Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemGeelong High School 1909-16 : a study of local response( 1978)The years 1909-16 saw the expansion of public secondary education within Victoria. It represents the working out of certain aims and policies for secondary schools between a centralised Education Department in Melbourne and the local communities that were financially involved in the provision of these facilities. This thesis will attempt to identify the forces shaping the development of Geelong High School. It will outline the aims and values of this community and evaluate the significance of their perception of what secondary education should be about. The study will look at the role of the Education Department - its director, its administrative philosophy and the attitude of the State Government towards the expansion of secondary education. The study will examine the interplay of these factors with the significant contribution of the school's educational leadership and philosophy. The main argument of the thesis is that the success of Geelong High School was to a large extent due to its support from a middle class. They saw in the school opportunities for their children resulting from an education that was financially beyond them at the prestigious fee-paying public schools. In responding to these needs the school would survive in spite of almost overwhelming odds in its early years. A comparative study with Colac Agricultural High School will be made to clarify the point that it was community support, and not legislation and regulations from the Department, that was to be the main reason for the success of Geelong High School.
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ItemSelection in Queensland secondary education( 1952)The aim of the present thesis is to survey the origin and mature of selection in secondary education in Queensland and to compare the prognostic value of different methods of selection in the State schools in the metropolitan area with a view to suggesting better methods of educational selection and guidance.
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ItemSecondary education in Van Diemen's Land, 1820-1857( 1972)The history of the establishment of any school system is necessarily an account of contrasting individuals and their diverse attitudes and efforts. Van Diemen's Land is no exception; the only factor enjoyed in common by nearly all of the private schoolmasters was their motivation - want of a more lucrative or appropriate occupation. Few schools prospered in Tasmania in the period up to 1850 for the colony lacked the prosperous middle-class that supported the English public and proprietary schools. A convict, Thomas Fitzgerald, was appointed as the first public schoolmaster in 1807 but nothing of a secondary nature was attempted until 1819. From that point a number of schools can be traced. The most remarkable would be those conducted at Pressland House, Melville Street, Hobart Town, by a succession of capable schoolmasters, in Launceston by Charles Price, and at Ellinthorp Hall, near Ross, by Mrs.G.C.Clark. However, the most insignificant seminary made some contribution to the traditions of culture and education in Tasmania, and for this reason, each founder deserves to be considered, whether of the English or Scottish tradition, Rugbeian or parochial school derivation, trained or self-taught, emancipist or free settler. Whilst free enterprise provided the temporary educational needs of Van Diemen's Land, Church and State pondered ways to establish more permanent institutions. The efforts of Archdeacons T.H.Scott and W.G.Broughton came to nought but activities commenced with the arrival of Sir John Franklin in 1837, a governor determined to set up a public school of the Arnoldian pattern in Tasmania. John Philip Gell was selected as foundation headmaster and, until the College could be built, he conducted the Queen's School. This venture failed during the severe economic depression in 1843. Sir John Franklin's successor, Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, did not share his predecessor's enthusiasm for the College so in its place the Church of England planned a Church-sponsored system of schools. Bishop F.R.Nixon promoted a fund-raising drive, largely in England, which resulted in the establishment in 1846 of Christ's College, a grammar school and quasi-university, and two feeder schools, Hutchins School in Hobart Town and the Launceston Church Grammar School. At about the same time another group, composed largely of Dissenters, launched a High School in Hobart Town. Both the High School and Christ's College failed during the 1850's but the two feeder schools survived the economic troubles and Tractarian disputes of the period. It is clear that in all these schools, although economic and political factors played decisive roles, the most significant factor was the character of the persons organizing and controlling the schools. It is necessary therefore to see what manner of men worked for education in Van Diemen's Land in the first half of the nineteenth century.
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ItemAims, men or money?. the establishment of secondary education for boys in South Australia and in the Port Phillip District of New South Wales - 1836 to 1860( 1980)Young children bring with them to school a certain amount of science knowledge gained from their everyday lives. What they "know", whether right or wrong, may be the result of interactions with family, television, computer programs, books, peers or visits to environmental locations, museums or science centres. In this study, children who have been at primary school for between two and three years are asked to describe their knowledge and their sources of information. The extent to which school factors are influencing their science knowledge is investigated. A survey was developed and protocols trialled before fifty-seven children aged eight and nine years at a provincial Victorian government primary school were surveyed to establish their home background and family interest in science, their own attitudes and feelings toward science and the efficacy of their science experiences at school. Interviews were carried out with nine students, selected to represent a broad range of attitudes to science, in order to gain more detailed information about their specific understandings of a number of topics within the primary school science curriculum and the sources of their information. The students' responses revealed that where they were knowledgeable about a subject they could indeed say from where they obtained their knowledge. Books were the most commonly cited source of information, followed by school, personal home experiences and family. Computers and the internet had little influence. Students who appeared to have "better" understandings quoted multiple sources of information. Positive correlations were found between enjoyment of school lessons and remembering science information, liking to watch science television or videos and remembering science information, and liking to read science books and remembering science information. Mothers were also linked to the use of science books at home, and the watching of nature TV shows at home. There are several implications for the teaching of science at early years level. Teachers need to be aware of powerful influences, from both within and outside of the classroom, which may impact on children, and which may be enlisted to help make learning more meaningful. The research indicates the importance of home background, parental interest and access to books, and notes the under utilisation of computers and lack of visits to museums and interactive science centres.
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ItemAn analysis of the recent reform movement in education, with special reference to Victorian secondary schools in the late nineteen sixties( 1977)The school reform movement in the nineteen sixties accompanied unprecedented change in culture and society. Curriculum reform was attempted throughout much of the developed world; in Victoria, the Curriculum Advisory Board was formed, and the Education Department initiated the Curriculum Reform Project for secondary schools. But the reform movement was complex; there were several distinct groups within it (deschoolers, educational technologists, and liberal humanists) whose aims and methods were often contradictory. The major reform philosophy in Victoria was liberal humanist and expressed most notably in the writings of the Director of Secondary Education, R.A. Reed, whose Curriculum Reform Project was not necessarily successful in its own terms, but nevertheless had a significant effect on secondary schooling in Victoria. The reform movement demonstrated how complex is the phenomenon of educational change; it is obviously more complicated than is suggested by the ideas of circular change or pendulum swing, and is perhaps best seen as resulting from the disturbance of equilibrium in a strong field of forces. Attempted liberal reform in Australia has led to the formation in 1973 of the Australian Council for Educational Standards, a group dedicated to the resistance of reform. There is presently a crisis in education, a crisis marked by uncertainty. The crisis should be resolved by encouraging alternatives in education, and by reorganizing educational institutions so that they can become more flexible and adaptable.
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ItemConcepts of balance and relevance in educational discourse on curriculum( 1983)It is contended that children can best be prepared to meet the challenges posed by rapid social change when the curriculum services a general education and avoids narrow specialization or narrow vocational training. Such an approach to curriculum is said to be characterized by its 'balance' and 'relevance'. However, it would appear that 'balance' and 'relevance' have come to symbolize ideals to which all curricula aspire, even though various value orientations have selected priorities which posit differing, even conflicting, practice. Hence educational discourse to establish what ought to be taught must evaluate the practical importance of that which is said to constitute 'balance' and 'relevance' in the context of the value orientations adopted. General education proposals attempt to frame their selections of priorities such that 'balance' entails meeting the diverse needs of all students. This 'holistic' approach is therefore required to accommodate the various conflicting orientations to 'relevance'. Hence any general curriculum proposal finds it necessary to make a case that these conflicts can be reconciled, that a consensus can be established and that curriculum design and implementation can be achieved in practice. This quest for 'balance' and 'relevance' is analyzed with particular reference to the Australian proposals "Core Curriculum for Australian Schools", made by the Curriculum Development Centre, and "Schooling for 15 and 16 Year-Olds", made by the Schools Commission. Both proposals postulate that the curriculum ought to be based on the common culture whose nature is to emerge as a consensus following analysis of contemporary society. Advances in science and technology are said to be the major contributors to rapid social change. Therefore, what constitutes, in the context of a general education, an adequate understanding of science and technology for life in society is also analyzed. Such an approach to science education is often characterized as the development of a broadly based 'scientific literacy'. The analyses reveal that it would appear to be unrealistic to expect that Australia as a nation, espousing pluralist values and belief systems, some of which have deeply entrenched vested interests in selections of what constitutes educational virtue, will adopt the concept of general education with the CDC's 'core curriculum' as its central expression.
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ItemThe origins and early history of the State secondary school teachers in Victoria, 1872-1926( 1968)In tracing the history of state secondary school teachers in Victoria from their origins in the primary teaching service until 1926, this study covers the areas relevant to teacher status - viz., teacher training, conditions and associations - and an attempt has been made to evaluate the progress made towards professional status. The Diploma of education course, initially a two-year University course aimed to train teachers of academic subjects, was instrumental in raising the academic and pedagogical qualifications of secondary teachers. It was, however, inadequate in that it did not train teachers in sufficient numbers, and it was always starved of finance and essential resources. The Diploma was supplemented by the post- Intermediate Trained Teacher's Certificate courses in manual and Domestic Arts and Commercial subjects. Because the education Department played a significant role in both systems of training and the teachers had no control of training standards, the progress that was made was achieved without reference to the teachers, and was offset by the increasing numbers of temporary teachers employed in the secondary schools. No significant progress was made by secondary teachers in determining their professional conditions. These were almost entirely decided by the centralized administration which widened and tightened its influence. Professional freedom in areas such as curricula was further limited by the uniformity imposed by the public examination system. State secondary teachers were willing conformists to these pressures restricting their professional activity, and directed most of their energy towards regularizing their position within the public service. Even in this sphere, they achieved little: their salaries were relatively poorer in 1926 than they had been in 1912, it took thirteen years to gain a Classification Board, and they rarely succeeded in gaining concessions even on minor matters. Hence state secondary teachers were enthusiastic supporters of the movement towards the uniting of all teachers within the one Union which culminated in 1926. By 1926, then, the greatest gain that state secondary teachers had made was in their training and qualifications. For the rest, their steps towards professional status were faltering and often retrograde.