Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe new English : an analysis of ideology in the professional literature of English-teaching, 1963-1978( 1982)This thesis focusses upon the professional literature of English teachers in Victoria in the period 1963-1978. Its concern is, firstly, to identify and delineate the distinctive features of the successive ideologies of English teaching which emerged in the literature during those years, focussing in particular upon 'the New English'. Secondly, it seeks to suggest reasons for their emergence, by examining contemporary socio-economic, political and institutional developments, to which the theory of English teaching has been responsive. Although writers in the professional literature presented themselves as spokesmen for classroom English teachers, their rationales and pre-occupations were not widely shared or successfully communicated. Therefore, the theories of English teaching which are identifiable in the literature do not represent the changing practices of teachers, but rather a succession of 'attempts by theorists to direct and control those practices. They also reflect the changing composition and configuration of a particular segment of the intellectual field over a period of time. Some aspects of the changing ideology of English teaching are thus the product of quasi-autonomous internal processes of self-reflection and debate within the profession. However, the major purpose of this analysis is to demonstrate how more widespread historical developments called forth a specific range of responses amongst theorists, whose role was one of intellectual management of those developments. It is claimed that the New English merits attention both because of its congruence with broader structural changes and because of the challenge it offered to existing forms of control over both teaching practice and the production of theory itself.
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ItemEducation and the imagination: the theory and practice of children's imaginative reading in the middle post-primary years( 1988)This study examines the teaching of imaginative literature in Australian post-primary schools. Commencing in a review of the historical background and contemporary justifications for novel study in the classroom, it then seeks to describe the orthodox prescriptions for practical work. Those principles which attract widespread agreement are noted, as well as those which are either ambiguous or in dispute. With this review of the theory as a foundation, the actual practice of reading in schools is then investigated. The field research consists of a random sample of two hundred and twenty-two Year 9 students and twelve teachers from six Ballarat schools, tested by questionnaire and selective follow up interviews. The results of both are used to provide a picture of the extent to which the theoretical principles correlate to the day to day reality of classroom work. The conclusion acknowledges the largely positive impressions emerging from this limited sample, but notes the dearth of research in this area, and the pressing need for further study on a large scale.
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ItemThe public examination of English in Victoria : a study of one external influence on the secondary school English curriculum( 1980)The secondary school English curriculum was determined by groups outside schools during the period 1944-1974. External domination of teaching content and methodology was ensured by a system of Public and Matriculation Examinations which empowered agents of the universities to prescribe courses and to assess students' performance in those courses. The University of Melbourne exercised these functions through its Professorial Board and the Schools Board before relinquishing its powers to the Victorian Universities and Schools Examination Board in 1965. Statute and tradition allowed these bodies to establish themselves as a centre apart from schools, and to legitimise their authority through the institutionalised processes of prescription, examination and review of performance. The effect of these processes was to subordinate schools, teachers and pupils. There was immense inertia in the Victorian system of external prescription and examination. Courses and examination papers remained essentially unmodified for long periods. Significant development in the conception and content of English courses occurred, effectively, only at Year 12 in response to social and educational pressures which had previously led to the withdrawal of Public Intermediate and Leaving Examinations. Broadening the goals of H.S.C. English did not, however, signal diminished control over curriculum from the centre. The fact of competitive examinations at the end of secondary schooling continued to shape content and methodology in the earlier years. Competitive examinations engendered in schools, teachers and pupils a narrow conformity, the results of which can most clearly be seen in the failure of the Class A system to produce school-based curriculum initiatives of any substance. The effect of external prescription and examination of English courses was profound. Relationships between teachers and pupils were strongly mediated by the system, reducing the autonomy of both by subjugating their intentions to the instrumental demands of evaluation. So much of a student's 'life chance' depended upon examination success that teachers and taught were continually constrained to focus their attention on the tasks expected in examinations. Fragmentation, in line with the different sections of examination papers, rather than integration became, therefore, the organising principle for teaching aimed at developing those techniques believed to be essential for success in the examination game. External examinations dictated that the English classroom was a place where pupils met to prepare for their encounters with examinations rather than to explore the nature and richness of experience through literature and their own use of language for real ends. The system of Public and Matriculation Examinations established in 1944 was a potent influence on the secondary school English curriculum. The system rested upon a powerful, conservative centre whose legitimacy was so thoroughly entrenched that it was able to admit reform only on its own terms. Thus, it was possible after twenty-five years of relative stasis to negotiate evolution in the details of the school English curriculum without alteration to the essential power relationships. After thirty years, English teachers were still without autonomy. Year 12 English courses continued to exert the pressures and to exact the dependence which had constrained mother tongue studies throughout secondary schools since 1944.
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ItemThe mole concept: teaching and learning( 1982)Historically, teachers were responsible for the accurate teaching of prescriptions delineated in courses, textbooks and examinations. Recent developments in chemistry education assume a broader responsibility of teachers to become involved in the process of learning itself. This thesis is an account of one teacher's explorations of the relationship between the teaching and learning of a central concept in Chemistry; the Mole concept, through the surprisingly rich and varied literature that exists in this important scientific idea. The problem of teaching the Mole is a practical curriculum problem and as such is as much concerned with the problem of understanding the current theory in the scientific literature and understanding the perceptions of students as it is with the logical presentation of material as indicated by the text. The confusion surrounding the nature of the scientific language itself in professional literature and textbooks is weighed and the thinking of eight students recently introduced to the Mole is explored through structured interview. The thesis concludes with an evaluation of some teaching strategies and techniques of diagnosis of learning problems in this area of chemistry.
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ItemDrama in education: words into action( 1989)The senior years of education in Victorian schools will undergo significant changes as a result of the introduction of the new Victorian Certificate of Education in 1991. This study examines the ways in which the Victorian Certificate of Education will influence: the perceived purpose of schooling at this level, the method of developing curriculum, and the discipline of drama. The Study Design Drama is explored, in a hypothetical situation, in order to assess the efficacy of the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Board's Study Structure Approach to curriculum construction. Focus is placed upon the question: Is it possible for the teacher to maintain ownership of the curriculum under the Victorian Certificate of Education?