Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe nature and organization of secondary "method" programmes in teacher education : a comparison between selected institutions in Australia and England( 1977)Although Method of Teaching courses are conducted in all institutions preparing secondary teachers in Victoria, South Australia and England (the regions examined in this thesis), little research has been conducted in this field. Programmes tend to be derived from a combination of factors: personal teaching experience, intuitive judgements about student needs, the practice of colleagues and their comments on the lecturer's own course, and folklore. Whilst the survey on which this thesis is based revealed that instruction in teaching techniques and curriculum design and the provision of information about resources are given high priority in Method courses, this seems to be the result of a pragmatic rather than a coherently developed theoretical approach to the problem of what should be included in such courses. There is a lack of agreement among the lecturers responsible for this aspect of teacher education on the most effective way of building Method of Teaching into the administrative structures. The existing patterns - either including Method in academic subject departments or incorporating Method in a School or Department of Education - have their advantages and disadvantages. It would seem that historical and political rather than strictly educational reasons account for the particular format chosen in each institution. The survey showed that the staff who plan and teach courses in Method are either part-time practising teachers or have taught in schools in recent years, and the majority have less experience in tertiary education than other colleagues in the institution. This may explain why their status is relatively low and why they have rarely managed to develop structures which could enhance their group identity. In this thesis, some possible ways of developing both such a sense of identity and a more informed awareness of the major aims of courses in Method have been examined, and some new approaches to course review and development have been suggested.
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ItemLiberal education in England in the 1860s( 1963)The nineteenth century controversy on the components of a liberal education resulted in a significant modification in educational thought on the subject, a subject which has had a large place in the minds and practices of educators in Europe for two millenia. Variations in emphasis, fresh statements of the content and product of a liberal education, occurred in the five or six periods into which historians divide the epoch of European civilisation from ancient Greece to the modern period. In all cases the ideal never varied appreciably, although the means were at times mistaken for the end. In England a lively interchange of opinion took place during the nineteenth century which came to a head soon after the 1850's; and the decade to be studied shows an interesting development in the challenge of an educational tradition. As it often happens after movements of reform have reached a certain intensity, there appeared a reaction, conflict and adjustment in thought and activity, particularly in the field of secondary education. The development was important, since the outcome of the controversy affected not only English education but also those systems in other parts of the globe that have been profoundly affected by British culture. (From Chapter 1)
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ItemThe sixth-form college in England and Tasmania( 1974)The sixth-form college is an experiment in the organisation of education for the sixteen to nineteen year old student. An examination of the historical context of its evolution reveals its origins in the demands for expansion of upper secondary education and in the concern for a more equitable and broader-based provision for the expanded student body. Further examination exposes the social and political factors promoting and retarding its development. What began in most cases as a practical expedient became an institution providing a wide range of courses and study options to students, the academic or vocational emphasis depending on local conditions. The separate college idea attracted some idealists who saw an opportunity of establishing in the public sector of education an institution capable of rivalling the sixth-form of the better independent school. It had at the same time a strong appeal in its apparent economy and efficiency. It could offer a centralisation and concentration of specialist teachers and resources to provide for perhaps eight hundred students. Establishment of actual colleges has been cautious, few authorities being prepared, like the Tasmanian Education Department or the Teesside Education Committee to give the scheme unqualified approval. Earlier ideas of academic exclusiveness have been modified by the emergence of the "new sixth-former", the fifteen-plus student whose staying-on in full-time secondary education is as much a matter of law as of inclination. For the most part the purely academic college enjoyed a limited period of existence before the change in political or educational philosophy ordered its modification. The colleges of 1974 may differ rather significantly from those intended by their founders. However, what was enthusiastically regarded as a panacea for the problems of upper secondary organisation must now be soberly accepted as one of a number of possible ways of organising sixth-form education.
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ItemA study of A. S. Neill with attention to his perception of the relation between freedom and authority in an educational institution( 1978)In this work an attempt has been made to study the early years and later life and educational activities of A. S. Neill. The earlier conditioning and its effects are analysed and an attempt made to show how these influences produced in Neill a profound change and conversion from Calvinistic religious dogma and forms to atheism. A parallel between this and Jung’s phenomenon of enantiodromia is posited. The theory and practice of Summerhill and the influence of Homer Lane and the congruence of his ideas concerning authority, freedom and the nature of children with those of his disciple, Neill, are discussed. Finally, it is shown that the power of early conditioning is exceedingly strong and that Neill himself did not escape from it entirely, even at the end of a long and fruitful life. Neill’s relevance to the modern educational scene is mentioned and significance of his ideas as a counter to modern technological ‘depersonalization’ is noted.