Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemFrom court to college: the institutionalisation of judicial education during its first decade in Victoria, 2005–2015( 2018)The direction of movement in legal education generally has been away from the apprenticeship model and informal, practice-based learning. The jury, case-based reasoning with room for judicial discretion, and the apprenticeship system have been three great strengths of the common law system. But judicial discretion in general has been steadily reduced by legislation, and control of judicial discretion in sentencing was strongly linked to the perceived need for judicial education. And while the virtues of apprenticeship and mentoring are being rediscovered in academia, both law and legal education have become increasingly standardised and institutionalized. Opportunities for informal, observational and supervised learning, the cornerstones of the apprenticeship model, are correspondingly diminished. The change began with the profession’s handing over of its gatekeeper role to universities (degrees in place of articles), and continued in the transition from voluntary to mandatory continuing education in the profession in 2004, with quantitative measures, record-keeping and attendance requirements, and domination of the process by the Law Institute and the Leo Cussen Institute, the chief providers of continuing legal education. Pre-admission Articles gave way to practical training courses, which then became graduate diplomas in legal practice. Bar mentorship at first included, then became increasingly reliant on, a formal Bar Readers’ course and increasingly complex Reading Regulations, and finally a Bar entrance exam. The impetus towards formalised education continued with the introduction of programmed education for judges, again with a published curriculum and quantitative attendance benchmarks for ‘education’ that is in reality ‘training’ on a corporate model consisting largely of programmed events. This case study covers the first decade of judicial education in Victoria. It focuses on judicial education for Supreme Court judges in the context of the broader field of legal education, tracing its progress between 2005 and 2015. A snapshot of the situation not long after its introduction is provided by original research data gathered in 2008, when members of the Bar were relatively unaware of the program for judges and the offerings were meagre. The evolution of judicial education since that point provides additional background and foundation for research which should now be undertaken: assessment of judicial education the curriculum and the program of judicial education after ten years.
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ItemYoung adults and post-school training opportunities in the Frankston-Mornington Peninsula region of Victoria, Australia( 2017)Youth unemployment in Australia has been described as a source of ‘capability deprivation’ (Henry, 2014). Since the late 1980s, a recurring set of policies and programs have been implemented in Australia to tackle youth unemployment by lifting rates of participation in school-based and post-school vocational education and training (VET). More recently, the introduction of policy reforms to marketise the Victorian training system has transformed the composition of VET providers in the training system and, by extension, the types and quality of courses being offered. The impact of these reforms has been documented in the media and through government reviews (e.g. Mackenzie & Coulson, 2015; Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, 2015; Mitchell, 2012). However, very little is understood about the impact of these reforms on VET ‘opportunities’ for small populations of young learners at the local level. Even less is understood from the perspective of the learners themselves. To address this gap, my research contributes a critical examination of post-school training opportunities available to young adults in the small local area of the Frankston-Mornington Peninsula region in Victoria, Australia. This particular region has a youth unemployment rate that is five percentage points higher than the greater Melbourne and Victorian state averages (ABS, 2015a). Drawing on the conceptual framework of the capabilities approach (CA) pioneered by economist Amartya Sen (1980/1984/1985/1987/1992/1993) and extended by philosopher Martha Nussbaum (1992/1995/2000/2002/2003), my study conducts a sequential explanatory mixed-method design (Creswell et al., 2003) set within critical realist (CR) ontology (Bhaskar, 1979/1975). I bring together the philosophical approach of CR and the conceptual framework of the CA to better understand how the problem is constructed. By applying these alternative lenses, I propose approaches to understanding the problem in a more meaningful way. The capabilities approach is structured around three core concepts: capabilities (what people are able to be or to do); functionings (what people, having capabilities, are doing); and agency (the ability to choose the functionings). My research builds on this framework to identify the extent of alignment between available opportunities (as espoused in policy) and accessible opportunities (as stated by young people). Through an assessment of administrative, survey and primary qualitative data, my research produces new insights into the misalignment between (1) loosely-defined policy rhetoric advocating ‘choice’ and ‘opportunity’ in training ‘markets’ and (2) the real training opportunities accessible to young adults in a disadvantaged location. It is envisaged that the findings will have application for policy makers and practitioners in similarly disadvantaged contexts, particularly where there are limited post-school opportunities available to young people. For researchers, there are lessons arising for applying the capabilities approach to the context of young people and VET in disadvantaged locations.
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ItemPrimary teachers and the Information and Communications Technology domain: figuring worlds, identities, knowledge and practices( 2010)This study investigates the development of teacher professional practice in the context of government education policy in Victoria (Australia) that aims, through the education of its youth, to shape a successful economy that capitalises on information and communications technology (ICT). Specifically, the study examines how selected primary teachers from an ICT network conceptualise, articulate and develop a body of knowledge to teach and implement the Information and Communications Technology domain of the Victorian Essential Learning Standards (Victorian Government, 2005) curriculum framework. Through a constructivist grounded theory approach, the study investigates the practices of six female teachers in three government primary schools as they implement changes to curriculum in response to government reforms and local expectations. The three primary schools are within close proximity of each other in a residential growth corridor on the fringes of metropolitan Melbourne, and serve a diverse and multicultural community. Innovation with ICT is seen as necessary for addressing the challenges that arise from the social and economic context of the research sites, and is integral to improvement plans in each of these schools. The participating teachers are regarded as leaders with ICT within their schools and their efforts are deemed intrinsic to their school’s plan. Rich descriptive data of these six teachers and how they construct their worlds is utilised to develop a theory of how teachers learn to teach with ICT, with a view to understanding how they continue to learn in the context of these changes. Change efforts often focus on the importance of knowledge building to empower professionals for new directions, however while a critical component, knowledge is not the only factor in increasing capability. The study highlights that learning to teach the ICT domain is more complex than developing content knowledge, pedagogical repertoire and skills in the use of ICT. It involves networked learning where values, beliefs, vision, practice and identities are made and remade. In making changes, teachers consider new ideas in light of the old, and through the lens of their core values and beliefs, they figure a technologically rich world of vast imaginings that they can embody. They author identities to assert themselves in relation to imposed positioning and prior conceptualisations. Through changed activity related to ICT, they redefine their conception of teaching and inhabit it with their activity and energy.