Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemCollaborative leadership in inner city schools of Melbourne( 1994)This thesis examines leadership and its links to success in inner city schools of Melbourne, reflecting the view that the role of leaders and the process of leadership are significant contributing factors in the achievement of successful school improvement. In Victoria at the present time there is relentless change at both the school and system level. Schools are in a constant state of reorganisation with the dismantling of centralised authorities, including support services and standard operational procedures and processes. Roles and responsibilities of school principals are being revised. Many schools are being closed down as part of the government's rationalisation policy. Others are being amalgamated. Many members of staff are being required to transfer to different schools, whilst others are taking financial "packages" and early retirement. Moreover, inner city schools are confronted with further responsibilities. Students in these schools often come from low socio-economic, non-English speaking backgrounds and have special social welfare and educational needs. Staffing arrangements must serve the specific needs of transient migrant groups and innovative curriculum provision is a necessity to target the requirements of an inner city clientele. Clearly, then, skilful and imaginative leadership is imperative to cope with such a context and to bring about success. The purpose of the investigation is to establish what it is that leaders do in these schools to achieve success and school improvement, despite the prevailing difficulties. The focus is on the notion of collaborative leadership, developed and defined in this thesis as one which is transformational and encompasses distinctive elements of collaboration. Collaborative leadership is interpreted and analysed through the four central frames of leadership - structural, human resource, political and symbolic - of the Bolman and Deal (1991) typology. A qualitative approach was seen as an appropriate means of investigation, firstly, in order to provide full descriptions and explanations of the primary data and, secondly, to capture the critical features of what it was that leaders did in their daily practice to bring success to their schools. The qualitative approach described by Miles and Huberman (1984) incorporating data reduction, data display and data collection and conclusions drawing/verifying, was adopted. The findings clearly indicate that specific collaborative leader behaviour, using a repertoire of structural, human resource, political and symbolic dimensions, can lead to success in schools. Leaders used structural arrangements to establish democratic procedures which were inclusive rather than exclusive, seeing the operation of the school as a collective responsibility of teachers, parents, and, where appropriate, students. Human resource elements brought mutual respect, as well as professional and community cooperation and support. Political leadership behaviour centred around empowerment, open and frank discussion, and a striving for consensus. Symbolic dimensions contained the beliefs, values, attitudes and norms of behaviour of leaders, denoting and directing fundamental purposes and processes. In addition, the researcher has extended these findings into hypothesised causal links, which when synthesised, offer four distinctive factors as fundamental to a fully functioning collaborative culture, namely, development of educational potential, professional development of teachers, good organisational health and institutionalisation of vision. This thesis contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any other degree or graduate diploma in any tertiary institution and, to the best of my knowledge and belief, contains no material previously published or written by any other person, except where reference is made in the text.
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ItemThe community language school: a study on early adolescents' coping and attachment to parents, peers and teachers( 2009)Community language schools (CLS) are voluntary educational settings which provide heritage language and culture study to school-age children. Despite their longstanding presence in the Australian community, very limited research exists on these institutions or the youth who attend them (Clyne & Fernandez, 2008; Strand, 2007). In acknowledging the paucity of research in this area, and the importance of close relationships for children's development, the main aim of the present study was to investigate the quality of parent, peer and teacher relationships in a sample of students attending CLS. This study therefore provided the first insights into the nature of relationships established in the language school setting. Relationship quality was investigated within an attachment theoretical framework. Attachment theory, regarded as one of psychology's most influential theories of close relationships and emotional development (Morelli & Rothbaum, 2007; Posada & Jacobs, 2001) aims to understand the influence of significant relationships throughout the lifespan. Relationship constructs consistent with the theory were measured to understand the quality of participants' relationships both within and external to the language school setting. Participants' coping behaviours were also measured to provide an index of well-being in order to help elucidate which of the relationships measured linked more or less closely to adaptive behaviour. A total of 160 students aged 9 to 13 years attending Chinese (n = 75) and Greek (n = 85) community language schools in Melbourne took part. All participants were asked to report on a questionnaire about their perceived attachment security in four relationship types: relationships with parents, relationships with peers from the mainstream school, relationships with peers from the language school, and the relationship with the teacher from the language school. A coping questionnaire also elicited information on participants' coping styles. In addition, a random selection of participants (n = 37) took part in an interview exploring their likes, dislikes and friendships from the language school. The results showed significant cultural effects for attachment security. Greek participants reported higher levels of felt security towards parents and peers from the language school setting. Gender effects were also found with females consistently reporting higher levels of attachment security to peers. Perceived security in the parental relationship associated most strongly and consistently with both productive and non productive coping styles. Security in the peer relationships across the two school settings (mainstream and language school) showed differential links to coping. Perceived security in the teacher relationship from the language school did not show any significant links to coping. Analyses of the interview data highlighted themes on the need to modify the learning methods adopted in the language school curriculum in order to further engage students. The findings of the present study underscore the importance of examining culture and gender in relationship research and reaffirmed the significance of the parental relationship during early adolescence. Implications of the research relate to the benefits of conducting multi-systemic explorations of close relationships, as insights were offered on interventions within school and community contexts.
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ItemLaptop computers: changes in teachers' practice( 1998)This thesis tracks the chain of events which led to the introduction of a laptop computer program at an independent boys' school. Initially it examined the implementation of the program and its effects on teachers and students. To explain these patterns, the study then examined the way the school prepared itself to implement the use of laptops. In seeking to understand the reasons underlying the preparation for implementation strategies, the study then examined the key adoption decisions taken by the school. Thus, the thesis traces a set of interrelated phases of implementation, adoption and use. The study should be regarded as an evaluation because the findings presented here have been reported to the school. One aim was to 'lay out' what had happened up to a particular point in time, June 1997. Laying out the findings, or providing an illuminative analysis was a means chosen by which the school could come to grips with what had happened to this time. In addition, the study provides a more formative element through the synthesis of literature designed as a basis for improving the existing curriculum. The literature is linked to the findings of the empirical part of the study throughout the thesis. Having access to the findings of what has occurred so far, and the relevant literature, was seen as a way by which the evaluation can influence the future laptop program of the school.