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1
Childerhouse, Helen. "Supporting children with 'Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulty (SEBD)' in mainstream : teachers' perspectives." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2017. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/16546/.
Full textAbstract:
In this small-scale, qualitative study, the experiences of nine teachers who support learners identified with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) in mainstream primary schools are considered. A narrative approach enabled teachers to share their complex portrayals of practices and feelings about their roles. Perspectives on models of disability and disability rights, performativity, professional identity for teachers, and SEBD, have informed analysis and understanding of the stories teachers told. The study explores how the relationship between teachers’ professional identity and well-being and the expectations imposed upon them in a neoliberal influenced education system brings about pressures and concerns. Attempts by the teachers to achieve a balance between what they feel they ought to do (to meet policy expectations) and what they feel they should do (to meet the entitlements of children) has led to excessive workloads and complex emotional responses. Reflections on the way these teachers constructed discourses about why some children exhibit disruptive and challenging behaviours provide an understanding of how their negotiation of this challenging context impacts on the relationships they form with the children. The findings suggest that teachers experience confusion due to the complexities and contradictions they are faced with when trying to support learners identified with SEBD in an education system which incorporates policies guided by different models of disability. The study concludes by suggesting that teachers’ critical reflection on the discourses they have constructed in relation to models of disability could bring about a new way of shaping their practice. It is argued that a rights-based approach to teaching children who exhibit challenging, disruptive and concerning behaviours would emancipate children from the restrictive views and beliefs teachers seem to have developed. Approaches which focus on children’s rights to inclusive learning opportunities, which reflect their entitlement to an education, would go some way to addressing the confusion, contradiction and pressures these teachers described.
2
Alzaidi, Faten Abdulhadi. "An exploratory study on educating learners with ASD in primary inclusive setting in Saudi Arabia : issues, attitudes, and challenges." Thesis, University of Lincoln, 2017. http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/28651/.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this research is to facilitate the development and understanding of inclusive education for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Saudi Arabia. The study is located within Riyadh, a city in Saudi Arabia. The culture and religion of Saudi society are central themes in this study. ASD is a complex disorder due to its characteristics, which include a lack of social skills, communication difficulties, and behaviour problems. A range of qualitative methods were adopted; interviews with twenty general education teachers (GT) and special education teachers (SET) as well as participant observation in five schools. The research seeks to identify the attitudes and practices of primary school teachers in terms of their support for children in mainstream schools. The study shows that teachers are mostly supportive and have positive attitudes toward the inclusive education of learners with ASD. The study shows barriers to inclusive education, for example, lack of time, overcrowded classrooms, curriculum, attitudes, lack of training, teaching methods and school environments and the extent to which mainstream school buildings and classrooms are suitable for inclusion of students with Special Educational Needs (SEN) in general and, more specifically, for students with ASD. Another factor that emerged from the study to support inclusive education was peer tutoring. All the teachers involved in the study are qualified in education but they need additional training and knowledge about inclusion and ASD. Finally, the study provides some practical recommendations as well as some ideas for future research and other activities.
3
Tynan, Fionnuala. "Experiencing educational inclusion : children with Williams syndrome in Ireland." Thesis, University of Lincoln, 2014. http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/26376/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores the educational inclusion experiences of children with Williams syndrome (WS) in Irish primary schools from the perspectives of the children, their parents and teachers. Almost equal numbers of parents chose mainstream and special-education placements for their child with WS, although this choice was complex. Parents were very satisfied with their child’s education regardless of setting. Parental and teacher perceptions of the WS educational profile differed little. Teachers presented a slightly broader profile, yet showed less awareness than parents of anxiety in the children. Findings indicate a capacity in the children to learn Irish and other languages successfully, despite their entitlement to exemptions from language learning in the Irish educational system. Some features associated with WS (such as sociability) enhance the inclusion of learners with WS, while certain maladaptive behaviours impede it. Evidence suggests that maladaptive behaviours may be caused by high anxiety and poor expression of emotion due to poor comprehension of negative emotions. In addition, these children display more internalizing and self-regulatory behaviours, when parent and teacher data is compared, than has previously been noted in the literature, which may actually negatively impact on the child’s educational inclusion. Both parents and teachers support the children’s learning but teachers’ special education experiences and professional development influenced quality of supports and, hence, quality of educational inclusion. Some strategies used successfully by individual teachers to support learners with WS are those traditionally associated with autism, despite the sociability associated with WS. The children had clear images of themselves as learners and could identify personal learning strengths and challenges. Their liking for physical and social activities may be important aids to concentration, participation and, hence, inclusion. Different interpretations of inclusion were evident from parents and teachers. A definition of inclusion was proposed to compare educational placements. Such a comparison showed that Irish mainstream placements should not necessarily be viewed as the most inclusive educational setting for learners with WS. Consequently, a framework, based on the individual education planning process, proposes a way to maximize the educational inclusion of children with WS, regardless of setting.
4
Roberts, Lesley. "The challenges facing leaders and managers in the independent special school sector : a changing agenda." Thesis, University of Lincoln, 2008. http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/1844/.
Full textAbstract:
This study investigates the challenges facing leaders and managers of independent special schools during the period during when inclusion of SEN students in mainstream schools has been government policy. The challenges investigated centre around ascertaining the key role of these schools at this time, the general challenges they have faced, and the implications for them in the years ahead. This has included research on how independent special schools respond to external demands and expectations and how they balance these with their own internal imperatives. The research was carried out using an empirical phenomenological approach, with the objective of gathering qualitative data through the undertaking of interviews at both the micro and meso level of the organisational structures involved in SEN education. Participants were drawn from three approved independent special schools and three non-maintained special schools from the south east regions of England. Schools represented varying medical forms of SEN such as deafness, physical disabilities, severe learning difficulties and specific learning difficulties. Interviewees consisted of the headteacher, a deputy and classroom teacher from each school and the data was triangulated through documentation analysis using the participating schools’ recent OFSTED and CSCI reports as well as interviews with three SEN Caseworkers employed by three different LEA regions. The findings revealed that a key role for independent special schools is propping up a seemingly failing national strategy. Challenges arise from educational matters when internal visions of what good special education should mean are over-ridden by external ideologies. External accountability tends to suppress innovation and change within the school by making the change process unwieldy. External accountabilities are inclined to conflict when they encroach upon the professionalism of staff, yet complement internal interests by effecting motivation to question objectives more closely. Balancing internal/external accountabilities is no problem for these leaders and managers, because their internal imperatives will always come first. Implications for the years ahead will arise from the success or failure of the national inclusion strategy to accommodate a rising number of SEN students under limited state provision.
5
Thomas, Meurig Owen. "Perceptions of the actions, initiatives, policies and successes, or otherwise, of the post 1997 UK Government for the education of gifted and talented children, as outlined in its Excellence in Cities proposals." Thesis, University of Lincoln, 2002. http://eprints.lincoln.ac.uk/1865/.
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This paper enquires into the implementation of the Government’s directives for the education of the ‘gifted and talented’, as specified in the ‘Excellence in Cities’ (EiC)document. The term ‘gifted and talented’ (GaT) has been determined by government diktat and its appropriateness is examined, as are the arguments about precise definitions, the identification of such children and the rationale for the Government choice. The current concern has its roots in the past, demanding an examination of the political and educational raison d’être for the evolving policies. The assessment of the results of such policies and arrangements sheds light on their suitability and relevance for the future and are thus considered. The experience of others to provide an appropriate education and the arrangements needed to facilitate the process justify a consideration of an international perspective. The examination of the philosophy, current arrangements made elsewhere and innovative proposals for the future of the education of the able aids the establishment of the criteria with which to judge the viability and implementation of the EiC arrangements. The methodology used to obtain research data involves interviews with those responsible for implementing the EiC directives at both City and school/college level. Their answers illuminate their approach and aspirations for the education of the GaT. The success of the policy and its implementation is assessed by means of a critical analysis of the management decisions taken, and the consequences at both City and School/College level. Triangulation is accomplished by the additional use of the data gained from expert witnesses, thus helping to determine the viability and practicality of the arrangements made and envisaged. The post modernist stance of the author, coupled with a qualitative methodology, and a possible initial bias towards a revisionist view of how the education of the able should be organised, should not necessarily invalidate the conclusions reached.
6
Peach, Deborah. "Improving the provision of learning assistance services in higher education." Thesis, Griffith University, 2003. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/45464/8/Deborah%20Peach%20Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This study is motivated by the need to look continually for ways to improve Griffith University's learning assistance services so that they meet the changed needs of stakeholders and are at the same time cost-effective and efficient. This study uses the conceptual tools of cultural-historical activity theory and expansive visibilisation to investigaate the developmenet and transformation of learning assistance services at Griffith University, one of Australia's largest mult-campus universities.
7
Mukherjee, Michelle M. "Technological tools for science classrooms : choosing and using for productive and sustainable teaching and learning experiences." Thesis, The University of Queensland, 2013. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/66862/1/s41236307_phd_thesisfinal.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
In this age of rapidly evolving technology, teachers are encouraged to adopt ICTs by government, syllabus, school management, and parents. Indeed, it is an expectation that teachers will incorporate technologies into their classroom teaching practices to enhance the learning experiences and outcomes of their students. In particular, regarding the science classroom, a subject that traditionally incorporates hands-on experiments and practicals, the integration of modern technologies should be a major feature. Although myriad studies report on technologies that enhance students’ learning outcomes in science, there is a dearth of literature on how teachers go about selecting technologies for use in the science classroom. Teachers can feel ill prepared to assess the range of available choices and might feel pressured and somewhat overwhelmed by the avalanche of new developments thrust before them in marketing literature and teaching journals. The consequences of making bad decisions are costly in terms of money, time and teacher confidence. Additionally, no research to date has identified what technologies science teachers use on a regular basis, and whether some purchased technologies have proven to be too problematic, preventing their sustained use and possible wider adoption.
The primary aim of this study was to provide research-based guidance to teachers to aid their decision-making in choosing technologies for the science classroom. The study unfolded in several phases. The first phase of the project involved survey and interview data from teachers in relation to the technologies they currently use in their science classrooms and the frequency of their use.
These data were coded and analysed using Grounded Theory of Corbin and Strauss, and resulted in the development of a PETTaL model that captured the salient factors of the data. This model incorporated usability theory from the Human Computer Interaction literature, and education theory and models such as Mishra and Koehler’s (2006) TPACK model, where the grounded data indicated these issues. The PETTaL model identifies Power (school management, syllabus etc.), Environment (classroom / learning setting), Teacher (personal characteristics, experience, epistemology), Technology (usability, versatility etc.,) and Learners (academic ability, diversity, behaviour etc.,) as fields that can impact the use of technology in science classrooms.
The PETTaL model was used to create a Predictive Evaluation Tool (PET): a tool designed to assist teachers in choosing technologies, particularly for science teaching and learning. The evolution of the PET was cyclical (employing agile development methodology), involving repeated testing with in-service and pre-service teachers at each iteration, and incorporating their comments i ii in subsequent versions. Once no new suggestions were forthcoming, the PET was tested with eight in-service teachers, and the results showed that the PET outcomes obtained by (experienced) teachers concurred with their instinctive evaluations. They felt the PET would be a valuable tool when considering new technology, and it would be particularly useful as a means of communicating perceived value between colleagues and between budget holders and requestors during the acquisition process. It is hoped that the PET could make the tacit knowledge acquired by experienced teachers about technology use in classrooms explicit to novice teachers. Additionally, the PET could be used as a research tool to discover a teachers’ professional development needs. Therefore, the outcomes of this study can aid a teacher in the process of selecting educationally productive and sustainable new technology for their science classrooms.
This study has produced an instrument for assisting teachers in the decision-making process associated with the use of new technologies for the science classroom. The instrument is generic in that it can be applied to all subject areas. Further, this study has produced a powerful model that extends the TPACK model, which is currently extensively employed to assess teachers’ use of technology in the classroom. The PETTaL model grounded in data from this study, responds to the calls in the literature for TPACK’s further development. As a theoretical model, PETTaL has the potential to serve as a framework for the development of a teacher’s reflective practice (either self evaluation or critical evaluation of observed teaching practices). Additionally, PETTaL has the potential for aiding the formulation of a teacher’s personal professional development plan. It will be the basis for further studies in this field.
8
Barber, Paul. "An exploration of relationship development through outdoor education." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42454/.
Full textAbstract:
As a field of study and practice, Outdoor Education has a tradition of being ill-defined with a diverse range of understandings regarding its form, function and place in secondary school curriculum. This has resulted in Outdoor Education being neglected as a mandated component of formal curriculum for middle school learning in secondary schools.
Outdoor Education provides many learning outcomes beyond the scope of specified curriculums. One of the purposes of this research is to support the acknowledgement of theseoutcomes in the context of formal curriculums; to document and record them; and to providean analysis of their benefit for students undertaking holistic Outdoor Education programs.
The framework for this thesis consists of a review of relevant literature, a domain evaluation and a case study. The totality of these findings support the general discussion for this research project which is followed by a summary, conclusions and recommendations for further research and improved practice. Through the exploration of Definitions, Curriculum and Outcomes for middle school Outdoor Education, this research aims to address ongoing debates regarding the nature of Outdoor Education in secondary schooling.
To provide both an overview of the field in general and a specific contextual analysis, the research has been conducted as two separate studies. Study 1 is a domain evaluation consisting of two phases, a curriculum content analysis and interviews with recognised and respected experts in the field of Outdoor Education. Study 2 is a contextual case study based on data drawn from interviews with specific teachers and a targeted focus group. Data generated throughout all phases of this research was coded and analysed thematically using NVivo data management software.
This research revealed that defining Outdoor Education as a field of study and
practice is complex and that there is an array of differing perspectives for Outdoor Education.
The current research identified Outdoor Education as an experiential, holistic pedagogy which immerses students in outdoor environments to build relationships with the self, others and environment.
This study found that due to the rich diversity of experiences it offers, Outdoor Education can be used to inform educational outcomes in any subject area. Regardless, it was highlighted that because these experiences are unique, it should stand alone as an alternative to regular classroom learning and not be subordinate to any other discipline area. It is evident in the data generated from the curriculum analysis that Outdoor Education is under- represented in curriculums compared to other, more traditional learning areas. This was also reflected in the interviews with participants asserting that Outdoor Education is undervalued in some areas and should be acknowledged for its contribution to holistic development. All participants asserted that it has a place in the formal curriculum of secondary schools, advocating that it be embedded within the curriculum at all year levels.
The data also revealed that Outdoor Education has many outcomes beyond the realm of formal mandated curriculum requirements and that these outcomes are important whether they are included in official curriculum or not. Data generated from this study revealed that Outdoor Education provides social and emotional learning (SEL) outcomes which contribute to both wellbeing and academic progress in other areas.
Although Outdoor Education is interdisciplinary in nature it was found to be a holistic learning area which provides authentic experiential learning opportunities and distinct outcomes which are not found in any other discipline areas. The findings of this study affirmed that Outdoor Education contributes to the development of a positive relationship with the self by providing opportunities for learning outcomes through the explicit development of independence, self-direction and resilience. It also contributes to the development of positive relationships with others and the environment simultaneously through direct practical experience with a variety of social situations and environments. Participants in this research advocated that the provision of such opportunities should be recognised as legitimate outcomes of Outdoor Education with the proposition that school is the only place where students in this context can access these types of experiences.
As an outcome of the findings from this research, it is recommended that due to the unique personal and social development opportunities that Outdoor Education provides, it be included as compulsory curriculum within all school year levels in Australia. This research advocates that the unrecognised outcomes of Outdoor Education programs be regarded as legitimate irrespective of their inclusion or exclusion as formal curriculum. In relation to Outdoor Education theory and future research, further development and explication of the philosophical foundations for Outdoor Education as a field of study and practice is recommended. In addition, it is proposed that the Outdoor Education community of practice develop a concise and unified basis for service provision (Wenger, 1998). Building on the current study, additional research exploring the relationship between Outdoor Education, student wellbeing and academic achievement is recommended.
9
Thomas, Melissah Barnett. "Applying Design Thinking to Develop an Innovative Assessment Design Framework in an Initial Teacher Education Course." Thesis, 2022. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/44684/.
Full textAbstract:
In the last decade there has been a growing interest in improving the nature of assessment to
enhance student learning in higher education. At its best, assessment can motivate and influence
the student’s direction and approaches to learning. It is widely accepted that assessment should
be valid, reliable, and transparent. Despite what is known about quality assessment, the literature
suggests that these conceptualisations are not always practised. This thesis seeks to reflect on
current Initial Teacher Education assessment practices by integrating student, academic and
high-school teacher perceptions. The overall objective of this research was to develop an
innovative assessment framework that resolved key issues, including depth of understanding,
engagement with assessment, and achieving authentic and sustainable assessment practices.
An important consideration was to ensure any optimised assessment did not increase the
marking and feedback workload for the academics.
Aligning to Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology principles, this thesis adopted
design thinking as a qualitative methodological approach in the research inquiry process to
explore and develop solutions to the complex assessment issues identified by literature and
participants in this research. As proposed by Stanford d.school, design thinking is a structured
method of thinking processes used in problem solving, with consultation of end-users to develop
prototypes and devise solutions. Under the umbrella of PAR, this research incorporated the
design thinking mindset and its structured approaches to investigate perspectives which then
enabled creation of assessment frameworks. This research consisted of two phases:
Phase One focused on end-users’ perspectives and experience of usual assessment practices
that occurred pre-Covid-19, in a face-to-face teaching and learning setting. Semi-structured
interview analyses revealed that despite acknowledging and understanding the importance of
assessment and feedback processes, end-users were not completely satisfied with their
assessment experiences. Students wanted assessment with more clarity and transparency
providing them with authentic opportunities. While academics and high-school teachers wanted
more student engagement in assessment. Assessment workload constraints affected both
students’ and academics’ assessment and feedback experiences. Based on these
understandings, the assessment framework was ideated and developed into a scenario-based
experience assessment prototype.
After this stage, the pandemic pushed teaching, learning, and assessment practices to a digitally
supported remote delivery, which meant that the framework adopted in Phase One could not be
tested for effectiveness. Phase Two evolved from these social distancing Covid-19 restrictions
which caused new problems and challenges in delivering and completing assessment. In light of this, the same design thinking stages and procedures as Phase One were adopted. Analyses
discovered academics and teachers experienced tensions between their usual pedagogical
practices and the limited social cues available to them in the online environment. It appeared that
students did not necessarily know how to collaborate, which was magnified in the online
environment. Therefore, a new fit-for-purpose assessment framework prototype was developed
for the digital emerging environment to support end-users in facilitating, monitoring, and
assessing collaboration.
This thesis presents practical assessment alternatives in these universal and situational
assessment environments, to equip students with knowledge and skills to excel in future
employment settings. The lessons thereby learned from adopting the design thinking approach as
a results-driven planning method in this study may assist others in exploring this more novel
approach to qualitative research. It is anticipated that the findings of this research will contribute
to promoting and sustaining changes to improve teaching, learning, and assessment in higher
and teacher education.
10
Jordan, Anne Irene. "Teacher identity, teacher response, and pedagogical narration in a primary school setting." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42496/.
Full textAbstract:
This research will examine how teacher identity and a teacher’s view of the child as capable influences curriculum creation, teacher’s response, and culture of a classroom in a primary school community. It will seek to understand how this image of the child constructs teacher response that engages with students’ thinking and makes meaning of learning and children’s understandings of their worlds. Situated as a post-qualitative inquiry using pedagogical narrations, the relationships between child and teacher, teaching practices, professional conversations, and questions of praxis are made visible for debate and dialogue. Teacher identity influences moments with children, honouring the entangled relationships between child and teacher, and the co-participation of child and teacher together. This study utilises pedagogical narrations to articulate teacher’s experiences, wonderings, and questions into teaching practices.
11
Shen, Yue. "What Universities Can Learn from YouTube, from the Perspective of User Experience (UX)." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42977/.
Full textAbstract:
Although YouTube, the world’s second most popular website, is mainlyan entertainment provider, it is also the most frequently used educational resource provider in many areas of university study. Since YouTube videos in general are not considered very reliable for university education, this thesis argues that it is YouTube’ User Experience (UX) that largely accounts for its popularity among university students and educators. The aim of this study is to find out what educational platforms such as LMS (Learning Management System) and MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) can learn from YouTube on the UX level. This project’s data collection includes observation of five participants’ use of YouTube, LMS and MOOCs and semi-structured interviews with the participants. This is a low-risk human research project whose ethics has been cleared by the University Human Research Ethics Committee. The ethics approval number is HRE18-179. It is argued that in order to improve UX, universities should integrate in their design of LMS and MOOCs a Recommender System (RS) and a user-friendly Search Engine (SE), elements that can be borrowed from the design of YouTube. The design follows three principles: interactive, motivating and standard. The research outcome is presented by an exegesis and a creative demonstration of LMS/MOOCs interface design through flowcharts and wireframes (See Illustration 1- 6, Page 129- 135). As this is a PhD by creative project, the exegesis accounts for 70% of the project and the creative piece weighs 30%. This project has brought the study of UX into educational technology, an area where researchers have called for more adoption of UX. This thesis provides guiding principles and practical suggestions for university learning designers and educational platform designers. Such suggestions can improve the digital experience for university students.
12
Muscat, Amanda. "Becoming a reader and writer in a digital-material world: An examination of young children’s digitally mediated literacy practices in everyday contexts." Thesis, 2022. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/44708/.
Full textAbstract:
The digital age has caused a fundamental transformation of literacy, and young children’s repertoires of literacy
and meaning-making practices have undergone drastic changes, as have understandings of becoming literate in
the complex digital landscapes (Kress 2010). Despite these changes, current early years literacy discourses
remain stubbornly print-centric and fail to acknowledge contemporary children’s cultural expertise, hobbies,
popular culture interests and material (physical) and immaterial (virtual) pursuits, which remain largely excluded
from classroom literacy practice. This study provides an in-depth and rich description of the digital literacy practices
of five children aged between 2 and 6 years in a situated ethnography of out-of-school literacy practices. Fieldwork
material was gathered from participant observations, informal conversations and artefact collection and analysed
to create an in-depth portrait of emergent contemporary practices in the home connected to contemporary
understandings and theories of childhood literacy.
Methodologically, I engaged with Deleuzoguattarian constructs such as the rhizome and assemblage theory in
order to think differently and creatively about the research design and to embrace and follow the unexpected ways
in which young children know/do/be/create literacies in their everyday life (Kuby & Rucker 2016). I engaged in a
process of ‘thinking with theory’ (Jackson & Mazzei 2012) to plug in posthuman concepts with the fieldwork material
in order to become attuned to the particular material-discursive practices occurring in the children’s home contexts
and move away from hierarchies that privilege the human subject over the nonhuman (Barad, 2007).
Rhizomapping was utilised as a diagrammatic form of representation to re/present the fieldwork material in a
nonlinear and nonhierarchical manner, enabling a conceptual shift to frame the analyses, take more kinds of
evidence into account and think more expansively about the fieldwork material. I argue that it is vital to engage
with posthuman thinking when examining contemporary literacy practice due to the complex and unstable digital
and material conditions of contemporary times.
This thesis provides insight into the digitally mediated and shifting practices surrounding children’s reading, writing
and meaning-making, and found the material, embodied, affective and spatial dimensions of literacy are substantial
components of their early literacy experiences in their home contexts. The findings reveal that: 1) the children’s
early literacy experiences were intertwined in complex ways with their intra-actions with everyday materials, digital
devices and texts; 2) the everyday materials were important forces in producing literacy for the children and
cultivated rich, creative and experimental literacy experiences; 3) the children seamlessly negotiated the
online/offline spaces and operated within these hybrid spaces with ease, without differentiating between the virtual
and actual.
This research makes an important contribution to the task of reinterpreting contemporary literacy practice in the
digital age in order to develop an informed early years literacy pedagogy of transformation for current times. Thus
it argues that there is an urgent need to disrupt current literacy policy, practice and curriculum, and for early years practitioners to conceive of literacy in enlarged ways that are inclusive of the material, embodied, affective and
spatial aspects of literacy.
13
Ma, Hong Anh. "From Testing to Active Student Learning: Vietnamese EFL Teachers’ Perception of Formative Assessment." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42894/.
Full textAbstract:
Assessment is integral to the teaching and learning process. The use of formative assessment and feedback for students is particularly conducive to language learning and teaching and is supportive of achieving language learning outcomes. However, in Vietnam, due to several factors such as large classroom size or insufficient in-class hours, Vietnamese language teachers generally place little emphasis on formative assessment. In recent years, Vietnamese teachers have re-evaluated the existing testing and assessment approaches and begun to recognise that constant feedback facilitates student-centered learning and promotes active learning. This qualitative study aims to examine the perceptions and in-class practices of formative assessment of Vietnamese EFL teachers in secondary schools, by means of semi-structured interviews with teachers, classroom audio recordings, and teachers’ reflective notes. The findings show that there is a shift of teachers’ focus from summative to formative assessment to varying degrees. Participating teachers also acknowledge in-class formative assessment practices via a cyclic process, and their formative assessment techniques are summarised in an inventory. The role of formative assessment in linking student language with classroom activities and therefore promoting active student learning in EFL classes is also discussed.
14
Schiele, Helen. "A narrative inquiry into the experiences of a leadership group working towards collective efficacy in a regional faith-based school." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42976/.
Full textAbstract:
The narration of the inquiry is an actual account of a leadership’s way of knowing their world and their relationship to, and within it. Inviting current educational and self-nominated theories to be deconstructed and reconstructed via their internal contexts required for their educational partnerships. Highlighting how issues of power and spiritual representation are central in the pedagogical shift, from self to collective efficacy which informs the educational practices as seen within a faith-based regional school. The work framed within a narrative methodology combined with an insider researchers’ perspective, acknowledged, and built upon a coexisting working relationship with a school community.
The work carried out over a two-year period was explored through a series of conversations. Stimulating debate, enabling reflection in action and a reflexive practice to be explored by the leadership group and the researcher as a boundary rider to the leadership’s thinking landscape. A landscape within the field text is one that centers and grounds the philosophical, ideological, and often emotional elements of the character’s working schemas within the narrative. The traditional role of the boundary rider, is one who moves between fence lines, checking for strength and validity of structure. Here too, I see the role of a boundary rider as one who will be moving between the field texts, the rich dialogue shared and within the studies texts. Each provide a differing landscape of ideas, often setting not only a theme but highlighting the core elements that bound and curtail the ideas and stories shared.
These elements of focus were clearly annotated and prescribed in seeking and gaining Ethics Approval from Victoria University HRE-18-043.
The work focused on four core aims (which will be seen as the purpose or the intention of the inquiry) or questions of the inquiry:
1. Research and theorise the modes of pedagogical practice within a faith-based school.
2. Through the data curated, to assist the development of understanding collective efficacy.
3. To theorise the role of an insider researcher within the inquiry.
4. Reference a semiotic approach, thus enabling the researcher to unpack the conceptual threads of religious dogma.
Which in turn contributes to the human knowledge needed in supporting a development of an expert system. Which may be transferred to other cultural contexts and furthered aligned to the significance of education within a faith-based school.
The work produced four themes, a set of ideas, that is further analysed within the theorised findings of the thesis. These were not seen as constituting an end point of the research, rather a continued discussion for the researched group. Focusing on collective leadership, the work noted the impacts and tensions for what would be coined as a ‘religious difficulty’ as evidence within the researched faith-based setting. The work explored these ideas and concepts through a reflexive narrative lens noting, value in the concept and that learning is facilitated by knowledgeable others. What shifted within the work is not just the importance of time but rather the naming of the lived tension between the religious institution and that of the idea and ideal of faith, framed within an educative lens. It is these values and emerging trends or tendencies or working inclinations, that became evident through the field texts curated, to gain a collective efficacious shift in how the researched school could move forward in its aspirational goals for excellence, be it purely academic or fully immersed within a holistic / spiritual curriculum.
The work, in capturing the wonderings, and reflexive actions of the group, assisted a modality of systems thinking to be explored within the discussion chapter. Extending this thinking, constructed a dyadic mode of a re-imagined social semiotic artifacts, which is articulated as a symbolic key finding of the work.
15
Krstevska, Nade. "Ways of Reading and Thinking: Analysing Young Readers' Response to the Relationship Between Text and Illustrations in Children's Picture Books." Thesis, 2020. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42662/.
Full textAbstract:
There are many ways of reading and interpreting the relationship between text and illustrations, both in literary and everyday contexts. These ways vary based on who the reader is and what is the purpose of their reading. In this study the reader is the child, and the purpose of the study is to examine the child’s cognitive, semiotic, and poetic engagement with six different text-picture relationships using the theoretical frameworks of cognitive, semiotic, and poetic theory. More specifically cognitive theory depicts how the child engages with the cognitive processes in Lorin W. Anderson and David R. Krathwohl’s (2001) Taxonomy of the Cognitive Domain, consisting of memory, comprehension, application, analysis, evaluation, and creation. Semiotic theory reveals how the child communicates their understanding of a text through a signifying system of communicative behaviour consisting of visual, verbal, physical, oral, or synthesized exchanges. And poetic theory depicts the child’s use of the visual elements in a text such as line, shape, colour, texture, and the verbal elements such as figurative language, sound techniques, structure, irony, and register. Together these theoretical frameworks depict the vast opportunities that picture books provide children for cognitive, semiotic, and poetic engagement. These opportunities are more extensively outlined in a report addressed to participating schools in the study. The report includes several recommendations that expand upon a teacher’s professional practice, while simultaneously improving children’s learning outcomes through suggested education and pedagogy. In doing so the study makes a valuable text-picture relationships inherent in children’s picture books through the exploration of the visual and verbal signs in them which are part of a signifying system of communicative behaviour.
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Konjarski, Loretta. "Perspectives of physical education student engagement in an experientially based Inclusion and Diversity Physical Activity unit." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42960/.
Full textAbstract:
It is widely accepted by today’s Australian society that education, in particular, be inclusive and accessible for all students. Teachers regularly report a perceived limit to their skills set in relation to working with students with a disability, particularly when the students are in a mainstream setting. This perception has also been identified within cohorts of physical education (PE) teachers with many reporting they do not feel confident to teach students with a disability in a physical activity setting. Research has shown that PE teachers often feel underprepared to work with students with a disability, particularly in PE classes where activities may need to be modified or adapted for full participation (Forlin & Chambers, 2011; Barber, 2018).
The purpose of this study, adopting a phenomenological approach, was to demonstrate the importance of undergraduate tertiary PE students participating in an inclusion and diversity or Adapted PE program, and to understand the value of that experience. The mixed methods research methodology with a focus on phenomenology was developed using a triangulation methodology that used three phases of research to produce data that would address a set of sub- aims relating to the undergraduate PE student experience and the perspectives of experts regarding inclusive practices.
Phase 1 of the research involved surveying undergraduate PE students participating in an Inclusion and Diversity in Physical Activity unit in an inner-city university in the west of Melbourne, Australia using the Physical Educators’ Attitude Towards Teaching Individuals with a Disability (PEATID-11) questionnaire pre and post-completion of the Inclusion and Diversity in Physical Activity unit. As a questionnaire was used, a positivist paradigm was adopted for this quantitative phase. One hundred and twenty two responses were collected and of that, 29 were completed both pre and post-completion of the unit. Results indicated that there were significant differences to the attitudes of the undergraduate PE students’ pre and post the unit, which is supported by previous research findings using this instrument. The PEATID-11 data results found students showed positive changes in their attitudes and behaviours after completing the unit, as they scored higher in the post-mean scores in each category of the questionnaire indicating a more positive intent post-completion of the unit and demonstrating the importance of the inclusion of the unit in the undergraduate PE degree. A prediction that therefore can be made is that undergraduate PE students, who have specific, focused Adapted PE training, as a part of their undergraduate PE studies, will have a more favourable attitude towards inclusion and working with students with a disability.
Phase 2 of the research utilised focus groups with the same undergraduate PE student cohort using a phenomenological lens to capture their ‘lived experience’ of participating in the Inclusion and Diversity in Physical Activity unit. Three focus groups, with a total of 22 undergraduate PE students were conducted with students post the completion of the unit. This approach has provided a data that describes the students’ experiences and learnings in their own voices that has not been a feature of earlier quantitative studies. The research has provided an additional perspective to the current body of knowledge in the research conducted around the impact of Adapted PE courses on the attitudes, confidence and skill set of undergraduate PE students and has identified keys trends, themes and issues in relation to the experiences and learnings of students engaged in the Inclusion and Diversity in Physical Activity unit at Victoria University. Results of this phase of the research showed that the undergraduate PE students did report the value the experience and found it to be ‘life changing’ and useful.
The third phase of the research involved the completion of 8 individual interviews with industry education experts in the field of PE and inclusion. This last phase of the research was designed to investigate in what way how inclusion teacher training was viewed and how important it was considered to be by experts in the field. Findings of this stage of the research overwhelmingly support the inclusion of Adapted PE, inclusion and diversity training in undergraduate PE degrees. This was evidenced by more favourable attitudes towards working with students with a disability at the completion of an inclusive PE unit and positive responses to focus group questions on the impact of the inclusive PE unit.
The three phases of the research support the importance of including an inclusive PE program in an undergraduate PE degree. This research supports the literature that clearly demonstrates that preservice and undergraduate teachers who have had experience in an Adapted Physical Education unit as part of their studies, which included theory and practice, could make a difference to the predisposition of their preparedness to be more inclusive. (Hodge et al., 2002). Additionally, this research adds to the body of knowledge in providing undergraduate PE student voices together with expert educators’ voices regarding the importance of ‘hands on inclusive learning’. The findings that detail more favourable attitudes post-completion of the inclusive PE unit in association with the positive ‘lived experience’ data, prompted the recommendations of including mandated inclusive education and training for physical education teachers (both undergraduate and practicing) and the requirement of inclusive practice training being provided within an experiential context. It is anticipated that the findings of this research will serve as evidence to support the development of undergraduate PE courses and foster further research in regards to inclusive education and training for physical educators.
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Moore, Brett. "Situated Learning in a School–University Partnership: Integrating Partnership-Based Teacher Education With School-Based Educational Change." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42970/.
Full textAbstract:
The author investigates how a school–university partnership involving pre-service teachers (PSTs), mentors, teacher educators and students impacts the learning and engagement of participant stakeholders. The examination considers the purpose of an educational partnership in the context of a school’s transformation and improvement.
The study is premised on an assumption that an effective partnership between a school and university in site-based teacher education, has the potential to improve the learning of students; enhance the quality of the practicum experience for PSTs; and promote opportunities in professional learning and growth for practising teachers, school leaders and teacher educators.
The partnership raises questions about what learning looks like in a contemporary school setting; by enhancing a culture of continuous learning and new knowledge, through sustained collaboration, practitioner research and inquiry, innovation, and change.
The author demonstrates that a school–university partnership can enable all stakeholders who participate to learn: primarily, the students through the developing contributions of PSTs; the PSTs as they work in authentically demanding practice; school leaders and teacher educators as they work together to achieve common goals; and the teachers, whose professional understandings and practices are developed through taking on the primary responsibility of mentoring the PSTs.
The research draws on Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger’s (1991) theory of situated learning and Etienne Wenger’s (1998) theory of communities of practice. The study acknowledges the social nature of schools and a view of knowledge being socially generated through participant engagement in communities of practice. An exploration of the social and situated dimensions of learning offers insights into those elements of partnership-based teacher education that enhance PST professional knowledge, practice, and agency through ongoing contact with students and their learning.
The selection of a case study methodology is a means through which to explore situated learning within communities of practice. This methodology provides an exploration of the way in which the culture, structures, and processes within the school–university partnership facilitated professional agency—creating the conditions for effective teaching and learning. The research uses quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection and analysis to obtain a rich spectrum of views. The case study methodology combining quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis allows concepts to be wholly explored, ensuring all aspects of the phenomenon (school–university partnership) are reflected on and understood.
The research explores the potential for a school–university partnership to create an alternative discourse and pathway to raise school and student outcomes. The study reveals how a school–university partnership can produce adaptive and discursive practices, countering the normalising influence of a system regime’s focus on compliance, performance, and accountability. This study explores how a partnership with a university provides the school with a vehicle to create a unique school culture, catering for local challenges within Departmental accountabilities.
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Harrison, James Gravener. "A developmental framework of practice for vocational and professional roles." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42717/.
Full textAbstract:
This doctorate contends that vocational (including professional) practice is developed
by cyclical iterative processes of problem solving, research and experiential learning
that share generic characteristics in common. This concept lends itself to use in
academic programmes of vocational formation that require life-long self-development.
This research explores how mature professionals were using experiential learning and
other processes for their development as compared with my own experience. The
results of our combined experience were examined for their contribution to improved
vocational formation. This development is closely linked to the concepts of
'competence' and 'capability' that became significant in contemporary vocational
qualification prescriptions (Jessup, 1991; Stephenson & Yorke, 1998). In this work,
'competence' is defined as the performance of practice in a vocational discipline and
'capability' as how competence is built and evolved.
Narrative inquiry, aligned with autoethnography, was selected as an appropriate
methodology for this qualitative research. The study began by undertaking a series of
interviews (Seidman, 2013) with individual professionals from business, technology and
education fields. My professional practice in tertiary education teaching inspired a
consideration of a broader concept of vocational development. This arose from my
realisation that much of the development I was comprehending used familiar processes
of problem solving and research.
The approach to the research began with a focus on learning and its association with
psychology and sociology disciplines. However, the addition of problem solving and
additional research methods, has meant taking on a broader ontological and
epistemological perspective. This is compounded by the separation of conceptual
knowledge from experiential knowledge, making the principal form of inquiry an
investigation into an epistemological problem. To try and situate the findings
appropriately, the primary methodology and methods pertaining to the psychology and
sociology disciplines have been retained in terms of data collection, analysis and
presentation, and the personal autoethnography involves a hybrid between conceptual
and professional practice perspectives.
Thus the work comprises individual narratives of the participants (Clandinin & Huber,
2009) summarised in a narrative as inquiry, supported by a personal autoethnographic
narrative (Denzin, 2013). The autoethnographic narrative is informed by dimensions of
professional practice described by Cochran-Smith and Lytle (2015); and Lester and
Costley (2010). The findings comprise a developmental framework of vocational practice, which
contends that individual capability (Stephenson & Yorke, 1998) is underpinned by
cyclical and iterative, problem-solving, research and experiential learning processes
which have generic characteristics. The concept of capability as a lifelong cyclical
iterative process and the linkages between problem solving, research and experiential
learning are seen as new contributions to knowledge. In turn, competence (Burke,
2005) becomes a state of practice provided by a developmental capability process and
continues to grow through new problem solving, research or learning needs. As such,
the framework allows for conscious lifelong self-development that will have major
benefits in the tertiary education system and potentially earlier. Two further findings of
significance were noted; the first being that an individual’s narrative of identity also
reflects their full practice and developmental capability holistically, (Clark & Rossiter,
2008; Polkinghorne, 1991) and that subconscious cognitive processes of insight,
passive reflection and creativity all make a significant contribution to everyday
vocational practice (Csikszentmihalyi, 2007; Eraut, 2002) and individual identities
(Field, 2012).
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Le, Cuong Duc. "Using Technology-Enhanced Language Learning Environments to Influence the Communicative Potential of Adult Learners of English as a Foreign Language in Vietnam." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/43125/.
Full textAbstract:
To respond to the rapid development of industrialisation, modernisation and development of a knowledge-based-economy, Vietnamese citizens are encouraged to engage in lifelong learning to adapt to work and life changes (Hossain, 2016, MOET, 2017, 2020a). With the aim of fulfilling the nation’s education goals in the early 2000s, the Vietnamese government proclaimed the English language a compulsory foreign language for all learners throughout the nation, stating that Vietnamese citizens must master English-language skills to access a wide range of professions, compete in new labour markets and advanced technologies, and engage in nation- building and global community integration (Bui & Nguyen, 2016). Also, the Vietnamese government continues to encourage the use of technology in education, specifically for teaching and learning of foreign languages (MOET, 2020c; Prime Minister of Vietnam, 2017). One of the most important policies issued by the government is a favourable framework that supports the application of information and communications technology (ICT) to education and language learning (MOET, 2007, 2008a, 2008b, 2008c, 2016). Supported by these government policies, the introduction of ICT in education in Vietnam has been increasing, but still faces challenges in different contexts and institutions (Pham, Tan, & Lee, 2019).
While a wide range of studies has examined language learning using technology in Western countries and in the Asia-Pacific Region, studies in Vietnam are still limited. This study explored learners' EFL learning experiences in gaining communicative competence, including (but not limited to) grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competencies within technology- enhanced language learning (TELL) environments. This study also aimed to discover how these learners' learning experiences, in their lifelong learning contexts, influenced not only their ability to communicate in English, but their professional knowledge and practice as well. The study’s findings showed that learners had little to no chance to experience foreign-language learning using technology in their previous education settings. As they began learning English using technology, they acknowledged the convenience and effectiveness of learning in TELL environments and showed improvement in their communicative capacity in English for their professional purposes. Although they faced challenges regarding time, support, and learning strategies, they showed a strong desire to learn, and to belong to particular imagined communities.
The study adds to the existing literature by using a narrative approach underpinned by a social constructivist worldview to interpret the lifelong learning context of Vietnamese adult learners. Understanding these learning experiences helps contribute to assisting Vietnamese learners in their lifelong learning journey, supporting their learning approaches to enhance their communicative capability and contributing to their quest to access high-quality and robust learning resources. Also, this study has the capacity to add to the broader understanding of the use of technology in learning, assisting Vietnamese educators and educational institutions in updating and building relevant curricula for language learners, particularly adult learners. Thus, this study holds the potential to support and contribute to the achievement of governmental and local goals for language education in the current Vietnamese context. This narrative inquiry was grounded in a qualitative study (Mirhosseini, 2020) using language-learning histories, learners' diaries and semi-structured interviews as data-collection methods (Barkhuizen, Benson, & Chik, 2013).
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Moates, Anne Ernestine. "Deep Learning for 21st Century Skills in Public Health Education." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/43680/.
Full textAbstract:
Graduates of health-related associate degree programs in Australia require vocational competencies to address real-world issues as a responsible citizen, which aligns with deep learning for 21st century ideals. The research, conducted in a university setting, employed qualitative and quantitative methods, in a bounded case study. Associate degree in health science students’ engagement in learning was explored using two different questionnaire instruments, focus group interview, and for a sub-cohort of participants, undertaking a health promotion and public health elective stream, collaborative experiential learning for entry-level support roles in health was observed via focus group interview, five individual interviews, and student written reflections from 11 participants. Descriptive analysis of quantitative and qualitative data supported an emergent theme that while the associate degree contributed to acknowledged real-life skill development, some limitations in health support role work-readiness was expressed by participants. The case study research indicates that participants showed commitment to pursuing a future health professional career, with the associate degree as their pathway. The findings apply to stakeholders, such as universities offering health-related vocationally oriented associate degree programs to bolster the applied skill content, thus preparing work-ready graduates, which may ultimately benefit the wider health services community.
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Suyono, Suyono. "Investigating Intercultural Communication among Islamic Indonesian Tertiary English Foreign Language Educators." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/42806/.
Full textAbstract:
Communication across cultures often takes place within asymmetric power relations where knowing self and others is pivotal for advancing communication practices. When using English in an Islamic environment, Islamic Indonesian English foreign language (EFL) educators are underrepresented, and their minority status is even more evident when living in English speaking countries. While studies on underrepresented groups have been numerous, there is a paucity of studies on how Islamic Indonesian EFL educators engage in English where they are situated as co-cultural or minoritized group members. This study thus examines the English communicative practices adopted by the educators who have studied abroad, those who studied abroad and returned to Indonesia and those who have not experienced abroad.
Drawing on Co-Cultural Theory (CCT) proposed by Orbe (1998) for its framework, this study examines communication practices adopted by the educators in communication within and beyond their group members. Grounded in the lived experiences of Islamic Indonesian EFL educators, this study works within a constructivist/interpretive world view, employing a qualitative narrative methodology for data collection. Participants provided written records of critical incidents, followed by interviews. The data were analysed and interpreted using co-cultural theory as the overall framework, with thematic analysis of narratives.
The findings of the study reveal that all groups shared similar interplay of issues taken into consideration when engaging in intercultural communication, including experience, contexts, anticipation of cost and reward, communicative orientation, and the ability to carry out selected practices. Yet, due to their wider experience of interacting with English interlocutors, those who had overseas experience show a wider repertoire underpinning their practice selection, particularly around faith-embedded practices such as Christmas wishes, halal food, or hijab observance. This study also identifies the emergence of an Islamic frame of reference which is constantly attended to by all groups of EFL educators when scrutinizing co-cultural communication.
The findings also show diverse communicative practices adopted by the educators in situations that signify asymmetric power relations, in line with other studies where assimilation, accommodation and separation strategies are adopted. Assimilation largely occurs in settings involving mundane matters, such as verbal greetings, wishes, and terms of address. Accommodation is achieved through negotiation, blending English and Islamic perspectives around expressions of future reference, verbal greetings, exchanges of compliments, and wishes. The separation orientation occurs around practices where negotiation is not seen as possible, including practices such as hugging in greetings ritual, hijab observance, and halal foods. This study also identifies the emergence of customization of practices adopted by the educators to address their interest. While this intercultural learning process is beneficial to shaping the individual identity of EFL educators in their communication practice, the process may also facilitate the shaping of professional attributes as EFL educators in Islamic institutions.
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Caruso, Massimiliano. "Agile Scrum: a case study in organisational culture and emergent leadership in two Christian faith-based schools." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/44683/.
Full textAbstract:
This case study examined the impact on the evolving leadership cultures in two schools
following their participation in the Smarter Schools National Partnerships Program (SSNPP) an
initiative of the former Federal Labor Government (2007–2013).
The focus was on the co-developed interventions and strategies designed to meet the aims and
objectives of the SSNPP, with a particular focus on the implementation of an adapted version of
an inclusive participatory approach titled the Agile Scrum Method.
Of the fifteen schools supported by the researcher through the SSNPP, two were selected for
further engagement as both schools had demonstrated a keen intent to participate in the SSNP
program. The principals of these two schools were also supportive in co-developing additional
initiatives and investigations in order to enhance their respective school cultures and leadership
approaches. As Principal Advisor and Cluster Leader, I have the dual role of author and
researcher. This dual role is further explored below.
This case study was underpinned by an ethnographic approach that focused on the social
interactions, behaviours and perspectives that occurred within groups, teams, organisations
and communities (Reeves, Kuper & Hodges, 2008). The conceptual framework of this research
was underpinned by Bolman and Deal’s Frames (2008, 2017) research in investigating
organisational cultures. Qualitative data was drawn from several sources, including semistructured Interviews, documents such as newsletters, minutes of meetings, school websites
and notes from the researcher’s journal.
3
The results highlighted the importance of principal leadership in the creation of highly
collaborative and distributive leadership cultures in both schools. Faith and religion played a
major role in influencing a predominant servant leadership style. The Agile Scrum process
supported the creation of conditions of collaborative cultures and distributed leadership in
both schools.
This study concluded with practical recommendations for school principals, teachers, and policy
makers interested in the development of principal and teacher leadership and collaborative
school cultures.
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Singh, Harpreet. "An Innovative Learning Management Approach for improving learning practices in Australian University Context." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/43992/.
Full textAbstract:
With rapid expansion in knowledge streams over the last few years, the role of relevant education models and mechanisms have become increasingly important. Smarter Learning Management Systems (LMS) devised to enable student learnings at the university level have proven to be effective, yet the previous research points to the lack of employers’ perspective in the design of such systems. To bridge the existing gaps in the learning management systems, this study applied Design Science Research Methodology to design and develop an LMS artefact. This informed by the analysis of qualitative data collected from a random sample of students in graduate and post-graduate programs and teachers from universities in Melbourne, Australia. This artefact is a mobile-based application named Student Career Assistance System (SCAS). SCAS was designed, developed and evaluated in accordance with the DSR methodologies towards creating a solution which caters to the information and learning needs of the students, teachers and employers in an integrated manner.
This thesis by publication consists of four papers. Article 1 developed a theoretical analysis based on the Smart Education concept under which a systematic literature review is conducted. The purpose of this work is to provide a theoretical foundation for an initial innovative approach called Students Career Assistance System (SCAS) by describing the present state of Smart Education research. Article 2 initialises the concept of developing a cloud based collective platform with industry involvement in the Learning systems. Article 3 builds and assesses a novel idea of mobile-based learning technology for strengthening current LMS techniques using and assessing Design Science Research Methodology. For this a pilot study has been conducted and interviewed stakeholders. Article 4 details the design research and process towards development of an integrated learning management system and its evaluation using qualitative findings.
Qualitative research conducted with user groups both revealed and confirmed the lack of integration of employability functions in existing learning management systems. In case of select systems with employment functions, lack of awareness regarding the same was reported by both students and teachers. Additionally, it was found that separate employment platforms deployed in the institutions were also not being used by the students because of lack of awareness, thereby making a stronger case for inclusion of the employment functionality within the primary LMS. This can allow students to seamlessly greater clarity regarding career pathways after graduation. In fact, students reported lack of clarity about career pathways after graduation because of lack of exposure to the industry employers. Certain functionalities of SCAS like ‘Jobs’ and ‘Portfolios’ also have the potential of saving time and money resources for different user-groups. This study also outlines key areas for the investigation which primarily include security concerns such as data integrity, information confidentiality and entity authentication for data availability. This study concludes through an evaluation of the SCAS artefact, deriving insights and recommendations for further development of the artefact. The key recommendations include integration of existing online products and services to address the privacy and security concerns of the user groups in a manner that enables the platform in facilitating dynamic conversations between the students, teachers and employers.
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Forbes, Jody Anne. "Extending body image intervention from daughters to mothers: a two-part evaluation of parallel school-based body image interventions for mothers and daughters in an independent school for girls." Thesis, 2021. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/43124/.
Full textAbstract:
Body dissatisfaction is a significant concern with severe and persistent consequences. Thus, there is a need for effective prevention and early intervention strategies that can be delivered in a timely and efficient manner, such as within the context of schools by teachers. There have been calls within the field for researchers to evaluate existing interventions under diverse conditions prior to global dissemination, and adopt an ecological approach by extending interventions to include parents.
The project included two consequative studies conducted two-years apart. The first study aimed to identify effective intervention strategies for improving body image outcomes in Year 8 girls. Heeding calls for rigorous and independent evaluation of existing programs under varied conditions, Study 1 aimed to replicate the UK school-based body image program Dove Confident Me (DCM) among a selective population of adolescent girls in Australia. Expanding on Study 1, Study 2 aimed to improve body image outcomes for both Year 8 girls and their mothers. The second study evaluated a modified version of DCM alongside an investigation of Raising Confident Girls (RCG), a school- based 3-session seminar delivered to mothers. Further, the thesis aimed to understand factors contributing to improved parental uptake in body image programs and to examine whether extending classroom-based interventions to include mothers enhances the effectiveness of outcomes in daughters.
Study 1, involving teacher delivery of DCM to Year 8 students (n=198) attending an independent girls’ school in Australia, hypothesized that compared to the control group (n=208), girls receiving DCM would report significant improvements in body image and psychosocial outcomes, alongside reduced severity of known eating disorder risk factors and behaviours. Multilevel mixed modeling analyses revealed significant intervention effects for social comparison and sociocultural pressure, but not in the direction hypothesized. A lack of teacher confidence with delivery, limited student engagement with the UK version of the program, and poor student-teacher relationship due to a timetable issue were highlighted as areas for improvement. Study 2, answered calls within the body image field to develop both etiological and ecological programs by conducting a second replication of a modified version of DCM and the addition of a parental intervention Raising Confident Girls (RCG) delivered to mothers. The modified DCM program was delivered to Year 8 students (n=242) and outcomes were compared with a control group (n=354). Despite significant improvements in acceptability and engagement ratings, the modified DCM program did not improve body image outcomes for participants. Interestingly, the intervention group reported a significant increase in both internalization of the thin-ideal and perceived sociocultural pressure following participation in the intervention. Raising Confident Girls (RCG), was delivered to Year 8 mothers (n=69) and outcomes were compared with a control group (n=51). Multilevel mixed modelling analyses revealed that mothers who participated in RCG reported significantly greater body esteem and body appreciation compared to the control group. Further, as predicted, participation in RCG improved a mother’s knowledge, confidence and skills parenting an adolescent girl, and improved her positive role modeling for her daughter with respect to body image. Receiving high acceptability ratings, strong engagement and low attrition rates, the RCG program appeared successful in overcoming long held difficulties with engaging parents in body image interventions. Finally, Study 2 examined whether students completing DCM benefited from having their mother attend RCG. Students whose mothers participated in RCG demonstrated a significant change in appearance-based talk at 3-month follow-up compared to students whose mothers were not involved in RCG. Additionally, there were noticeable improvements in a number of body image outcomes from pre-test to post-test for the group of students whose mothers attended RCG, however none of these findings reached significance. The study offered valuable insights towards increasing our understanding of transfer of parent intervention outcomes to daughters.
The findings of the thesis contribute knowledge to the field of research regarding body-image intervention for adolescent girls and their mothers, in addition to providing practical insights for schools intending to implement body image interventions. Specifically, the study draws attention to the complexities of global dissemination and the limitations of using selective and universal programs interchangeably. The thesis highlights that while researchers are experts in etiological theory, school personnel are experts regarding their community. Cognizant of this, researchers are encouraged to work together with school personnel to develop school-based resources malleable in content and design, but robust enough to sustain effectiveness when adapted to suit diverse school environments. While the findings add to the growing body of research supporting task-shifting facilitation of body image programs to teachers, findings suggest that a strong student-teacher relationship and perceived credibility and competence of facilitator can be as essential as content of program.
The thesis provides deeper insight into improving parental engagement in body image interventions delivered within the school context. Specifically, the findings emphasize the importance of tailoring the intervention to suit the needs of the parent group and suggest that the process of delivering a parent program is as important as the content of the intervention. Finally, the study reveals that providing an intervention to mothers alongside a classroom-based intervention for students enhances outcomes for daughters. Overall, the thesis supports the premise of extending classroom-based body image interventions to include parents, and identifies a number of recommendations for further research.
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O'Brien, Siobhan. "An investigation of middle primary children’s wellbeing using the Reading WELL home reading program." Thesis, 2022. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/43936/.
Full textAbstract:
This project investigates the effectiveness of The Reading WELL (Wellbeing Everyday through Learning and Literature) home reading program. The study is set within the homes and families of two communities in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, and involved 142 parents and children in Year 3–4 classrooms.
The project endeavoured to capture the interactions and aesthetic engagement that occurred between parent and child during the shared reading of narrative texts. With the aim of introducing knowledge around 3 wellbeing topics of body image, resilience and self-esteem, the focus of the research engaged developmental bibliotherapy using open- ended discussion prompts that specifically addressed the 3 topics to support the development of children’s wellbeing.
Developmental bibliotherapy includes the use of books to “heal the mind” (Catalano, 2008; Halstead, 2009). Through reading, a reader makes connections to text and relates to characters in a non-threatening way. Via four stages: identification, catharsis, insight and universalisation, children are encouraged to draw on relevant experiences from their own lives. The four resources model (Luke and Freebody, 1997) underpinned the theoretical framework and The ORIM Framework (Nutbrown, Hannon & Morgan, 2005) opportunities, recognition, interaction and modelling (ORIM) acted as a taxonomy that captured the shared reading engagement (Department of Education, 2018; Ludwig, 2003).
The Reading WELL book collection consisted of 37 book titles. A Reading WELL kit was located in a class for a school term and the children self-selected one book each week to take home to read. Each participating child received a Reading WELL journal. After reading, the journal was completed by the parent and child. As the main form of data collection, the contents of the journal included the study information, tips on shared reading, the titles of each book and 10 journal entries that included space to record the discussion that occurred after reading, acting as a reflection record for each book. The Reading WELL program was also mapped to the Victorian curriculum English, Personal and social capabilities, and Health and physical education curriculum areas. Attained through semi-structured interviews with parents and teachers and the Reading WELL journals, the project outcomes consider whether the reading engagement of a child increases based on the transactional/aesthetic response (Rosenblatt, 1994, 1995) focused on the text responses that illuminate reading connections from life to text and text to life (Davis, 1992; Mantei & Fahy, 2018; Nikolajeva, 2014). The outcomes consider the feasibility of the program and whether the Reading WELL is a sustainable and accessible way for parents and children to engage with reading as a regular form of home literacy.
The outcomes also show how children’s reading engagement has impact on wellbeing and the 3 topic areas: body image, resilience and self-esteem. This is presented as a series of re-storied narratives using Barkhuizen’s (2008) story, Story, and STORY model. The re-storied narratives illustrate how cultural literacy, funds of knowledge and parent–child relationships influence children’s development and wellbeing. The re- storied narratives utilise arts-based (re)presentation research, with 10 re-storied titles that provide interpretations of the participants lived experiences. It is envisioned that these Reading WELL narratives will become a published version of the Reading WELL that supports children’s wellbeing development through the integrated use of developmental bibliotherapy and research-based insight into the body image, resilience and self-esteem topic areas.
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Nalwasky, Celeste DiCarlo. "The middle school concept case studies exploring the assumed role of the school library media specialist /." 1990. http://books.google.com/books?id=V6zgAAAAMAAJ.
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Tunnecliff, Sheryl. "St Albans Network of Schools : an unapproved absence or an absence with reason : students reasons for missing school without explanation." Thesis, 2001. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/32994/.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this study is to gain some insight and understanding into what students
who have unexplained/unapproved absences from school provide as the reasons for
their non-attendance. It is the second part of another research project 'An
Examination of Unapproved Absences' completed for the Network in November
2000.
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Nicoll, Camilla. "An examination of predictors that increase educational aspiration to attend university: a longitudinal study of high school students from low socioeconomic backgrounds." Thesis, 2018. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/40004/.
Full textAbstract:
Considerable resources have been funnelled into designing and implementing effective intervention programs aimed at reducing student attrition. However there is a lack of knowledge regarding the impacts of these programs. There are numerous studies on outreach programs designed to widen student participation; however, these have been criticised for failing to demonstrate independence and that they are limited to qualitative analysis and small sample sizes. Additionally, effective intervention programs that address socioeconomic deficits in educational attainment are inadequate. Moreover, the psychometrically- evaluated measures designed to assess high school student educational aspiration lack the appropriate rigour in relation to randomised designs utilising treatment and control groups. In response to these challenges, this thesis had four aims.
Aim 1 was to design a survey to measure high school student educational aspiration and related student characteristics. Aim 2 was to assess the correlations between educational aspiration and relevant student characteristics (i.e., educational engagement, educational self-efficacy, achievement goal setting, perceptions of school quality, school friendships and life satisfaction). Aim 3 was to assess the effectiveness of differing university-high school partnership intervention programs, using pre-post treatment-control designs. Aim 4 was to measure how educational aspiration and student characteristics changed over the first four years of high school. To achieve these aims, a series of five studies were conducted.
Addressing Aims 1 and 2, Study 1 involved the development and refinement of a measurement tool that assessed factors related to student attrition, retention, and educational aspiration. This resulted in the development of six student scales measuring student characteristics that were subsequently correlated with educational aspiration. Factor analysis, reliability analysis, as well as qualitative assessment of items, were used to refine the set of items used to measure the six scales.
Addressing Aim 3, Studies 2, 3 and 4 assessed the effectiveness of three Year 7 intervention programs designed to increase low socioeconomic high school students’ educational aspiration to complete school and attend university. Participants were assigned to a treatment or control group, with the measure developed in Study 1 administered before and after the intervention. Analyses indicated that none of the interventions had a significant effect on educational aspiration or the other measured student characteristics.
Addressing Aim 3 and 4, Study 5 used a longitudinal design to examine four intervention programs and the cumulative effects of these on one student cohort tracked over 4 years from Year 7 to Year 10 of high school. This study also sought to examine how student characteristics (i.e., educational engagement, educational self-efficacy, achievement goal setting, perceptions of school quality, school friendships and life satisfaction) changed over this period. Results showed student characteristics and aspiration levels declined as students progressed through high school. The greatest declines occurred at the start of high school and tended to plateau around Year 8, 9, with small increases in Year 10. The interventions showed no significant influence on student characteristics and there was no evidence of a cumulative effect of these interventions.
In summary, these five studies formed a four-year longitudinal examination of the educational aspirations of students at low socioeconomic high schools in Australia, Victoria, within the Melbourne and the Greater Geelong area. Taken together, these five studies make an important contribution to the national and international literature on educational aspiration. First, the need to develop a psychometrically sound instrument was identified. Second, significant moderate correlational relationships were found between educational aspirations and key predictors of educational aspiration. Third, although no positive effects were found from the intervention programs, these studies demonstrated that simple and relatively short interventions such as the ones examined are often insufficient to lead to lasting aspirational change for students. Fourth, although educational aspiration and the predictors of educational aspirations did not increase as students progressed through high school, this study provided a detailed picture of how educational aspiration and related student characteristics changed from Year 7 to Year 10 in a low socioeconomic school environment. A valuable contribution was made to research pertaining to educational aspirations, predictors of educational aspirations and intervention programs aimed at increasing the educational aspirations of low socioeconomic students. Although no positive effects were found from the intervention programs offered, these five studies contributed to our understanding of which interventions work and how best to design and implement future intervention programs such as these. Furthermore, this series of studies increased our understanding of student characteristics predictive of educational aspiration, in addition to how these characteristics change over the trajectory of high school. It was found that simple intervention programs were insufficient in leading to lasting aspirational change for students. These findings, therefore, inform on intervention design and implementation.
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Hallett, Rhonda. "Working knowledge of academic practice : implications for professional development." Thesis, 2012. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/21440/.
Full textAbstract:
This study sought to investigate the working knowledge of academics in a ‘new’ university in Australia. Working knowledge, or knowledge ‘put to use’ in day-to-day work, describes what academics actually do. What knowledge academics use day to day is vital for those concerned in the development of academic staff. Academic development has of late focused on supporting academics to respond to the changing demands of new forms of work, and has been accused of lacking an epistemological base or a clearly articulated position. The findings of this study make suggestions concerning a philosophical and practical way forward for the development of academic staff.
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Kitiyanusan, Roongfa. "Facilitating the questioning skills of student teachers through action research." Thesis, 2004. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15620/.
Full textAbstract:
The study was designed to investigate the development of the teaching of questioning, reflective practice for development of teaching competence and systematic inquiry
and reflection on the university lecturer's teaching and learning to implement change for improvement in practice. This study employed an Action Research methodology. The participants were student teachers of in the Faculty of Education, Burapha University, Thailand.
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Graham, Victoria K. "An Indigenous Perspective in Wilderness Experiential Learning: Enhancing Relationships with Nature and Place." Thesis, 2005. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/33012/.
Full textAbstract:
Modem Western society has grown apart from a close relationship with nature and
place. There exists a need to re-establish a connection with nature and place in an
effort to enrich the health and well-being of individuals, community, and society. A
different perspective on this human/nature/place relationship is held by other cultures
within Australia. This study explores one of these Indigenous perspectives and
investigates how Western society can learn to better relate to nature and place from
this alternate perspective through wilderness experiential learning.
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Chalman, Casie-Anne. "Resilience, Adolescents and Outdoor Education: Is Resilience Context Specific?" Thesis, 2019. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/40050/.
Full textAbstract:
This exploratory study investigated the impact of participation in a three-week journey style outdoor education program upon levels of resilience attributes and coping skills of adolescents. Globalisation and modernisation has increased the social burdens of the 21st century and amplifies pressures to conform to unrealistic expectations in society, resulting in negative impacts on young people’s mental health and well-being. These life stressors, along with the excessive amount of time that young people spend using technology, is impacting their development and causing young people to experience increased amounts of psychological distress.
In order to manage these stressors, young people often require the development of adaptive coping skills and resilience attributes. Schools can assist their students by supporting the development of resilience attributes and coping skills which are crucial for the future success of young people, to thrive, cope with adversity, and live at an optimal level of human functioning.
Outdoor education programs are regularly delivered by schools to students worldwide as an effective method to facilitate the development and enrichment of personal and social attributes. However, this field is undermined by ad hoc theory and limited research that supports the ability to enhance levels of resilience and coping skills through outdoor education programs with adolescents in mainstream school settings.
The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the effects of an extended journey style outdoor education program on levels of resilience attributes and coping skills with adolescents. Specifically, the study used a mixed method approach to investigate if the resilience attributes and coping skills were context specific to the setting in which they were developed. The research is framed around particular theories including experiential learning, transactional theory, optimal arousal theory of play, the adventure experience paradigm theory, developmental theory and behaviouristic theories.
This research examined two groups of Year 10 boys who were aged between 14 and 17 years (N = 111). The program group (n = 69), who participated in an extended journey-style outdoor education program, and the control group (n = 42), who did not participate in any outdoor education programs, completed the same survey measures. To identify which particular attributes of resilience and coping that were strengthened and developed through participation in the three-week program, both groups answered the Resilience Scale and the Brief COPE scale questionnaires within a similar timeframe.
Post-positivist theory was used to analyse the quantitative data, and constructivist theory was used to analyse the qualitative data. The quantitative results revealed that the program group reported higher scores of resilience and resilience attributes compared with the control group following participation in the outdoor education program. Repeated measures t-tests showed significant increases in Overall Resilience and the Existential Aloneness, Perseverance and Purposeful Life subscales. A mixed-design analysis of variance model (ANOVA) revealed a main effect for group and Self-Reliance, F (1, 109) = 7.31, p = .008, and an interaction effect for both time and group was also found for Overall Resilience, F (1, 109) = 3.86, p = .043 and Existential Aloneness, F (1, 109) 9.40, p = .003. Compared to the control group, the program group showed reductions in coping skills that have the potential to undermine well-being in youth, such as Substance Use and Behavioural Disengagement, while increasing in adaptive coping skills such as Active Coping, and Planning after the program.
The qualitative phase of the research addressed the question of whether the resilience attributes and coping skills developed during the program were transferred and drawn upon by the participants in their lives back at school six-months after the program. Qualitative data was collected through two means; observation data, and small group semi-structured interviews. The researcher conducted field observations of one group's experience during the three-week program. The observation data provided an insight into the goals and activities of the program and helped to inform the design of the semi-structured interview guides. Small group semi-structured interviews were conducted with the program group (n = 18) immediately after completion of the outdoor education program. Follow-up semi-structured interviews were then conducted with the same 18 participants six-months after the program.
Semi-structured interviews conducted immediately after completion of the program highlighted that participants increased their capacity to demonstrate Overall Resilience, as well as Self-Reliance and Independence, Mental Strength, Determination, and various Developmental Tasks. The students also reported developing positive relationships with their peers, leaders, and the natural environment. An awareness and increased levels of appreciation was shown towards their relationships with family members and technology. A range of coping skills were also developed and applied by the boys during the program, including Putting Things into Perspective; Removing Oneself from the Stressor; Ability to Accept Social Support; Addressing the Issue; Chunking; Coming to Terms with Difficulties; Cognitive Reframing and Applying Positive Thinking; Distraction and Avoidance. Thematic analysis of researcher observations and both sets of semi-structured interview responses revealed three main themes that impacted the development and transference of resilience attributes and coping skills during and after the program. These themes included the program design, the group leader and the learner. The findings showed that most participants struggled to make links between the different contexts of learning. Some of the attributes and skills developed did transfer; however, a common finding was that most participants felt their learnings had dissipated in the six months after the program.
This research supports the notion that outdoor education programs are an effective method to develop resilience attributes and coping skills in young people, however, for the transfer of learning to occur in other contexts, it is recommended that practitioners re-assess their intervention’s program design and implement more strategies to improve the transfer of learning. Overall, the findings of the thesis are discussed in terms of the development and refinement of program design of extended outdoor education programs which aim to foster the transference of resilience and positive coping skills into other contexts. Future research directions and implications of the results in relation to professional practices associated with the development of resilience and adaptive coping skills through outdoor education programs are also presented.
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Dakich, Eva. "Towards the social practice of digital pedagogies: teachers' ICT literacy in contemporary primary schools." Thesis, 2009. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/30068/.
Full textAbstract:
Information and communication technologies (ICT) have been introduced to schools without fundamentally changing learning and teaching. In most cases they have been adapted to traditional school structures, classroom organisation and existing pedagogical practices, falling short of facilitating significant educational and cultural shifts. The promise of ICT to transform teaching and learning in schools has not yet been realised due to a range of barriers including teachers' lack of confidence and pedagogical understanding in drawing on the potential of digital technologies. This dissertation explored connections between teachers' ICT literacy and pedagogical practices. The aims of the research were to study the situated nature of ICT integration and to portray the knowledge and skills that would help teachers facilitate new, ICT-rich social practices of teaching and learning in contemporary primary schools.
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Carroll, Jeanne. "Primary school teachers' views of mathematics teaching and learning." Thesis, 1997. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/24365/.
Full text
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Hughes, Mary. "Pedagogical leadership: a case study of the educational leader in an early childhood setting in Australia." Thesis, 2019. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/40540/.
Full textAbstract:
Over the last decade, the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) sector in Australia has undergone major reform with both federal and state governments introducing learning frameworks to address the quality of early education and care. The National Quality Framework (NQF) (Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority [ACECQA], 2018a) was established to raise quality and ensure that every Australian child receives the best possible start in life. As part of these reforms, the National Quality Standard (NQS) (ACECQA, 2018a) stipulates a requirement for the appointment of an Educational Leader in all prior to school settings: someone who will support, guide, and build the capacity of educators. The role of Educational Leader in ECEC is relatively new and there is a limited amount of research in this area.
The aim of this research was to gain a deeper understanding of, and insight into, the day-to-day pedagogical leadership enactment and decision-making of Educational Leaders, with a view to broadening current definitions and understandings of the role. A constructionist approach that ascribes to an interpretivist theoretical perspective underlies the qualitative single-case study design adopted in this study. The research was conducted within the context of one early childhood education setting in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It involved participants with different roles in the setting, aimed at exploring how pedagogical leadership is understood and enacted.
A qualitative single-case study design was selected to generate thick descriptions of how the Educational Leader gives direction, professional insight and informed expertise to educators in an ECEC setting, with major attention given to the uniqueness and complexity of the single case. Multiple methods of data collection were used over a six-month period: semi-structured interviews, shadowing, and the analysis of documents, artefacts and social media posts. Shadowing is not a commonly used method in early childhood research but was used in this study because of the richness of descriptive data that it offered and because of its suitability to the setting.
The study sought to address two research questions: ‘How does the Educational Leader provide pedagogical leadership to early childhood educators in a particular early childhood setting?’ and ‘What are the influences that determine how the Educational Leader provides pedagogical guidance to educators in a particular early childhood setting’? Analysis of the data identified two main findings that addressed these questions. The first highlights the main features of the day-to-day functions of the Educational Leader at the setting. The second highlights some factors that influence the work of the Educational Leader. At times, these factors encourage success in their work and at other times they constrain success.
The findings from this study provide a better understanding of the Educational Leader role in early childhood education and have the potential to inform policy. Of scholarly significance is the contribution of the shadowing method in research methodology, which is particularly useful in small-scale studies such as this one. Furthermore, the study contributes knowledge to the ECEC sector by providing insight into factors that influence how leadership practice is shaped and how the role of the Educational Leader is enacted in an ECEC setting.
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Harris, Anne. "Cross-marked : Sudanese-Australian young women talk education." Thesis, 2010. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15544/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis draws upon the various knowledges of Sudanese students from refugee backgrounds, and upon the principles of critical pedagogy. Cross-Marked critiques current educational practices which marginalise, exclude and objectify those who are emerging from refugee pasts; seeks to re-frame refugeity as a state of being rather than a fixed identity; and foregrounds ways in which all ethnographic and pedagogical collaborators can share in an evolving criticality, using multiple and creative methodologies and contexts. The seven films (six co-participant films and my own reflexive film) and exegesis which comprise Cross-Marked comment on the complexities of the performance of identity for both the researcher and her co-participants. Taken together, the films and the exegesis seek to offer new methods and an evocative depiction of how to move further toward an engagement with 21st century intercultural collaboration, both inside and outside of the classroom.
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Giri, Ram Ashish. "The adaptation of language testing models to national testing of school graduates in Nepal : processes, problems and emerging issues." Thesis, 2005. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15597/.
Full textAbstract:
The school education system in Nepal is chronically under-resourced, severely lacking in infrastructure and school teachers are often untrained and demoralised. The isolation
of remote areas in the mountainous terrain, the effects of a ten-year civil war, and a culture impregnated with respect for traditional hierarchical, rule- and memory-based
modes of instruction exacerbate this situation. This research is a study of the current SLC English test and how it may be adapted to better suit the testing and educational needs of secondary school education in Nepal. Further, it makes a contribution to knowledge about how ESL/EFL language tests may be adapted and applied in order to meet the system-wide needs for EFL testing in developing countries more generally.
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Vu, Jo. "Quantitative requirements in undergraduate business courses: the case study of Victoria University of Technology." Thesis, 2004. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15350/.
Full textAbstract:
Business educators and employers recognize the importance of quantitative methods to business professionals, and subjects in quantitative methods are among the most frequentiy required in the business undergraduate curriculum. However, both business employers and graduates have expressed some dissatisfaction with business education and comment that school ttaining fails to prepare graduates
adequately for the particular needs of business organisations. Because of recent changes in technology in the business environment, business educators need to understand what employers consider important, what quantitative methods are required in industry, and how education in quantitative methods can best be prepared in order to meet the needs of business in the 21st century.
This research study attempts to answer these questions by investigating the content of quantitative programs offered at the Victoria University of Technology, the effectiveness of associated teaching methods in undergraduate business comses and the viewpoints of final-year students, graduates, educators and business employers about the courses.
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Scott, Wendy. "Adaptive teaching practice : teacher response to upper primary students (years 5-6) who experience difficulty with reading." Thesis, 2002. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/15684/.
Full textAbstract:
Adaptive teaching is the modification of instructional processes or procedures in response to individual student need. The aim of the research was to investigate the
adaptations made by teachers in response to the perceived needs of students in Years 5 and 6 who experienced difficulty with reading. The study was undertaken in six
Victorian classrooms. Data were collected on a range of factors that might influence adaptive teaching. Contextual factors included teacher education, experience, teacher
beliefs and level of administrative support. Student factors included the degree and type of reading difficulty experienced by students in the classroom.
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Herbert, Shirley Marion. "Motivating male primary underachievers through a technoliteracy curriculum." Thesis, 2000. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/17902/.
Full textAbstract:
Boys of primary school age growing up on family farms frequently make
a significant contribution to the labour force of the farm. Observation suggests,
however, that boys from such families who have knowledge, skills and talent
beyond their years in relation to farm life, often have poor academic skills and
low motivation within the school environment.
The question of why such students with obviously bright minds did not
reflect their perceived potential in terms of motivation and academic
achievement needed to be examined and an appropriate curriculum for their
needs devised.
As a result of early action research, a change in the teaching-learning
style was developed, using a student-centred approach with technology as
the medium of presentation. This approach overcame the frustration of the
focus students and they began to participate in classroom activity. This thesis
reports on an intensive study of the response to this innovative curriculum by
four students from farming families.
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Richardson, Elizabeth. "Monitoring the development of communication and literacy skills among learners with an autism spectrum disorder." Thesis, 2019. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/40060/.
Full textAbstract:
This research study aimed to design and empirically validate an assessment instrument for identifying the communication and literacy skills of learners with ASD. Additionally, the research aimed to explore potential correlations between communication and literacy development for these learners.
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Spittle, Sharna. "An examination of teacher confidence and motivation to teach primary school physical education." Thesis, 2015. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/32302/.
Full textAbstract:
Primary school physical education can provide important opportunities for children to be active in environments that support the development of movement and sports skills. Research has highlighted that many Australian children display low levels of physical activity and motor co-ordination (Morgan et al., 2013), making the delivery of quality physical education at a primary school level even more important. In Australia, primary physical education is regularly delivered by generalist primary school teachers, who may have limited training in the curriculum area. It appears, however, that the pre-service and in-service generalist teachers who constitute critical factors in the delivery of quality physical education have low levels of confidence and also potentially lower motivation to teach in this domain. Although research consistently confirms lower levels of confidence, the measures used often lack detail of their development and supporting psychometric evaluation. Validity and reliability is not often assessed or reported and measures tend to be narrowly focused on particular areas of physical education. Although confidence has been explored, motivation has rarely been investigated in relation to teaching primary physical education, despite a range of measures of general motivation for teaching. For this reason, validated and psychometrically evaluated instruments to assess the motivation to teach physical education warrant construction.