Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemThe effectiveness of roleplay in changing disadvantaged students' attitude to schooling and to themselves( 1994)This study sets out to examine the relationship between the development of language and social competence. It draws on the theories of language development proposed by Chomsky, Piaget's cognition development and the sociolinguistic notions of Bruner, Vygotsky and Labov. The educational context of the study is that imposed by the policies developed by the Victorian Ministry of Education which requires schools to provide an inclusive curriculum to meet the needs of all students. For many secondary schools, groups of students, especially those who are disadvantaged by social and emotional difficulties place a great demand upon the existing structures and their needs are unfulfilled. A review of relevant literature on social competence and roleplay was undertaken which indicated that a program of communication and roleplay activities may address the needs of these students. Therefore this study has sought to examine the impact of such activities on the level of social competence of a group of disadvantaged students who were aggressive, cynical, disruptive and not participating in school life. This study was undertaken in a mainstream school in the Western Region of metropolitan Melbourne. Students who participated were pretested to establish their attitudes towards the use of aggression and power, established authority and cynicism level. After participating in a program of communication activities and reflective roleplays the students were tested again to determine the level of attitudinal change. The key findings of this study demonstrated that significant attitudinal change occurred in the participants and that they considered themselves to be better able to understand why existing constraints were in place. The study also indicated that a program which utilises roleplay and implemented within the also found that there communication activities can existing school organisation. It also found that there is a need for change in teacher perception and school structure to accommodate students with social/emotional difficulties.
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ItemThe political ramifications of changes in the delivery of nursing education in Victoria( 1993)The purpose of this research was to determine; whether, between 1974 and 1987, undergraduate Nursing education in the Colleges of Advanced Education tended to politicize the new recruits to the profession via curricula. whether those asked to participate in the research believed that there was a level of information being provided during their Nursing course which they considered to be political in nature. whether those asked to participate in the research believed that this level of information that they considered to be political in nature influenced their subsequent participation in activities which could be considered in turn to be political in nature. what constraints in the workplace were identified by those asked to participate in the research, which may have adversely effected any political activity they may have been involved in, or influenced by. whether there were any other real or conceptual factors not identified or not specifically addressed in the research which could have impacted on the research participants, and possibly influenced their responses, and thus, research outcomes. Subsequent to the research, the information obtained would be scrutinized for possible outcomes, ramifications and commented on. This process is more formerly addressed in the methodology.
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ItemStudent expectations of the future( 1992)Specific aims of the study To investigate how present-day students view the future and their place in the workforce of the future. To establish whether or not students regard their present educational experiences as an adequate preparation for their future work. To investigate acceptance of unconventional futures scenarios as possible futures.
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ItemThe struggle to achieve : the Vietnamese experience of secondary schools in working class neighbourhoods of Melbourne, 1986( 1990)Within the vast scope and complexity of the refugee experience this study deals with a simply defined, yet central issue to the settlement of young immigrants from Viet Nam in Australia. That is, the differing impact of personal factors preconditioning attitudes and values towards education, and school ecology on their educational trajectories and social destinations. To answer this question, the location occupied by this immigrant group within the school system was initially determined, and subsequently the influence of school organizational structure and classroom practice on educational performance in these settings was described and explained. Vietnamese pupils, their teachers and peers in 16 randomly selected government high schools in Victoria, and those persons responsible for the child's welfare in Australia provided rich and varied information for analysis. Detailed interpretation of this comprehensive data-base focused on one school representative of the wider sample. The study found that while educational trajectories and social destinations are largely controlled by the working class location Vietnamese youth occupy in the secondary school system, the impact of this setting is mediated by an exceptional determination, on their part, to escape the influence of multiple social factors which influence the outlooks and achievements of children, whoever they may be, who occupy these sites. Despite an heroic commitment by teachers in these schools and the determination of the Vietnamese to exploit, to the maximum, the limited opportunities available to them, the dependence of these young immigrants and their families on education for social advancement renders them vulnerable to failure. The study demonstrates, that despite the illusion of democratized educational theory and practice that these educational settings suggest, the reality is that educational conservative structures mitigate against social advancement. These institutional barriers, it is shown, operate on two levels. Firstly, the comprehensive curriculum plays a central role by disproportionately directing these young immigrants into the theoretical mathematics and physical sciences, a process consecrating them as an academic elite, while at the same time confirming the lowly position they occupy in the social hierarchy of their school and neighbourhood peers. Secondly, the study demonstrates how academic streaming is an aggravating circumstance coming on top of the other inequalities suffered by all children in these settings. Not only do the out-of-school activities of these young immigrants not support their curriculum placement, but teachers tend to misjudge Vietnamese classroom conformity as scholasticism, not passivity. Thus, rather than viewing this exceptional behaviour in working class settings as an indication of the struggle with which these young people have to cope, teacher definition of their school experience sees it as proof of an effective classroom process and of learning taking place. The study concludes that while the actual relationship that exists between the teachers and Vietnamese youth, and the schools they attend and the neighbourhoods these schools serve, remains unchanged, the price the Vietnamese have to pay for perceived scholasticism is loss of control of their immediate school experience and authorship of their own lives.
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ItemThe attitudes and concerns of Catholic parish primary school principals and teachers toward the integration of students with disabilities into regular schools( 1997)This study was undertaken to identify' and compare the attitudes of Catholic Parish Primary School principals and teachers toward the integration of students with disabilities. The study also investigated variations in attitude toward integration for sub-groups of the principals and teachers. In addition, this study ascertained the concerns these educators have about the implementation of integration in their schools. A three part questionnaire was used to collect the data. It consisted of items relating to the background characteristics of the respondents and their schools, a modified version of the Attitude Toward Mainstreaming Scale (Berryman & Neal, 1980) and an open ended question eliciting educators' concerns about integration. Fifty five principals and 145 full time classroom teachers in the Northern Area of the Archdiocese of Melbourne responded to the questionnaire. T-tests were employed to compare the attitudes of the principals and teachers toward integration., Thematic analysis was used to examine the concerns of educators. Several major findings emerged from the study. Principals were found to hold more positive attitudes toward integration than classroom teachers. Principals were also significantly more positive than teachers toward the integration of students with severe disabilities. Younger principals held significantly more positive attitudes toward integration than older principals. No significant differences were identified for sub groups of the teacher sample. Similarity existed between the two groups of educators in terms of their expressed major concerns about integration. Lack of school based support personnel, funding and training, in that order, were recorded most frequently by both groups of educators.
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ItemImmigration, the media and student understandings( 1986)This study investigates the issue of Asian immigration as it was treated by two newspapers in a three month period in 1984 and also examines the attitudes of three groups of adolescents to the messages conveyed by the media representations. This study is divided into three main parts. In the first chapter there is a selective review of the material in the area of racism and the media, in particular those studies carried out from an ideological consensus point of view. In addition, there is a review of relevant studies carried out in the youth culture/politics area. The second part of the study provides a detailed examination of the strategies employed by two newspapers The Herald and The Sun News- Pictorial for the construction of the 'Immigration Debate' in the period March to June 1984. The third and final part of the study examines the extent to which the students accepted or rejected the ideological framework established by the two newspapers in their treatment of the immigration issue. As a result of this three-stage analysis, it is argued that the strategies employed by the two newspapers in helping to construct the debate on immigration ensured that the ideological framework for this debate was essentially racist. It is also argued that at the level of discourse many of the students involved in the study were shown to be not directly aware of the 'Blainey Debate'. However, it is also apparent that when they examined the media representations they displayed little ability to reject the ideological boundaries established for debate. The media representations legitimised and transmitted what could be called the 'new racism'. This study found that the students were not able to critically question this new racism.
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ItemSecondary art teachers' perceptions of a regional art gallery( 2004)This study examines the view of five teachers in relation to their use of a regional gallery within their art program. Using qualitative inquiry, the study focuses on interviews with the gallery educator and five secondary teachers within the region. The key purpose of the study is to identify the value and reasons why teachers incorporate gallery visits into their teaching program.
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ItemVCE course development days, 1991 : an appraisal( 1992)This minor thesis traces the evolution and rationale of the development and implementation of the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) from its inception in 1987 to its first full year of operation in 1992. It outlines the design and operation of the professional development program undertaken to assist the implementation of the certificate. Its focus is an appraisal of the major element of the professional development program - the 1991 course development days. Three perspectives are offered in this account of the effectiveness of the 1991 course development days - a district evaluation, individual presenter's responses and a regional survey. The appraisal concludes with an overview and a set of recommendations for continuing professional development for VCE teachers beyond 1992.
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ItemA description and explanation of the differences in teacher culture in state secondary schools in Victoria( 1993)The Victorian state secondary education system has had, for many years, two divisions: the Technical School Division and the High School Division. Teachers operating in one system in most cases had very little to do with those in the other system and it has seemed that two distinct " teaching cultures" had developed. During the eighties and early nineties, substantial structural changes occurred within the state system which allowed teacher movement between the previous divisions and thus created the potential for conflict. Teachers from each division have been confronted with a teaching culture in many cases different from their own experiences. Each system historically existed for a different reason, offered different curricula and trained its teachers differently. Its raisond'etre changed as social conditions changed but the differences persisted. Its teaching staff seemed to develop ways of operating which marked them as distinctly "technical" or "high". A hypothesis was proposed which suggested that a teaching culture comprised two broad factors which then determined the sorts of school operations teachers were likely to be involved in. Thus it might be possible to group people with similar backgrounds and experiences into a technical school culture and others into a high school culture. To understand if a difference existed between technical and high school teachers, qualitative research was undertaken using interviews with six people who equally represented each division, who were varied in their teaching subjects and who had recently come to a new school where a new teaching culture had not yet been established. The data collected was verified by the interviewees and recorded on a data chart. It was found that the cultures were not clearly technical or high school, but rather based more around practical and non-practical teaching subject orientation. In this sense it would see that there might be as much difference in the culture of teaching groups within a school as in the culture between the two types of school. It could be proposed that the apparent differences between the two systems may well have depended more on the different nature of the teaching, in that one system valued practicality more than the other.
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ItemA study of religious education in Catholic secondary schools : attitudes of students, content, methodology and gender issues( 1999)The subject of Religious Education (RE) is the one feature distinguishing Catholic Schools from Government Schools. It is a unique subject because its impact on students' lives is long-lasting and important. The factors influencing students' attitudes and perceptions of RE are examined in this study. Two of the main factors researched here include the content of Religious Education lessons and the methodology employed by teachers, as perceived by students. Marked differences in the gender responses of students were observed to be very significant and these are discussed and explored. Recommendations for possible ways of addressing these disparities are also included.