Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemIntroducing a gifted program in a rural secondary school( 1996)The study reported here outlines the steps taken to address a problem in the field of Education in a rural, secondary school. The problem, "What can be done to cater for the needs of gifted students in Years 7 and 8?" was posed by a member of staff of this school. He recognised that there was a need for an interventionist, in this case an external consultant, to undertake research on the existing educational setting, with members of the school community. The external consultant had expertise in the area of gifted programming, and also the necessary time to devote to lead the research which needed to be carried out. Action Research was chosen as a methodology which would be appropriate in this real-life situation. It involved the process of problem-solving through cycles of planning, acting and reflecting. It was a means of identifying and implementing a practical solution to a practical problem and, it was a method of carefully examining a practice and bringing about change in that practice. The process of change involved the participation of people who were part of the problem, viz. a number of administrators and teachers. These staff members were prepared to become part of a planning team instrumental in bringing about change in the learning environment of the school. The external consultant was also part of the planning team. The planning team gathered relevant data relating to current provisions for highly-able students, reflected on the data, planned appropriate action, acted and reflected on the action. This cyclical process utilised the reflection component to modify any procedural steps, thereby commencing the next cycle with substantive issues arising from the reflective practice. Through the 'Action Research process, significant attitudinal and structural changes occurred in the school setting involving administrators, teachers, students and parents. A definition of giftedness was accepted and a Talent Pool of highly able students was identified. In addition, community involvement was initiated, a resource pool of mentor volunteers was compiled and a Mentor program commenced. One of the outcomes of the process of change was the acceptance of future directions for the school in the area of gifted education. A number of proposals was accepted into the school structure for 1997, viz. the blocking of English periods in Years 7, 8 and 9 for subject acceleration, the continuation of the Mentor program and the deployment of interested staff in the gifted program. Action Research provided the means of improving a practice by the undertaking of new action in the form of a Mentor program for Year 7 students. This was a provision which was envisaged as being part of an extended gifted program in 1997. New direction for the following cycle of action focused on the problem, "What can be done to establish a comprehensive gifted program throughout the school?" The emphasis had shifted from the Year 7 level to a total-school approach, leading to a new perception of the problem and a new cycle of planning and action.
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ItemFacilitating school improvement through strategic and effective decision making: a case study of a Victorian rural secondary college( 2006)Having taught in three different secondary colleges, in terms of size and location and the way in which each school operates, I developed an interest in decision making processes used in schools. I believe that certain decision making processes are more effective than others in terms of facilitating school improvement. I have observed certain decision making processes that were ineffective and caused disharmony among staff, particularly with members of staff who were left out of the decision making process. Hence, I chose this study to highlight effective decision making processes and also to encapsulate the impact of effective decision making. Due to the broad nature of the topic of decision making and the volume of information on this subject, this study concentrates on two main theories. The first theory looks at methods of school management that increases the effectiveness of the school by drawing on the experience of the teaching staff and involving them in the decision making process within the school. By this method the principal might use a `collaborative' approach. This theory encapsulates the idea that more staff contributing towards making a decision is `better' than the individual making a decision, based on the view that this approach shows greater resourcefulness. The second theory comes from the notion that the school community is `better off' allowing the principal and the administrators who have experience and expertise in making decisions on particular matters using the individual decision making model. The underlying assumption for this theory is that the teaching staff will have more time in their classrooms, rather than spending time in making decisions that have little to do with the classroom teacher. This will then allow teaching staff to get on with the job of classroom teaching.
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ItemCountry Access: a contemporary history: the investigation of an arts education programme at the Victorian Arts Centre( 1994)This study offers a history of the Victorian Arts Centre Country Access programme. The study explores the relationship that exists between education and the performing arts, as experienced by participants in the Victorian Arts Centre Country Access programme: teachers, students and artists. Data related to the programme have been collected over a twelve year period from 1982 to 1994. To describe and analyse the programme within its broadest contexts, the study first considers historical and other contextual data (the "grand tour") before specifically focussing on particular aspects of the programme (the "mini tours"). The study identifies and explores factors such as the role of teachers, artists, workshops, performances and community involvement in the development of learning and appreciation in an art education programme. It explores the relationships that exist between "creation", "appreciation" and "re-creation"; with particular emphasis on a consideration of the contributions, roles and perspectives of teachers and artists. The study attempts to identify and consider the relationships that exist between factors which contribute to long-term learning and appreciation in the performing arts i.e. to consider the relationship that exists between education and the performing arts.
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ItemThe Public understanding of techno-science in a rural community: culture & agency( 2003)This is an ontological inquiry into the public understanding of techno-science, held by adult members of a local school community. In this light, it seeks to establish a platform from which to reassess conventional assumptions about the curriculum and cultural agency of science teaching. The inquiry is rooted in dissatisfaction with a current transformational model of science teaching, which is defined solely in terms of the transfer of ideational possessions to the students in science classes. Both teachers and students are agents in their own and others' symbolic life worlds. Their identities are constructed in a dual praxis, a dialogue between self as product and self as process in every day conversation in established communities. The study draws on the work of Coulter on Dialogical Research, Harre on the analysis of social episodes, Latour, Rechwitz & Schatzki on the place of the material in theories of culture, of Harvey, Ratner on Agency and Community . Through dialogues with persons in a rural community served by the author's school, the thesis explores the public understanding of techno-science within the community and considers whose interests the school education in science best serves. The centrality of "community" is claimed in characterising a model of embodied cultural change over centrally imposed change. It is proposed that change is a "two-way" interaction where the individual "agent" both socialises & is socialised by the cultural structures that exist, and where the "artefact" is the "knot of reasoning" at the centre of personal identity formation "actor-networks" (ANT - Latour). It suggests that society empowers or does not empower - through the processes of recognising, and allocating control of empowering artefacts to persons as agents working within a social & cultural framework of responsibilities and duties. The thesis offers a new transformational model of social action, which suggests renewed attention in research & practice should be given to ontologies of the mind and person of the agent and the mediating function of "community" in the future restructuring of the public education of science if it is to serve its broader function in cultural transformation within the small rural community of Erehwyna, or anywhere.