from 19 to 33 participated in the study. Online observation of participants’ social media homepages was carried out to collect data about their online activities, and internet-mediated audio interviews were conducted to explore their accounts of these activities. The results show that citizenship is practiced by participants online on two interconnected levels. The first is represented by their practice of online citizenship, defined by the norms and practices of the online community with which they engage. The second level is their practice of Chinese citizenship as it is manifest in their internet-mediated engagement with different social communities and networks. On each level, the citizenship practiced by participants can be understood in three dimensions, namely: citizenship learning, identity formation, and action for social change. Their practice of online citizenship is a process through which they learn about the norms and language practices of online communities through engagement with these communities, form their identity as online citizens by aligning their online activity to accepted online practices, and contribute to constructing an equal and tolerant online space rich in reliable information and diverse opinions. Participants’ Chinese citizenship was also practiced in three dimensions. First, it is practiced as a form of learning about Chinese society and their position in this society through internet-mediated social engagement. Second, their Chinese citizenship is practiced as identity performance, consisting of: 1) normalised identity performance on WeChat to consolidate identity in their physical lives, and 2) values-based performance on Weibo to form and maintain identity so as to navigate their lives in a drastically changing society. Third, their practices of Chinese citizenship are represented in their endeavours to improve Chinese society through internet-mediated social engagement. These practices are collectively shaped by three orientations of action, namely: angry youth, powerless cynics, and realistic idealists. These orientations are underpinned by the fluid and contingent subjectivity which unfolds in their engagement with the Chinese society which they experience in virtual and physical spaces. In sum, young Chinese people’s online citizenship practices illustrate a notion of citizenship that is little associated with the state. It is more of a social and cultural citizenship defined by the norms and practices of the socio-cultural communities with which they engage in their everyday lives. These norms and practices were learned through, performed in, and shaped by young people’s participation in these communities.
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ItemRemaking the university curriculum: what counts as knowledge in new forms of online learning( 2017)The purposes of a university education and the knowledge it should seek to impart are today very much in question. Teaching within universities is becoming increasingly focused on generic instrumental and vocational agendas, and there are strong drives to improve teaching and make greater use of online technologies in response to a widening student body. The significance and implications of these trends for different aspects of university work have been widely debated, but there has been little attention to the changing dynamics of curriculum making and the assumptions at work in how subjects are being put together. Within this context, this thesis investigates the question ‘what counts as knowledge in new forms of online learning’. It focuses on the differences and similarities evident in the purposes, assumptions and constraints recognised by those working in different kinds of knowledge fields; and on the coherence of the conceptions of knowledge at work within the framing and development of new online initiatives and subjects. The thesis approaches these questions through a qualitative study of online initiatives developed at two Australian universities. The research draws on traditions of curriculum inquiry and policy sociology to focus on how those responsible for the development of the new online initiatives and subjects grapple with questions of knowledge and its teaching in their aims and practices. It considers the institutional policy framings informing the new online initiatives and undertakes case studies of the curriculum development of particular subjects, drawing on interviews with policy leaders and lecturers, and analyses of policy documentation and curriculum materials. For the policy leaders, the thesis shows that while their rhetoric is concerned with students’ own knowledge constructions, their approach positions curriculum content as settled and predefined. For the lecturers, it highlights significant differences in how those located in disciplinary and professional fields conceptualised knowledge and approached their curriculum development, but also that these orientations were undermined to an extent in the process of working with the new platforms. It shows the lecturers’ practices here led to more ‘instructivist’ rather than ‘constructivist’ teaching, and a greater emphasis on knowledge as a defined body of content to be taught. The thesis uncovers three problems arising in current university developments. One is the neglect of the differences between disciplines and professional knowledge fields, and the ways in which the different purposes and orientations of these fields shape curriculum development. A second is the neglect of the conditions required to encourage constructivist teaching practices online, including in relation to questions of substance. And a third is the neglect of the complex relations between curriculum and pedagogical form in building what counts as knowledge. The thesis explores the effects of these policy blindspots on lecturers’ practices of curriculum making and on the forms of education made possible as a result. In doing so, it opens up some new ways for researchers and institutional leaders to engage with questions of knowledge and curriculum within higher education.
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ItemInternationalization and students' development of intercultural competence in Malaysian universities( 2017)Internationalization of higher education and its potential to enhance a nation's capacity both economically and socially has driven Malaysia to invest and intensify its efforts into becoming the education hub for the Southeast Asian region. To increase the flow of international students from 120,000 in 2016 to 250,000 by 2025, the Ministry of Higher Education has developed policy initiatives to enhance the student experience with a focus on improving social integration and development of intercultural competence through students' engagement in university activities. The measurable outcomes for most if not all the action steps under this initiative are the number of programs carried out by universities and student participation in these programs. However, little is known about the factors that influence students' voluntary participation in these programs and their experiences in activities aimed at developing intercultural competence. Using a mixed methods approach, this study examined the enablers and barriers to students' engagement in cross-cultural activities and the extent to which their engagement was perceived to facilitate the development of intercultural competence. The study found that despite students' efforts to engage in these activities, factors such as poor English language proficiency and engrained inter-ethnic tensions persist as key challenges to social integration and the development of intercultural competence. The findings affirm the influence of the historical, political and social context of societies in shaping an individual's understanding and development of intercultural competence. Given these challenges, this study argues that apart from activities that promote students' engagement with diversity, there is also a need for more strategic fundamental programs to enhance intercultural understanding and communicative abilities among diverse ethnic groups in Malaysia, as well as programs designed specifically to enhance the experience of international students. The findings of this study have implications for institutions and policymakers in enhancing students' overall university experience and realizing the broader vision of creating more socially integrated and interculturally competent graduates.
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ItemEffective score reporting: establishing evidence-informed principles for outcomes focused score reports( 2017)Score reports are of fundamental importance. They are the main visible outcome of the complex process of testing and, as such, integral to the communication between test developers and their audience. As such, how effectively a score report can communicate its message and influence the decisions and actions of its target audience is critical in achieving the intended outcomes of assessment programs, and, arguably, in claims about validity. Despite this clear importance, there is persistent evidence from the literature that target audiences often have difficulty interpreting score reports as intended. This thesis explores score reporting and score report design from a validity perspective with the aim of offering insights into effective score reporting and the provision of evidence informed principles for score reporting.
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ItemSpeech-language pathology intervention for young offenders( 2017)Young offenders are a vulnerable and marginalised group with critical speech, language, and communication needs. Fifty to sixty percent of male young offenders have a clinically significant developmental language disorder. Despite this, little research has focussed on the efficacy and feasibility of speech-language pathology (SLP) intervention in youth justice settings. A year-long study in a youth justice facility in Victoria, Australia was undertaken. Following an assessment study (n = 27), a language intervention trial was conducted using a series of four empirical single case studies. The study evaluated the extent to which one-to-one speech-language pathology intervention improved the language skills of male young offenders. The feasibility of delivering SLP services was also investigated using quantitative service efficiency data, and qualitative data gathered from a staff focus group, and researcher field notes. Half of the sample in the assessment study qualified for a diagnosis of language disorder (> 1 standard deviation below mean on standardised measures), one third had social cognition deficits, and deficits in subskills of executive functioning ranged from one to three quarters of participants. Social cognition and executive functioning measures contributed significantly to variability in oral language skills. Individualised intervention programs were delivered for each of the four single case studies. There were medium-large improvements in the targeted communication skills, many of which were statistically significant. The data indicated evidence of the feasibility of SLP services, in spite of considerable barriers, including a high frequency of disruptions and cancellations. This research makes a substantial contribution to the evidence supporting the efficacy of one-to-one SLP intervention for young offenders. This research indicates that, despite substantial barriers, there are opportunities for effective and responsive SLP services with young offenders, as part of wider efforts to change the risk trajectories of these young people.