Melbourne Graduate School of Education - Theses

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    Young people and their resources
    McKenzie, Vicki Lorraine ( 2001)
    This paper examines approaches taken to the study of stress and coping, with particular reference to adolescents. The Conservation of Resources model of stress and coping is considered and its companion research tool (the COR Evaluation) is modified for use with a group of Australian adolescents. The modified version is shown to be a reliable and valid tool for use with young people. Adolescents indicated that they value the resources described in the modified COR questionnaire. In addition, this sample of students saw themselves as having between some to a good amount of these resources, and would find it stressful to lose them. When the Resources scores were compared with the results of the Adolescent Coping Scale, it was found that those students who scored as productive copers were those students who reported themselves as high in resources, while those students who scored highly on non-productive coping were low in resources. When the scale relating to having resources was factored, it appeared that productive coping related strongly to the four resource factors of Purpose, Friends, Self-satisfaction, and Family; whereas non-productive coping was negatively correlated with Purpose, Self-satisfaction and Family, but not Friends. Non-productive copers did not see loss in any of the factors as stressful, and were not impacted particularly by gain. If young people who have resources cope more productively than those who do not regard themselves as having resources, there are interesting implications for treatment and education. Certainly it would be desirable to understand more completely the relationship between non-productive coping and resources so that more effective assistance can be given to those young people. The resources approach offers us a new perspective on stress and coping in adolescence, which has implications for treatment, educational development, and future research.
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    The implementation of a personal development curriculum program in a boys' secondary school
    Begg, Beverley J. ( 2000)
    his research project is investigating the implementation of a personal development curriculum program that has a cognitive-behavioural basis in a year 8 Pastoral/Personal Development (PPD) subject in a boys' secondary school. The Gatehouse Project curriculum program was used as a framework for the PPD program. This curriculum approach is designed to be integrated into other curriculum contexts. It is based on helping young people deal with difficult emotions by teaching them the key skill of reframing negative, unhelpful self-talk so that they can think, feel and act more optimistically. This project explores the factors that influence the effectiveness of the implementation of this personal development program in the masculine dominant culture of a boys' school through qualitative research methods: field observations, questionnaires and interviews. A commonly held perception of boys is that they are uncomfortable talking about feelings and consider any setting in which they do so to be 'sissy' and effeminate, and therefore not acceptable. The factors identified in this research are described under the themes of the boys' culture, the classroom climate, the teacher factor and the school culture. The macho culture in this boys-only setting influenced the ability of the boys to discuss feelings and sensitive issues in the classroom and the acceptance of the curriculum approach and curriculum context. These insights enable some recommendations to be made for the future development of the Pastoral/Personal Development program in the school and for the rewriting of the Gatehouse Project materials for use in a boys only setting.