Keynote Speakers:

DATOA ASIAH ABU SAMAH.

EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA

Yesterday's Concerns, Today's Challenges and Tomorrow's Dreams

Although the philosophy of education in Malaysia was made explicit only in the mid-1980s, educational policy in the country had been primarily driven since the mid-1950s by an urgent need to foster harmony and a sense of national identify, as well as to develop the quality of our human resource to its fullest potential.

Guided by the twin principles of equity and accessibility, tremendous expansion of the system, both in the quantitative and qualitative sense, took place in the four decades that elapsed between 1955 and 1995. The school enrolment increased by more than 400% during this period; and there were at least three waves or cycles of curricular reforms.

Post-independence educational policy in Malaysia had its genesis in the Razak Report of 1956 which set the scene for universalisation, democratisation and unification of the system. The first decade or so after the Razak Report saw a scramble for physical expansion accompanied by the first wave of curricular reforms that marked the beginnings of a Malaysian orientation to the content of learning.

The second wave of reforms were as much a result of internal factors as well as external, in particular the "Sputnik ripples" that also reached Malaysian shores in the late sixties and early seventies. These saw some radical changes in the teaching of science and Mathematics. The need for a stronger Malaysian flavour saw reforms in the Bahasa Malaysia, History, Geography and English Curricula.

The early seventies saw the establishment of the Curriculum Development Centre which was to systemise and regularise curricular planning and implementation. These were exciting times in terms of educational thinking and planning. Yesterday's Concerns merged into Today's Challenges. As we advanced into the eighties (1980s), it became increasingly clear that a coordinated, systematic approach to the identification of society's goals and the planning for their attainment was an essential pre-requisite to sound educational planning in this region. We became more sensitive to socio-cultural factors ever present in the educational environment of the child as well as the child's own individual potential for growth and development. This consciousness set against the increasing complexities of modernisation and technologisation led to the emergence of the "third wave" in Malaysian education in the form of the sweeping and wholistic changes that came with the New Primary School curriculum, followed by the New Integrated Secondary School curriculum. These two massive curricular reforms which saw a new wholistic and integrated approach to education for the first time in the country, were strategies employed to handle the individualistic as well as socio-cultural issues just enumerated.

The 1990's saw the beginnings of a new, perhaps "Fourth Wave" in Malaysian education, with the emergence of Vision 2020 which presented a whole exciting new future scenario for us to dream and to realise.

The developed nation status - not just in economic, industrial and technological terms, but more so from the perspective of humanistic and ethical values-that had been sketched for us by Dr. Mahathir has tremendous implications for education and human resource development.

We have hardly dealt with Yesterday's concerns and Today's challenges before having to strategise for ways of fulfilling TomorrowAs Dreams.

FREDERICK ERICKSON

THOUGHTS ON THE EVOLUTION OF QUALITATIVE APPROACHES IN EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

When qualitative approaches began to be used in educational research they were advocated as being "naturalistic", in contrast to experiments and to inferential statistics. Ethnography and other qualitative kinds of research were seen as realist; a direct way of knowing and reporting. As the title of an American primer on qualitative evaluation put it, the aim and method of such work was "getting the facts".

With the passage of time this seems increasingly naive. In the wake of critical and postmodern theory's deconstruction of the very notions of reader and text, of fact, of a subject/object distinction, and of the knowing subject itself, as well as recent criticism of realist ethnography from within anthropology and in literary theory, the conception of qualitative research as natural, realist, and politically innocent seems ever more untenable. Ethnography can no longer be considered simply as an open window on someone else's world. Hard thinking on the ends and means of "post-realist" ethnography is due, and this address will make an attempt at the reflection, after having reviewed briefly the development of qualitative research in eduction over the past twenty-five years.

ABSTRACTS

Development of a selection test for graduate-entry medicine

Cecily Aldous

Three Australian universities have taken the decision to offer a four year graduate-entry medical program in place of the standard six year under graduate course.

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has developed the Graduate Australian Medical School Admissions Test (GAMSAT) as the major component of the selection process. In line with the universities' aim to recruit a more broadly based body of medical students, GAMSAT is designed to test problem-solving ability, creative thinking and communication skills across a range of subject areas. The challenge to the program is to attract both science and non-science graduates while ensuring the necessary level of competence in basic science concepts.

Applicants come from all disciplines with no particular undergraduate field being given preferential status. The five and a half hour test comprises three sections: Reasoning in Humanities and Social Sciences, Written Communication and Reasoning in Biological and Physical Sciences.

The inaugural test took place in February this year and the first intake of students will be at Flinders University in 1996. This paper will provide detail on the test development and analysis of various demographic features of the first candidate group which numbered 815.

ALEXK95.375

Teacher renewal through curriculum innovation: Australian teachers tell their stories

Ken Alexander, Andrew Taggart

ALLAA95.211

Lessons on the Satellite: What teachers say about professional development via the Interactive Satellite Learning Network

Andrea Allard, Bev Dick, Helen McKernan, Jacqui Ryan

Over the last three years, the Interactive Satellite Learning Network (ISLN) has been used to deliver a range of professional development programs for teachers across the country.

This paper discusses the responses collected from primary and secondary teachers to three series of professional development programs, in particular: 'I Spy Technology: Girls in Country Schools'; 'Maths and Science for Girls in Secondary Schools'; and 'Gender Issues in the Curriculum'.

All three series of programs were formatted around teams of teachers undertaking investigations and activities in their own schools to explore the new ideas conveyed during the on-air satellite broadcasts.

All three series of programs relied on extensive feedback from the teams of teacher involved regarding the presentations, content of programs, activities undertaken during and between programs and theoretical ideas presented. This feedback, which provides the data for this paper, was faxed into presenters at the conclusion of each program in a series; the teachers' responses were often used to inform the direction and content of the subsequent programs.

While some of the participating teams' comments suggest confusion or ambivalence regarding the process of interactive satellite learning, the comments gathered from the three series of programs and spanning three years, provide clear directions for ways to better utilise the new technology for future professional development programs.

Teachers' suggestions concerning what 'worked' and 'didn't work' offer valuable insights, raise important questions and need to be taken into account if professional development programs are to be successfully delivered via the ISLN.

The authors of this paper have all been directly involved in planning, writing and presenting programs in the above named series on the ISLN.

ANDED95.224

Approaches to study and quality of learning outcomes at the course level amongst undergraduates

Darcy Anderson

ANDED95.470S

TBA

Damon Anderson

ANGUM95.151

Writing About Teaching

Max Angus

Library shelves are filled with books and journals about teaching. I often scan the shelves and find that the contents are like a river system with a mysterious source and a myriad of tributaries that meander and perhaps conjoin before emptying into the sea. My first response is to be heartened by the volume of material though when I reflect on what is written I am soon depressed. Who reads it all? What purposes does it serve? Are we better for it? Why is there so much writing if it amounts to so little? I even allow myself to toy with the idea that the teaching profession might be better served by less writing if what were written were different and much more widely read, not only by academics and teachers but by the community at large. What kind of writing about teaching might find its way onto the best seller lists ? Is teaching such a hum-drum, tedious occupation that only sensationalist writing is likely to produce handsome book sales? Are the canons of academic writing inimical to wide readership? The paper explores these questions with reference to current academic and popular writing about teaching.

ANGUL95.471S

Understanding Education As A Social Institution

Lawrence Angus, Terri Seddon

This paper introduces the education strand of the national Reshaping Australian Institutions (RAI) project which is being orchestrated through the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. The aim of the education strand is to draw together recent research on education in order situate education in existing traditions of institutionalist analysis and, through theoretical clarification and empirical analysis, to develop a better understanding of education as a social institution. The paper discusses the way the study of education as a social institution is framed by contemporary developments in the social sciences in which economic and social analyses of institutions vie for dominance and by recent changes in educational governance and policy formulation which are, in practice, privileging economic understandings of education

The implication is that, in Australia, the debate between economic and social/historical analyses of education are being played out, unproductively, in a debate between critical social/historical academics and governmental policy makers. We argue for a more productive debate which would bring economic and social theorists of institutions into dialogue through theoretically reflective and empirically grounded studies of education, and indicate how this will be realised in the education strand of the RAI project. The paper also embarks on this work by indicating the way we are theorising of education as a social institution and the empirical base on which this work is based.

ARCHJ95.305

University students' attributions for success and failure: "Layers" of attributions

Jennifer Archer, Jill Scevak.

Fifty-eight students in their first year of a university course were interviewed individually about their reactions to studying at university and their motivation to learn.

Among other questions, students were asked to think of a subject in which they had done poorly and a subject in which they had done well and then to provide explanations for these two results. The interview technique was valuable in that the responses could be probed for evidence of "layers" of attributions. For example, a typical initial attribution for poor performance was lack of effort, but probing revealed that the student did not put in effort because she considered she lacked the ability to succeed. Attributions for success revealed a wide variety of responses including prior knowledge, high ability, effective study strategies, and good teaching. Students' attributions for success and failure then were considered in relation to their Grade Point Average for the first year of university.

AREFM95.019

The role of first language literacy and motivation in second language acquisition

Marzieh Arefi, Allison Elliott, Neil Baumgart.

The theoretical perspectives arising from the "Interdependence hypothesis" suggest that proficiency in a first language might promote development of proficiency in a second language, particularly with respect to literacy related skills that involve concept knowledge normally acquired in school settings. The purpose of this study is to analyse the role of first language literacy in second language acquisition, as well as the direct and indirect relationships between social motivation, intelligence, parental attitudes, and the length of residence in the host country (Australia). Of particular interest is children's performance in first language (L1) writing compared with performance in second language (L2) writing and whether L1 or L2 proficiency are a determinants of success in L2 writing. Subjects are 70 Iranian students in grade 3, 4, and 5 who attend NSW State of primary schools plus two days at Persian school Saturday and Sunday.

Literacy levels were assessed by asking students to write two essays in both Persian and English. A questionnaire probing language attitudes and motivation was also completed. Results are currently being analysed and will be discussed in terms of theoretical issues related to Interdependence Principle.

ASHTJ95.131

Early Childhood Teacher Education Students' Perceptions of the Focus of Behaviours within Child Care Services

Jean Ashton, Alison Elliot.

This paper reports on a study of early childhood teacher education students' perceptions on community views of care and education, their personal perspectives on child care options for families, and their occupational goals and aspirations.

In the current climate of education and social change with its increasing focus on early childhood education as a critical stage in the education continuum, and the continuing care versus education debate, the challenge to ensure relevance and quality in early childhood teacher education programs is pressing. Career goals and aspirations helps provide a useful background for designing and targeting teachers into their education programs. It is important that all child care personnel, regardless of the service within which they will be employed, reflect the unique characteristics expected of early childhood trained teachers, able to deliver both quality care and education.

With a growing demand for early childhood teachers and evolving early childhood teacher education programs in many Australian universities, better understanding of undergraduate early childhood students' attitudes toward childcare as a social and personal issue is crucial.

Students' attitudes and perceptions on issues relating to the importance of care and education in early childhood services and the implications these may have on course structure are discussed.

ASKEE95.514

Reflections in professional education

Else Askeroi.

ASOKH95.273

Preservice primary teachers' sense of self-efficacy: International perspectives on the teaching and learning of science and mathematics

Hilary Asoko, Larry Enochs, Ian Ginns, James Watters.

ASPLT95.089

Using an NPDP experience to propose a changing conception of professional development

Tania Aspland, Bob Elliott, Ian Macpherson.

This paper initially proposes a conception of professional development based on the presenters' experience in and reflection on an NPDP-sponsored series of four workshops using nation-wide interactive television in 1994. The focus of the workshops was school-based curriculum decision-making within the context of national agendas in curriculum.

This conception is used to reflect on a similar series of workshops in 1995. Evaluative feedback is used to propose a conception of professional development which takes account of the interaction of national agendas, use of available technology and views of teacher curriculum decision-making; and to identify issues which require further consideration and action.

The paper contends that what is required in moving from the yesterday and the today of professional development is a conception of professional development which is teacher-centred, dynamic and interactive, embedded in the professional practice of teachers, and oriented to the active construction of professional knowledge within the broader contextual realities of both the today and the tomorrow. Such a conception acknowledges the dilemmas which teachers face in their day to day work; it celebrates the centrality of teachers in curriculum decision-making; and it actively includes teachers in the ongoing development of their professional knowledge.

ASPLT95.259

Windows into the supervision of overseas students

Tania Aspland.

ASTIB95.321

The drive for education: Some social indicators

Brian Astill.

A recent survey was conducted of the social position of the families of students attending year 12 in a representative sample of Adelaide high schools. Using the ABS "Supermap", it was possible to compare these families quite directly with the people in their general location. Some anticipated, and some surprising indicators were revealed.

ASTIB95.322

Yes! Christians are different - but are their school

Brian Astill.

A recent survey of the social values of year twelve students, their parents, and their teachers, in schools in metropolitan Adelaide chosen to represent the general school population, has indicated distinct differences between the value systems of people from active Christian families, and those who profess no faith.

Surprisingly, the survey also revealed that student social values are independent of the type of school attended. In particular, there was no detectable difference between students from secular or Christian schools, regardless of the school's "social position".

Educational Research - Discovering the Truth, Learning the Tricks or Forecasting the Weather?

Michael Bailey.

Research in education is produced in ever-increasing amounts. Despite this, many people believe that the growth in our knowledge has been slow. This paper argues that most empirical educational research is implicitly based on one of two models or belief-structures about the nature and purposes of educational enquiry: either that it should be an effort to discover universal laws which apply to human thinking, learning and behaviour, or that it should be an attempt to provide prescriptions for the appropriate methods and techniques to use in facilitating learning. This implicit basis results in findings which, in quantitative research, use inappropriate statistical assumptions. It also leads to conclusions being expressed with too much generality.

The paper proposes that a third model may more closely reflect the nature of the reality which we are investigating: that we should explicitly recognise the difficulty of generalising about people, and should report findings and conclusions in terms of probabilities and expectations with limited scope of application, while believing this limitation to be inherent in the nature of the phenomena being studied, as in the case of weather-forecasting. Situated cognition has been accepted; situated assessment is increasingly acceptable; now it is time for a model of situated research findings.

BAKEB95.104

Defining the "child" in educational discourse: A history of the present

Bernadette Baker.

At the turn of the twentieth century, having a childhood and going to school are frequently taken-for-granted as a "normal" part of life. Childhood and public schooling are not phenomena which have existed across time and space however. They arose simultaneously in what has been called the Enlightenment period and did not gain widespread acceptance in Western contexts until the latter half of the 19th .

century.

The focus of this paper is an exploration of "childhood" in the emergence and spread of public schooling in the United States. I explore the boundaries of "the child" through Foucault's methodology of a "history of the present". My analysis is grounded in the rise of the Child-Study movement in the late 1800's. Child-Study was the first ever curriculum reform movement in the US and the first to embody a notion of child-centredness within public schooling.

I draw upon the conjuncture of three concepts in viewing what the limits of "the child" were in the establishment of educational discourse. I argue that the boundaries of "childhood" and its "normalization" in the US were defined primarily by ideas of rescue, of nature, and of populational reasoning. In deconstructing what it meant to be a "child", who could be considered an "ideal" child and what it meant to be "rescued" via schooling I suggest that it was the interplay of multiple binaries like blackness/whiteness, masculine/feminine, independence/dependence, savagery/civilization and emotion/reason which set limits on the identity of "the child". These binaries were incorporated in an array of pedagogical practices that while centreing "the child" also inscribed systems of inclusion and exclusion in educational discourse. I conclude by questioning the limits of identity in educational reform movements in the present and consider some of the tensions that a centre-ing of "the child" may embody in reform efforts that take democracy and social justice as their guide.

BAKKV95.062

Orthographic analogy transfer of onsets and rimes in children with a specific reading disability

Vanessa Bakker, Frances Martin.

Previous research has shown that beginner readers are able to make predictions about the pronunciation of new words by orthographic analogy to known words. Children most frequently make analogies between shared spelling units in words that reflect the subsyllabic linguistic units of the onset and rime. Whilst it has been found that children with a specific reading disability (SRD) may not spontaneously use analogy, little research has been conducted to investigate whether they can be trained to use an analogy-based strategy to decode new words. If, as previous research has shown, they have a phonological processing deficit, then they may be unable to use these units as a basis for this strategy. The present study investigated the ability of children with an SRD to recognize and encode onset and rime units of a real oclue-wordo and to transfer these segments across to non-words. Results showed that reading-age matched controls transfer to post word training non-words containing the onset or rime units, confirming the hypothesis that orthographic analogies may be used to decode non-words. However, children with an SRD showed no transfer of these units to non-words, and in some cases there was an increase in reading errors in post oclue-wordo trials. The results suggest that if children with an SRD are able to make use of analogy at all for decoding unknown words, it will require extensive training.

BARNG95.107

Challenge: The vital ingredient for gifted students

Graham Barnsley.

For effective and durable learning to take place at any age the learner must feel motivated to learn. The recipes for this motivation are many and varied but one of the essential ingredients is 'challenge'. The learning experiences must be structured in such a way that the learner is provided with interesting involvement which demands an effort which is neither too great nor too small. If the challenge is too great then the learner will rapidly lose the incentive to continue while insufficient challenge will lead to boredom.

It should be our expectation that the truly gifted in our community will fulfil leadership roles in their area(s) of giftedness and talent and face the challenges of future development. Gifted children not only have the ability to solve more demanding problems, but it is imperative that they are given interesting and challenging learning experiences if they are to be appropriately prepared for the future.

One source of challenge lies in enrichment topics, which can be chosen to match the learners' interests and ability. The author has trialled many enrichment topics with gifted students, both in special classes and in the mainstream, and has established that these can assist greatly by contributing the ingredient of challenge to the syllabus.

BARNG95.108

Trainee teachers and mentors: A success story for both parties

Graham Barnsley.

Many writers have reported the success of mentoring programs for children with special interests and it is widely recognised that gifted and talented children are especially suitable as mentoring candidates. While many successful programs have been conducted, difficulty in establishing and maintaining an adequate supply of suitable mentors is often experienced. Some programs have employed as mentors people who were interested, capable and knowledgeable amateurs but not experts in their field. One source of such mentors has been the undergraduates of Colleges and Universities, and these students have often proved to be enthusiastic and effective in the mentoring role.

It is now widely accepted that primary teachers need to be trained to identify, counsel, and teach gifted children in the mainstream. As a consequence, trainees should be provided with experience teaching gifted and talented children in preservice or inservice courses. Most training institutions can provide only very limited access to gifted and talented children and student teachers receive little or no contact with such pupils.

This paper will describe a highly successful mentoring program conducted at the University of Technology, Sydney which matches selected final year trainee teachers with gifted primary students, thus providing trainees with the opportunity to work with gifted children, and the pupils with mentoring which would otherwise not be available.

The program has been in operation for ten years and its results over this period will be reported.

BARRD95.095

A framework for investigating feminist resistance

Deirdre Barron.

Marginalisation is a result of particular constructions of subjectivities through discursive practices- normalisation. Foucault, according to Ball (1990), identifies the human sciences, and certain attendant knowledges, as central to the normalisation of social principals and institutions of modern society. Thus, marginalisation is not imposed by 'police' restrictions, but it seduces, manipulates and encourages normalisation. In this paper I set the theoretic framework for analysing the normalising processes that arise through the conflict between the segments of society that are central, in this case those who produce education policy, and those that are marginal, in this study women in feminist professional development. This paper looks at the power relations that women in educational professional development work with and within. I focus on women who work within environmental and science education. There are many frameworks which can be used to examine the power relations in society. I develop a story that indicates that by identifying 'how' the dualistic social order is maintained and 'how' individuals position themselves in relation to these discourses it may be possible to reconstruct environmental, science and gender education in schools.

BARTL95.281

Researching Elites: Methodological Issues in Policy Analysis into State-Federal Relations

Leo Bartlett, John Knight, Bob Lingard, Paige Porter, Fazal Rizvi.

BATER95.128

School Culture and Administration in a Post Modern World

Richard Bates.

Educational administration as a centralised technology of control becomes problematic in a post-modern world characterised by diversity and difference. It becomes even more highly problematic within the context of a post-modernist philosophy which abandons the pursuit of any normative consensus. This paper is directed towards the reconceptualisation of administration as a technology of resistance and reconstruction in the cultural sphere through which democracy might be constructed at both local and global levels in ways which avoid both the grand narratives of capitalism and the vacuities of post modern philosophy while recognising some of the essential features of the post-modern condition.

BATTM95.232

Educational provision for students at risk: A review of the Australian literature 1980-1994

Margaret Batten, Jean Russell, Graeme Withers.

Despite the significant increase in retention rates to Year 12 that have been achieved over the last decade in all Australian states, there are still thousands of students in our school systems who are at risk of not completing their secondary schooling and thus limiting their chances of success in the adult world. Two comprehensive literature reviews on programs for students at risk have been undertaken by ACER for the Queen+s Trust and the Dusseldorp Skills Forum, both of whom support programs for at-risk youth. One review focuses on the Australian literature of the past 15 years, and this is the subject of the present paper. The other review covers the literature from USA, Canada and Britain; a brief reference will be made to the findings in this companion volume.

The paper will refer to: N the nature of risk factors in relation to the student, the family and the school; N characteristics of successful programs provided by schools and by outside agencies; and N key issues in the educational provision for students at risk, covering aspects such as the scope of programs, resources, organisational implications, involvement of parents, student behaviour and achievement, curriculum and the learning environment, and the role of teachers.

BECKL95.006

Sex and Gender: What Parents Want

Lori Beckett Margaret Bode Kerrie Crewe.

Parents are very often cast in support of a moral majority and in opposition to gender justice and a progressive sexuality education because of their presumed conservatism and prejudices about gender, sexuality and sex education. Such alleged support is then used to justify politically conservative policies and teaching programs, which promote particular social values and ideological assumptions about dominant gender relations and sexual morality. Sometimes parents' opposition is fabricated, as it happened with the Minister's refusal to develop an anti-homophobia policy in NSW.

Yet the real majority of parents favour policies and teaching programs that meet their children's needs and concerns. They don't want to see the construction of domination and subordination, sexism, hegemonic masculinity, the chauvinism of male youth culture, and homophobia.

They want girls and boys to relate to each other in respectful ways that reflect equal power relations, considered identities, and different versions of masculinity and femininity. The majority of parents want young women and men to be carefree and secure, not bothered by misogyny and gay-hate, violence and abuse, eating disorders and suicide, for example.

This paper outlines what these parents expect from Ministers, the Departments and schools. It revolves around questions of knowledge about sex, gender and sexuality, and how this knowledge is incorporated into the school curriculum. It also revolves around girls and boys who are active participants in the teaching and learning, and the ways they express acceptance, ambivalence and resistance to what is offered in schools. The intention is to describe an education that is responsive to the school community.

BECKM95.169

Learning about Learning

Margaret Beck, Jude Butcher and Wendy Moran.

This is a report of a study examining Graduate Diploma of Education students' approaches to learning in a professional skills unit. The unit was organised on the basis of adult learning principles with a wide variety of learning strategies, in order to be responsive to the needs of the students as prospective teachers. This unit aimed to develop students' skills and understandings about curriculum planning, and measurement and evaluation and their use of teaching strategies within curriculum frameworks.

Opportunities, in the form of ordered trees, questionnaires, journal keeping and self evaluations, were given to the students to evaluate their learning and its relation to their preferred learning styles.

Students' responses were analysed with respect to surface and deep learning approaches and their ability to apply their knowledge to field or case study situations. The paper also reports upon the tools used for assessing students' understanding and application of their knowledge.

BECKM95.200

Implementation of NSW HSC "Studies of Religion" course into religious schools

Margie Beck.

This paper aims to discuss the way in which 47 religiously affiliated schools implemented the HSC "Studies of Religion" syllabus in NSW. A questionnaire completed by coordinators of religious studies was used to analyse the implementation process in the religiously affiliated schools.

The paper will compare these findings with the work of Fullan (1987), and the model of factors which lead to successful innovation as compiled by Miles et al. (1987). A discussion about how the findings compare and contrast with other Australian syllabus implementation studies will be included. The study has shown that attention to the key factors set out by Fullan in his process of implementation has had some effect on the way in which the course has been introduced into these schools.

BENNR95.225

Establishing a research culture: the challenge for arts educators

Rosemary Bennett, Annette Douglas

BENSP95.093

Learning and Teaching a language The Silent Way

Patricia Benstein

The Silent Way is an approach to foreign language teaching which rests on Gattegno's notions of awareness and self. Silent Way teachers are encouraged to "subordinate teaching to learning" which implies a consideration of the students' self and the four stages of learning that are characteristic for most learning processes.

As part of my Ph.D., I conducted a case study of Silent Way courses offered by the CLA (Centre de Linguistique Applique) in Besanon, France. Over six weeks, I observed two intensive English courses and interviewed the teachers and students involved in the experience.

In this paper I intend to

• present the methodological steps of the data gathering process,
• indicate the most significant results of this project.

Although the Silent Way as a language teaching method was developed in the sixties, the learning theory which underpins it shows remarkable similarities to recent theories in educational psychology. In this paper I will focus mainly on Csikszentmihalyi's concept of the "flow".

BENTR95.077

Planning and Conceptualising a Collaborative Inservice in Early Intervention

Robyn Bentley-Williams, L Lim

BERLR95.050

Self-esteem enhancement through music: The evaluation of a programme

Richard Berlach, Rick Selby, Steven Hogan

BERTD95.18

Picture This! - Preschool teachers' reflections on their work, the impact of change, and the experience of stress

Donna Berthelsen, Alison Kelly

In this paper, the impact of change on teachers within the environment of Queensland preschools has been explored. The study investigated the phenomenon of stress among a group of eight preschool teachers. The teachers were given opportunities to record and describe current sources of stress. These teachers kept a reflective journal over a two week period and summarised their reflections diagrammatically, describing their current sources of stress within their specific teaching context, as well as within the wider contexts of the school campus and the educational and social system. The teachers shared their experiences and incidentally identified how the changes in the wider contexts had impacted on their teaching role. The reflective diagrams are particularly illuminating and assist in understanding of the conditions and consequences teachers' work on personal well-being, and of current and organisational changes on early childhood education.

The daily journal entries and the diagrammatic representations were analysed for common themes on the sources of stress in the teachers' work. Questionnaires sought confirmation from the teachers that the themes identified by the researcher during analysis were the major sources of stress for them. Confirmation was given that time pressures, meeting children's needs, dealing with non-teaching tasks, maintaining early childhood philosophy and practice, meeting personal needs, issues with parents of the children, interpersonal relationships, and community attitudes and perceptions about early childhood programs were the major sources of stress for this particular group of teachers. Consideration of the themes support the view that there is a need for research to explore teachers' experiences of stress within their specific teaching context such as preschool or childcare, as well as within the wider contexts of the school campus and the educational, organisational and social system. Differentiation between the internal demands which teachers place upon themselves in their daily work and the external demands from organisational and social pressures must be understood in order to provide support for teachers to cope with and adapt to change.

BEVEA95.368

Leadership: a qualitative study of negotiating curriculum change

Alexander Beveridge

BLACJ95.080

Dangerous Territories: A feminist perspective on self-governance and marketisation in education

Jill Blackmore

Educational restructuring has assumed particular global features: tightening the steering capacity of the state in linking education to the economy through policy, reduced educational expenditure, the privatisation of educational costs and marketisation of education, the devolution of management and the restructuring of educational work for administrators and teachers. The arguments presented for these trends are that we need new forms of education for post modern times.

Educational institutions are now to becoming more self managing in terms of prioritising funds, use of human resources and meeting individual client needs , and, through the mechanism of the market, to deliver quality services in education more efficiently. We are seeing a shift, therefore, in the relationship therefore between the individual and the state in the eductation sector, as well as between these self managing institutions and community, characterised by Anna Yeatman as a shift from a welfare to a contractualist state.

I have argued elsewhere that the conjuncture of the marketisaton of education and self management has produced a fundamental shift in the social relationships of educational work which has significant effect on curriculum and pedagogy in schools, technical and further education, adult education and universities (Blackmore,1994a&b) The fundamental shift of social relationships is best understood as moving out of a service oriented relationship towards a form of contractualism between individuals, between institutions, between the state and individuals / institutions. As with all marketisation, desire is central to this process. There has been simultaneously a privatisation and commodification of personal and professional desires, in that the ways in which individuals professional and personal desires are captured and incorporated into organisational outcomes. ( Hargreaves, 1995; Blackmore, 1994a & b; Kerfoot& Knights, 1993).

The notion of self governance is indeed seductive. Women with child care responsbilities seek flexibility. But it is also highly dangerous territory for women! In this feminist perspective on the conjuncture of marketisation and self governance and its associated discourses of devolution, downsizing, outsourcing, flexibility and skilling to consider what are the material effects of such discourses on the everday lives of women educators and their work in curriculum and pedagogy? In developing a critique I will draw upon an emerging literature on feminist economics and how it would shift attention away from bi-polarity between scarcity/ redistribution; maximising rewards /well being;selfishness/ altruism ( Strober, 1994; Pujol, 1993 etc). I will undertake the deconstructive work by providing instances out of recent research projects in schools, TAFE, ALBE and universities. While each site has temporal /spatial particularity, I will suggest patterns and trends and possible scenarios. Finally, I will propose some possibilities / dangers for the feminist project of this particular historical discontinuity.

BLOMD95.351

Equipping teachers for curriculum change in post-compulsory years

Doug Blomberg, Barrie Dickie, Stuart Fowler

The Schools Council, in its 1994 report on The Role of Schools in the Vocational Preparation of Australia's Senior Secondary Students (p.76), suggests that the school of the future "will not even try to be the repository of the entire curriculum"; rather it will function as "a kind of 'learning headquarters' from which students will be supported to range widely into other places of learning." Clearly this shift in the role of the school, especially in post-compulsory years, has already begun.

This paper reports on research conducted in schools during 1995 as part of a National Professional Development Program project. The focus of the research is on identifying the most effective design and delivery of professional development programs to enable teachers to achieve maximum effectiveness in this changing situation. Covering 140 independent schools in every state and territory, the research identifies the patterns of change already occurring in these schools, projects the likely direction of future change and establishes best practice proposals for professional development to meet this situation.

The paper describes and discusses the methodology used and presents the main findings of the research.

BOURS95.163

Student and Contextual Effects on Academic Success: A Multilevel Analysis

Sid Bourke, Max Smith

A study involving 23 Hunter Region schools, 70 teachers and classes, and 749 Year 11 students incorporated a range of variables at these three levels, including a measure of academic success which was formed as a more inclusive concept than simply achievement scores. The Academic Success concept, developed by means of a LISREL one-factor congeneric model, was a weighted composite of teachers' ratings and the student's own rating of their ability compared with other students at the same year level, two measures of academic achievement level, and intention for post-school study. A three-level analysis using MLn at school, teacher/class and student levels, including a range of explanatory variables, indicated substantial effects on student performance at both the student and teacher/class levels. School-level effects were minimal. Specific variables found to be related to academic success included student feelings of efficacy in learning, satisfaction with results, teacher engagement and class commitment to learning.

BOWEJ95.007S

Symposium: "Education for Citizenship: Historical, Policy and Psychological Perspectives"

Coordinator: Jennifer Bowes

Teaching school students about their responsibilities and rights as citizens, and the political and social systems of their society is the subject of current political and educational debate. This issue is not, however, a new one in Australia although new perspectives are apparent in the current debate. The symposium will explore the historical and political context of the current interest in education for citizenship and present new data on adolescents' knowledge and beliefs about citizenship and the workings of a democratic society.

BOWEJ95.478S

Adolescents' ideas about citizenship and democracy

Jennifer Bowes, Denise Chalmers, Constance Flanagan

The paper will put forward a psychological perspective on education for citizenship by presenting the ideas on the characteristics of a good citizen and of a democracy.of a sample of Year 8 and Year 11 adolescents. Students were from a sample of government and non-government schools in Sydney, Perth and Melbourne taking part in a nine-nation study of adolescents' ideas about social justice and civic responsibility.

In addition to an analysis of students' open-ended responses, the paper will examine responses to closed questionnaire items about participation in and attitudes to social groups in their community, school and home. Students revealed a well-developed set of ideas about the fairness of different structural arrangements at school and at home, and a sense of responsibility for several aspects of their lives and of the wider social system, particularly for environmental issues.

While many Year 8 students were unable to define in abstract terms democracy and to a lesser extent, citizenship, their ideas and the responsibility revealed in their answers to other questionnaire items suggested that they have a set of ideas and attitudes which could be built upon in a curriculum focussed on citizenship. The attitude held by many students that immigrants were not entitled to full rights of citizenship in Australian society indicates that a multi-cultural approach to education for citizenship is a priority.

BOWEJ95.501S

An investigation of the self concept and social comparison processes of young adolescents with physical disabilities

Jennifer Bowes, Anne McMaugh

BOYEC95.246

Multi-choice question response patterns for mature-aged students

Christine Boyer

The Special Tertiary Admissions Test, (STAT) is a series of related tests, developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). STAT is used by tertiary institutions throughout Australia as part of their admissions procedures for special categories of applicants.

STAT is designed to provide an opportunity for those candidates who have not completed a recent or standard Year 12 certificate to demonstrate an ability to cope with tertiary studies. In 1994, 15 000 candidates applying for higher education courses throughout Australia sat one of the STAT tests. Most of the STAT tests consist of 70 multiple choice questions. They differ in their proportion of verbal and quantitative questions.

Analysis of the 1994 candidates' responses across gender, age groups and question type raised the following issues which will be discussed in this paper:+ Do male and female responses to multi-choice questions differ according to the stimulus material presented? + What structure of multi-choice questions produce different response rates in males and females?+ What effect does age have on the response rates?These questions are relevant not only to the STAT tests but any similar tests using a multi-choice question format.

BOYEC95.274

IB/VCE Equating Study

C Boyer, Mike Sorrell, A Stephanou

BRADL95.027

A case study of implementing curriculum outcomes

Laurie Brady

All states in Australia are using statements and profiles as a basis for their curriculum development while incorporating variations which reflect local policies and priorities. This paper examines the extent to which teachers are incorporating curriculum outcomes into teaching planning and practice in a sample of four primary schools, each from a different administrative region for schooling in N.S.W. Using a grounded theory approach, the study involved analysis of interviews with teachers and principals, and observations of classroom practice.

Data are reported in relation to teachers' understandings of outcome-based education and its benefits; the ways in which teachers are incorporating outcomes into planning and classroom practice; the means of facilitating the implementation of outcome-based education, and the perceived barriers to implementation.

BRAIJ95.197

Linking School and Work: Student Satisfaction with the NSW Industry Studies Course

John Braithwaite

In common with other states and territories the NSW Board of Studies in cooperation with NSW TAFE, the NSW Department of School Education and the Catholic Education Commission, developed a course for students in the post-compulsory years that was designed to link vocational education with general educational studies.

The course incorporated many of the principles enunciated in the Finn, Meyer and Carmichael reports and provided students with the opportunity to gain dual accreditation for their vocational studies from the Board of Studies through the Higher School Certificate and from the NSW Vocational Education & Training Accreditation Board. A key element of the course was the provision of an 80 hour work placement component that enabled students to practice and apply skills learnt in the classroom in a real work setting.

The course introduced three assessment modes: one based on the assessment of specific competencies, the second an assessment of practical performance on a set task and the third based on the normative model associated with the NSW Higher School Certificate.

Students should they wish could elect to be awarded a Tertiary Entrance Ranking based on their performance in the course that could be used in determining entrance into university studies.

This paper reports student outcomes and levels of satisfaction with the course based on data collected over a two period from a total population of over 600 Year 11 and Year 12 students. Based on student data, implications for the further development of such courses are drawn and the potential roles of vocational courses within the overall post-compulsory curriculum are explored.

BRANP95.167

Was there a transition? An historical investigation of teacher training during the first half of this century and the transition experiences of ETC

Peter Brandon, Allyson Holbrook

BROOE95.121

Visual Artists' Accounts of Significant Influences in Their Early Lives

Edward Broomhall

This paper will report qualitative findings of an interview study in which 34 artists were encouraged to talk about various experiences in their childhood (birth-18) which they perceived as having potentially significant influences on their development as visual artists.

Observations concerning the following sources of influence will be reported: the effects of isolation, copying the work of others, a significant teacher, parents and grandparents, and the popular culture including television, radio, comics and movies.

BROOL95.054

Occupational Self Concepts of Primary School Teachers

Lyndon Brooks, Catherine Scott

BROOR95.145

The Problematic Nature of Apprentice Skill Learning in Two Disparate Contexts: Industry and TAFE

Ross Brooker, Jim Butler, Glen Evans

The essence of apprentice skill learning is the acquisition of knowledge and skills. This occurs in two differing contexts, industry and TAFE. In industry, the learning is contextualised by the particular nature of the work carried out at an industry site and the need for the apprentice to be productive as quickly as possible. By contrast, learning in TAFE is contextualised by broad based curriculum documents in a simulated setting. In both contexts, the teaching and learning situation is characterised by apprentices interacting with holders of expert knowledge (trainers and tradespersons in industry, and teachers in TAFE). Drawing upon research in both industry and TAFE, this paper discusses the seemingly disparate nature of the two contexts and the consequent implications for the learning of knowledge and skills by apprentices.

BROWG95.126

Changing Perspectives in Reading Comprehension: Realities or Illusions?

Gail Brown

Historically, defining Reading Comprehension has been as difficult as attempting instruction. Support for a continual assessment and a lack of instruction has existed for many years. Theoretical views of the construct of Reading Comprehension and the variables considered to be involved have changed in recent years. Traditional approaches to instruction in Reading Comprehension focussed primarily on features of the text. Continual practice on modified text and with exercises removed from supporting context were the norm in many classrooms. More recently, recognition of the importance of metacognition has occurred which has been supported by research that has demonstrated its significant effects on student ability. The interactive and cognitive view of Reading Comprehension evident in recent literature acknowledges the importance of the knowledge the reader brings, the critical features of the text being read and the purpose for reading. Whether these changes in theory have been reflected in changed teaching practices in classrooms is a question that remains unanswered. Some evidence commenting on the transformation of these theoretical changes into classroom practice is presented. While this data has been drawn from a relatively small sample, some general conclusions can be made concerning teaching practices and assessment in a broad range of regular and special education classrooms. Recommendations for future research and discussion conclude the paper.

BRYCJ95.205

Do the Mayer Key Competencies form a nexus between generalist and vocational education? An examination with particular reference to Arts Education in Australia

Jennifer Bryce

This paper forms part of a larger project currently being undertaken by the Australian Council for Educational Research and the National Affiliation of Arts Educators. The project is concerned with evaluating the Mayer Key Competencies in Arts Education, so consequently there will be a focus on Arts Eduction in this discussion. The first aim of the paper is to clarify the meaning of some of the key concepts used in debates about the relationship between generalist and vocational education. The second aim is to consider the extent to which the Mayer Key Competencies can be described as `generic' and to consider whether they can play a role in creating a nexus between generalist and vocational education. Recent experience and debate in the UK will be used to inform the discussion. The paper reflects work in progress and is designed to elicit contributions and critique.

BURKC95.361

Shaping the future through state schooling in Queensland: Panacean or problematic

Clarrie Burke

The Review of the Queensland School Curriculum, entitled Shaping the Future, represents another major step in the review and reform processes that have been taking place in the Queensland State school system in recent years. Often referred to as The Wiltshire Report, this review follows an earlier reform based on the Report, Focus on Schools. Focus on Schools was developed to give renewed direction and purpose to the full reorganisation of the Queensland State school system to facilitate the devolution of responsibility for decision making to schools. With the dust still settling on the implementation of devolution policy, the Queensland Department of Education is now in the process of implementing a reviewed policy on school curriculum within the devolved system. Shaping the Future represents a dramatic shift in curriculum development which will significantly affect the ethos, content, teaching and learning processes, and outcomes in Queensland State schools. This session will address the ideology, political significance, and key pedagogical issues and problems that go with Shaping the Future with respect to culture, policy and leadership in schools.

BURKC95.510

Changing The Agenda And Discourse In Australian Education Policy Development: Teacher Educator As Political Actor

Clarrie Burke

The position adopted in this paper is developed in the context of literature relating to the politics and policies which are transforming Australian school and teacher education today. The agenda [Part of the text was corrupted. WR] and discourse in contemporary Australian education has been increasingly dominated by the economic rationalist and corporate managerialist policies pursued by the Federal Government. As a result the education system has undergone rapid change and restructuring + the goal being national reconstruction and international competitiveness through education. School and teacher education are considered by government as an arm of economic policy, thereby reflecting a basically instrumentalist and technical efficiency approach stemming from economistic, managerialist and political motivations rather than educational or moral considerations. In orchestrating the debate on public education the government has marginalised teacher educators.

The time has come for teacher educators to take a more socially critical and interventionist stance in terms of influencing the agenda and discourse in education within an era of tight budgeting. This is vital in the quest for a rightful stake in the ownership of teacher education and the conduct of public education, which have become highly politicised. This paper challenges teacher educators to become politically active in ensuring that government policy developments are understood and critiqued in relation to national and global needs, problems and visions, that substantive educational, social justice and ethical issues are incorporated in the ongoing debate, and that due recognition is given to the reality of the new vocationalism. In pursuing this goal of reprofessionalisation and empowerment, the formation of meaningful, interactive field (i.e. chalkface) linkages and support networks with the school and college system, other higher education sector workers, relevant professional associations, and other allied sectors which connect to government, is essential. This teacher education can be recognised as playing a key role in the purpose and direction of education policy and practice, cognisant of the national and global context, and with a broad base of support.

BURKG95.462S

Dimensions Of Education And Training: Australia From 1988

Gerald Burke

From around 1988 there have been major changes in the size, structure and objectives of Australian education and training. The prolonged problems of Australia's competitiveness in the world economy, the perceived need to contain the size of the public sector and the increasing emphasis on market or corporate forms of organisation have led to a wide range of reforms which have impacted on education and training. There has been strong emphasis on: expanding the levels of education and training and the qualifications held by the workforce; re-orienting education and training towards the needs of industry; containing the levels of public expenditure on education; exposing education and training to market forces and reforming management within education.

This paper focuses on the quantitiative changes that have occurred in this period of major reform from 1988.

BURKG95.521S

Presentations by Gerald Burke, Peter Gronn, Simon Marginson, Marjorie Theobald and Ian Hunter

BURRL95.231

Developmental Changes In Fear: A Precursor To The Assessment Of Anxiety-Related Cognitions

Linda Burrows

Research into children's fears shows a clear trend for younger children to report more fear regarding physical threats, and older children to report more fear related to social situations. However research tends to ignore those reported fears which do not display changes across developmental level. Using the Fear Survey Schedule for Children II (Gullone & King 1992), the current research assessed reported fears in 267 children from grades 3, 4, 5, 7, and 10. The study identifies those fears which are reported at similar intensities by children across the age range. These fears are investigated as possible stimuli for exploring children's anxiety-related cognitions. Intervention with anxious children often uses cognitively based strategies, however there has been little systematic investigation of anxiety-related cognitions in children. Researchers often make assumptions based upon adult research, which may be invalid. Also, most current research into anxiety-related cognitions does not take into account the strong gender differences which are found in reported fears. This research suggests that while there are similar patterns for both boys and girls, the intensity of fears reported by girls is significantly greater. The study also identifies anxiety levels in the sample using the trait form of the Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory for Children (Spielberger, Gorsuch, & Lushene, 1970) and the Spielberger State Trait Anxiety Inventory (Spielberger, 1973). Positive correlations are found between levels of reported fears and anxiety. Educational implications for the exploration of anxiety-related cognitions are discussed, and suggestions for future research given.

BUTCJ95.168

Professional Standards And Professional Development

Jude Butcher

The focus upon competency frameworks has risen largely from a political microeconomic agenda which has been adopted in the professions generally as well as in teaching. Teachers and teacher educators need to work together to ensure that this definition and use of competency standards facilitate and do not hinder teachers' professional development. This paper draws upon research into teacher development to provide a framework for examining, defining and applying professional standards. The benefits of a professional development framework are emphasised and issues to be addressed in further work on professional standards are to be identified. The complex interaction of the two agenda, professional development and professional standards, is acknowledged showing the need for all parties to work together in mapping the ground, relating professional standards to student contexts and outcomes, and establishing guidelines for use of professional standards in particular types of contexts.

BUTTP95.469S

TBA

Perce Butterworth

Health Education In Tasmanian Government Schools Today

Rosemary A. Callingham and Janice R. Baker

Health Education was introduced into the Tasmanian curriculum in 1987

This review considered aspects of system and school policy, resource management, curriculum, and student learning outcomes with the aim of recommending changes to policy and practice where these were indicated

A review of current literature provided a theoretical background

Multiple data gathering techniques were employed to provide a holistic evaluation of health education, with a focus on the middle school years. These included questionnaires, document examination, focus group discussions and case studies. The data was processed and analysed using database and spreadsheet facilities, and NUD*IST

This paper reports on aspects of the data collection and the findings of the project.

CALZF95.293

The Trajectory Theory Of Policy-Making As Applicable To The Development Of Open Learning In Australia

Faith Calzoni

With reference to AER, November 2 August 1994, early papers made a strong case for the 'new' sociology of policy-making in education.

Previous research in the sociology of education had concentrated on policy implementation. The new sociology introduced in the 1980s sought to analyse policy itself as a necessary ideological base for research. Roger Dale, in supporting the argument in 1989, coupled policy with Althusser;s 1969 theory of three phase social formation: the ideological, the economic and the political. Dale explored these 'contradictory" dimensions in a neo-Marxian setting, with the state the dominant factor controlling all inner tensions. Stephen Ball in 1994 resorted to a post-modern position, stressing the relevance of fragmented power controls. As a guiding principle he re-asserted the "trajectory" theory, based on the geometric principles of a three dimensional cross-sectional system of curve structures. Trevor Gale also chose this approach, but added a unifying strategy of coherence within complexity. This allowed, not only for flexibility of operations, but also for the dominance of the state as the director of proceedings.

The trajectory theory provides a framework for a re-assessment of open learning by tracing development from an emphasis on equity (ideology), through the constrictive conflicts of policy-making in Distance Education, to the politically approved OLAA. All three trajectories are then flexibly aligned under the authoritative direction of state (not necessarily government) policies.

CAMER95.265

Practicum supervision, training strategies and teacher/mentor perceptions

Robert Cameron, Jacqueline Hayden

CAMPG95.185

Trying to make a difference: Re-thinking the practicum

Glenda Campbell-Evans, Carmel Maloney

CARLT95.523

Mountains to Climb: Student Teachers A Voices on Reflective Teaching

Terri Carlson, Samantha Perry