Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemEducators as parents: a study of the choice of post-primary school made by Ballarat educators for their own children( 1989)This study grew from reports in the literature that teachers in Government schools were enrolling their own children into non-Government post-primary schools. These reports seemed to be anecdotal, drawing from the experiences of observers, rather than any empirical base of information. Although there was a source of material which examined the reasons lay parents offered for their choice of post-primary school for their own children, a literature search failed to find similar work which looked at the choices teachers made at post-primary levels of schooling. This study was designed to collect data which could be used to identify where educators, defined as both school based post-primary teachers and others associated with post-primary schools, enrolled their children, the level of consideration they gave other post-primary schools and the reasons they offered for their final choice of school. To obtain the information, a triangulation approach was adopted which utilised three approaches 1. A questionnaire, designed to obtain quantitative data relating to respondents’ own educational background and their children's enrolment locations. 2. A series of Likert scale questions were also included in the questionnaire to seek the respondents' level of consideration of other post-primary schools in Ballarat. Provision was made for open-ended responses to these questions. 3. A limited number of interviews were carried out with educators, using a schedule of interview. The study was carried out in the Victorian provincial city of Ballarat in November 1988 and obtained information from eighty three educators engaged in post-primary schooling. The results showed that respondents preferred an academic post-primary school for their own children both when they were considering schools and when they actually enrolled their children. There was also evidence that educators employed in the Ministry of Education were enrolling their children into non-government post-primary schools. Issues which were raised by educators included placement policy, perceptions of post-primary schools and their own children’s contribution to the choice of a post-primary school.