Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemA study of the notion of role in relation to the behaviour of full-time mature students in a regional college( 1979)The study seeks to analyze the motivations and performance of forty-five mature students in full-time courses in a regional college from the theoretical perspective of role. Role theory and empirical studies based on the literature are outlined and queried; a hypothetical model is set up, to ascertain the supposed behaviour of adults entering 'a re-socialization experience', and this is tested against findings from the study itself. The conclusion is that role theory has a limited validity as in explanation or predictor of adult behaviour, particularly in a complex society, and that many factors, environmental as well as philosophical, must be taken into account in assessing adult behaviour. Nevertheless, role behaviour can be seen as an element of behaviour, particularly the behaviour of older adults; it has less application to younger adults.
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ItemAttitudes of teachers to the objectives of mathematics education in the junior secondary school( 1976)At the same time as "New Maths" was being gradually introduced, secondary schools in Victoria became largely responsible for their own curriculum. This devolution of responsibility was coupled with a serious questioning of the meaning and purpose of secondary education itself, and an increasing awareness of other relevant factors such as how children learn, but secondary mathematics teachers have been so occupied with the new mathematical content demanded of them that other considerations have tended to be disregarded until very recently. The pressures that have increasingly been acting on secondary mathematics teachers have created confusion about the aims of the subject at the junior secondary level. Some teachers have retained the narrow academic aims of the past, while others have rejected these completely. Most, however, have reached a compromise. Five "innovative" and five "conservative" high schools in the Melbourne Metropolitan area were chosen subjectively by an informed panel. From each of these ten schools, two "junior level" and two "senior level" mathematics teachers were selected. Each of these forty teachers completed a Likert-type attitude questionnaire designed to establish their attitude towards narrow academic objectives at the junior secondary level. It was found that there was no significant difference in attitude between teachers of senior and junior levels, nor between teachers at conservative or innovative schools. There were, however, differences in attitude to the aims of junior secondary mathematics within each school of relatively large proportions. The lack of significant differences in attitude between schools indicates that they may be more alike than their reputation suggests, at least as far as mathematics education is concerned. Perhaps of greater concern is the effect on pupils of teachers with different attitudes towards their teaching. The fear that autonomy of schools has tended to become freedom for individual teachers to act alone in curriculum matters is reinforced by these results.
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ItemStudents' attitudes concerning mathematics: a study of the opinions and views concerning mathematics and mathematics teaching held by students in the upper primary and lower secondary schools of New South Wales and Victoria( 1966)From an examination of the relevant courses of study in mathematics and the associated published writings hypotheses were proposed to examine the influence of an emphasis on an inquiry and discovery approach to the teaching of mathematics on the attitudes concerning mathematics of students in the upper primary and lower secondary schools of New South Wales and Victoria (each N = 1000). Emphasis on the use of inquiry methods at the lower secondary school level was found to be associated with students' views that mathematics teaching involved more inquiry and discovery, with students' opinions that mathematics was an open and creative process and with the students' greater interest in mathematics. At the upper primary school level a strong influence of curricular factors was not detected, however, the evidence suggested that the classroom teacher played an important part in the development of attitudes concerning mathematics. The data collected was examined for the influence of several non-curricular factors including the sex of the pupil, and the occupation and the place of residence of the students' father. The sex of the student and differences in the scientific nature and the socio-economic status of the father's occupation were found to be linked with some differences in the opinions expressed by the students concerning mathematics.
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ItemThe attitudes of teaching college students to the role of primary teacher( 1978)The particular problem chosen here was one of 'normative consensus': to what extent were 150 second year students in the State College of Victoria at Geelong in agreement as to the forms of behaviour which could be regarded as appropriate when acting the role of primary teacher? More specifically in this case how much consensus was there regarding the role of the primary teacher in given situations as seen through the students' eyes, and as they perceived the college lecturers and the practising teachers to view this role? The students were asked to complete a set of four role-norm inventories developed by Foskett (1969). Each inventory contained 45 identical questions which examined four main areas of teaching, attitude to pupils (15 items) attitude to colleagues (10 items), attitude to parents (10 items) and 10 items concerning the teacher's attitude to the community. The students answered the inventories from four points of view: - R.N.I. 1 as they thought they ought to behave; R.N.I. 2 as they intended to behave when they began teaching; R.N.I. 3 as they thought the college lecturers would like them to behave and R.N.I. 4 as they thought practising teachers would behave. The norms and expectations were measured on a 5 point Likert-type scale. The data from the inventories were used to obtain the mean and standard deviation for each item. The means were then compared, item by item, to see if significant differences existed between the various role-setting at .01 level of significance. There was one item of significant difference between R.N.I 1 and R.N.I. 2, 12 between R.N.I. 1 and R.N.I. 3 and 21 between R.N.I. 1 and R.N.I. 4. The results indicated that students tended to identify with their college lecturers and to be opposed to the way they perceived teachers to behave, especially in the area of classroom interaction. Various weaknesses of the research methods employed were examined but nonetheless the evidence that the process of teacher training might serve to produce conflict between the novitiate teacher and the school was considered strong enough to warrant further investigation.
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ItemThe developing ideologies of bright working class children( 1978)This study investigates the influence of social class membership upon children's involvement within the education system. Here, the attitudes of upper primary school children from working class backgrounds, were surveyed. Set within a 'generative' approach to social class, and within a sociology of knowledge framework, this study is a preliminary investigation into a little researched area. While attention elsewhere is usually focused upon between-class differences, in explaining the reproduction of ideology, social structures, and social relationships, the emphasis of this study is upon the development of within-class differences towards these same processes. The attitudes and aspirations of forty seven, teacher nominated, 'gifted' children, towards themselves and their peers, were investigated. The results obtained are discussed in terms of the following dimensions; reported best and worst jobs, explanations of school and occupational success, extent of reported similarities with, and differences from peers, and, the relationship of general ability test performances to such response patterns. The results indicate some development of intra-group ideological differences, among this unrepresentative sample of working class children. This thesis argues that these differences are in part, a response to nascent dilemmas, which emerge from the life experience of such children, and which, demand resolution. A characteristic form of this resolution is in the development of an ideology which facilitates the self-elimination of such scholastically capable individuals, from the education system. The thesis suggests that another form of this resolution, involves some children maintaining a pursuit of scholastic excellence, while concomitantly, perceiving, acknowledging, and accentuating differences, between themselves and their social class peers. Within this context, an important related issue is discussed; namely, how the school system reproduces social classes in Australian society.
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ItemRecruits to the professions: the backgrounds, dispositions and performance of students entering engineering, law, medicine and teaching( 1971)This study is about what happens to students in university professional faculties. The investigation from which most of the observations come is a longitudinal study in which students are followed from the time of first enrolment until they leave university (by graduating or without a qualification) and beyond into the early years of work. The theoretical perspective is professional socialization. (From introduction)