AARE Conference 1993 - Abstracts  

Carol-Anne Croker, Deakin University.

Reconnoitring the feminist minefield of academic work.

This paper will focus on one aspect of my Ph.D. and address itself particularly to the difficulties and dilemmas faced by feminist agents for change in universities. To be more specific it will look at the different feminist ways of working and the issues they address including the flexible and transitory positions of feminism. This study draws from a perspective which sees the feminist persona as multiple and which considers the different feminist identities determined by the tolerance levels within the politics of place. The inherent tensions between feminist practices will be examined as experienced by feminists located in a range of different areas within the university system.

CROWM93.045

Margaret Crowley, Edith Cowan University.

The education of overseas students in Australia: Research as a critical tool for economic development.

The education of overseas students in Australia is a billion dollar industry now among Australia's top five export performers. The programme was conceived in haste and few if any Government resources were invested in research, policy analysis or the development of appropriate infrastructure. Data drawn from a study of more than 500 overseas students in Western Australia suggests that unless appropriate research and evaluation is undertaken on a continuing basis the industry may have a limited life and incur considerable costs in long term foreign policy relationships.

CUNND93.330

Debra Cunningham, Board of Teacher Registration, Queensland.

Some implications for Australian teacher education of recent changes to teacher education in England.

Given the extent of interaction between Australian and British educational policy, Australian educationists need to be aware of developments on the British scene, particularly of those which appear to be having a deleterious impact. This paper describes interview data and documentary evidence obtained in England late last year on a number of significant and controversial changes recently made to preservice teacher education in England and Wales. These include requirements for courses to be more school-based, and the introduction of new ways of becoming a qualified teacher (including new types of courses and "on the job" training). Implications for teacher education in Australia will be discussed.

Jan Currie, Murdoch University.

Action research for academics: Case study of implementing Award Restructuring in WA universities.

This paper explores how two universities in Western Australia are implementing Award Restructuring. In the process it examines how universities can be studied by a person actively involved in trying to change the current structures. One aim of the research is to try to involve women academics more actively in this process of change through the union movement. And more generally to develop more participatory processes within universities for all academics.

One of the aims of award restructuring is to develop greater industrial democracy. This paper will describe the reaction of academics and university administrators to the term `industrial democracy' and the extent to which this may be achieved in Western Australian universities.

Further, it will examine how using a combination of action research and case study methods the research can plot the kind of change that is occurring within a rapidly changing environment. This paper is about research in progress which is in its third and final year of funding. It will develop a more action oriented phase in 1994 and this paper will attempt to reflect upon the form that research should take.

Graham Dellar, Curtin University of Technology.

Secondary school organisation and the implementation of restructuring and reform.

With the number of restructuring and reform endeavours presently confronting education systems in North America the United Kingdom, Australia and elsewhere it seems timely to examine the field of educational change management. This paper revisits literature on change and the nature of educational organisations to present a view of schools, particularly secondary schools, as complex "open social systems". To assess the appropriateness of this view of schools, and understand the dynamics of the change process, research was conducted into three secondary schools in Western Australia that were about to implement school-based management. It is asserted that those with the responsibility for formulating policies, and implementing change at the school level, view change as context and setting dependent. Understanding the nature of the school from this perspective appears critical in facilitating the type of organisational transformation required for restructuring and school improvement.

Patricia Denham and J Oner, The University of Canberra.

Hopes and realities: Overseas students' perceptions of performance in award courses.

The research project discussed in this paper is a tracer study which follows the progress of overseas students whose first language is not English, during their first semester in award courses at the University of Canberra in 1992. The project was funded by UCLESUDP, and focused primarily on the listening skills of the students. However, in the course of the research, it was observed that the tracer group frequently anticipated higher grades in their courses than they actually achieved.

As part of the project, the students were interviewed twice, once shortly after the start of the semester and again near the end of the semester. Differences between anticipated and actual performance were related not only to English language difficulties but also to the following factors: (i) absence of grades or measures of progress at intervals during the course for a number of those involved in year-long units; (ii) difficulty in assessing self-progress in units where the primary method of assessment was a major assignment submitted towards the end of the unit; (iii) mis-match between grades for work completed in non-examination conditions and grades for work undertaken during examinations. The project is continuing in 1993, with the remaining 24 of the original tracer group.

DIXOK93.048

Kathryn Dixon, Edith Cowan University.

Implementation of the Student Centred Learning Project at a Western Australian secondary school: A case study.

The paper represents the findings of an evaluation of the Student Centred Learning Project at a Western Australian Secondary School. The evaluation was conducted by Edith Cowan University as part of the Co-Learn Project and data were collected in June 1992. In June 1991, a facilitator was contracted by the Senior Staff Council at the school, to conduct a series of workshops on Student Centred Learning. Teachers were invited to join a core group for 1992, which would meet regularly and gradually implement Student Centred Learning at the School. The school was one of several Western Australian Secondary schools involved in the National Quality of Teaching and Learning Project.The purpose of the evaluation was firstly to establish if the major problem at the school was `student passivity' which manifested itself as lack of responsibility, ownership and commitment to learning. Secondly, the evaluation reviewed the implementation of a `Learner Focused Philosophy' at the school including Active Learning approaches adapted by the whole staff and Student Centred Learning philosophies and strategies. Thirdly, the evaluation identified factors affecting the implementation of Student Centred Learning, including those factors facilitating and those inhibiting the adoption of the philosophy.

The evaluation also attempted to measure staff attitudes to educational philosophies and strategies adopted by the school, teacher-student relationships and student learning outcomes as perceived by the teaching staff at the school.Teaching staff at the school completed a questionnaire and contributed to a semi-structured interview regarding Student Centred learning. The items were based on the information requirements outlined above. Questionnaire items were divided into seven constructs related to those of Berman and McLaughlin (1976) with regards to assimilation and incorporation and they were: a) implementation strategy, b) assimilation, c) organizational climate, d) incorporation into standard operating procedure.

The data suggested that while the majority of the staff indicated they were in favour of an Active Learning approach, the implementation of Student Centred Learning had proved to be problematic. The paper discusses the possible reasons for the perceived difficulties including the application of the Student Centred strategies, the use of an external facilitator, the application of Student Centred approaches within a Western Australian Ministerial framework and perceived divisions amongst interest groups on the staff.

DOBBR93.049

Rosemary Dobbins, University of South Australia.

The practicum and educational research.

The thesis of this paper is that if educational research is to "make a difference", then classroom teachers have to be more involved in the research process and/or have more access to research findings. The practicum can provide teachers and prospective teachers with these opportunities. This paper reports on a research project undertaken during 1993 between a university-based teacher educator and a group of school-based teacher educators. The aim of the study was to trial a partnership approach to the practicum that involved changes to the traditional roles of the participants. The notions of collaboration, reflection and empowerment were emphasised in this process.

Brian Doig, The Australian Council for Educational Research.

Quality assessment for the new century.

This paper looks at assessment in mathematics and how it may be improved. The basis for improvement is taken to be those aspects of assessment which are the most important and the most amenable to change, namely, the item content, the form of response required, the interpretation of responses, and the interaction between these first three factors. Examples from recent innovative attempts to create improved assessments, with respect to each of these factors, is presented. Whilst not all of the changeable factors are addressed by each assessment tool, the interaction between the innovative and conventional factors does provide better information, which is the fundamental purpose of all assessment.

Margaret Dowrick, University of Southern Queensland.

Australian education research in conductive education: Making the difference.

This paper acknowledges the benefits of recent Australian research into adapted forms of the Hungarian method of Conductive Education. Eight studies investigating adapted Conductive Education principles examine three important aspects; the role of parents in the early intervention process, the efficacy of the adapted approach and the relevance of the principles adapted. Though marred with methodological flaws, these studies are providing a firm basis for future research and program improvements. With no national consensus as to which aspects of the adapted principles are relevant to Australians with motor disorders, this paper concludes with a summary of the writer's research which addresses this important aspect.

ELLEN93.052

Nerida Ellerton, Edith Cowan University, and M A Ken Clements, University of Newcastle.

The central role of language factors in mathematics teaching and learning.

In has often been assumed that language factors should be minimised in mathematics classrooms and that mathematics textbooks should have as few words as possible. However, recent research has shown that language factors must have a central role in mathematics teaching and learning. In this paper the authors summarise research findings and discuss implications for mathematics education.

One of the key roles of teachers of mathematics is to assist learners to acquire, in both receptive and expressive modes, the formal language of mathematics. At the same time there is a fundamental need to establish links between everyday practical situations and formal mathematical language and concepts. A particular focus of this paper will be to draw attention to a range of factors - including social, cognitive, cultural, linguistic, and affective - that impinge on the development of a wider range of communication patterns in mathematics classrooms.

ELLIA93.053

Alison Elliott, University of Western Sydney, and Neil Hall, The University of Wollongong.

Metacognitive strategy development for preschoolers at risk of early academic failure.

There is growing recognition of the association between difficulties in learning and poor metacognitive strategy use. Research indicates that poor writers are not able to effectively activate metacognitive processes such as planning, monitoring and evaluating so critical to creating text that are coherent and reader friendly. In the area of mathematics there indications that low achievers lack of volitional control over problem-solving processes, minimal engagement with tasks, and selective attention deficiencies. Yet, teaching approaches that foster the development of metacognitive strategies are seldom employed. This presentation reports on a study that examined the effects of metacognitive teaching strategies on the mathematical learning of 54 preschoolers at risk of early academic failure and enrolled in preschool programs with an early intervention emphasis. Findings indicated that an approach combining teacher mediated and computer-generated metacognitive scaffolds was most likely to result in improved mathematics competence.

Alison Elliott, University of Western Sydney.

Metacognitive teaching strategies and young children's mathematical learning.

There is growing awareness of the important orchestrating role played by metacognitive activity in skilled mathematical problem solving. Yet, despite their amenability to classroom instruction, metacognitive strategies are seldom explicated in mathematical teaching, and especially in the early years of education.The research reported in this presentation was designed to investigate the role of metacognitively guided mathematics instruction in the first year of school. Specifically, it focussed on aspects of children's mathematics learning and achievement both during and after participation in mathematics teaching sessions with either a metacognitive or "best practice" approach. Of particular interest was the impact of the teaching approaches on children with differing achievement ratings in mathematics.

Results of the study indicated that children who participated in metacognitively guided mathematics sessions scored significantly higher on tests of mathematics achievement than did children who participated in the best practice approach. Of particular interest was the positive effect of the metacognitive approach on children with low scores on initial tests of mathematics achievement.

Gerald Elsworth, University of Melbourne.

School size, school organisation and diversity in the year 11 and 12 curriculum.

The recent phase of structural reorganisation of government secondary schools in Victoria was motivated in part by the Blackburn Report and commenced in 1985/86, although the precedent had been set by the establishment of the Bendigo Senior Secondary College some 10 years earlier. While the initial concern was with an appropriate response to rapidly declining enrolments, the rationale for reorganisation quickly focussed on the adequacy of curriculum provision in Years 11 and 12. Larger cohorts were necessary, it was argued, to enable a school or college to develop a curriculum that would adequately meet the needs of an increasingly diverse post-compulsory student population. This study analyses data on the breadth and depth of curriculum provision in Years 11 and 12 in Victorian secondary schools and colleges in 1992, the first full year of the implementation of the Victorian Certificate of Education. The extent to which a school offered a diverse VCE offering is related to the size of its Year 11/12 cohort and its broad organisational characteristics. Additionally, the extent to which cohort size and organisation were related to increased depth in specific curriculum areas will be examined and discussed.

Ken Eltis, University of Sydney, Bob Meyenn and Judith Parker, Charles Sturt University.

A pod of middle aged beached whales: Critics and criticisms of teacher education.

Recent criticisms of teacher education and teacher educators are legend. This paper attempts a systematic analysis of the discourse exemplified in a number of recent reports and ministerial statements from the United States, the United Kingdom as well as Australia. To what extent is this catalogue of dissatisfaction by the various stakeholders in present practices in teacher education justified, particularly given that so much of the documentation is ill informed and anecdotal rather than empirical? Predictably, in the current political, economic and institutional climate, much of the reaction of teacher educators has been defensive and protective.

We argue that a rigorous, self critical and self reflective debate is imperative if teacher educators are to influence in any significant way, public policy and community perception about the education of teachers. Without this, teacher education will remain as impotent as the beached whale.

Debbie Epstein, University of Central England.

Sexual subjects: Some methodological problems in researching sexuality in schools.

Many sociologists and psychologists use schools as a primary source of subjects for research into children/young people. This paper argues that we can make no generalizations from `school student' to `young person', since the categories `pupil' and `student' are discursively produced within the specific context of the school. Following from this argument, the paper will explore the specific difficulties of researching questions of sexuality within the school context. Sexuality is both unspeakable and rampant within schools. It is, therefore, virtually impossible for students to talk about sexuality without positioning themselves as oppositional. While it is clearly important to research the sexual cultures of schools and the ways in which students negotiate sexuality education, we need to be clear about exactly what is and what is not possible in the school context.

EVANG93.058

Glen Evans, Peter Galbraith and Merrilyn Goos, The University of Queensland.

Knowledge, beliefs, learning processes, and reflection in the development of teaching skills by student teachers.

This symposium reports a study of the changes in knowledge, beliefs, and skills of student teachers in a one year post-graduate program over the course of the year. Apart from pre- and post-outcome variables, it sought information on the student teachers' detailed planning and teaching of individual lessons, how they conceived their activities, the use made of task feedback during the lessons, and the processes of evaluation and reflection that they used. In two experimental groups, we offered differing opportunities for reflection, including reflective sessions, the use of a journal, and for one group, the use of an aide memoire termed "reflection card".

The symposium has four segments: (1) the theoretical and methodological aspects; (2) the micro-processes entailed in the reflection sessions and qualitative changes; (3) the changes on quantifiable measures; and (4) a brief overview of the implication of the results for theory, further research, and teacher education practice.

Glen Evans, The University of Queensland.

The theoretical and methodological approaches to research on learning to teach.

Aspects involved in the acquisition of teaching competence include: conceptions of teaching and learning, for example constructivist or transmissive approaches; approaches to learning by student teachers and sources of knowledge; and progression of skills acquisition through experience, feedback, and reflection. This paper describes the development of theory and methods to examine each of these interrelated aspects. Central to the theory is a description of beliefs, actions, and feedback associated with individual lessons and post-lesson reflection. Theoretical considerations and a pilot study were used to establish important discussions of conceptions of teaching, which were subsequently represented in both quantitative and qualitative methods in a study of 70 Diploma in Education students, including 32 in two experimental groups.

FERNM93.303

Marjorie Fernandes, Monash University.

Regional disparities in post-compulsory education in Australia.

While there has been fairly rapid expansion of post-compulsory education in Australia in recent years, the question is whether such expansion has been accompanied by increased inequalities. The study of educational inequalities is often confined to the socio-economic dimension, However, it is also important to consider the regional dimension. On the basis of state data the nature and extent of regional in post-compulsory education in Australia will be discussed. The implications of such regional disparities for policy-making in a federal country like Australia will also be considered.

Brian Ferry, University of Wollongong.

Assisting science and technology education in the primary school: A hands-on program that assists preservice and classroom teachers.

In 1992 one hundred primary school teachers participated in a survey which asked them what form of support they required in order to effectively teach science and technology. Ninety five percent indicated that they needed help in the form of science kits that contained simple hands-on activities that could be used in the classroom. In 1993 sixty of the teachers previously surveyed participated in a "science kit" program which extended over six weeks. The paper discusses the history of the program, the methods used to evaluate it, and implications for teacher inservice.

FERRF93.304

Fran Ferrier, Monash University.

Finding a way through: Progress towards a review of the economics of education in Australian education policy.

During 1993-4 the Centre for the Economics of Education is undertaking an ARC funded review of the economics of education in Australian education policy from the late 1970s to the present. The scope of the review has been defined by four subsections, which occasionally overlap: the finance of education; education and the economy; the internal efficiency of education; and the international dimension. The review itself comprises two discrete sections: an annotated bibliography of relevant and important literature; and written analyses of the impact of the economics of education on Australian education policy.

This paper outlines the structure and format of the review, providing information about the extent of the literature and the methods by which it has been organised into an annotated bibliography. It also provides a progress report on broader aspects of the review.

FERRF93.305

Fran Ferrier and Barbara Murray, Monash University.

Fees, facilities and free time: Employer support for postgraduate study.

How much support do employers give to their employees undertaking postgraduate study? What sort of support is it? What is the nature of the relationship between the level of support provided and the type of course being undertaken? Has the imposition of the Training Guarantee Levy influenced the level and type of support provided? How critical is employer support to the students? This paper explores such questions, using data from a 1990 survey of coursework postgraduates at 20 institutions, carried out by the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations, and a 1992 survey of masters students at Monash University undertaken by the Higher Education Advisory and Research Unit.

FIELB93.063

Barry Fields, University College of Southern Queensland.

Consultation models: A comparison of the preferences of primary teachers and support teachers.

In recent years we have seen a significant change in the way services are provided to children with learning difficulties in regular schools. Where once the dominant service delivery model was remedial teaching support by a specialist teacher, often on a withdrawal basis, now school systems are adopting a more indirect service model via consultation services. In this model specialist teachers consult with class teachers, most often on a collaborative basis, for the purpose of jointly devising an educational plan for specific children with learning problems. Very little is known about the efficacy of this model and the extent to which class teachers, specialist teachers, and parents are satisfied with it. In this paper several investigations on the appropriateness of the consultative model of service delivery are reported. Particular attention is given to a study comparing primary and support teachers and their preferences for consultation models. Implications are drawn from the findings for the quality of education for children with learning difficulties.

FIENJ93.064

John Fien, Griffith University.

Explaining pedagogical decisions: A critique of research on teachers' thinking.

The question of "Why do teachers teach the way they do?" is a central focus of research on teachers' thinking and the focus of the case study presented in this paper. The case study seeks to provide an explanatory understanding of the factors that influenced one teacher as he planned and taught a Year 12 environmental education programme characterised by a heavy emphasis on values and social action objectives. The case study is used to critique the assumptions underlying the focus on teachers' images and "personal practical knowledge" in much research on teachers' thinking. This tradition of research is grounded in voluntarist assumptions which tend to reify human intentionality and agency free of institutional or structural constraints - despite a concern for the societal and situational aspects of a teacher's personal practical knowledge in some studies. As a result, research on teachers' thinking has been dominated by individualistic explanations that focus on teachers' accounts of their knowledge and beliefs without an analysis of the social and political contexts of educational practices or of the ideological construction of such personal and professional accounts. This is the opposite - but equally inadequate - explanation of pedagogical decision making to structuralist accounts which are grounded in reproduction theories and which tend to over-emphasise structural influences to the neglect of human agency. The paper provides a model for explaining pedagogical decision making based upon the concepts of agency and structure in the theory of structuration developed by Andrew Giddens. Structuration theory links structures and institutions with the processes of human agency and action in a dialectical manner and thus provides a critical framework for explaining pedagogical decision making.

FISHD93.065

Darrell Fisher, Barry Fraser and Geoff Giddings, Curtin University of Technology.

Assessing learning environments.

The main aim of the workshop would be to familiarize participants with the nature and application of the range of instruments available for assessing learning environments. The workshop would take the following format.

1. Introduction An historical overview describing the development of the early instruments (LEI, CES, MCI) and the later developments (iceq, cucei, slei, qti, cles). Different versions of the instruments (actual/preferred, classroom/school, class/personal).

FORLC93.067

Chris Forlin, The University of Western Australia.

Teachers' attributions of the stress incurred when mainstreaming children with a disability.

The educational trend in Australia is towards inclusive education for all students with a disability. Currently, there appears little information regarding the effect this may have on teachers' stress levels when asked to cope with the placement of children with a disability in regular classrooms. There is, however, a wealth of research that suggests many teachers are already under stress and suffering burnout as a result. This research investigated teachers' attributions of the degree of stress incurred by regular class teachers during the integration of children with a mild intellectual disability into regular classrooms. Regular and special class teachers from all primary Education Support Centres and associated primary schools in Western Australia gave their attributions of stress for ensuring that both the special child and the regular class children achieve to potential during integration. Teachers were found to attribute significantly higher degrees of stress for ensuring both the special child and regular class children achieve during integration. In particular, four major biographical variables emerged as critical determinants of teachers' stress levels: Involvement in a current integration program, teaching experience, gender and degree of control regarding placement decisions. Teachers' attributions of stress are discussed in relation to implementation of current integration policies.

FORLP93.068

Peter Forlin, The University of Western Australia.

A framework for developing risk management programmes for chemical educators and departmental administrators.

Chemical educators operate in environments where accidents can and do occur and as risk managers they must also address the long term problems of chemical exposure, toxic effects and allergic reactions amongst others. In order to make appropriate decisions about risk, educators need information and frameworks for management. It is the provision of an integrated framework for risk management in Australian chemical education that is the primary purpose of this research. The integrated framework is developed on nine dimensions, namely: commitment; self-regulation and consultation; risk identification and risk assessment; risk control; education, training and promotion; accident reporting and accident investigation; emergency anticipation; occupational rehabilitation; and equity (non-discrimination). This research provides a contribution towards a theory of health and safety risk management in Australian chemical education. Recently researched models of health and safety risk management programmes will be presented and discussed.

FREAM93.070

Mark Freakley, Griffith University.

Contingency and case study: Lessons from natural history.

In education, the post-Kuhnian reaction to positivistic versions of inquiry involved many supporters of marginalised and emerging methods of inquiry drawing comfort from the Queen of the sciences, physics, and her quantum mechanics mysteries. Stories about cats suspended in states of uncertain existence, and other improbabilities, seemed to encourage and support those of a subjectivist orientation. The latest attempts to "subvert the dominant paradigm" involve resort to the interdisciplinary applications of chaos mathematics. I suggest that if there are lessons to be learnt from `real' science about what we should be doing then we should allow ourselves to be instructed by the evolutionary biologists, the natural historians, and their understanding of explanation as `just history'.

FREAM93.071

Mark Freakley, Griffith University.

Realism, correspondence truth and educational inquiry.

A recent series of articles published in the journal Curriculum Inquiry continues a long tradition of debate concerning the nature of educational inquiry. In evaluating the ontological assumptions implicit in these articles I will advocate realism as the fundamental starting point for theorising about educational research. I will attempt to motivate an interest in realism as an issue in methodology and put the case for prioritising a realist ontology before any epistemology and, as a consequence, before any methodological theory.

FREEM93.072

Mark Freeman, University of Technology, Sydney.

The reliability of business students at assessing their peers?

Group work can be used to encourage deeper learning, promote student autonomy by transferring some of the responsibility for teaching and learning to students and simultaneously reduce academic time in feedback and marking. Peer assessment can also be used to achieve these aims. This paper reports the results of a peer assessment experiment with 210 final year undergraduate business students. Students formed 41 teams which gave an oral class presentation worth 25% of their overall grade. Teams of peers rated the presentation, using a 22 point guide, in terms of content and presentation. Their mark was compared to staff assessment of the presentation. While their is no significant difference in the averages, there is a significant difference in the standard deviations to suggest that the two populations are different. However students did become significantly better assessors in the second half of the semester at least in terms of the presentation component. The peer assessed marks had only a moderate correlation with staff assigned marks, even though the slope coefficients were significant.

Sandra Frid and John Malone, Curtin University of Technology.

Negotiation of meaning in mathematics classrooms: A study of two year 5 classes.

This research is part of a larger 4 year study designed to elaborate a constructivist model of learning with specific regard to classroom negotiation of mathematical meaning. An intent is to investigate the relationship between student classroom experience and student constructed meanings in a way that will inform teaching practice. The two intertwined research foci are: (i) how individuals make sense of and utilise mathematics concepts and operations, and (ii) the social realm within which teachers' and learners' individual contributions play a key role in the sense-making and utilisation of mathematics concepts and skills. Results of analysis of classroom observations and videotaping sessions along with subsequent video-stimulated interviews with 6 target students in each of two year 5 classes will be discussed.

FRIDS93.074

Sandra Frid and Lesley Parker, Curtin University of Technology.

Curriculum renewal in Western Australia: The match between curriculum and assessment.

The new Western Australia secondary mathematics curriculum has been developed and implemented in a climate of wide-scale curriculum reconceptualization and change throughout Australia. After the first two years of implementation of the new curriculum educators are now grappling with the issues arising from changes in teaching strategies and related implications for student assessment and admission to tertiary institutions. This paper examines the three Year 12 Tertiary Entrance Examinations (TEE) (first administered in December 1992) and the assessment support materials for the non-TEE courses with regard to their coherence with the aims, philosophy, teaching and assessment guidelines of the new syllabus documents. Data were gathered from examination of the syllabus documents, the examination papers, meetings with Ministry of Education staff and public meetings in 1993 between teachers and examination writers.

FRYJ93.075

Joan Fry, Charles Sturt University.

Doing qualitative research: Some ethical and validity questions.

In order to undertake research on teaching, in both school and university settings, the process needs to be formalised through processes of gaining permission and gaining access to the research sites. This paper raises several separate, yet interrelated, issues that I have been confronted with as a researcher and a teacher of research methods. Problems to be discussed include: the validity of reflective practice when linked with student assessment tasks; role negotiation in school settings; developing trust; maintaining confidentiality when reporting research; conflict between researcher roles and academic roles; gaining informed consent. Such methodological problems will be analysed in relation to relevant literature and current research policy guidelines. It is hoped that participants at this paper will engage in discussion.

Michael Furtado, The University of Newcastle.

Towards public-sector Australian catholic schools?

The increasing inroads made by the corporate state into education have interesting but categoric implications for the Australian polity. Will the Macdonaldisation of state schools provide a close alternative to Catholic schools in seeking sponsorship from the private sector through fees or other corporate arrangement? Or will the actions of socially critical Catholics and others be the major leverage by which the corporate state can be persuaded into moderating or even renouncing the ideology of the market place in preference to a more socially just alternative?

This paper explores the current convergence between Catholic and state schools in terms of the theoretical assumptions underpinning funding. It argues that the integration of Catholic schools within the public sector may provide an opportunity to strengthen the element of "publicness" in all Australian schools and that such an arrangement may provide the main means of ensuring that Australian society conserves a currently enfeebled pedagogy of conscience.

Michael Furtado teaches in Policy Studies at The University of Newcastle. He has experience in working in public and private sector Catholic education in Australia and overseas.Is the social theory underpinning the researcher's assumptions valid? If so, are there possibilities of the outlined scenario developing? What would be the pitfalls? Whose powerful and entrenched interests would need to be negotiated and how?

Catherine Gaffey, University of Western Sydney.

Facilitating practicum supervision: Participants' perceptions.

The research literature on supervision of the practicum has traditionally addressed the question of what assists the student teacher in their school experiences including the qualities and practices required by effective school-based teacher educators or supervising teachers (Cross, 1083; Danaher and Elliott, 1981; Fogarty and Farrow, 1984: Price and Sellars, 1984; Tinning, 1984). More recently too, training programs for supervising teachers have become more frequent (Cairns, 1991; Crebbin, 1993; Didham and Roush, 1990; Field, 1993; Kroener, 1992; Millwater and Yarrow, 1992; Reed, 1993; Wilson and Cameron, 1992;) so as to assist supervising teachers in their roles and to improve the quality of practicum experience for the student teacher. However, less research has been reported on what factors (it is assumed that supervisor training is one factor) facilitate supervision of student teachers from the supervising teacher's point of view and if training programs actually assist them in their work with student teachers.

This paper will report on a survey of supervising teachers for two urban tertiary institutions and the factors which they reported as facilitating supervision of student teachers. One group of supervising teachers and their student teachers undertook a training program which looked at informing supervising teachers of the teacher education course undertaken by student teachers as well as effective supervision and teaching practices. The study looked at whether training program facilitated supervision for supervising teachers or were other factors perceived as having stronger influences.

This paper will discuss the context, methodology and result of the survey with implications for future practice.

Peter Galbraith, The University of Queensland.

Reflection in the development of teaching skills: Pre-Post testing.

Pre and post measures for groups of students (experimental and control) were obtained for a given set of questionnaires and tasks. These instruments provided data in the following areas: (1) beliefs and knowledge about teaching (involving both structured responses and open comment across nine defined scales); (2) general approaches to learning; (3) sources of knowledge about teaching; (4) capacity for processing information arising from observation of teaching segments displayed as video vignettes.

The instruments and tasks were designed so that constructivist versus transmissive approaches to teaching and learning would emerge from the responses. This presentation will discuss the pre and post response patterns in relation to the skill development attempted through the experimental program.The discussion will also encompass a number of quantitative indices that were derived from lesson and interview transcripts.

GARTA93.269

Alison Garton, Janet Clinton and Chris Pratt, The University of Western Australia.

Stress and self-concept change: Building a model for children and adolescents.

This study examined the relationship between mental health, stress, self-concept and perceived competence in young people between the ages of 10 and 15 years.

Previous research has found an inverse relationship between stress (as measured by the number of stressful events occurring) and self-concept. Thus study examined only events occurring in the previous month perceived to have a negative impact on young people. Both major events and minor hassles were included. The number and the relative impact of these events were correlated with overall self-concept as measured by the Piers-Harris Self-concept scale, and with the global self worth subscale of both the children's and the adolescents' versions of the Harter scales. The results indicate that there is a negative relationship between overall self-concept and the frequency and impact of stressful events suggesting that with an increase in stress there is a decrease in self-concept.

Existing models on the impact of stress on self-concept (or vice versa) have been developed only for adults (e.g. Lazarus' model). Using the results of the present study a model of stress and self-concept for children and adolescents is proposed.

Ian Gibson, University of Southern Queensland.

Evaluating the effectiveness of distance education materials.

This research project involved an evaluation of distance education materials prepared for the Schools of Distance Education in Queensland, and included an assessment of the design, development and implementation practices that surrounded the materials. The project focussed upon three interrelated areas:

• the assumptions, intentions processes and outcomes of the design and development of distance education materials for primary students

The project evaluated the quality and effectiveness of materials developed centrally for use in remote areas and provided sufficient base line data to embark upon a longitudinal study designed to supplement the findings established in this short term analysis of the effects of education materials designed for those dependent upon such materials.

Ian Gibson, University of Southern Queensland.

Policy, practice and need in the professional preparation of teachers for rural teaching.

This paper presents multiple perspectives on the question of teacher preparation and supply for rural areas. Based on interview research which explores the perceptions of the total sample of teachers newly appointed to isolated rural schools during the course of one academic year in the western regions of Queensland, and an analysis of the policy context of teacher selection and employment for rural teaching, conclusions regarding both the need for specialised preparation programmes for rural teachers and the responsibility of education departments in the development of specific rural staffing policies are drawn.

These conclusions emphasise the importance of topics seen to be necessary in the preparation of teachers for rural areas, and raise questions concerning the existence of staffing policies in departments of education designed to encourage the employment of teachers for rural schools who have undergone appropriate programmes to prepare them for such work.

John Godfrey and Russell Waugh, Edith Cowan University, Ellis Evans, University of Washington, USA, and Delores Craig, Wichita State University, USA.

Measuring student perceptions about cheating: A cross-cultural comparison.

The prevalence of academic cheating in schools has been consistently appearing in the scholarly and mass media literature for several decades. The phenomenon is of concern to both teachers and school administrators.

Data from 223 Australian students and 745 Overseas students (90 from Austria, 293 from the United States, 135 from East Germany, 113 from West Germany and 114 from Costa Rica) aged 16 to 18 years old were collected in a study relating to their beliefs about cheating in examinations and in school assignments. The questionnaire used to collect the data covered four main aspects regarding cheating: perceptions of cheating as a problem, perceptions of what constitutes cheating, perceptions of why cheating occurs, and perceptions of how cheating can be discouraged.

The data were analysed in two ways. Firstly, uni-dimensional scales were constructed of variables proposed in a model of cheating. Zero order and multiple regression techniques were calculated to check on the relationships between the variables in the model. The second analysis used an Extended Logistic Model of Rasch which calculated item affectivities for all the items fitting the model on the same continuum.

These analyses were very helpful in understanding cultural differences in student beliefs about cheating and methods of discouraging cheating. The analysis suggested implications for further research and for teachers and school administrators in their efforts to overcome cheating.

GOODJ93.080

Joy Goodfellow, University of Sydney.

Methodological messiness in an exploratory study of cooperating teachers' implicit knowledge of professional practice.

This paper reveals a personal struggle with methodological issues. It focuses on a process of enquiry into roles, responsibilities, experiences and practices of five early childhood cooperating teachers responsible for student teachers during practice teaching. The paper initially identifies key contextual concepts which influence methodological decisions. It then addresses issues which have arisen as attempts were made to abstract meaning from taped interviews with the teachers. These interpretative accounts provided the text for stories which were written around emergent themes and were returned to the teachers for verification. The struggles identified in the paper reflect concerns with trustworthiness and authenticity as links between context, methodology, purpose of the study and representation of findings are challenged.

Merrilyn Goos, The University of Queensland.

Guided reflection on teaching: A Vygotskian perspective.

This paper describes procedures for helping student teachers create and use feedback on their teaching. Assistance was provided by a mentor who used questioning to stimulate reflective processes the student teacher would not otherwise have produced. The interaction between student teacher and mentor is explored in terms of Vygotsky's notion of the Zone of Proximal Development. Within this context key elements of the interaction are identified as: cognitive modelling of self-questioning, the co-construction of feedback on performance; questioning for assistance; cognitive structuring, and the implicit signalling of salient task features. Implications of this guided reflection procedure for teacher education are discussed.

GOREJ93.081

Jennifer Gore, Rosalie Bunn and Erica Southgate, The University of Newcastle, and Philip Wexler, University of Rochester, USA.

Disciplining bodies through schooling past and present: A Foucauldian exploration through observation, interview and memory work.

In this symposium, three researchers present aspects of a major study into the practices of power that constitute pedagogy. In addition to a primary concern for documenting the ongoing practices that make pedagogy what it is, through a disciplining of (student and teacher) bodies, this study explores Foucault's ideas on power and attempts to develop a methodology consistent with poststructural theories. The symposium provides an opportunity for those interested in poststructural theory, methodology, memory work, classroom power and change to interact with panel members about their ongoing research.

GOREJ93.082

Jennifer Gore, The University of Newcastle.

Power and pedagogy: An empirical investigation of three sites.

This paper outlines preliminary findings from a study of three pedagogical sites (physical education classrooms, teacher education classrooms and women's reading groups). The sites have been deliberately selected for their differences along two major dimensions; whether or not they are clearly institutionalised within education and the extent to which the explicit approach taken can be seen as mainstream or radical. The study explores the veracity of Foucault's concept "disciplinary power" for the functioning of power in these sites. The aim of the study is to illuminate aspects of the taken-for-granted in classrooms (namely, the micro-practices of power) with the hope of identifying new points of intervention so as to improve the experience of schooling for both students and teachers. Observational and interview data have been coded for such practices of power as surveillance, normalisation and classification. Detailed qualitative accounts are also provided to illustrate the functioning of power in these sites.

Annette Greenall Gough, Deakin University.

Universalized discourses: In whose interests in teacher education?

In this paper I present a case study of the universalized discourses that dominate environmental education, particularly the teacher education publications for environmental education forthcoming from Unesco. Since its inception a Western, Eurocentric, industrialized, male and English speaking worldview has dominated statements about environmental education, particularly those made at the international level. Such statements can be read as attempts to universalize environmental education, but they can also be read as an effect of colonization and marginalization of others by male English speaking worldviews. The silencing of the voices of the colonized and marginalized at United Nations meetings is increasingly being recognized, and the universal models developed for environmental education within this worldview have been limited in their success even within the genre in which they have been developed. Drawing on a poststructural analysis of these Unesco models I argue that the colonialism and marginalization they embody only serves to privilege the powerful and that a different approach is needed for environmental education in teacher education, one that starts from the silenced voices in all our societies.

Noel Gough, Deakin University.

Narrative theory and educational inquiry: Qualitative research as metafictional storytelling.

Narrative theory invites us to think of all discourse as taking the form of a story. There are a number of different ways in which the various activities that constitute educational research can be configured as storytelling practices. For example, autobiographical stories provide data for certain kinds of interpretive research (such as phenomenological inquiries) and other forms of postpositivistic inquiry encourage alternative readings of data distinguished by reference to different storytelling modes or genrAs (such as the `critical tales' of emancipatory researchers, the `reflexive tales' of feminist standpoint epistemology, and the `deconstructive tales' of poststructuralist criticism). While the literature of qualitative research has paid some attention to alternative reading strategies (and the pedagogies through which they may be learned), less attention has been given to alternative writing strategies and pedagogies. In this paper, I examine some of the methodological and pedagogical opportunities provided by metafictional storytelling and describe some `narrative experiments' in which exemplars of the form have been used to generate alternative reading and writing practices in qualitative research.

Lyn Gow and Roselyn Dixon, University of Western Sydney.

Selective schools for intellectually gifted students: Are they justified?

Integration of children with special educational needs into regular classrooms is the principle guiding the provision of services in the NSW State Education System. However, this principle has not been applied for intellectually gifted students; while Schools for Specific Services (SSPs) are being phased out in favour of inclusive schooling, selective schools and O.C. classes are burgeoning. Recent advances in self-concept theory and research indicate that segregating intellectually gifted students can have a negative effect on their academic self-concept as well as their academic and career aspirations. Placing students into educational settings where their only frame of reference is other equally able students may ultimately lead to a decrease in academic achievement. The question must be asked whether selective schools for these students are justified. In answering this question, recent research into academic self-concept and self-perceptions of intellectually gifted students will be presented.

Lyn Gow and Roselyn Dixon, University of Western Sydney, John Balla, University of Sydney, Sue Dixon and Robert Bader, Mater Dei Ltd.

An approach to enhance generalisation of work skills of youth with a developmental disability in a vocational college.

Competitive employment for youth with a developmental disability has remained generally elusive, despite research findings which provide ample evidence of potential success. A major constraint to competitive employment for these youth is their failure to generalise competencies from the training to the work context. There is an urgent need to develop instructional methods that will enhance generalisation of the work-related competencies of youth with developmental disabilities. Enhancement of generalisation is one of the goals of the Wivenhoe Vocational College (Hospitality and Tourism). This paper describes a longitudinal (three-year) and collaborative study which aims to develop a training program designed to enhance generalisation of work skills of youth with a developmental disability. The research program combines quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Results have confirmed that youth with a developmental disability display characteristics that hinder generalisation of work skills and point to the need to implement a cognitive-based training approach. The cognitive approach to instruction for enhancing generalisation adopted in this study is described.

Lyn Gow, Nicki Levi, Roselyn Dixon and Cathy Reddacliff, University of Western Sydney, Marcel Calvez, University of Rennes and John Balla, University of Sydney.

Promotion of social integration through leisure.

The Leisure Club is an innovative, integrated leisure programme which provides opportunities for children to learn valuable leisure and social skills as well as a rich environment for research on social integration. Through the Club, children with disabilities learn to take part in leisure activities, removed from formal or therapeutic settings, and have an opportunity to develop appropriate social behaviours and social relations. At the same time, their non-disabled peers develop a knowledge of the needs, interests and feelings of people with disabilities. The Leisure Club aims to enhance social integration by heightening awareness of the common needs of the participants. The Club provides an effective social setting in which the different components of social integration can be studied. Several research projects have developed from the Club, including a co-operative, multidisciplinary and international project on social integration which aims to identify factors affecting the social integration of children with an intellectual disability. It is the first of a series of international projects on social integration which will provide a methodological framework for subsequent studies. Unique features of this study are its blending of qualitative and quantitative methods and a multi-disciplinary approach. This presentation describes the Club and the unique features of the research project.

Lyn Gow, Nicki Levi, Jean Jenkin and Valentina McInerney, University of Western Sydney, and John Balla, University of Sydney.

Challenges of integration: Implications for teacher education.

This presentation examines the major challenges related to the integration of students with disabilities into the mainstream of education. The key challenge which is focussed on is teacher education. With the continued movement to integration in all states of Australia, teacher educators must be sensitised to the need to impart skills in individualisation of instruction in all content areas. Towards the year 2000, teacher education will witness the development of more and closer multidisciplinary partnerships with a shared vision relating to the need to include all students in the one education system. The need to prepare teachers for an uncertain future calls for more creative and flexible approaches to teacher education. If we want a clever country, we need clever teachers. Clever teachers are those who appreciate that good teaching is good for all students. The paper provides a review of the literature and describes innovative, creative and flexible approaches to teacher education which have been researched by the authors.

Roselyn Dixon and Lyn Gow, University of Western Sydney.

The affective characteristics of underachieving gifted children.

Underachievement has long been acknowledged as a problem for some gifted children. While individual underachievers have their own combination of causal factors, the focus of research to date has been on basic affective variables which are thought to be associated with depressed academic performance.

The overall aim of this research was to investigate the affective characteristics of achieving and underachieving gifted children. In particular, this project examined the academic self-concept, self expectations for future achievement and locus of control of achieving gifted, underachieving gifted and average achieving children.

The Student's Perception of Ability Scale was used to measure students' academic self-concept. The Projected Academic Performance Scale was used to measure self-expectations for future academic achievement and the IAR (Intellectual Achievement Responsibility) questionnaire was used to measure academic locus of control.

The results of this research, recommendations for appropriate interventions and directions for future research will be discussed.

GRADN93.275

Neville Grady, University of Tasmania, and Darrell Fisher, Curtin University of Technology.

Relationships between students' perceptions of classroom environment and their teachers' images of the school.

The first part of this study describes the development of an instrument to assess teachers' images of their school. The questionnaire, Images of Schools through Metaphor, ISM, was developed and validated with a basic sample of 162 teachers. Each questionnaire contains 26 metaphors and respondents are invited to indicate the extent to which they agree or disagree, using a five point scale. Student perceptions of their classroom environments were assessed using a combination of scales from existing classroom environment questionnaires. In general terms the study indicated that students perceive classrooms in the best light when their teachers see the school as cooperative and celebratory, and the reverse was observed when their teachers see the school as being suppressive, mechanistic or concerned largely with basic needs.

GREEB93.340

Bill Green, Deakin University.

Curriculum, literacy and the State: Changing English teaching in Western Australia.

Literacy is a critical element in the historical relationship between curriculum and the State. Recently, however, this has itself become complexified and problematical, given the increasing significance of new technologies and what has been called the communications revolution. Three key issues inform this paper: first, the nature of the relationship among curriculum, literacy and the State; second, the changing nature of each of these, especially in the period in question here; and third, the specific implications of all this for English teaching, long established as a central element in modern schooling. This will be explored via an account of English curriculum change, literacy debates and educational politics in Western Australia in the period 1983-1989. Among much else in Australian education in the turbulent period of the 1980s, English teaching and literacy pedagogy went through a process of crisis and change, involving both public debate and extensive restructuring. This paper addresses such matters in the context of national and international shifts and movements in educational policy and curriculum politics. It will be argued that these issues, far from being simply of archival interest, may well register a significant transition in Australian education and society.

GRIFP93.088

Patrick Griffin, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Basic skill demands of workers in construction and manufacturing industry: Implications for training.

The study examines the basic literacy and numeracy skills required of workers in two major industries-Manufacturing and Construction. Over 1000 workers were interviewed and assessed for reading, writing and basic numeracy skills. Analyses of the data describing basic skills and literacy and numeracy activity in the workplace revealed some consistent patterns among the literacy and numeracy levels of workers. There was also evidence that workers have patterns of reading activities and there were implications for basic skills training in industry, for communications within the workplace, and for training of supervisors and team leaders.

The data collection was carried out using teams of interviewers who visited work sites and conducted interviews. Each interview lasted for up to an hour.

Similarities and differences across the industries are highlighted together with the implications for key competencies in the workplace.

Patrick Griffin, John Pollock, S Casey, S Neeson, M Fitzpatrick and K Corneille, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

The impact of adult literacy classes. The characteristics and activities of clients.

The first two data collections of a five year study have been completed. The DEET funded study on the destinations of adult literacy students investigates the educational, employment, social and community outcomes for people who enrol in adult literacy classes. The study examines their motivation for enrolling, their personal characteristics and processes that affect the impact of such courses. In addition, the contextual factors that can affect outcomes are examined.

Data has been collected by face to face interview in three states, and from a range of providers. Classes have been provided for people seeking work, those already in employment and those seeking general literacy assistance through community based providers.

The paper sets out the design of the study, preliminary results based on the first data collection and discusses some of the difficulties of working in the adult literacy area in longitudinal studies.

Issues associated with contracted research in these areas are also discussed in the light of DEET requirements and potential for change in directions.

GRIFP93.090

Patrick Griffin, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

The evaluation of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Scales: A reaction.

In 1992, The Department of Education Employment and Training, commissioned an evaluation of an International Literacy Year Project, the development of the Adult Literacy and Numeracy Scales. The study was carried out using a series of provider sites and collected data on the assessment of adults in literacy cases. The study made several recommendations including the recommendation that the scales should not be used. This paper analyses the evaluation from a number of perspectives; the selection of sites, the data analysis, the conceptualisation of the evaluation, the adherence to international standards of evaluation, the involvement of vested interest parties and the selection of a panel of specialists to comment on the scales. Comparisons are made with the analyses used by Rowe in the evaluation and application of the Victorian Profiles and illustrations of how the similar data can be used to reach entirely different political results is explored.

Susie Groves and Jill Cheeseman, Deakin University.

Calculators as an agent for change: Teachers' perceptions and practice.

As part of a larger study, six infant teachers taking part in a long-term investigation into the effects of the introduction of calculators on the learning and teaching of primary mathematics, were observed in their classrooms and interviewed over a period of three years. It was hypothesised that teachers would adopt a more open-ended teaching style as a result of the increased opportunities for exploration of number presented by the calculator. This paper reports on teachers' perceptions of changes in their mathematics teaching and the extent to which these perceptions were supported by classroom observation. This project was funded by a Deakin University Internal Research Grant.

GRUNS93.092

Shirley Grundy and Elizabeth Hatton, University of New England.

Teacher educators' ideological discourses.

The major methodological approach to research on teacher educators is the survey. This approach has consistently left significant areas of teacher educators' work underexplored (Eltis, 1987; Tisher, 1990). One significant oversight is the link between teacher educators' ideologies and their association with practice (Tisher, 1990: 180). This paper reports a qualitative study of teacher educators which identifies teacher educators' ideological discourses. In contradiction of Beyer's and Zeichner's (1987) claim that there is a dominant conservative ideology in teacher education in the USA, it is argued that there are a number of conservative ideologies at play in teacher education in Australia. The paper concludes with the claim that the existence of multiple conservative discourses allows more possibilities for change in teacher education than might be possible if there were merely a single hegemonic ideology.

Guanzhong Luo, South China Normal University.

Modelling attitude measurement: The unfolding mechanism and its relationship with the cumulative mechanism.

It is not uncommon that the models designed for the measurement of attainment, in which the response mechanism is cumulative, are used in the measurement of attitude. However, there is a more appropriate mechanism called unfolding for the measurement of attitude. This paper presents a model for attitude measurement which relates the unfolding mechanism to the cumulative mechanism. In relating them, each of the mechanisms is clarified. An example of measuring the attitude towards capital punishment is presented.

Acknowledgement: This project was supported by the Australian Development Cooperation Scholarship Scheme (ADCSS) and carried out while the author was on study leave at School of Education, Murdoch University, Western Australia.

Mark Hackling and Patrick Garnett, Edith Cowan University.

The development of expertise in science investigation skills.

This paper reports on a study that compares the performance of school students, university students and expert research scientists on a practical, laboratory-based, science investigation task. Data reveal limitations in the work of the school students and provide insights into the development and nature of expertise in science investigation skills. Recommendations are made for modification of school and university laboratory work to more effectively develop expertise in those investigation skills given high priority in the National Science Statement and the Mayer report.

HALLJ93.344

John Hall, Curtin University of Technology.

Interpersonal observation in qualitative research.

Whilst observation is supposed to occupy a central place in all empirical educational research, it is typically downplayed in the final report - even in so-called qualitative studies. My intention in this paper is to explore this curiosity and to provide helpful suggestions as to how observation can be opened up both as a topic and a resource in educational research.

HALLS93.343

Susan Hall, Murdoch University.

Teachers' knowledge from explication to action.

Research into teachers' knowledge over the past decade and a half has been conducted within two approaches to understanding teachers' knowledge: that known as a technicist approach and that which is known as an holistic approach.

This paper, reporting on an holistic approach, is about an ethnographic case study on the explication of teachers' knowledge within the process of formative and collaborative self-evaluation of teaching practice.

In the paper, a rationale for encouraging, monitoring and analysing the explication of working knowledge is introduced and followed by the research outline. Next the approach to producing grounded theory is summarised and followed by the substantive theory (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) which was generated. Finally, implications are considered for professional development and tertiary courses for practising teachers, research into teachers' work and for research into teachers' thinking.

HAMIB93.294

Beatrice Hamilton, Australian Catholic University.

Laboratory work in the science curriculum: The tertiary experience.

The position of laboratory/ field/ practical work in science could be seen to have an `assumed' status. If one studies science, it is assumed that lab work will be a part of it. This assumption seems to be reflected in the science curriculum as well, as the achievements expected in the lab are seldom, if ever, mentioned specifically.

There is a tendency to increase class sizes as an economic measure to cope with the current squeeze in the tertiary sector. This means an increase in lectures and a corresponding decrease in small group sessions. As lab work is a type of small group session, it is under scrutiny and liable to cuts along with tutorial sessions. If one looks for supportive data to indicate which sessions can or cannot be rationalised, there is little to be found.

This raises the question as to what laboratory work is achieving in the curriculum.

This paper will address this question through the pilot research carried out to date on laboratory work in the tertiary setting using ethnography as a basis for the research.

Allan Harrison and David Treagust, Curtin University of Technology.

Teaching about the conduction of heat using the domino analogy: A case study of one teacher's approach.

This paper describes a collaborative partnership in which the researchers and an expert science teacher trialed a systematic approach for teaching analogies. Science contains many abstract concepts that rely upon analogy for their explanation and while the shared attributes enhance learning, unshared attributes compromise student understanding. This case study examines the process for integrating an innovation into a teacher's repertoire and also examines the resultant lesson from the perspective of student understanding of conduction. The lesson discourse and teacher interview were tape recorded; for the next lesson the students completed an analogy mapping exercise and selected students were interviewed. Analysis of the resultant data suggests that student understanding approaches the desired outcome when familiar analogies are systematically presented in science.

HARSM93.096

Mort Harslett, Western Australian Ministry of Education.

The identification of characteristics of intellectually gifted Aboriginal children.

This research is in the field of education for gifted and talented children. An aim of the research was to identify the characteristics of intellectually gifted Aboriginal children, and to then use this data to develop a culturally specific teacher checklist and peer inventory to assist in the identification of these children. The research necessitated taking into account varying degrees of Aboriginality, gathering field data from Aboriginal adults and children, determination of a framework in which to manage data, and the preparation of a checklist and inventory. It is concluded that while the characteristics of intellectually gifted Aboriginal children determined in this study and the instruments constructed are relevant to a particular group, the processes developed can be used for the same purpose with other minority populations.

Peter Hart, Nicholas Carter, Michael Conn, Roger Dingle and Alexander Wearing, University of Melbourne.

Development of the School Organisational Health Questionnaire: A measure for assessing teacher morale and school organisational climate.

This study reports on the development of the School Organisational Health Questionnaire; a measure for assessing teacher morale and school organisational climate. As part of an organisational health program conducted by the Victorian Department of School Education, there was a need to develop a psychometrically sound instrument that would provide the basis for organisational change and provide a means for evaluating the effectiveness of organisational development programs. Data were provided by 1,520 Victorian teachers in 18 primary and 26 secondary schools. A series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses resulted in a 54 item questionnaire that measures teacher morale and 11 separate dimensions of school organisational climate: curriculum consultation, discipline policy, excessive work demands, feedback, goal congruence, participative decision making, professional development, professional interaction, student orientation, supportive leadership, and role clarity. Correlations with job satisfaction and quality of work life indices supported the questionnaire's construct validity. Comparisons between primary and secondary school teachers showed that primary teachers reported higher levels of morale and tended to have more favourable perceptions of their schools' organisation. The way in which the School Organisational Health Questionnaire has been used to facilitate school improvement is also discussed.

Peter Hart, Michael Conn, Nicholas Carter and Alexander Wearing, University of Melbourne.

Understanding teacher quality of work life: A dynamic model of organisational climate, psychological distress and morale.

How does a school's organisational climate contribute to teachers' psychological distress and morale? This paper reports on three studies that investigated the relationships between different aspects of school organisational climate, and how these relationships contribute to teachers' quality of work life. Questionnaire data were obtained from 1,160 Victorian primary, secondary and technical and further education teachers. Structural equation analyses were used during the first study to develop a model of the relationship between 11 different aspects of school organisational climate and a teacher's level of morale, psychological distress, and overall quality of work life. Two further studies supported the relationships specified in the original model. Collectively, the three studies provide strong empirical evidence for a link between organisational climate and teacher quality of work life. In particular, it was found that supportive leadership, professional interaction between teachers, opportunities for professional growth, and goal congruency were an essential feature of positive school organisations. Moreover, it is argued that an understanding of the relationship between organisational climate and teacher quality of work life will provide practitioners and policy makers with appropriate points of entry to bring about sustainable school improvement.

HARTP93.099

Peter Hart, Alexander Wearing and Michael Conn, University of Melbourne.

Evaluation of the whole school approach to discipline program: Conventional wisdom is a poor predictor of the relationship between discipline policy, student behaviour and teacher stress.

Will an effective discipline policy improve student misbehaviour and result in a reduction of teacher stress? It is often believed that student misbehaviour is the major cause of teacher stress, and that the degree of student misbehaviour is reflected in student suspension rates. Moreover, it is believed that student misbehaviour can be reduced by improving a school's discipline policy through the collaborative efforts of whole school communities. As a result of growing concern about student misbehaviour and teacher stress, a Whole School Approach to Discipline program was implemented throughout Victoria. This paper reports on the evaluation studies that were conducted to assess the effectiveness of the program and examine the assumptions which underpinned its implementation. Data were obtained from 4,072 primary and secondary school teachers. Although longitudinal analyses suggested that the program was effective in reducing teacher stress, there appeared to be no systemic change in student misbehaviour. Structural equation analyses showed that there was little relationship between a school's discipline policy and the degree of student misbehaviour. It was also found that student suspension rates were not related to student misbehaviour, but rather, could be predicted on the basis of a school's discipline policy and the self-esteem of teachers. Two and three wave causal analyses also demonstrated the problems associated with using cross-sectional research to support major policy decisions. Overall, these studies showed that there is little point in trying to reduce teacher stress by changing student misbehaviour. Rather, it is more appropriate to develop a supportive organisational climate that enables teachers to cope with the student misbehaviour that confronts them.

Kayoko Hashimoto, La Trobe University.

Language, society and gender: The problem of foreign language education in Japan.

Japan is a highly ethnocentric society that closely relates to male domination, and this fact plays a crucial role in language education. It has been recognised that there is a problem with English education as a foreign language in Japan, as most students are not capable of communication in English. However many strategies to produce a more sufficient one have been unsuccessful since there is lack of the perspective of the relationship among language education, the society and the individual. For example, the current language education in Japan does not incorporate the process of language learning which can be the social field for the realisation of independent self, particularly for women. This paper is an attempt to examine how the problem of language education reveals the social structures and gender relations that enter personal life.

HATTJ93.268

John Hattie, The University of Western Australia, and Herb Marsh, The University of Western Sydney.

Future directions for self-concept research.

This session outlines future directions in self-concept including: philosophical issues, the multidimensional and hierarchical structure of self-concept, the relation between self-concept and achievement, the effectiveness of interventions, instrumentation, the cognitive processes relating the self systems, developmental issues, frame of reference effects and cultural differences in self-concept.

HAYDJ93.102

Jacqueline Hayden, University of Western Sydney.

A case study of child care policy decision making: Global implications.

This paper describes the methodology and findings which emerged from a two year case study of child care policy decisions and child care policy outcome in one Province of Canada. The author compares the findings with child care policy development in other areas including Australia , New Zealand and the USA to reveal a common framework of influences, beneficiaries and covert outcomes. The prevalence of these features provides an explanation for the indeterminate state of `crisis' which has characterised the field in most Western nations.

Felicity Haynes, The University of Western Australia.

On assessing competency in art.

Recent emphasis on competency-based education shifted the onus of assessment from pen-and-paper testing of knowledge to knowledge applied in practice. This paper examines some of the epistemological consequences of that shift, specifically in the problems raised of measuring simple behaviours and outcomes. Skill in art, as in other educational areas, requires autonomy and imagination, features which still remain invisible in any scientific attempt to measure competency. The place of teacher interpretation in the amassing of evidence of a student's competency is discussed.

HILLP93.187

Peter Hill and Jean Russell, The University of Melbourne

School effectiveness and the role of leadership support in establishing a positive work environment for teachers.

Within the context of research into school effectiveness, recognition is given to the crucial role of educational leadership. Nevertheless, the links between school leadership and student outcomes are often left ill-defined and dependent more on intuitive description rather than on research evidence. This paper reports key findings from the first phase of a three-year longitudinal study of school and teacher effectiveness (the Victorian Quality Schools Project). The findings, which are based on multi-level and structural equation modelling of data for more than 13,000 students and 900 teachers in 90 schools, reaffirm the importance of leadership, but indicate how leadership is mediated through teacher effectiveness and teacher perceptions of their work environment. Results are interpreted within the framework of transformational leadership proposed by Leithwood and co-workers that sees leadership influencing teacher effectiveness through modification of teachers' cognitive construction of their roles and work environments.

Donald Hogben and Michael Lawson, Flinders University of South Australia.

Elaborated keyword strategies for foreign language vocabulary acquisition.

The keyword method has proved to be an effective technique for vocabulary acquisition in foreign language learning when learners are naive with respect to the language of the target items of vocabulary. However, doubts have been raised about the effectiveness of the method when used in regular high school classrooms with students who have some reasonable experience with the language of interest.

Evidence will be presented to show that the use of elaborated keyword techniques significantly enhance students' foreign language vocabulary acquisition when compared with the use of strategies students develop for themselves. The belief that, unaided, students develop sophisticated vocabulary learning techniques in the course of pursuing their foreign language studies, ought to be reconsidered.

HOLBA93.012

Allyson Holbrook, The University of Newcastle.

Youth in transition from school to work in the 1930s-1950s: A work-in-progress report.

This paper will report on the progress achieved in a project funded by a small ARC grant on the topic of the transition of youths through primary and secondary school and into work during the period 1930-1950. The study endeavours to determine the factors involved in and influencing the process of transition during this earlier period. Some sixty interviews have been conducted with people who completed their schooling in the Hunter region. The paper will focus on the methodology of the project, in particular the dynamics of the oral history/life history interview and the nature of the evidence gleaned from such interviews. The researcher will draw on specific cases to illustrate key issues in analysis.

HOLMP93.185

Philip Holmes-Smith, The University of Melbourne.

Social justice: Which students really are "at risk"?

For some time now, the Commonwealth Government has provided special funding for programs associated with the education of girls, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, those disadvantaged by socio-economic circumstances, rural students, English as a Second Language students, and those with disabilities. Each program has been specific to one group of students perceived to be educationally "at risk". This paper reports findings from two studies in which student achievement data were collected together with family background characteristics. The first study comprised nearly 20,000 primary and secondary students in over 200 Victorian government schools, while the second study comprised nearly 14,000 primary and secondary students in 90 Victorian government, Catholic and independent schools. The findings presented in this paper indicate that it is too simplistic to consider all members of each disparate group as educationally "at risk". Rather, the results suggest that students with certain combinations of characteristics are more likely to be "at risk" than others.

HOLMP93.186

Philip Holmes-Smith, The University of Melbourne.

Developing a questionnaire to gauge the level of use of an innovation.

School systems adopt new educational programs regularly but rarely determine the degree to which such programs have been implemented in schools by teachers. One reason for this has been the absence of a readily useable instrument for measuring program implementation. A means of detecting a teacher's level of use of an innovation "the Levels of Use of the Innovation (LoU) interview procedure" does exist. However, interviewing enough teachers to obtain reliable estimates of system-wide implementation is too costly and too time-consuming. Using data obtained from over 1500 teachers in more than 130 Victorian primary schools, this paper reports on the development of an easily administered and easily scored questionnaire equivalent to the LoU interview procedure.

Jan Houghton and Merolyn Coombs, University of Technology Sydney.

Information skills for new entry tertiary students: A methodology for identifying needs.

Research studies on the needs of beginning tertiary students have tended to focus on study skills, library use skills and personal "survival" skills. The literature on the broader skills required for effective selection and use of information has, to a large extent, been based on what educators and information professionals think students need. This paper will report on research undertaken at the University of Technology, Sydney to identify specific information skills needed for academic success and the most appropriate ways in which these skills can be developed. The results of a survey of new students and their teachers have implications not only for university preparation courses but also for the teaching of information skills at the school level and for continuing professional education.

HOWAP93.106

Peter Howard, Australian Catholic University.

Beliefs attitudes and values held towards mathematics.

Over the last 200 years the mathematics taught in Australian schools has been one of the dominant Anglo Saxon culture. This western mathematics has evolved over time through historical and cultural contexts. At the present time the mathematics taught in Australian schools is also heavily influenced by the economic needs of the nation. Such historical, cultural, economic contexts and personal experiences influence the beliefs , attitudes and values held towards mathematics by students, parents and teachers.

This is an initial report of a proposed ethnographic study that attempts to identify the beliefs, attitudes and values of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people towards mathematics and the learning and teaching of mathematics in the latter years of primary school, Years 5 and 6.

The paper looks at the reasons behind the research and presents definitions of the terms specific to the study [beliefs, attitudes, values, mathematics, teaching of mathematics, learning of mathematics]. It comments on the available literature related to the beliefs, attitudes and values of students, parents and teachers towards teaching / learning and mathematics.

Comment is made on the community issues related to the access negotiation, consultation , co-operation, communication , advice and feedback with involved groups that need to be considered when establishing such a study .

HSIEW93.107

Wen-ying Hsieh and Yuehluen Hu, National Hsinchu Teachers' College, Taiwan.

Teacher stress for elementary provisional teachers in Taiwan: Self-esteem and work value.

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between teacher stress, self-esteem and work value for elementary provisional teachers in Taiwan. The elementary provisional teachers in our research were 1992 graduates from 9 teachers' colleges.

There were four scales in this research: (1)the Life-Event Scale, (2)the Work Stress Symptom Scale, (3)the Self-Esteem Scale and (4)the Work Value Scale, including 15 sub-scales. A total of 1654 elementary provisional teachers received questionnaire surveys.

The data revealed the top ten sources of stress and the top ten stressful life events among the target group, in addition to information regarding the relationships between teacher stress, self-esteem and work value.

HUANM93.108

Meng-hui Huang and Shu-hui Chang, Chung Yuan Christian UniversityTaiwan.

Applying IRT models to a college academic aptitude battery.

The purpose of present study is to apply IRT (item-response-theory) models to a College Academic Aptitude Battery. The real data was collected from 1046 examinees who are employees of a Research Center sponsored by the National Defense Department.Traditional analyses based on the Classical Testing Theory (CTT) have been completed. The further investigation will focus on Model-fit of 3PL to this set of data. In addition, item and person parameters will be compared with those obtained from the CTT analyses. The compatibility of IRT and CTT analysis will contribute to the application of IRT models and provide the basisfor further CAT (computerized-adaptive-testing) applications.

Anne Hurley, University of Melbourne.

Teachers' attitudes to integration.

A questionnaire measuring both teachers' attitudes toward integration and selected teacher background factors was completed by primary classroom teachers in the Eastern Metropolitan Region. Results indicate that the background factors correlating most highly with positive teacher attitude toward integration are teacher confidence in instructing disabled students, support from integration aides and support from School Support Centres. Results also indicate that the majority of teachers in this study feel that integration is being imposed rather than explained and that special schools or classes provide more adequate instruction for disabled students than regular schools. Informal comments made by teachers show that the degree of disability of the integrated student is a factor which they feel needs to be taken more into account. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations made.

Heather Hussey, Edith Cowan University.

Realities of teaching reading in today's classrooms.

The aim of this study is to identify the teaching-reading strategies which are preferred by practising teachers, the reasons for their choices of strategies and aspects of their ex-perience and/or education which have significantly influenced their beliefs about reading and teaching-reading practice. Data collection involves: a) an initial interview, where participants are asked about reading, teaching-reading strategies, the reasons for choices of strategies, the factors which influence the way they teach reading and the materials they use; b) video-taping of lessons; and c) a follow-up interview involving the viewing of segments of video-taped lessons, discussion, clarification and elaboration of data collected.

HUY93.341

Yuehluen Hu and Yuehluen Joy Hu, National Hsin-Chu Teachers' College, Taiwan.

Utilizing Rasch model to detect cheating tendencies.

One of the most important concerns in evaluating performance on a standardised test is to determine whether the test performance represents true score. The Rasch model has proved to be effective in estimating the probability of getting items correct for certain examinees by the given total score within the context of the examinee's latent trait. The fit statistics in the Rasch model have recently yielded impressive results in identifying both normal and aberrant responses. The present study, therefore, was an attempt to utilize the fit statistics in the Rasch model to study the cheating tendencies of examinees.The findings suggest that the highest detection rates are obtained for longer tests and that the use of the Rasch analysis resulted in an extremely low number of cases detected as incorrect. This suggests that these procedures (fit statistics in the Rasch Model) are clearly appropriate for detecting cheating response patterns.

Suleiman Idiris and Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology.

An investigation of the nature and effects of the learning environment in agricultural science classrooms in Nigeria.

Since Nigeria's independence in 1960 and up to the early 70s, agriculture has being the main stay of its economic development. The National Policy on Education (NPE) enacted in 1981 gave agricultural science a pride of place in the school curriculum. This paper reports a study of the following questions: (1) What is the nature of the learning environment in agricultural science classroom in Nigeria? (2) Is there a difference in the agricultural science classroom environment between schools located in the Southern and Northern zones of the country and between Urban and Rural areas? (3) Is there a relationship between the classroom learning environment and students' achievement and attitudes?

IKEDH93.297

Hiroshi Ikeda, St Paul's University, Japan, and Norio Hayashi, The Society for Testing English Proficiency, Inc., Japan.

An absolute scaling of English proficiency of Japanese students.

Developmental view on the proficiency of English is specially important in learning as a foreign language for school students. Vertical equating based on the Item Response Theory (IRT) was applied to a sample of three thousand Japanese students, mostly of junior and senior high school. The STEP English tests independently standardized at different grades were linked by the IRT model and an integrated scale with same unit and origin was constructed. Each examinee can be located on this common scale based on his/her performance of English proficiency test. This can serve a wider range of comparison of the student language learning than conventional standard tests do.

IRELD93.111

Dennis Ireland, Methodist Ladies' College, Western Australia.

Asocial constructivist approach to teaching - A report of current action research by a secondary mathematics teacher.

This paper will examine research being carried out by a full time teacher in his daily classroom. The students are engaged in a collaborative, peer interactive environment and the study monitors what is happening and how this influences students' attitudes to mathematics. Observations made to date from this social constructivist framework will be discussed in light of published research. Methodologies used during the data collection phase will be outlined in terms of their successes and shortcomings. Teachers can adopt a philosophy of including some action research as a regular part of their professional lives and this paper will describe a few ways this can be achieved.

ISMAJ93.112

Ismail Jusoh and Zurida Ismail, Universiti Sains Malaysia.

The understanding and implementation of values education: Perceptions of student teachers.

In 1987 , the Ministry of Education formulated Malaysian's first explicitly stated national education policy emphasising the teaching of moral values in particular and universal values in general in the Malaysian formal education system. Sixteen values have been identified and teachers have been urged to infuse these values directly or indirectly during their teaching. The rate of success and the nature of implementation, however varies.Using the questionnaire method this research surveyed the assumptions and perceptions of a group of student teachers pertaining to their understanding of the meaning of `values' and how to implement them. The findings will be presented in this paper.

Bruce Jeans, Deakin University.

Research management plans: Structure and function.

The significance of research management plans depends on who is looking at them. University administrators see them as important, if not vital documents, that demonstrate to the world at large that the university is well organised and is articulated with the desires of government and the needs of the community. This paper examines the structure of typical research management plans and argues that they have a limited role in the development and maintenance of a research ethos, and in the facilitation of individual research initiatives.

Bruce Jeans, Deakin University.

The student as researcher: A study of the scholarlyactivity of students preparing research reports.

Somewhere in their programs many undergraduate, and most graduate, students are required to write a research report of some kind. Sometimes this is a relatively simple literature review. Often it is a report of a small-scale empirical study. These reports have two major components: one of these is the content of the report and the other is the style of writing that the student has used. This paper argues that, at graduate level particularly, writing style and content are difficult to distinguish. Despite the admonitions and advice of academic staff many students still have great difficulty in preparing a well-formed and accurate research report. This paper will discuss typical student difficulties and the attitudes of academic staff towards these difficulties.

JOHNG93.117

Greer Johnson, The University of Queensland.

Teaching teachers to do English differently: The discourses and practices of English teaching.

This paper analyses as `text' a four part reading and writing task which was offered by a teacher educator to a group of English postgraduate teacher education students. The task offered the beginning teachers ways of reading and writing critically about teaching. The beginning teachers were required to read `literary', film and practicum texts and write in ways which sought to widen the generic frames of those texts. This paper makes explicit the literary and writing theories supporting each of the four parts of that writing task. The analysis shows how teachers are positioned by the reading and writing task to practise poststructural discourses of teaching English in secondary schools.

JOHNR93.118

Richard Johnson, Evelyn Bransgrove and Maree Sleeman, Deakin University, Jill Holmes, Watsonia South Primary School, Margaret Pickburn, Bennettswood Primary School, and Judy Latta, CLIPS Research Project.

Computers and Learning in Primary Schools: A report of research in progress.

Computers And Learning In Primary Schools (CLIPS) is a research project which investigates the nature and development of teachers' professional knowledge about metacognition and the use of computers in the primary school. The project focuses on the use of computers to promote the development of pupils' metacognitive skills. It is a collaborative research project involving classroom teachers, their pupils, teacher education students and university staff.

Specifically, the project seeks to investigate the impact of collaborative action research on:

1. the development of the project teachers' professional knowledge about metacognition and the use of computers to promote children's learning;

Metacognition as used in this study refers to knowledge, awareness and control of one's own learning.

The project began in 1992 and this symposium will present results from the first eighteen months of the project.

The symposium will include:

• an overview of the project;

JOHNS93.120

Sue Johnston, Queensland University of Technology.

School level curriculum decisions - A case of battling against the odds.

In Australia, as in a number of other countries, there have been recent policies aimed at devolving responsibility for curriculum decisions to the school level. Involvement in curriculum decisions at the school level brings a number of new dimensions to the role of classroom teachers. The study reported in this paper has involved observations of a group of teachers within one school over an eight month period. The teachers have been developing and implementing a school level policy on behaviour management. The paper focuses on the changing concerns of those teachers during that period and on the various barriers which make their deliberations less than ideal. The changing knowledge of the teachers is analysed from the perspective of personal practical knowledge.

Brian Jones, Kevin Collis, Jane Watson and Kimberley Foster, University of Tasmania.

Cognitive levels and modes of response in young students' explanations of sight and light.

The developmental model of cognitive functioning based on the updated SOLO Taxonomy (Biggs & Collis, 1991; Collis & Biggs 1991) is being used to evaluate students' understanding of science concepts. In a pilot study of primary school children, conceptions of how objects are seen directly and in mirrors were explored by examining students' responses to common phenomena depicted in drawings and text using a questionnaire and individual interviews. A problem involving mirrors and other support materials was also used in the interviews to afford opportunities for responses in a range of modes. Evidence was sought to support an hypothesis for increasing levels of response within one or more cycles of learning related to the concepts of sight, light, reflection and image.

Paper to be presented by Kevin Collis.

Patrick Jones, Edith Cowan University.

Reading for Sure.

This paper examines a Perth clinical psychologist's innovative work with children presenting behavioural and learning problems at school. Dr Julia Solomon has devised a program, Reading for Sure, aimed at reintegrating problem children back into the school. The systems process accesses resources such as; Reading for Sure educationalists, individual and family therapy, play therapists, emotional needs specialists, motor-coordination specialists and others according to the child's needs. A within-subjects t-test was conducted comparing Reading for Sure results with expected results using the standard educational programme. Using pre and post-test reading age scores over approximately six month periods, there was found to be significant differences with the introduction of the new program. The implications of these sorts of results are heightening national and international media interest and increasing demand for the program.

KALAJ93.123

Jolanta Kalandyk, The University of Melbourne.

Building self-esteem of preschool children through a specifically designed music program.

The paper presents the results of an investigation examining the effectiveness of a specifically designed music program on the self-esteem of preschool children who initially displayed some difficulties in this area.

The subjects were 55 second year kindergarten children, assigned to three groups. An experimental `parental' group, attended the music program with the parent for 10 weeks, one hour per week; a further experimental `child-alone' group, consisting of children only, attended the same music program; a `control' group did not participate in the program. Four instruments were used in a pre-test/post-test design to obtain data, namely, The Joseph Preschool Self-Concept Screening Test (JPPST), a Teacher Questionnaire, a Parent Questionnaire and the Videotaped Behaviour Coding (VBC). The results indicated that the program, when undertaken by the parental group, significantly improved the self-esteem of children.

Practical implications of the results are discussed.

KANEJ93.124

Jan Kane, Macquarie University.

Vocational education and training: Current initiatives in curriculum development and course implementation.

Research has revealed, that in recent years there has been a rapid and varied expansion of course development in the area of Vocational Education. This expansion has been influenced by the growth in retention rates of students in post-compulsory secondary schooling and the necessity to develop curriculum relevant to their special needs. Impetus for this expansion has come from a number of educational studies, including the "Meyer Report", which emphasise the development of competencies for employment and lifelong education and retraining.

This paper will explore this current developmental trend, focussing on a number of course designs which are currently in place in NSW schools. It will highlight new and interesting initiatives and examine overall outcomes in relation to course objectives. It will further identify and explore those elements of varied course design which have proven to be effective as key strategies in refining the overall approach to vocational education curriculum.

Carole Kayrooz, University of Canberra.

A multidimensional framework for influencing change.

The paper outlines seven types of triangulation which have been derived from the literature on systems thinking theory, multiple descriptors and the principle of convergence. Case studies are then presented to demonstrate the application of such a framework to interpersonal, group or organizational changes. By using a multidimensional framework it is possible to interpret changes and appreciate triangulation as a reframing evaluation tool for managing change and making a difference to education and learning processes.

Judith Kearney, St Francis College.

Writing passivity: Its identification.

The focus for this paper is the empirical development of a self-report instrument that distinguishes amongst secondary school writers in terms of their related attitudes, self-perceptions and cognitive behaviour as writers. Through factoring and clustering, an instrument was constructed to identify distinctive subgroups of writers.

Of particular interest and challenge to teachers are writers who are passive. They constitute a distinctive subgroup that can be identified from the self-report instrument. Writers identified as belonging to this subgroup have a characteristic profile of dysfunctional metacognition, resulting from interaction between maladaptive, affective beliefs and inappropriate cognitive behaviour. This interaction produces for the passive writer a sense of helplessness.

Definitions of metacognition often ignore the affective component of the construct. This can cause teachers to underplay the relevance of affect in their pedagogy. The writing passivity profile is a reminder to all teachers not to do that.

KEOGJ93.125

Jayne Keogh, Griffith University.

Self-managed schooling and the disempowerment of female teachers.

Throughout the last decade, economic rationalists, in Australia and most other Western industrialised countries, have employed corporate managerialist strategies to reconstruct the shape of public education. Such reforms have been legitimated through the rhetoric of devolution. Public schools are now expected to be more efficient and effective through the process of self-management. This has lead to a twofold effect: first they lead to a reshaping of public education and schooling and secondly the reconstruction of teachers' work.

In this paper I argue that these reforms have been generated from within a patriarchal, male dominated hierarchy for a predominantly female profession. Accordingly, the discourse of self-managed schooling expresses a male perspective based on male experiences and masculinist ideology. This discourse, based on emancipatory notions of devolution, disempowers female teachers.

This paper reports preliminary results from a study of the affects of these reforms on the work of four female teachers. The data have been analysed against a theoretical framework drawn from the feminist post-structuralist literature and the literature on teachers' personal, practical and professional knowledge.

Jayne Keogh, Griffith University.

Kids in space: Social and moral positioning in parent-teacher interviews.

This paper examines talk in parent-teacher interviews which were audio-recorded in a secondary school in Brisbane, Australia. Analysis of transcripts reveals a number of features in the talk which position the participants in various social and moral spaces. This paper examines four recurring positioning features, namely the constitution of moral spaces inside and outside the classroom, the accountability for practices, the constitution of moral categorisations of student types, and the apparent adult alignment and student marginalisation as evidenced within parent-teacher interview talk. Such work is likened to a game of chess wherein the students are moved around hypothetically amongst an array of moral types (other students), like pieces in the game by the players (interview participants). These interviews demonstrate the subtle tensions and competitions between the rules and realities of home life and of school life.

KILLR93.127

Roy Killen, University of Newcastle.

Some factors influencing student success in university study.

Qualitative data from 46 lecturers and 72 students were used to identify factors that were perceived as making the most important contributions to students' academic success at university and factors that were perceived as most likely to lead to student failure at university. From this information, a questionnaire was developed and administered to a further 112 lecturers and 392 students. Analysis of the resulting quantitative data highlighted some similarities and many important differences in the perceptions of lecturers and students about student success and failure. Some possible reasons for these differences in perceptions are explored and some of the consequences of the different views of the students and lecturers are discussed.

KINGJ93.128

John King, James Cook University.

Attributes of computer anxiety in primary classrooms.

Three classes of year seven primary school students used a greater-than-usual number of microcomputers in typical classroom settings over a period of nine months. Near the beginning of the project, students were administered a computer-opinion survey, from which the computer-anxiety index (CAIN) was derived. Interviews were also conducted with students and teachers.

At the end of nine months, the survey was re-administered and the teachers and selected students again interviewed. Results showed a significant increase in computer anxiety across all classes and a significant interaction between class and gender. Factors other than computer anxiety affecting the CAIN included teacher attitudes `and students' access to and prior expectations of computers.

KINGL93.129

Len King, Kevin Barry, Carmel Maloney and Collette Tayler, Edith Cowan University.

A study of student cognition during small-groupcooperative learning.

The paper reports research into student talk during small-group cooperative learning which is related to cognitive learning. Supported by current learning theories that posit the importance of group social interaction in the development of student cognition and higher-order thinking, the study observed and analysed student task-enhancing talk and teacher talk and roles that promoted task-enhancing talk by students. The research was conducted across a series of six lessons in three fifth grade classrooms. Data collected by script-taping and audio-taping were coded using MAKITAB, a low-inference analysing system developed previously by the researchers. Findings indicated that the quantity and quality of student task-enhancing talk varied among groups. Such talk consisted of students clarifying ideas and content, proposing new suggestions or solutions, negotiating and discussing the merits of proposals, and reaching agreement about preferred proposals. Teacher talk and roles appeared to influence the quantity and quality of student task-enhancing talk found to occur in groups. What teachers did and said during the whole class phases of small-group cooperative learning lessons seemed to be as critical as teacher monitoring of small groups at work in terms of promoting student task-enhancing talk.

KINGR93.130

Rhonda King, Northern Region, Department of Education Queensland and John King, James Cook University.

Consensual decision making in the primary classroom: "Like we won the war and you won the battle, sort of".

The current `essential learnings' debate focusses attention on group decision-making competencies essential for active and informed citizenship. An ethnographic study of the videotaped interactions between four year-seven students in three decision-making situations, and audiotaped interviews with the teacher and the four students narrowed the focus to: Is decision making in the classroom a destructive process, or is it a constructive one involving tolerance and rationality? Despite the teacher's strategies affirming the importance of tolerance and rationality, this study asserts that the student strategies when making decisions in groups were predominantly destructive. If this is a generalisable phenomenon, how are educators to mediate this dominant `clash' mentality?

KIRKD93.131

David Kirk, Deakin University.

Constructing adolescent bodies: Some problems for health promotion through physical education.

This paper draws on a study of female and male adolescents' constructions of the social meaning and significance of the body in the context of popular physical culture. The dimensions of popular physical culture and its representations of bodies are explored briefly and linked to a discussion of the body in culture and self-identity. Data from a two years study based in Geelong is then used to illustrate the ways in which these constructions of bodies in culture are appropriated and reconstructed by adolescents. It is argued, on the basis of this data, that physical education presents considerable risks to adolescents' sense of embodied self and may make difficult the application of health knowledge adolescents possess. The paper concludes by identifying some solutions for physical education as a site of health promotion.

KIRKD93.132

David Kirk, Deakin University.

The discursive crisis in physical education: Some lessons from history.

This paper begins by focusing on the recent report of the Senate Inquiry Into Physical and Sport Education in order to map the contours of the current crisis in physical education. It is then argued that the main dimension of this crisis is discursive, associated with the meaning of the subject. An excavation of the discursive legacy of contemporary physical education is undertaken focused around three key topics of interest. The first is the watershed period of the 1940s and the invention of a notion of `physical education' as a comprehensive program of educationally legitimate physical activities. The second is the involvement of the Commonwealth Department of Defence in school physical training between 1911-1931 and the use of physical activity in schools as a strategy of social regulation and normalisation or, put differently, of schooling the docile body. The third topic is the new view of fitness which first appeared in the 1940s and 1950s and its linking in the 1970s of comprehensive physical education programs to notions of `healthy lifestyles'. It is argued that each of these three topics constitute a discursive legacy which has positioned physical education in such a way as to be vulnerable contemporaneously to suffering a crisis of meaning. Some suggestions are made for ways ahead for physical education in light of these lessons from history.

Denise Kirkpatrick, Denise Chalmers and Richard Fuller, Edith Cowan University.

But it's harder this way.

One of the challenges faced by university students concerns the management of their study. Many students find that they need to acquire new learning and study strategies in order to cope with the requirements of university. While some students are able to learn new strategies or adapt old strategies, most do not do so. It seems appropriate that universities should provide students with assistance to learn and develop appropriate study strategies and skills to meet the requirements of university study. A number of such courses have been offered in universities but there is little evidence to show that these courses have been effective. This paper will report the development and implementation of a program of instruction which aimed to teach students relevant skills and strategies in the context of a first year (undergraduate) Education unit.

KNIGJ93.323

John Knight and Bob Lingard, The University of Queensland.

Higher education for nation-building? An examination of Australian federal policy since 1945.

This paper will examine the intentions of the Australian federal government for higher education institutions as agents of nation-building since 1945. Particular attention will be given to federal statements on the establishment of the Australian National University and three major federal policy documents: the Murray Report (1957), the Martin Report (1964-1965) and the Dawkins green and white papers (1987, 1988) and their political, economic and socio-cultural contexts. The paper will provide a comparative account of what each of them saw higher education to be; how each constructed the Australian nation; how it appears to define nation-building; and (from all of this) what each of them saw as the contribution of higher education to nation-building.

LADWJ93.085

James Ladwig, The University of Newcastle.

Curriculum and social identity.

Current assumptions about the impact of curriculum on students' social identity suggest that positive effects for individuals and targeted social groups result from more culturally sensitive curricula. Although directly related to contemporary policy reforms for equity and social justice, by and large, such assumptions have not been empirically substantiated. This paper presents one initial segment of a larger project designed to assess the veracity of the underlying assumptions on which current curricular attempts to cater for nondominant social groups are based. Presented here will be 1) an outline of the theoretical framework employed in quantitatively examining curricular practices related to social identity, 2) initial descriptive statistical results from our pilot, secondary level sample and 3) a summary discussion of current methodological and theoretical concerns relating to the overall project aims.

Eleanor Lawson, Charles Sturt University.

Deception as an experimental procedure: A methodological evaluation in teacher expectations research.

The methodological justification of deception asserted by the American Psychological Association (APA, 1982), is that deception enables valid inference by reducing causal ambiguity, or confounding, to a minimum. Although 1970s research undermined this justification, deception is still widely used and its efficacy is assumed pervasively. In the present investigation metatheoretical and statistical analyses of research into self-fulfilling prophecy effects of teacher expectations are carried out. These analyses show that deception has increased confounding, for a deception interpretation of research findings is at least as plausible as a teacher expectation interpretation. Thus the APA's methodological justification is not sustained, nor are claims that deceptive studies have fulfilled the unique role of unequivocally establishing the causal reality of the teacher expectation effect.

Steven Leitch, Department of Education, Queensland, and Doune Macdonald, The University of Queensland.

Theory into praxis: Recent developments in senior physical education in Queensland.

The Board of Senior Secondary School Studies (BSSSS) in Queensland has recently approved the trial of a new syllabus in Senior Physical Education. The BSSSS endorsed the intellectual rigour of this practically based subject and agreed that students' results would `count' equally, for tertiary entrance score purposes, with the other traditional academic subjects.Part one of this presentation describes the development and the practical nature of this Senior PE syllabus and recounts the attempts of the syllabus developers to counter the conventional hierarchical order of knowledge and the orthodoxy that physical activity involves little cognition.

Part two reports on the progress of the syllabus's implementation. Quantitative and qualitative data, with a focus on the trial school teachers and students, shall be presented. Concerns pertaining to the participating student population, integration of learning experiences, syllabus structure, comparability, and enjoyment of the subject by teachers and students, shall be highlighted.

Lesley Levins and John Pegg, University of New England.

A comparison of the developmental patterns in students' responses to questions in mathematics and science.

This paper reports on a comparison of the results of two studies which involved the testing and interviewing of students from Year 3 to Year 12 in New South Wales schools. The targeted topic areas were Geometry (2-D figures) and Biology (plant growth). The SOLO Taxonomy was used as the vehicle to categorise the responses. The results in both studies identified cycles of development in the students' answers. The purpose of this article is to explore the differences and similarities between the cycles and provide a window into how students' conceptual understandings develop.

Petra Lietz, The Flinders University of South Australia.

Mediated gender differences in reading achievement of 14-year-old students in 15 countries.

This study examines the way in which observed differences in the reading performance of boys and girls are mediated through factors such as motivation and reading interest. Results indicate that while a higher motivational level has a positive effect on the reading performance of girls, the reading performance of boys is positively influenced by a greater interest in magazine reading.

Analyses were replicated for 15 countries using Partial Least Squares Path Analysis (PLSPATH), a multivariate technique which employs latent variable path analysis to examine relationships between antecedent (e.g. gender), mediating (e.g. motivation, reading interest) and outcome variables (e.g. reading achievement).

Teresa Ling, City Polytechnic of Hong Kong and Magdalena Mok, Macquarie University.

Different culture, different school culture.

This is a preliminary report on the first phase of an empirical study involving the socialisation of young migrants. The report is concerned with differences in school culture across two regions: Hong Kong and New South Wales. A survey research approach by means of questionnaires was used. Year 11 students from about 30 schools in each region were consulted on their views regarding the formal curriculum, the out-of-school curriculum, the teacher-student relationship, and the leadership of the principals. Hierarchical Linear Models (Multilevel models) were used to compare and contrast the culture of schools from the two regions.

Graeme Lock, Hale School.

Stress among primary school teachers.

In 1991 an extensive investigation was conducted into the prevalence and sources of occupational stress among State Government primary school teachers in metropolitan Perth. In addition to determining the prevalence and sources of stress by quantitative methods, a number of teachers were also interviewed. This paper will explore the results of these interviews. In particular, the paper will discuss:

1. the perceived attitude of the Government of Western Australia and/or the Ministry of Education towards teachers:

Furthermore, a brief review of the results obtained by quantitative methods will be discussed.

LOGAL93.137

Lloyd Logan, The University of Queensland, Judyth Sachs and Neil Dempster, Griffith University.

School development planning: Increasing teachers' control ?

The publicly articulated purpose of decentralisation of school systems is to improve school-effectiveness. One aspect in which decentralisation has become manifest is school based planning. Both the policy and theoretical literature claims benefits regarding school based planning. One of these claims is increased control by teachers over their professional lives. On the basis of evidence obtained from a national survey of primary school teachers we argue that such claims are debatable. While final outcomes from the study await confirmation from case accounts, the early quantitative data suggest a mismatch between such claims and the lived experience of teachers in primary schools.

LONGP93.138

Patricia Long, Melbourne University.

Student perspectives on aspects of differentiated education. Maybe we should ask the customers !

Adult rather than student views usually determine educational services. This study asked approximately 650 Melbourne secondary students of varying ability levels their views on aspects of differentiated education, particularly on grouping forms and strategies providing for students of high intellectual ability. These views were examined within a perspective of providing for students with learning difficulties and for individual differences in general. Through documenting and examining student views and thus filling a gap in available data, the study aimed to make a difference for both adults and students by giving teachers and policymakers an empirical basis for providing services to customers.

William Louden, Edith Cowan University and John Wallace, Curtin University of Technology.

Culture and structure: School reform and the case of the National Schools Project.

This paper draws on empirical data from several case studies of Western Australian schools in the process of change. It provides an examination of the progress of these schools in the light of international and national reform agendas, particularly the National School Project. Observations are made about the balance between structural change and cultural readiness in these school and questions raised about whether work organisation is the right vehicle for effecting classroom improvement. Finally, these studies point to the need for administrators to understand the culture of change in schools and to provide the appropriate balance of pressure and support to sustain reform.

LOWER93.139

Richard Lowe, Curtin University.

Domain expertise and the mental representation of technical diagrams.

How information is represented in an individual's mind is considered a fundamental determinant of how the person processes that information. This study deals with the mental representation of an instructionally important means of presenting information; technical diagrams. Meteorologists and non-meteorologists' mental representations of weather map diagrams were investigated using a card-sorting task that required subjects to account for the groupings of meteorological markings they formed. Analysis of these groupings and grouping reasons indicated that meteorologists associated individual weather map markings via domain-specific relationships that reflected meteorological principles. In contrast, the non-meteorologists associated the elements on the basis of their visuo-spatial characteristics. The results suggest that domain-specific knowledge plays a key role in the way diagrammatic information is processed.

MACCJ93.324

Judith MacCallum, Murdoch University.

Groups within the main group: Issues of motivation in a longitudinal study of students' theories of success.

According to the ecological-intentional perspective (Nicholls, 1989) children with different personal goals employ different concepts and interpret situations so as to serve their different goals. Thoughts and actions can be interpreted in terms of each individual's purposes. Nicholls (1989) has identified three different types of motivational orientations towards learning characterising different personal goals; task orientation, ego orientation and avoidance of work. Each motivational orientation appears to be the basis of students' differing theories of success.

The present project studied the same students in a number of different contexts (i.e. in different subject areas and over the transition from primary to high school). Students, initially in Years 6 or 7, completed questionnaires accessing their motivational orientations, perceptions of their teacher's goals, beliefs about the causes of success, and perceived competence in specific aspects of both Maths and writing in English classes. This paper addresses issues of motivation which emerged from studying specific groups within the main group: students showing stable motivational patterns compared with students showing changing patterns over the transition to high school; and students (approximately 12%) who "dropped out" of the study on the third occasion by arbitrarily filling in spaces on the questionnaires. The implications for the prediction of motivational problems over the transition to high school are considered as well as methodological issues concerning which participants are included in the analysis of longitudinal research data.

Doune Macdonald, The University of Queensland.

Why do they leave ? Physical Education teacher attrition.

Statistical data shows an attrition rate from teaching of approximately 50% for teacher education graduates of the Department of Human Movement Studies, The University of Queensland. Qualitative data collected in pilot research revealed that the workplace problems for physical education (PE) teachers included a lack of: (a) shared professional commitment amongst colleagues, (b) freedom in their decision-making with respect to teaching, and (c) appropriate support.

This paper reports on more extensive research being undertaken during 1993. Statistics on the career patterns of graduates from Human Movements Studies (Education), 1986-1992, give a background to interviews with practicing teachers and their principals, teachers' journal notations and field observations. The participant teachers represent government, non-government, rural and metropolitan schools. Findings from this investigation should make employing authorities more sensitive to the needs and aspirations of beginning PE teachers, and teacher educators more aware of the skills and perspectives which graduates may need if they are to better cope with the demands of the workplace.

V J MacKinnon, Victoria University of Technology.

A prospective analysis of the Australian Overseas Student Policy.

Most policy analysis is retrospective in nature, examining the political and social factors that frame the development of a specific policy and/or affect its implementation. This paper explores the use of William Dunn's (1982) elaboration of Toulmin's transactional model of argument as an innovative method of prospective analysis, providing a means of modelling the social efficacy and likely barriers to implementation of newly developed educational or social policies. The model will be applied to an analysis of the cultural implications of the 1985 Overseas Student Program using a hypothetical case - Hong Kong Registered Nurses undertaking a post-graduate Public Health Nursing course in an Australian higher education institution. Data available at the time will be used to describe three pertinent contexts (salient public health issues in Hong Kong, comparative education issues including cross-cultural cognition and the experiences of overseas students studying in Australia) and simulate a prospective evaluation of the Policy.

Bernard Mageean, Flinders University of South Australia.

Self-talk and teaching talk - The cognitive science of instruction.

The story in this paper is that research on instruction is often empirically well-aimed, but conceptually flawed. It is far less useful, therefore, than it might be. Of particular interest to me in unravelling the conceptual confusion has been the notion that there is a psychology of cognition - a body of scientific knowledge - that is available (or might, or should, be available) to be `applied' to matters of instruction. I seek to develop the view that the key questions about cognition involve matters of instruction necessarily and centrally, as well as peripherally. Key concepts are those of self-rapport and self-instruction.

MALTH93.142

Hendrika Maltby, Edith Cowan University.

Reflection in practice: Enhancing student learning.

More is appearing in the literature concerning reflection in practice. Beyond gaining technical competence, students in practice based disciplines should discover how discrete topics fit into the whole. Courses, however, tend to be overloaded with `must know', leaving little time to reflect on the `fit' of that knowing. This study describes the use of a reflective diary as a learning tool for nursing students. A tool developed by Powell (1989) based on Mezirow's (1981) levels of reflectivity was used to analyze diaries. Preliminary results indicate that out of six levels, the majority of these students can observe and describe (Level 1); some are aware of feelings aroused in practice (Level 2); and few can assess the decision making process (Level 3). "To be a reflective practitioner suggests professional maturity and a strong commitment to improving practice" (Emden, 1991, p. 335). Beginning the process with students could result in enhanced learning and a stronger profession for the future.

Dorit Maor and Peter Taylor, Curtin University of Technology.

The influence of teachers' epistemologies on the development of students' higher-level thinking skills using a computerised scientific database.

The purpose of this session is to discuss the results of a study which investigated students' development of higher-level thinking skills in a computerised learning environment which was designed to facilitate an inquiry-based approach to learning. The session will focus on the social interactions and the influence of teachers' epistemologies on the development of students' higher-level thinking skills. In the class where the teacher implemented a constructivist-oriented approach to teaching that emphasised both the personal and social construction of students' knowledge, most students developed higher-level thinking skills. The results of this study suggest that it is not the computer itself which facilitates inquiry learning; the facilitative role of the teacher is essential for students to be able to utilise the computer as a tool of scientific inquiry.

Dorit Maor and Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology.

Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in a study of inquiry-based computer learning environments.

Qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed to investigate students' development of inquiry skills and higher-level thinking skills during the use of a computerized scientific database. The use of a computerized database in inquiry-based science classrooms offers the potential to facilitate higher-level learning among students, a significant issue facing students and teachers today. An interpretive research methodology was employed to facilitate understanding of the multidimensionality of the learning processes in the classroom. Data were obtained from classroom observations, interviews with teachers and students, and students' entries in their workbooks. As well, two questionnaires were developed and used to evaluate the effectiveness of the program in terms of its impact upon the development of students' inquiry skills and upon the nature of the classroom learning environment. The explanatory study resulted in the generation of assertions about the learning and teaching processes in the classroom.

Frank Marino, Charles Sturt University.

The psychological trauma of injury for athletes: Implications for physical educators.

The increasing emphasis on high level training of athletes has also seen an increase in injury rate and a consequent need for more sophisticated injury management techniques. It is questionable whether physical educators, coaches and trainers are equipped to handle or recognise the psychological trauma associated with injury. The study reported in this paper assesses the psychological effects on the attempts of athletes to return to physical activity levels achieved prior to injury. A questionnaire was administered to physical education students which asked them to consider the circumstances surrounding their injuries. Descriptive statistics indicate that apprehension of returning to physical activity is often due to the negative consequences the injury may have on the athletes' functional capacity later in life. The subjects exhibit the common sequence of predictable psychological reactions to injury. This has major implications for physical education and coaching specialists in terms of awareness, recognition and management of psychological trauma related to injury.

Genee Marks, Deakin University.

Infantilising youth: A study of disability policy in Victoria.

Despite the stated intention of various policies, young people with disabilities are frequently infantilised by the discourses, organisations and practices that operate in Victoria. This paper, which draws on a recent research project, focuses specifically on the policy of integrating students with disabilities into regular schools, but in order to contextualise the discussion, the observations made are also related to the changing nature of enrolments in segregated settings. In particular, this paper presents an examination of the paradigmatic shifts that have occurred in the way students with disabilities are constructed by educational policy over the last decade in Victoria. Reference will be made to the various policy documents, from Integration in Victorian Education (1984), to the Cullen and Brown (1992) evaluation, Integration and Special Education in Victorian Schools: A Program Effectiveness Review., and recommendations for the future will be suggested.

Perc Marland, University of Southern Queensland.

Teachers' knowledge of students: A significant domain of practical knowledge?

Recently, attempts have been made to define a professional knowledge base for teaching. Some of this effort has been aimed at documenting effective teachers' practical knowledge. Hypothetical maps of the various domains of teachers' practical knowledge have been produced (Elbaz, 1983; Shulman, 1987). Some domains have attracted considerable research interest; others, including teachers' knowledge of students, have attracted very little interest (Kagan and Tippins, 1991).

Yet an in-depth knowledge of students is claimed to be a salient basis for effective teaching ("you can't teach them if you don't know them"). This paper reports an investigation of effective primary teachers' knowledge of students and their classroom use of such knowledge.

Perc Marland, University of Southern Queensland.

Preparing teachers for multi-grade classrooms: Some questions and answers.

A recent study (BTE (Q), 1988) indicates a need for more attention to be paid to the pre-service preparation of teachers for multi-grade classroom teaching in Queensland. An informed response to that claim should be based on answers to such questions as:

• How wide-spread is multi-gradedness?

These questions provided the focus for a major study of multi-grade classrooms in Queensland. The major findings of this project to date are examined in this paper.

MARSH93.266

Herbert Marsh, University of Western Sydney.

Physical self-concept: Multiple dimensions of self-concept and sport/exercise psychology.

This presentation describes a series of studies focusing on a multidimensional, hierarchical model of physical self-concept and its relation to physical fitness and health related physical activity. In Study 1, relations between physical self-concept, multidimensional components of physical fitness (field and laboratory measures), and physical activity are examined for a nationally representative sample of Australian students aged 9 to 15. In study 2 preliminary development of a new multi dimensional physical self-concept instrument is presented. In study 3 a multitrait-multimethod analysis is conducted comparing the new Physical Self Description Questionnaire with two other physical self-concept instruments. In concluding, parallel trends in the study of physical and academic self-concepts are evaluated.

Herbert Marsh, University of Western Sydney, and John Hattie, University of Western Australia.

Theoretical models of the structure of self-concept.

This presentation provides an overview of theoretical models of self-concept, including the unidimensional (agglomerate), taxonomic, compensatory, and multidimensional hierarchical models. The original Shavelson and subsequent Marsh/Shavelson models will be contrasted with other approaches. Particular emphasis will be given to general or global self-concept and its role in the self concept hierarchy. Within this context, the role of confirmatory factor analysis as a hypothesis testing tool will be presented. Finally the development of multidimensional hierarchies of self-concepts within particular domains (academic, physical, social) will be described.

Dale Mason, Edith Cowan University, and Ken Stevens, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.

The senior secondary school student in rural Western Australia - Between educational isolation and technological change.

Students in rural schools in some areas of Western Australia face the difficulty of making further education and career choices at earlier ages than their urban counterparts. In these cases full secondary education is not locally available and students and their parents are faced with the problem of making difficult vocational decisions, often on the basis of little information. This paper examines some of the influences on year ten students in a rural Western Australian school as they consider their career options and suggests ways in which they can possibly be assisted through the application of new communication technologies.

John McCormick and Robert Solman, The University of New South Wales.

Occupational stress and satisfaction of NSW Department of School Education teachers.

A conceptual framework based on the attribution of responsibility for stress provides a sound foundation for the study of the occupational stress and job satisfaction of NSW Department of School Education teachers. Occupational stress and job satisfaction are treated as multidimensional phenomena and associations between the dimensions are explored.

Mark McFadden, Charles Sturt University.

Tertiary entrance for disadvantaged young people.

This paper describes research in progress on an innovation for educationally disadvantaged young people who have expressed a desire to change their life situation. The Street Kids Access Tertiary Education program (SKATE) seeks to offer students social, psychological and educational support and encourage their participation in mainstream education. The young people involved in the program have known educational and social disadvantage, and have often experienced physical and mental abuse. The research has focussed on the effect of the program on students' perceptions of themselves and their world and the opportunities which this world offers them. The research has also focussed on the educational destinations of students.

MCFAM93.151

Mark McFadden, Charles Sturt University, and Jane Prochnow-LaGrow, Massey University, New Zealand.

Expanding options in the secondary school.

Recent work in both educational psychology and the sociology of education helps explain why certain teaching approaches are more appropriate for `difficult' students. Research into School Climate, Youth Culture and Resistance Theory has provided ideas about how curriculum processes might better allow students space in which to develop their skills, knowledge and attitudes. Using the framework of negotiation and participation, a curriculum which is relevant and challenging can be constructed by teachers and students in partnership. This paper will present an overview of the theory in the area and point to useful and practical curriculum orientations which are likely to lead to positive learning outcomes for students. The paper will also explore the curriculum orientations from a psychological perspective.

Penny McKeon, University of New South Wales.

An epistemological framework for generating and evaluating concepts in disciplined orientations of Visual arts in education.

The paper analyses JSrgen Habermas' constitutive interests (1971) to derive technical, practical and critical knowledges. These are engaged with Arthur Danto's theory of the Artworld (1964) in a discipline-oriented matrix of nine cells. The matrix is applied to identifying, sorting and evaluating curriculum concepts in art education.

The matrix is a useful conceptual tool for siting the domains of the visual arts (studio practice, criticism, history, aesthetics). It is argued that it avoids internal problems of relativism, and external problems of social relevance which plague disciplined representations of fields. The matrix provides opportunities for curricula to foster autonomy, authenticity and responsibility, thus facilitating the outcome of developing educated persons in the context of contemporary society.

MCROC93.273

Campbell McRobbie, Queensland University of Technology and Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology.

Development of a learning environment typology for science laboratory classes.

The aims of the study were to identify homogenous types of science laboratory classrooms based upon measures of their psychosocial learning environments, and to investigate the extent to which different types of laboratory classes were associated differentially with cognitive and affective outcomes. The sample consisted of 1,594 grade 11 students in 92 chemistry classes in Australia who responded to the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (which assesses Student Cohesiveness, Open-endedness, Integration, Rule Clarity, and Material Environment). Cluster analyses led to the identification of four clusters which were labelled (1) `positive' or `above average', (2) `negative' or `below average', (3) `open-ended integrated', and (4) `closed-ended integrated'. The last two clusters both had high scores on Integration(the extent to which theory and laboratory work are integrated), but they differed markedly with respect to Open-endedness (the extent to which divergent activities are emphasized). The clusters were found to be associated differentially with outcome measures in that the `closed-ended integrated' cluster showed the highest scores on an inquiry skill measure, while the `below average' cluster consistently showed the lowest scores on a range of attitude dimensions.

MCWIE93.153

Erica McWilliam, Queensland University of Technology.

Seriously playful, playfully serious: teaching against method in educational research.

This paper examines the pedagogical challenges of teaching in and about contemporary educational research and scholarship in higher degrees. I analyse possibilities for developing different pedagogical practices that are more appropriate to feminist/postmodernist work than traditional tertiary teaching. The paper draws on my own experience of teaching large classes of course work Masters students wanting access to current scholarship by means of `fast track' credentials. I argue that transgressive pedagogies are needed to model the sort of unsettling that is appropriate to the important work of analysing the discontinuities, contradictions and disruptions that characterise social systems.

Andrew Medland, Edith Cowan University.

Making a difference to primary school physical education. The implementation of a health-related fitness intervention: A case study of two schools.

Coronary heart disease has been found to have its origins in childhood. One of the most significant risk factors associated with coronary heart disease is a low level of physical activity in children. Australian children are not only less active than perceived by the general public; many are also overweight. As a direct response to this problem the Western Australian Schools Physical Activity and Nutrition project (WASPAN) was developed and implemented for Year 6 children.

This case study focused on the process of this implementation in two primary schools in Perth. It acknowledges that the school environment, the school principal, the teacher and the home background all influence the acceptance and degree of success of any new program.

Data was collected using a system of multiple methodology. The picture that developed over the year highlighted two different and contrasting processes of curriculum implementation and this became the major emphasis of the study.

Kate Miller, Griffith University.

The contribution of the sociology of knowledge to the social construction of future realities. Futures research: Trying to make a difference.

Berger and Luckmann (1966) contend that the sociology of knowledge is concerned with an analysis of the construction of reality. Knowledge about reality emerges from a dialectic between objective facts and the subjective interpretation of them. This paper uses a conceptual framework from the sociology of knowledge to investigate the means by which individuals, and in particular educational policy makers, socially construct images of future realities. A primary focus of this paper is an exploration of the objective and subjective knowledge bases used in people's acquisition of ideas about the future. Drawing on the literature from the emerging field of futures research, an analysis is made of the forms of knowledge people construct and use in considering the future. An overview of some of the elements that constrain and liberate educational policy makers' images of the future will be presented.

MOKM93.155

Magdalena Mok, Macquarie University and Teresa Ling, City Polytechnic of Hong Kong.

Hierarchical Linear Models: Applications to cross-cultural comparisons of school culture.

Some commonly used Hierarchical Linear Models (Multilevel models) for comparing school culture, including variance component models, slope as outcome models, and hierarchical structural models were discussed in this paper. Illustrative data came from a study on a group of Year 11 students in Australia and their counterparts in Hong Kong. The application of these models in studying organisational culture using two computer software packages, namely, ML3 (Prosser, Rashbash, & Goldstein, 1992) and BIRAM (McDonald, in preparation) are presented. As well as comparing Hierarchical Linear Models with conventional approaches, the authors examined the limitations of the former in cross-cultural studies.

Gillian Morgan, D Livesey and R Job, The University of Sydney.

The effect of response mode and memory on inhibition in young children.

Young children have difficulty with discrimination learning. Many are unable to withhold responding to the unrewarded cue when allowed to lift the cues to find rewards. If required to name the cue performance is significantly better (Morgan, Livesey, and Job, 1992) suggesting that the response component of discrimination tasks presents particular problems. However the active versus the verbal difference is confounded by the verbal memory aid inherent in stating the choice. The present experiment re-examined the active versus verbal difference unconfounded by the memory aid. This was achieved by the addition of a verbal response to create a memory aid in the active condition. The results confirmed the superiority of performance in the verbal condition unconfounded by the memory aid. A significant improvement across trials suggested that children have the ability to learn to inhibit responding. The implications for education of young children are: First, it may be possible to teach 4- and 5-year olds to inhibit responding rather than waiting on maturation, as Diamond's theory suggests. Second, verbal rather than active responding may result in superior performance.

Wally Moroz, Edith Cowan University.

Student attitudes toward social studies.

The paper will discuss the research methodology and present the preliminary findings of empirical research into the status of Social Studies in government primary schools in Western Australia and will focus on student attitudes toward Social Studies. Although the analysis is incomplete, the findings confirm a significant deterioration in attitude toward Social Studies from grade four through to grade seven, significant attitude toward Social Studies variations between schools and attitude variations attributed to teacher gender. Data were obtained from over three thousand students from thirty government primary schools which were drawn from a stratified random sample of schools based on size and location.

MORRT93.028

Tom Morris, Department of Employment Vocational Education and Training, Western Australia.

Using labour market information to plan vocational education and training.

It is generally agreed that a highly skilled and flexible workforce is a prerequisite to Australia's international competitiveness and economic prosperity. There is less agreement, however, as to how this might most effectively be orchestrated.

There is strong support for the view that the vocational education and training system should be more responsive to industry and industry advice. Furthermore, occupational forecasts have proven to be unreliable guides to planning, even over relatively short forecast periods. This paper explores a range of conceptual and methodological issues relevant to the use of labour market information to strategically plan publicly funded vocational education and training.

Rosalind Murray-Harvey, The Flinders University of South Australia.

Metacognition makes a difference: Identifying characteristics of successful tertiary students using path analysis.

Academic achievement is the outcome of a complex system of learning and teaching relationships existing within the context of the university. A causal path model was developed and tested using a partial least squares path analysis procedure (LVPLS) in order to examine the relationships among factors hypothesised to influence tertiary students' academic achievement. Of the eight predictor variables included in the model (Approach to Study motives and strategies; Learning Style; Age; Sex; Locus of Control; Metacognitive Capability; and students' Self-Rated Performance), Metacognitive Capability most clearly identifies successful students. Relationships among the other variables also provide valuable information about student factors influencing learning outcomes.

Samuel Nielsen and Millicent Poole, Queensland University of Technology, and Jan Langan-Fox, University of Melbourne.

Learning to be competent: The identification of important competencies for managerial and professional women.

Recently, in Australia, there has been a great deal of discussion on competencies by the government and educational administrators. Criticisms of this reform have included a failure to differentiate males and females, hidden economic agendas, and the slotting of individuals into roles. To gain insight into important workforce competencies for women, 16 professional and managerial women were interviewed and these interviews were content analysed to develop a list of skills, knowledge and attitudes that had been of importance to their competence in the workforce. A principal components analysis was performed on this list, with a sample of 310 managerial and professional women, andidentified seven important competencies (e.g. "maintenance of job skills" and "orientation to innovation and change"). This educational research can make a difference, because by identifying competencies using a "hindsight" perspective of women who have been successful, it has identified different competencies to those determined by the administrators.

Keis Ohtsuka, The University of Western Australia.

Text genres and mental models: What do readers get from text and how do readers use it ?

This study examined: (1) how and to what extent text genres influence the characteristics of mental models they build from text; (2) whether the characteristics of mental models change if the subjects know the nature of questions that will follow the reading session. Seventy undergraduates, read one of the three text genres, descriptive, procedural, or narrative that were based on the same underlying information and later answered three types of inference questions about spatial information. The three types of inference questions were constructed so that each question type would be more similar than the other two question types to the characteristics of a model derived from the text. Accuracy scores and response time data showed that the mental models derived from the descriptive text showed two-dimensional characteristics, whereas the models built from the other two genres were one-dimensional. The results were similar with those from the previous study (Ohtsuka, 1990). When the subjects were asked to read a different text genre for the second time, however, the effect of text genre became statistically nonsignificant. The results indicate that the subjects were able to build optimal mental models for question answering anticipating the content of questions. The findings suggest that mental models built from text are flexible representations that readers actively manipulate rather than as static, rigid structures that simply hold the textual information for retrieval.

This research was funded by a grant from the Australian Research Council.

Gem Oliveiro, University of Western Australia.

Differences in gender construction of long and short term resident Chinese students in short fiction texts.

This study was undertaken with four long term resident and four short term resident case study subjects. They were all male ethnic Chinese university undergraduates in Western Australia who had passed TEE English or Literature. The subjects made a written response after reading two short stories.This response examined how they had interpreted the construction of male and female roles in the stories. Consequently, they were interviewed about the extent to which their ideas of gender roles as ethnic Chinese influenced their interpretations of the male and female characters in the story. The study's findings reveal divergences both in the construction of readings and of gender as a cultural concept. This has implications for syllabus construction, text selection, and teaching and assessment practices in multicultural societies, such as Australia.

Ron Oliver, Edith Cowan University.

Adapting the methods of open learning and distance education to university teaching.

There has been considerable development in past years to improve equity and access to educational programmes through innovative applications of technology in open learning and distance education programmes. This process has resulted in the creation of a range of new and successful learning materials and instructional processes. These methods and processes appear to offer considerable advantage to on-campus education. The convergence of these methods to on-campus programmes will be discussed in this paper. Examples of the new technologies and applications applied in open learning and distance education programmes will be discussed as will be the potential outcomes from the applications of such in on-campus teaching and learning. The paper will provide evidence from research into teaching and learning with new technologies to support the proposed on-campus applications.

Ron Oliver, Edith Cowan University.

Adapting the principles of open learning to conventional university teaching.

Currently there are many moves to develop Open Learning programmes in order to improve the accessibility of higher education to groups and individuals beyond the domains of conventional universities. Generally speaking, open learning programmes aim to provide high quality education that can be accessed by anyone, at any time at any location. The delivery methods among open learning programmes differ considerably from those used in conventional higher education. This paper argues that there is much to be gained from the adoption of the flexible delivery methods used in open learning programmes in the delivery of conventional higher education.

ONEIM93.164

Douglas Pitney and Marnie O'Neill, University of Western Australia.

Confessions of experts: Reflective teaching in large lectures.

The research problem was to identify ways in which to accelerate the process of approximation of expert teacher behaviour by novice teachers.

Ten tertiary teachers from a wide range of disciplines were selected for interview. The teachers were chosen on the criteria that they had been identified by students as excellent teachers, had been further recognised by an award from the University of Western Australia for excellence in teaching, and that they were willing to participate in a video interview for inclusion in an interactive multi-media professional development package. Only one of the expert teachers had formal teacher education; the remainder had developed their expertise through their own reflective teaching processes.

The framework for this research was constructed from literature and research reviews of teacher effectiveness research, expert/novice research (Westerman, 1991), reflective teacher theory (Tabachnich & Zeichner, 1991), especially constructivism and co-operative learning theory and practice.The questions raised by this research address issues of how reflective teaching practices might be incorporated in pre-service teacher education and professional development programs, and what role expert teachers might have in those processes.

ONEIM93.165

Marnie O'Neill, University of Western Australia.

Variant readings: Implications for teaching, assessment and examination.

The field of this study is comprehension of literary texts. Subjects from four different cultural groups (Anglo-Canadians, Cree Canadians, Anglo-Australians, and Chinese language background students in Australia) were asked to construct readings of three different short stories. Categorisation of student readings indicated variance in production of meaning which might be accounted for by cultural difference, syllabus orientation and teaching practices. The research is located in post-modernist literary theory, and uses this as a basis for promoting changes in teaching and assessment and examination practices.

Lynne Outhred, Macquarie University.

Young children's representations of rectangular arrays.

Rectangular arrays are a commonly used convention in mathematics teaching. The results of an earlier study indicated that children may have difficulty in representing such arrays as two [perpendicular] intersecting sets of parallel lines. To draw an array, it seems necessary for children to grasp three properties: that the area units must be congruent and aligned, and that each row has the same number of units. The focus of this paper is an experiment to compare which of these properties seemed to be most effective in teaching children to represent arrays using lines, rather than to draw each rectangular area unit separately. The experiment involved 46 children in Years 1 and 2 of primary school. The children were selected on the basis of their pretest scores; a posttest was administered after the teaching session.

OZGAJ93.168

Jenny Ozga, University of the West of England, United Kingdom.

Teacher de-professionalisation: Hard lessons from England.

The `reform' of teacher education (now more commonly referred to as `Initial teacher training' has proceeded in England since the early 1980s through a variety of mechanisms. With the passage of time, intervention has become more and more direct, and the latest reforms construct a differentiated occupation group with non-graduate teachers for early years provision, plus the extensive use of training exclusively or predominantly organised in schools and by schools.

The training policy which is now emerging in its most radical form can only be understood as part of a policy project designed to ensure a stratified and differentiated teaching force which matches the increasingly differentiated pattern of schooling in England. The paper will place training policy in the broader context of provision and relate the aims of reform in training to the wider new-right agenda and at ending `producer capture'.

Lesley Parker, John Wallace and Helen Wildy, Curtin University of Technology.

Staying more than one chapter ahead of the students: Updating teachers' content knowledge.

One of the emerging paradoxes of teacher education concerns teachers' subject matter knowledge. On the one hand it is recognised that the best teachers are those who understand their subject matter well. On the other hand, as knowledge in all areas increases exponentially, there is less and less likelihood that teachers' subject matter knowledge will be adequate. The importance of finding effective ways to update teachers' content knowledge thus becomes paramount. This paper presents and discusses a Commonwealth-funded pilot project aimed at the updating of science teachers' content knowledge. The analysis presented in the paper is based on the participating teachers' perspectives on their own needs. It highlights the challenges faced by all involved in the project, and the practical and theoretical insights gained from the project.

PARKL93.170

Lesley Parker and Joanne Tims, Curtin University of Technology.

Sex differences in performance on external examinations and school-based assessment in year 12 mathematics, Western Australia, 1986-92.

Research during the past decade or so has suggested that the magnitude of sex differences in performance varies with different assessment tasks. Specifically, males appear to have an advantage on multiple choice tests (particularly in association with external assessment) and females appear to have an advantage on assessment tasks where a more extended response is required (particularly in association with school-based or classroom-based continuous assessment). This paper reports on the extent to which such a pattern is evident mathematics at Year 12 level in Western Australia, focusing on State-wide assessment data over the 7 year period from 1986 to 1992. It presents an analysis of the sex-related effect sizes in external examination scores and school-based assessments in the three Year 12 mathematics courses which are examined externally in the Western Australian Tertiary Entrance Examination.

Lesley Parker and Leonie Rennie, Curtin University of Technology.

Reconstructing perspectives on assessment: Upper secondary school physics and mathematics in Western Australia.

Increasingly, in recent years, the relationship between curriculum reform and assessment has come under closer scrutiny. Assessment in the past tends to have been seen as something separate from curriculum. By contrast, this paper is premised on the view that assessment is an integral part of curriculum reform, developed concurrently with that reform, and operating in the service of that reform. This view implies that the reconstruction of perspectives on curriculum which is necessary for successful implementation of a curriculum reform extends also to a reconstruction of perspectives on assessment. In this paper, the barriers to this kind of reconstruction of assessment are examined in the context of curriculum reforms in upper secondary school mathematics and physics in Western Australia.

Catherine Patterson and Dawn Thomas, Macquarie University.

Teachers: The missing voice in educational research.

There is growing concern that the voices of classroom teachers are absent from published accounts of educational research. This paper reports on an innovative research project that acknowledges the significant contribution of practitioners as a primary source of knowledge and understanding about teaching and learning.

The project is based on a collaborative group of classroom teachers and university teachers who are working together to gain insight into their professional knowledge and teaching practice. Each participant is engaged in systematic, self-directed inquiry and all members of the group have equal status and equal responsibilities.

By challenging traditional views of university based research, this collaborative project raises questions about the nature of research and the role of researchers. The paper explains how group members are examining their roles as teachers-as-researchers through a reflective framework of educational inquiry. The shared understandings that are emerging from the study highlight the power of collaborative research for both classroom teachers and university teachers.

Gary Pears, Curtin University of Technology.

Teachers of the gifted and talented: Are they competent ?

This paper reports some preliminary findings of a multi-faceted study which examines the relative functional thinking skills development of both teachers and year 7 pupils in Western Australian primary schools.

Despite ongoing international calls for demonstrable changes in the educational outcomes for our children, for example, increased emphasis on the Basics-of-tomorrow [Shulman, 1986] critical and creative thinking and independent inquiry skills, there is little evidence beyond rhetoric that anything has changed. Rather, research indicates that many practices adopted by our schools and teachers are antithetical to these desired outcomes [Goodlad:1984, Kagan:1990, Clark:1983, 1988, Shulman:1986, Shavelson and Stern:1981, Clark and Peterson:1986].

This study posits that teacher competence could lie at the heart of the matter, that teachers could be unable to foster thinking skills because they lack them [Lipman:1985]. Further, research indicates that teachers are unable to establish appropriate classroom psychosocial environments which will encourage thinking skills development.

Conceptually this study is original in that rather than using the standard pre-test/post-test paradigm, it compares a group of exemplary teachers and students who have, in the first instance, been appointed on the basis of their perceived exceptional thinking and pedagogical skills and in the second, have been identified as being in the top five per cent of the primary school population [Primary Extension and Challenge (PEAC) with teachers and students from standard classrooms].

The design includes seven cohorts; second year pre-service teacher trainees, in-service teachers [private and public], PEAC teachers, Year 7 students [12 years of age] from private, public and PEAC classes totalling approximately 2,000 cases. Preliminary examination of the data suggests that there is an urgent need in Australia to establish specialist gifted and talented education pre and in-service professional development programs, appropriate selection, induction and formative assessment for teachers of gifted and talented students while highlighting the need for reform in general teacher education with particular reference to the teaching of thinking. Further, there is indeed little difference in the levels of functional cognition between regular classroom teachers and students identified as gifted and talented. Also the general level of cognitive development of the regular Year 7 student population as identified in this study, across inquiry, creativity and critical thinking is poor.

PHILR93.174

Robert Phillips and Alan Watson, University of New South Wales.

Teacher knowledge versus teacher behaviour in composite classes.

Teacher knowledge of how to teach a composite class (two or more grades in one class) was studied by observing eight outstanding teachers at work and by eliciting their knowledge of the reasons for their behaviour. From observation and interviews, 125 incidents, each with an explanatory teacher comment, were collected. A maxim was educed for each and the maxims were classified under six main headings: management, personalisation, class climate, teaching strategies, curriculum and teaching contexts. The validity of these maxims was assessed by a group of 21 outstanding composite class teachers, including seven of the original eight, who also commented on the maxims' usefulness for inservice professional development. The majority of outstanding teachers agreed with almost all maxims and felt the maxims would be valuable for preservice and inservice teacher education. The paper discusses the importance of teachers having knowledge and skills in the areas of personalisation of instruction, classroom management and creating a positive class climate. Also discussed are the implications of disagreements amongst teachers over the validity of some of the maxims and the issue of the extent to which composite class teaching requires different skills and knowledge from ordinary class teaching.

PITND93.277

Marnie O'Neill and Doug Pitney, The University of Western Australia.

Multmedia in pre-service and in-service teacher education programs.

The multimedia teacher education project at the University of Western Australia is a research based program designed to enhance the quality of teaching and learning. The interactive, computer-based programs allow preservice and inservice educators to access classroom situations using digitised video technology on compact video discs. Pedagogical skills are illustrated in holistic classroom settings enabling users to become involved in typical student-student and teacher-student interactions. Video vignettes that illustrate expert teachers can be selected at various stages by "clicking" on the appropriate icon as the class proceeds. When the student icon is selected, students discuss their thoughts on the teaching and learning situation. The research icon can be selected at any time to access the latest research underlying each aspect of the teaching and learning process.

PITND93.278

Doug Pitney, The University of Western Australia.

Information processing ability and mathematics achievement.

In this study, an investigation of a video-based homework system was extended to assess the effects of information processing ability (Luria, 1966) on mathematics achievement. The results supported the hypothesized disordinal aptitude-treatment interaction between simultaneous processing ability and geometric versus algebraic treatment conditions. On the immediate posttest, results indicated that students who answered more than 12 correctly on the Paper Folding Test benefited more from studying the geometric modules. On the other hand, students who answered 12 or fewer correctly benefited more from studying the verbal-algebraic modules. The results of the delayed posttest were similar, again with 14 correct being the decision point.

Analysis of effect-sizes for this study revealed that students in the geometric group were reasonably consistent. For high simultaneous processors in the geometric group, a marginal immediate posttest effect-size of 0.24 increased to a significant effect-size of 0.51 in the delayed posttest. As expected, the effect-sizes for students in the geometric group with low simultaneous processing ability were negative (-0.79 and -0.73 for the immediate posttest and delayed posttest respectively). The results for the algebraic group were also significant. For the immediate posttest, effect-sizes for students with low simultaneous processing ability were very significant (effect-size = 0.58). As expected, the effect-size for the algebraic group with high simultaneous processing ability was negative (effect-size = -0.28). The delayed posttest results for the algebraic group were inconsistent with the immediate posttest results.

PITND93.279

Doug Pitney, Okanagan University, Canada.

A Canadian mathematics bridging program: Design, implementation and evaluation.

The bridging program discussed in this paper was designed by the author and implemented at Okanagan College in Kelowna, Canada. It was developed in response to the demand of two rapidly expanding sectors of the tertiary student population: adults returning to study and year 12 graduates with inadequate mathematics backgrounds. A comprehensive remedial program was developed that included diagnostic testing, computer-based student feedback, interactive video tapes and accompanying workbooks. The results of a careful analysis of student data indicated that the program did not solve the high failure/withdrawal rates that are common in first year mathematics. Rather, it enabled recent secondary school graduates with marginal mathematics preparation and mature students who had not studied mathematics for some years to be successful in mainstream mathematics courses. Although they did not consistently achieve top grades, they received a distribution of letter grades similar to well prepared students who had recently completed grade 12 mathematics.

PRESD93.175

David Prescott, Edith Cowan University.

Language proficiency discrepancies in non English speaking background (NESB) students studying in English only learning programmes.

This paper examines an investigation into the possible existence of a discrepancy between the acquisition of performance features of language proficiency as manifest in "basic interpersonal communicative skills" and conceptual understandings realised in "cognitive academic language proficiencies". A group of ten students was identified, using a random number table, as participants in the investigation. The sample group was administered four measures, two language measures; the Australian Second Language Proficiency Rating (ASLPR) procedure and the University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) Preliminary English Test (PET), and two cognitive measures; the Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) (1958 revision) and the Alphabet Code Learning Task-15 (ACLT) (Savage 1986). Results will be analysed and discussed in terms of the purpose of the investigation. Implications for upper secondary education programmes will be considered.

Nola Purdie, University of Western Australia.

The effects of motivation training on approaches to learning and self-concept in female secondary students.

The effects of a motivation training programme on the approaches to studying and the self-concepts of a sample of secondary school female students was investigated. The Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ, Biggs, 1987) was used to assess changes in three basic approaches to learning (Surface, Deep and Achieving). Each approach consists of two dimensions (a strategy and a motive). Changes in seven dimensions of self-concept were measured by the self-concept questionnaire About Myself (AM, Song and Hattie, 1992). The study also investigated the patterns of response to motivation training of students of different achievement levels.

Immediately after the training programme, significant changes in student approaches to learning occurred in the Deep Motive and Deep Approach subscales of the LPQ. These increases, however, were not maintained over a three month period. Only one dimension of self-concept appeared to be influenced by the motivation training programme. The mean score of the Confidence subscale increased with training. The increase was maintained over a three month period. The training programme was found not to differentially affect students in two achievement level groups.

PURDN93.270

Nola Purdie, University of Western Australia.

Effects of motivational training on self-concept and learning.

The effects of a motivation training programme on the approaches to studying and the self-concepts of a sample of secondary school female students was investigated. The Learning Process Questionnaire (LPQ, Biggs, 1987) was used to assess changes in three basic approaches to learning (Surface, Deep and Achieving). Each approach consists of two dimensions (a strategy and a motive). Changes in seven dimensions of self-concept were measured by the self-concept questionnaire About Myself (AM, Song and Hattie, 1992). The study also investigated the patterns of response to motivation training of students of different achievement levels.

Immediately after the training programme, significant changes in student approaches to learning occurred in the Deep Motive and Deep Approach subscales of the LPQ. These increases, however, were not maintained over a three month period. Only one dimension of self-concept appeared to be influenced by the motivation training programme. The mean score of the Confidence subscale increased with training. The increase was maintained over a three month period. The training programme was found not to differentially affect students in two achievement level groups.

REEVT93.180

Thomas Reeves, The University of Georgia, USA, Rod Ellis, Geoff Ring, Janette Ring and Ron Oliver, Edith Cowan University.

Mental models: A research focus for human computer interface design.

This paper describes "mental models" (Jih & Reeves, 1992) as a focus for research regarding user interfaces in interactive multimedia. Laurel (1990) defines user interface as a combination of "the physical properties of the interactors, the functions to be performed, and the balance of power and control" (p. xii). The design of better user interfaces remains a major challenge in interactive multimedia, a challenge that may be met by mental models research. The concept of mental models is explained, measures of mental models are presented, and research at The University of Georgia in the USA and Edith Cowan University in Australia is described.

REEVT93.181

Thomas Reeves, The University of Georgia, USA, and Geoff Ring, Edith Cowan University.

Electronic performance support systems for design of computer-based training and interactive multimedia.

This paper presents information about R&D work being done in the area of Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSSs) for instructional design with special emphasis on how these EPSSs are being used in university courses preparing instructional designers. EPSSs are becoming increasingly common in industry to enhance performance, including those that support the design of computer based training and interactive multimedia. Instructional design EPSSs are being used as classroom tools to teach the design process within graduate programs in the USA and Australia. The presentation will include actual demonstrations of two EPSSs, the ID Library and Computer Based Instructional Design.

LAonie Rennie, Curtin University of Technology, and Tina Jarvis, University of Leicester, United Kingdom.

Technology education in the primary school: Where do we start?

This paper argues that teaching about technology in the primary schools should start where the children are, that is, teaching and learning strategies should be designed with cognisance of children's perceptions and understandings about technology. The paper reports a synthesis of two matched research studies into the perceptions about technology of primary school children in Western Australia and the United Kingdom. The findings indicate great within and between school variation in children's understandings in both countries, and suggest that the nature of those understandings can be traced to the different curricular emphasis currently given to technology education.

LAonie Rennie, Terry McClafferty and David Johnston, Curtin University of Technology.

Interactive science and technology centres: Helping teachers make best use of them?

Interactive science and technology centres are flourishing in Australia. They offer exciting opportunities for children and adults to experience science and technology in a non-threatening and stimulating environment. But how do such centres affect learning? Do they offer valuable motivational opportunities for students to learn science? If so, how can teachers use them to promote students' engagement in school science, which might seem boring and mundane by comparison? A review of research related to science learning is presented, together with a summary of findings, illustrated by current research, to enable teachers to use these centres effectively.

RENSP93.287

Peter Renshaw, The University of Queensland and Simone Volet, Murdoch University.

Teacher-regulated and student-regulated interactions of local and overseas students.

Volet, Renshaw and Tietzel (in press) showed that South East Asian students enrolled at university courses in Australia were organised learners rather than surface learners, and adapted to local conditions across time. In the present study, we examined the relationship between approaches to study (motives and strategies), self-reported help-seeking strategies, and actual observed participation in tutorials for local and South East Asian students. Participation was recorded as either tutor-regulated (tutor questions student specifically), tutor-initiated (student responds to a tutor question directed at the group), or student-regulated (student initiates a statement or asks a question). South East Asian students were found to participate marginally less frequently than local students, and preferred to seek assistance from the tutor after the tutorial, or from a fellow student more than local students. However, they were not more shy, afraid or intimidated in the tutorial context compared to local students. Levels of participation in tutorials, especially for South East Asian students, correlated with approaches to study-surface learners participated less and deep learners participated more. The overall pattern of results indicates that South East Asian students are effectively utilising a range of formal and informal academic resources in pursuing their study goals.

John Retallick, Charles Sturt University.

Teachers' workplace learning.

The paper reports the theoretical background and empirical findings of a Schools Council project "Teachers' Work and their Development" conducted during the period Feb-June 1993. The construct of teachers' workplace learning accounts for the informal learning which teachers undergo in their school contexts and various factors are relevant; the nature of the innovation/change, the teacher as a person and learner, the situations of teaching, learning resources and support, system recognition and reward, the culture of the school. These factors are set within a context of cultural, ideological and value formations which strongly influence what and how teachers learn. Empirical research (questionnaire and case studies) was conducted in 74 schools across three states of Australia.

RINGG93.314

Geoff Ring, Rod Ellis and Don Smallman, Edith Cowan University.

Advantages to novice researchers of participation in an established research team.

The purpose of this paper is to describe the advantages to beginning researchers of being part of an established research team. The paper will draw from experiences gained through a staff/student team approach to an instructional technology research project. The paper will briefly outline the research undertaken by two BEd(Hons) students, one in Mathematics Education and one in Computer Education, and the relationship between their research and a team-based staff research project which had as its primary goal the evaluation of a prototype of a state-of-the-art computer-administered testing system for determining the mathematical competency levels of preservice education students at Edith Cowan University.

ROBEM93.310

Margaret Robertson, University of Tasmania.

The influence of place on adolescents' thinking: A methodological problem.

The influence of prior knowledge and experience on thinking skills and learning approaches is well recognised in educational psychology. Identifying the sources of such personal context based learning, however, is much more difficult. The problem is one of externalising the experiences of people in ways that are measurable and transferable across settings. This paper reports on research with adolescents which considers this problem from the perspective of interactions between people and their place of residence. Groups of adolescents from seven contrasting geographic locations were participants in two studies. A construct validation procedure based on qualitative techniques, along with data from sixty-five variables, provided support for the hypothesis that place does influence the thinking skills, learning behaviour and attitudes of adolescents.

Sue Robertson and Rod Chadbourne, Edith Cowan University.

The Ashenden plan as a model for restructuring teachers' work.

This paper documents the findings of a study on Dean Ashenden's proposal for radically restructuring schools. Ashenden's plan entails reducing the number of teachers and employing other types of adult education workers to carry out routine and low level teaching tasks. This paper examines this plan in relation to the operations of a junior primary school.

Lawrence Roche, University of Western Sydney.

Comparison of specific facets of self-concept nomophetic (highly structured) and ideographic (open-ended) measures.

Renewed interest in self-concept as a useful theoretical construct can be attributed partly to advances made by researchers focussing on the development of reliable rating scales designed to measure multiple facets of self concept. The Self Description Questionnaires (Marsh, 1990), for example, consist of a fixed set of items that are assumed to be generally appropriate to all respondents. An implicit assumption in this nomothetic paradigm is that the underlying structure of self-concept is similar across individuals. In contrast, an ideographic paradigm emphasised in phenomenological approaches assumes that the structure of self-concept is idiosyncratic to each individual. Advocates of this paradigm argue that the items, or at least the scoring of items should be specific to each individual. In this study SDQ III scores from 48 subjects are compared with self-identified discrepancies between self-generated lists of attributes describing their `actual', `ideal' and `ought' selves regarding each of five distinct facets of self-concept.

ROEJ93.331

John Roe, University of Sydney.

Pragmatic policy development in the establishment of the school council in a south western Sydney primary school.

The Department of School Education (NSW) as a central component of its School Renewal Program has proposed the formation of a school council in each government school by the end of 1994.Some overseas and Australian reports are less than favourable on the mode of operation of school councils where some councils have sought to impose their priorities on the school administration and program, such as the `hiring and firing' of staff and monitoring of the curriculum.

There are two premises on which councils are proposed in NSW (a) the desirability of community participation and (b) the principle of local decision making. In this case these principles are applied to education.

Two significant problems are evident. Both of which demand educational solutions:

1. the reluctance of school staff to endorse the establishment of a council

To some extent the school administration has therefore to develop strategies to cope both with the needs of its school staff and local community, and at the same time move towards compliance with the expectations of the Department of School Education. This study will investigate the attitudes of both school staff and community members towards the existence and operation of a school council. Some of the problem areas among staff and community will be identified, and suggestions will be made for the school management to implement in developing appropriate strategies and educational programs towards the establishment of the school council.

The results will be reviewed in the light of educational change and change management, democratic participation in school governance, and the ethical dimension of mandated change.

ROWEK93.182

Kenneth Rowe and Philip Holmes-Smith, The University of Melbourne.

The link between school effectiveness research, policy and school improvement: Strategies and procedures that make a difference.

Since the publication of the American study of schooling outcomes by Coleman and associates (Coleman et al., 1966), research interest in school effectiveness has flourished. However, in a prevailing national and international policy climate that is anxious for schooling reforms, there is pressing need to transfer "...the energy, knowledge and skills of school effectiveness research to the study of school improve-ment" (Mortimore, 1991:223). This paper reports the key findings from the first phase of a three-year longitudinal study of teacher and school effectiveness (the Victorian Quality Schools Project), conducted among 13,700 primary and secondary students, and 930 teachers, drawn from 90 government, Catholic and independent schools. Details are given of how these findings impact on policy and are shared with participating schools, with a major emphasis on school improvement strategies and procedures, within the framework of modern Total Quality Management (TQM) principles.

ROWEK93.183

Kenneth Rowe, The University of Melbourne.

Methodological issues in educational performance and school effectiveness research: A discussion with worked examples.

In recent years there has been a growing awareness among educational researchers of the consequences of using data-analytic models that fail to account for the inherent clustered or hierarchical sampling structure of the data typically obtained (e.g., students within classes within schools). Such clustering poses special analytic problems related to levels of analysis, aggregation bias, heterogeneity of regression and parameter mis-estimation, with important implications for the correct interpretation of effects. To illustrate these problems, the paper compares the results obtained from fitting single-level and multilevel explanatory models to two hierarchically structured data sets, designed to explain variation in student achievement. In the context of educational performance and school effectiveness research, and their related policy implications, emphasis is given to the crucial importance of fitting models that are commensurate with the sampling structure of the data to which they are applied.

ROWEK93.184

Kenneth Rowe and Katherine Rowe, The University of Melbourne.

Assessing student behaviour: The utility and measurement properites of a simple parent and teacher-administered behaviour instrument, for use in educational and epidemiological research.

Persistent methodological problems faced by educational, psychosocial and epidemiological researchers include: (1) the attempt to identify correlates unique to the domains of child/student behaviour problems and learning difficulties, and (2) the lack of valid/reliable normative and prevalence estimates for either of these domains. The strong overlap between learning difficulties and behaviour problems (particularly inattentiveness), is underscored by the lack of sensitivity and specificity attained by existing psychometric instruments and rating scales. This paper provides information on the development and utility of a simple 16-item (Teacher Form) and 20-item (Parent Form), bipolar inventory of child/student behaviours in three domains, namely, conduct, attentiveness and activity. The paper reports the normative data obtained on 20,000 students (aged 4-16 years) from both parent and teacher ratings, including concurrent measures of age, gender, social/ethnic background, attitudes towards learning, and literacy and numeracy achievement.

Judyth Sachs, Rod Gapp, Neil Dempster, Griffith University.

A case of competing interests: Quality in higher education.

In this paper we describe two competing models of quality as they are currently in practice at Griffith University. Centrally, the University has endorsed Quality Assurance as a means for achieving quality across the whole university. At the sub faculty level, a project funded through DEET Mechanism B funds is concerned with developing quality improvement strategies. We argue that Quality Improvement as exemplified in the Griffith University Institute of Higher Education (GIHE) project described in this paper will achieve continuous quality advancements in activities of sub-faculties which can be transferred across other areas of the university while at the same time meeting the demands of accountability.

SALOH93.189

Helena Salom, North Metropolitan College of Technical and Further Education, Western Australia.

An evaluation of the operation of flexible learning at the Joonalup campus.

In 1974 Kangan in his paper TAFE in Australia asserted that "teachers have to be prepared to create an environment conducive to active self-learning as an alternative to the present near monopoly of teacher centred instruction within institutions."In June, 1992 the North Metropolitan College of TAFE in Western Australia initiated a flexible learning system at its Joondalup Campus with the aspiration of producing skilled graduates who are self-directed lifelong learners. It was envisaged that the system would be dynamic and capable of adapting to the changing needs of its clients.

To ensure that these stated educational and operational aims are being met in an efficient and effective manner a Project Steering Group was set up in January, 1993. The Group was to guide and set priorities for the Research Officer consequently employed to evaluate progress.

The focus of the project was to report on the educational effectiveness as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of resource usage. Resources to be monitored included learning materials, equipment, communications and staff. This paper discusses the process followed, presents the findings and provides comparisons with traditional TAFE campuses. Emphasis is given to aspects of student satisfaction and effectiveness of educational outcomes.

David Saltmarsh, Deakin University.

Skill and competence as time-space constructions.

Attempts to remedy the situation of persistently high unemployment, emphasis has been given to issues of vocational training, competencies and skills. However, the approaches and policies that have emerged, disguise the socially constructed character of the notion of skill. Social theorists, such as Anthony Giddens, have highlighted the value of considering the spatial and temporal dimensions that exist in all instances of social interaction. This paper suggests that while skills and other capacities are important in doing a job, the very concept of skill depends on certain assumptions about time and space being accepted. Further, control over time and space is a resource used to produce and reproduce relations of inequality. Evidence supporting these propositions have been drawn from a study on the DEET funded Job Club program, a program to assist people to gain employment through instruction and peer support.

SAMAA93.190

Asinate Samate, The University of Queensland.

Educational planning and national development: Economic and cultural mismatch; Future models.

This Doctoral research looks at the relationship of education to national development by reviewing conceptual models of development and using interviews with leading politicians, bureaucrats, educators and community interests in Tonga as a case study. A major focus of the study is the production of a new model for education and development which places higher emphasis on socio-cultural and political factors related to the aims of the indigenous people, and less to economic criteria set by the Aid agencies, and which is transferable to other countries in transition.

The findings so far have highlighted certain contradictions and dilemmas in the present education system and development strategies, which will worsen if the Government does not review or reorganise its educational and development priorities, in the light of a more holistic model.

This paper will report some of the major findings and discuss the nature of the proposed revised model of development.

Nick Santamaria, University of Melbourne.

The difficult patient: An important educational need of registered nurses.

Caring for patients who display difficult behavioural characteristics in the general hospital setting has been well documented as a significant source of stress in nursing for more than thirty years. The current educational preparation of nurses at the undergraduate level provides little hope that this situation will change in the future.

This study describes the investigation of a group of practicing general nurses aimed at determining their understanding, feelings and plans for caring for patients who exhibit difficult behavioural characteristics in the acute general hospital setting.

The responses of the nurses were compared to the approaches suggested by Individual Psychology (IP).

Significant levels of frustration and anger were reported by the nurses to dealing with this group of patients. No consistent means of identifying the goals of the difficult behaviour were demonstrated and the management approaches suggested were felt to be likely to cause the difficult behaviour to continue or increase.

Individual Psychology is proposed as a possible basis on which to develop educational programs to assist nurses in dealing with patients who display difficult interpersonal behavioural characteristics in the clinical environment.

Lynette Schaverien and Mark Cosgrove, University of Technology, Sydney.

Children's conversations.

Much of the data about children's knowledge gathered in contemporary science education research comes from the interview-about-instances and interview-about-events and their antecedent, the Piagetian clinical interview. In going beyond these approaches, we have attained a finer-grained image of what children know. We studied children's knowledge revealed in extended conversations. Here, through a case study approach, we describe three types of conversations which lead to a better-resolved view of their knowledge.

SCHIR93.193

Renato Schibeci, K Y Wong and L McGuckin, Murdoch University.

Transforming knowledge: Adult understanding of human nutrition.

Much of the popular - and academic - discourse about public attitudes to health and the need for more effective health communication have assumed what Wynne (1991) has called a `cognitive deficit' communication model, in which it is assumed that lay people lack knowledge and awareness. An alternative `social constructivist' approach to ordinary people's knowledge of health gives much greater emphasis to the often well developed, but informal experiences which people bring to public issues.

This paper reports a pilot investigation in which we explore the use of computer-based methodologies to document the ways adults transform experts' knowledge.

SCHON93.194

Neville Schofield and Bob Conway, University of Newcastle.

Welfare and discipline systems: What works and for whom?

A considerable amount of teacher time and energy is spent on the maintenance of discipline in schools. Similarly, in some schools there is an emphasis on a welfare structure in which discipline is seen as an integral component. However, there is little research to show whether this time and effort results in an improved climate of behaviour. In a study of 57 schools and 370 teachers from across NSW, it was found that the nature of the discipline system used and, most importantly, the relationship of that system to the welfare structures within the school had a major bearing on the incidence of major discipline problems and the actions which teachers took in respone to those problems. Differences in the size of school, gender, age and ability level of students along with the region from which they came, also produced significant differences in the frequency of major discipline problems. No significant differences were found in the proportion of major problems confronted by either male or female teachers. However, novice teachers faced the highest proportion of problems. These findings are discussed in terms of the organisational structure of schools.

Debbie Scott, University of New South Wales.

Systemically designed curricula - How do teachers cope ?

Educational change has become an increasingly dominant factor in the New South Wales education system of late. Primary teachers in particular have been inundated with new policies, principles, procedures and curriculum documents over the past five years. Despite this apparent commitment at a systemic level to encouraging educational change, the effectiveness of such projects in producing real change on a large scale has been minimal.

This pilot study attempts to investigate how teachers respond to or cope with systemically developed curricula in under-resourced conditions in the implementation phase and why. The vehicle for this study is the NSW Department of Education's "Mathematics K-6" document issued to teachers in November 1989. The study is primarily ethnographic in nature, based on a single school community and incorporating methodological triangulation as a means of substantiating findings. Data gathering methods include questionnaires, interviews and classroom observations.

Terri Seddon, Monash University.

Theorising educational change: The re-formation of educational practice in the 1930s Depression.

This paper summarises the findings of a case study of New South Wales education in the 1930s Depression as a basis for generating a number of broad theoretical principles concerning educational change. My main argument is that if educational research moves beyond a categorical theoretical framework, the analysis of educational change shifts to focus on the social and historical dynamics of education formation and re-formation.

Murray Seiffert, University of Melbourne.

A model for studying parental choice of secondary school.

It is surprising that, although there is widespread political desire to give parents a wider choice of schools for their children, comparatively little research has been focussed upon the process of parental decision-making. This paper outlines a model for decision-making derived from a study of a set of parents who were choosing a secondary school for their children. This model has three sets of dimensions arising from the following questions:

1. What was the process of making a decision?

This model is used to give meaning to the data gathered in a qualitative study based in Melbourne.

SELBC93.029

Chris Selby-Smith, Monash University.

Some costs and benefits of union sponsored education and training: The APESA post-graduate courses in management.

The Monash/ACER Centre for the Economics of Education is undertaking a review of the economics of education in Australia since 1977. One aspect concerns links between education, training, management and work performance. It includes analysis of the innovative external post-graduate management courses developed since 1988 by a union, the APESA, for its members. Enrolments have grown rapidly (both in Australia and overseas), the awards have been formally accredited and evaluation, by both students and employers, has been very positive. The program objectives and structure are outlined, costs are estimated and some preliminary assessment of benefits is attempted.

Isabel Sendlak, University of Sydney.

Changing values in university culture.

Until now, universities existed for the purpose of handing down to the next generation the knowledge and values fundamental to their particular role in a society. Recently however, universities seem to have absorbed new ideals and values. The changes that universities have undergone in the last decades and the results of this process should be considered in the context of general trends and specific social realities. What are the sources of those changes? What values, old and new does the university community accept, create and promote? The paper will address these issues and suggest their interpretation.

Rosemary Senior, Curtin University of Technology.

An investigation into the nature of good language classes.

In her presentation Rosemary Senior will discuss why she chose to use grounded theory (a methodology more commonly associated with the social and health sciences) for an analysis of teachers' perceptions concerning the nature of good language lessons. She will describe certain key features of grounded theory methodology, notably the heirarchical arrangement of categories into which data can be fitted, and the role of creative memo writing in the development of theory.She will present her findings in the form of an integrative diagram, and will discuss the main themes which have emerged. At the end of the presentation there will be time for comments and suggestions.

Geoffrey Shacklock, Flinders University of South Australia.

`Professionalism' and changing conceptions of teachers' work.

This paper reports on work in progress from a research project that is exploring teachers' views about: their professional status, the role of teacher development in their working lives, and the changing nature of their day to day work. The project draws upon data collected from in-depth, unstructured interviews conducted with a small group of teachers from a non-denominational, co-educational independent school located in a provincial city. The drive toward articulation and use of competencies in describing teachers' work carries with it certain assumptions about the nature of the `professional' teacher. This is evident in the work of the NPQTL and the direction of school reform being instigated in Victoria. The work described offers insight into how teachers view changes to the nature and prescription of their work within the context of the `professional teacher'. This paper has been awarded a 1993 Post Graduate Travel Fellowship for presentation at the conference.

Geoffrey Shacklock, Flinders University of South Australia.

Computer analysis of unstructured interview data.

This paper reports on the researcher's use of a software package for analysis of data collected from a series of in-depth, unstructured interviews conducted with a group of teachers in a secondary school. The software called HYPERQUALr was designed by Raymond V. Padilla and uses the Macintosh Hypercardr system as an organising database for handling qualitative data. The cut, paste and sort functions of the computer in finding and moving required information are used together with the `filing card' organising system of Hypercardr to enable the researcher to electronically perform the coding and sorting processes essential to interpretational qualitative analysis. HYPERQUALr is a versatile analysis tool which can be used for: both structured and unstructured interview data, observational data, and document analysis.

Halia Silins, The Flinders University of South Australia.

Analysing leadership and its components: What makes the difference ?

This report describes the strategy employed to show the existence of two correlated dimensions of school leadership, transformational and transactional, and to identify the correlated components of the two constructs. Previous analyses in this area have used Canadian and American data bases and applied traditional factor analytic approaches that assume orthogonality of variables, often inappropriately. The paper argues that factor analytic approaches to construction of scales and exploration of important educational constructs should make use of recent methodological advances, particularly since the scales are subsequently used in forming latent variables in structural equation modelling. The results of applying oblimin factor analysis to data involving correlated constructs, and to understanding leadership concepts within the Australian context, are presented and discussed.

Cheryl Sim, Griffith University.

Investigating effective teacher educator practice: Focus on the subject matter course.

This paper outlines research currently being undertaken by the writer into secondary teacher education courses in the subject area of Social Education. Research in this area is limited, yet the little that has been written has indicated that the important role that subject matter coursework can have on future teacher practice is under emphasised in teacher education programmes. Four settings for teacher education can be described as the general pedagogical subjects; the subject specific pedagogical subjects; the field studies or practicum; and the subject matter or content subjects. This research considers the propositon that the subject matter course provides the setting in which the complexities of teaching in secondary classrooms can be emphasised through a design which brings together the first two settings.

This study uses the case of a History based subject matter course. The paper will provide a brief overview on the background to the study. It will focus on the method of investigation, action research, and the outcomes that are emerging after two years on the project.

Ronald Sinclair and Donald Squires, Charles Sturt University.

Quality is the central issue: Comments on changes to distance education provision in pursuit of quality, equity and outcomes.

Since 1990, the NSW government as part of its Rural Education Plan has embarked on two major initiatives in an attempt to ensure equitable provision of educational services for students isolated from school by geography or other circumstances. These were 1) the Years 11/12 Access Program operating in the secondary departments of small rural schools, and 2) the decentralisation of the distance education system. The authors conducted comprehensive formal evaluations of the two programs on behalf of the NSW Department of School Education. This study outlines some of the results of these studies as well as highlighting major issues which arise from them. For example, the paper will examine the tensions between the need to encourage schools and Distance Education Centres to feel that they have the necessary autonomy and resources to respond in appropriate ways to the unique circumstances of their students, and the need to ensure equitable standards and quality across the system.

Kim Smith, University of Technology Sydney.

Investigating environmental issues: Case studies in the primary school.

Tertiary students participating in environmental education as part of the Bachelor of Education program at UTS have been involved in researching environmental issues in the context of the primary school classroom. The case studies demonstrate how primary school students can be involved in investigating environmental issues relevant to their community. A significant aspect of the case studies is the involvement of junior primary students in researching an issue, developing an action plan and implementing the plan.

This paper seeks to review these case studies in relation to a larger study which aims to explore the implementation of environmental education in the primary school curriculum.

Richard Smith and Judyth Sachs, Griffith University.

The new higher education worker.

The external political, economic and social environment has had a significant influence on how higher education policy and practices are experienced. In previous times, the work-culture of academia was characterised by reflection, scholarship and teaching. Managerialism has displaced this culture and imposed new working conditions and expectations on academics and their work. This paper analyses propositions about the work culture of academia and new work conditions. Using data collected in an Australian university, it argues that academic work is being intensified with little increase in satisfaction and productivity.

Kim Snepvangers, University of New South Wales.

A meta-dilemma in the ethics of qualitative evaluation.

This paper describes the problems of access in a naturalistic study into evaluative practice in Visual Arts. The conception and developmental sequence of the study is discussed from my perspective of research in progress. My account of the dilemmas in the beginning phases of the naturalistic study entail issues of funding, bureaucracy, time, subjectivity and ethics. Exacting conditions are required of the researcher in academic practice. When combined with the requirements and conditions of various gatekeepers and stakeholders in the study, a meta-dilemma is exposed in the ethics of conducting an inquiry when conditions are imposed.

Ilana Snyder, Monash University.

Multiple perspectives in literacy research: Reconciling the quantitative and the qualitative.

The distinction between quantitative and qualitative methodologies divides researchers over such questions as what counts as research, what counts as evidence, and what the principles are by which we connect evidence to our claims. Underlying all these questions are assumptions about the nature of reality and how we perceive and interpret it.

In this paper, I argue that the two research traditions are not mutually exclusive: rather they are inescapably linked. Further, seemingly divergent assumptions about objective reality simply represent different metaphors about our relationship to reality, and both have validity under certain sets of conditions. Using my own research in computer literacy education as an exemplar, I explore how the use of the two approaches allows researchers to bring different methodologies and insights to bear on the same problem.

Francesco Sofo, University of Canberra.

The competent adult educator/human resource development practitioner.

Of recent interest in the field of HRD/Adult Education is the development of professional competence and learning within organisations. The paper reports on preliminary findings of an investigation of what Adult Educators/HRD practitioners perceive are the characteristics which relate to their effective performance. The research has the potential to contribute to workplace effectiveness and efficiency and also to give tertiary institutions better direction in terms of program refinement and offerings in adult education and human resource development.

Victor Soucek, Murdoch University.

Global economy in crisis, new production concepts, and work-competency schooling: What are the implications for the future of our children?

The paper will argue that the 1980s changes in our education provision constitute a radically new way of systemic integration of children, young people, and teachers into the emerging post-Fordist economic regime. These `reforms' represent a shift in our education policy away from the balance between the lifeworld and the system interests. In the past, these interests were expressed as general and vocational curricula. These have now been collapsed into vocational education. This linking of education with the economic system parallels the global changes in the labour process and in the industrial relations.

The new workplace, the advocates of flexible specialisation argue, demands a flexible and multi-skilled workforce. Some see in these developments an opportunity to promote autonomy, equity, and democratisation of our working environment. In opposition to these claims, this paper will argue that these changes can be interpreted as aiming at a much thorough integration of workers into a labour process over which they will have no control. Our education system is thus asked to promote a vision of a society which is less democratic and less equitable than the one we have known in the past.

SOUTE93.084

Erica Southgate, The University of Newcastle.

Re/membering school bodies: An empirical investigation into Foucauldian theory, memory work and continuities of school experience.

This paper will discuss some of the preliminary findings from empirical research which seeks to investigate links between Foucauldian notions of power relations and the disciplining of bodies, and memories of schooling. Pilot study data suggest that memories of schooling focus on the corporeal both in terms of pedagogical practice and activity beyond the classroom. Continuities in schooling experience will also be discussed. It will be tentatively suggested that linking Foucauldian theory with the methodology of memory work has implications for rethinking the nature of schooled subjectivity; for uncovering pedagogical continuities; and for challenging technicist ideas on the nature of schooling.

David Spillman & G Baker, Department of Education, Queensland.

The way to a healthy school is through it's stomach: Food and nutrition as an entry point to a Health Promoting School.

There is current debate about the role of health in education. Put simply, the argument poses the question, should we be focusing upon health for education or education for health? The health promoting school model provides a framework for development to support both perspectives. Through attention to the physical and social environment of the school, and parent and community involvement, issues can be addressed that may enrich personal, community and environmental health, thus potentiating student learning; health for education. Linking these components to the health curriculum ensures consistent messages about health and an environment in which health-related skills can be practiced and developed; education for health. One potential barrier to the implementation of this model is a suspicion on the part of school community members towards the developmental process proposed (ideally a type of participatory action research). Using food and nutrition, a familiar and `comfortable' issue, as a starting point may be effective in overcoming initial doubt and confusion. This paper will relate our experiences in employing this strategy in several Queensland schools.

John Stevens and Mira Crouch, Charles Sturt University.

Nurse education: Who cares?

This paper discusses some of the findings of a longitudinal research project which investigates attitudes towards working with the elderly. The results are based on a questionnaire answered in three stages throughout a pre-registration university qualification (n=610). Undergraduate education plays a major role in the socialisation of nurses into the `caring' profession. The results indicate that within this process nurses come to hold values which are: (1) extremely positive to clinical areas which involve high technology and the opportunity to perform medical or curative functions (such as intensive care); (2) extremely negative to clinical areas where technology appears not to have infiltrated and caring rather than curing is the dominant paradigm (such as aged care). These findings indicate that socialisation through the current form of nursing education is in fact re-focussing the profession's paradigm away from its traditional base of caring. This is discussed in the context of how it will make a difference to Australia's ageing population.

Andrew Sturman, University of Southern Queensland.

Student participation in the curriculum: A comparison of students studying in metropolitan, rural and remote Victorian government secondary schools.

This paper reports on one aspect of a larger DEET-funded project, administered by the Australian Council for Educational Research, into curriculum provision in rural schools. The paper uses the 1990 Victorian SCOPE data to describe and compare the participation at Year 12 in different curriculum areas and in different subjects of students studying in schools defined as metropolitan, rural or remote. The paper also examines to what extent participation is affected by the personal and social background characteristics of students studying in different locations.

Katsuaki Suzuki, Tohoku Gakuin University, Japan.

A case study of motivational design: Multi-media courseware "The Secret of Aunt Mariko".

This paper reports on a project in which a group of researchers and corporate members developed a laser-disk based multi-media computer courseware, targeting on English listening comprehension skill using a role-playing game format. It was a three-year project by Research Institute of Software Engineering, an affiliate of the International Trade and Industry Ministry of Japan. A short video tape of our final product will be first shown to the audience. Then theoretical backgrounds, especially that of motivational aspect of the courseware, will be introduced, using the ARCS motivational design model. Finally the developmental process and research activities involved in the project will be summarized.

SWAIM93.215

Murray Swain and Kevin Barry, Edith Cowan University.

Skills and belief systems of graduating teachers 1993-95.

The study in progress is surveying final-year pre-service teachers for their belief systems about teaching, and is rating their teaching skills at the end of their ten-week Assistant Teacher Program in WA schools. The study aims to establish baseline data for comparisons with later cohorts in order to observe (a) effects of any future changes to the administration, financing and control of the practicum, and (b) variations in attributes of graduating teachers over time.Rating data are being analysed using QUEST, an item-response theory computer programme employing Master's Partial Credit Model. Findings will be reported on profiles of teaching skills and the nature of graduating teachers' skills and belief systems.

TAYLC93.216

Catherine Taylor, Victoria.

How to identify novice and expert nurses problem solving processes. A clinical approach.

The transfer of nurse education in Australia from hospitals to the tertiary environment has resulted in different types of courses being offered in different universities but still preparing the undergraduate nurse for professional practice.The 1990's has brought a new term to bear in educational settings that of competence and therefore competencies. The nurse must be competent to practice which suggests that he/she is proficient in the identified categories. One such category is that of problem solving.

This paper discusses the research approach taken to identify novice and expert nurses problem solving processes in the clinical environment.

As the research project is still in the data collecting phase, the emphasis of this paper is that of the development of the project in particular the data collecting tools. This study is aqualitative research approach.

Peter Taylor, Curtin University of Technology, and Mark Campbell-Williams, Edith Cowan University.

A critical constructivist view of reforming the traditional high school mathematics classroom.

In this paper we adopt a Habermasian perspective and identify major ideological constraints facing constructivist pedagogical reform. The practical influence of these constraints is illustrated with reference to a case study of pedagogical reform in a high school mathematics classroom. We develop a critical constructivist perspective, and argue that cultural constraints might be overcome by the generation amongst teacher and students of communicative action which entails the establishment of: (1) open discourse that aims to create an atmosphere of mutual trust and respect, and (2) critical discourse that aims to make visible and subject to critical scrutiny the hidden frames of reference which constitute the dominant ideology of traditional mathematics teaching.

TEHG93.272

George Teh, Nanyang Technological University, and Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology.

The impact of computer-assisted learning on achievement, attitudes, and classroom environment in Singapore.

The aim of the study was to evaluate an innovation in computer-assisted learning (CAL), involving the use of micro-prolog for teaching the topic of decision-making in Singapore schools, in terms of its impact upon (1) student achievement, (2) student attitudes, and (3) classroom environment. The study involved 12 teachers, each in a different randomly-chosen school, who taught one CAL and one control class. Altogether 671 students from the second year of high school were involved. A 30-item multiple-choice achievement test and a 20-item semantic differential attitude measure were developed for the purposes of the study. A new 32-item classroom environment instrument was designed to assess four dimensions (namely, Gender Equity, Investigation, Innovation, and Resource Adequacy) relevant to CAL classrooms. In contrast to past research, the use of CAL in this study led to massive impact in terms of achievement, attitudes, and classroom environment. For example, the effect size (in terms of differences between CAL and control groups) was 3.5 standard deviations for achievement and 1.4 standard deviations for attitudes.

THIER93.217

Rodney Thiele, Curtin University of Technology.

Methodological limitations related to the determination of students' analogical reasoning ability.

In an ongoing series of studies, the researcher had investigated analogy presentation in textbooks and by high school teachers. A variety of methods were employed in these investigations and reproducible results attested to their suitability. The next phase of these studies investigates how students use these analogies to learn abstract concepts. Several instruments are being trialled with varying results.

This paper discusses several of these instruments with respect to their limitations to describe students' use of analogies in a naturalistic, classroom-based research study.

Rodney Thiele, Curtin University of Technology.

Six science teachers' use of analogies: An international perspective.

Four science teachers in Western Australia and two in North Yorkshire, England, were observed teaching a sequence of chemistry lessons (between eight and 16 lessons each) and were interviewed by the researcher following the completion of the lesson sequences. This research paper describes how and when these teachers used instructional analogies and why the teachers chose to use the analogies the way they did. Further, an analogy classification framework developed from textbook studies which consisted of eight instructional criteria, was used to examine each of the 58 analogies identified. The analysis of these classifications were used to compare Australian and British teachers' analogies to determine the extent to which cultural and social factors influence the nature of and purpose of analogy-inclusive instruction.

THOMK93.219

Kerry Thompson, The University of Newcastle.

An evaluation of physical and sport education programs in Hunter Region (NSW) primary schools.

This presentation will report on an empirical study recently conducted in the Hunter Education region NSW which attempted to quantify those independent variables, both human and physical, that influence the effective planning and implementation of physical and sport education programs in primary schools.The study involved a random sample of 110 primary schools, stratified in terms of school size and location with responses elicited from five target groups: school principals, sports coordinators, class teachers, parents and Year 6 students with a response rate of 72% achieved (n=4260 respondents).A model is presented to delineate the major variables which influence the provision of effective physical and sport education programs in primary schools and recommendations are proposed for future program planning and implementation.

THOMS93.320

Sue Thomas, Griffith University.

Popular discourse and education policy: Constructing the agenda for education.

Several commentators have recently challenged the media portrayal of education which they see as being consistently negative. They emphasise the need for the formulation of an alternative, reformist discourse which would inform education policy making. The construction of such a discourse would need to come to terms with the nature of media practices, in particular the social production of news. This process has been described in several Australian analyses of the press treatment of educational debates. The analyses illustrate the ideological effects of these media practices and demonstrate how they work to give hegemonic consent to the maintenance of existing political, social and economic arrangements. The paper argues that a deeper understanding of the hegemonic process and its relationship to education decision making is necessary if popular consent is to be won for an alternative agenda for education. The search for such an understanding should be included in any future research agenda if educational research is to make a difference.

TIMMH93.220

Heather Timms, Edith Cowan University.

Drama, language and cognition: Exploring the effects of improvisational drama strategies on the oral comprehension skills of children with low socio-economic backgrounds.

Children with a low socio-economic background frequently fail to reach a high level of scholastic performance during their school years. The school milieu is a potential contributor to this scenario, as schools are generally designed for the attributes, needs, and skill levels that are characteristic of children from middle socio-economic backgrounds. Hence, these children require specific intervention to enable them to function within this apparently `alien' system. This paper explores the use of improvisational drama strategies to enhance the oral comprehension skills of 9 to 10 year old students with low socio-economic backgrounds. The study will demonstrate the effectiveness of this programme through both quantitative and qualitative means. For the treatment group the drama strategies significantly improved the students' oral comprehension skills, most interestingly the higher order cognitive skills, and produced active, and self-motivated participation in the learning process.

Ross Todd, Joyce Kirk,Jan Houghton, Merolyn Coombs and Hilary Yerbury, University of Technology Sydney.

Enhancing student learning: A co-ordinated approach.

Recent winners of the University's award for excellence in supporting student learning, staff in the Department of Information Studies, University of Technology, Sydney take an action research approach to the enhancement of learning and teaching. Our teaching philosophy is one which seeks to place the student at the centre of a process of bringing together teaching, learning, professional practice and the development of a theoretical knowledge base. Our purpose is to enable the development of autonomous professionals capable of high quality practice.

This symposium presents five separate yet integrated ways in which academic staff implemented this philosophy. These are: the development of information skills; the exploration of cross-cultural influences on learning; the introduction of concept mapping; the use of peer assessment and the encouragement of student autonomy, especially with subject content.

Ross Todd and Joyce Kirk, University of Technology Sydney.

Concept mapping and the development of theoretical knowledge.

Higher education emphasises the development of conceptual and theoretical knowledge. To understand the meaning of key concepts and the nature of their interrelationships in a field of study, and to be able to link these new concepts to relevant theoretical knowledge already possessed are considered fundamental for students to progress through their courses of study. This paper will report on action research focusing on the rationale, approaches to implementation and evaluation, and outcomes of concept mapping as a learning heuristic in the discipline of information science. While the case study is oriented to the teaching of information science, the methodology, insights and perspectives presented have wide applicability across many disciplines.

Toh Seong Chong, University of Science Malaysia.

Use of microcomputer simulations to overcome student misconceptions about displacement of liquids.

This study compared the effectiveness of computer simulated experiments with that of parallel instruction involving hands-on laboratory experiments for teaching volume displacement concepts. The purpose of the simulation was to have students test their misconceptions rather than simply being told about erroneous misconceptions. This study also assessed the differential effect of students' understanding of the volume displacement concepts in the cognitive category of knowledge and application. In addition, it compared the degree of retention, after 30 days, of both treatment groups. The study consisted of 389 students from 6 Malaysian schools. The results indicated that there were significant differences between the two groups in terms of learning gains in the cognitive category of knowledge as well as in the cognitive category of application. The implications of these results for the design of computer-based instruction in science are discussed.

David Treagust, Rodney Thiele, Grady Venville, Allan Harrison, and Susan Stocklmayer, Curtin University of Technology.

Teaching and learning science with analogies.

This symposium comprises four inter-related studies which provide a critical analysis of the role of analogies in science teaching and learning. The first study focuses on the intentions of textbook authors when they include analogies in the textbooks they write, while the second study evaluates one approach for teaching science concepts with analogies in a systematic manner. The third study describes a newly developed teaching guide for incorporating analogies which is informed by collaborative research with several science teachers in Perth schools. While the findings of these studies are promising, analogical instruction needs further research to determine whether analogies used in teaching can produce enhanced understanding of the phenomenon. Subsequently, the final paper of the symposium provides an examination and evaluation of analogies used to understand the phenomenon of electricity.

Marianne Treuen, Queensland University of Technology.

Using popular culture (drama) in the ABC television series "Finders Seekers".

This paper looks at the role of dramatisation in a primary educational television program on science. It examines Ellsworth's idea that "incorporation of popular cultural forms is related to the legitimation of school knowledge". Modes of address, the hidden curriculum, and context of production and reception of the ABC series "Finders Seekers" show that the series breaks down the notion of the "expert" but that conflicting views of authority are produced.

TRIPD93.225

David Tripp, Murdoch University.

Critical incidents in collaborative classroom research.

Critical incidents are becoming an important research strategy for two main reasons. First, journals are being increasingly frequently kept by teachers and researchers and should be an important source of data. Generally speaking, however, little use is made of the journal entries other than to provide a background narrative account to other teaching and research practices. One way of employing these data is to develop the journal observations into critical incidents, using them in various ways such as the basis for intervention in action research and to form categories in the production of grounded theory.

Second, critical incidents are a form of event analysis particularly suited to teacher-researcher collaborative research strategies. They provide a way of facilitating the emergence of a shared research agenda and they offer a way of dealing with the routine and everyday experiences of the participants.

In this workshop participants will be introduced to the rationale and procedures of the method, and shown how it is used in action and ethnographic research strategies. Participants will also have the opportunity to explore and discuss associated issues such as the politics of educational research, the role of critical incidents in the development of grounded theory, and the formation of research and policy generalisations from critical incident data.

David Tripp, Murdoch University.

Defining the meta-curriculum: A practical pedagogy for a national curriculum.

The term 'meta-curriculum' refers to what is learned from learning the school curriculum. The paper outlines and illustrates the development of the idea and method and reports the findings of a recent ARC funded project. It is argued that high level factual generalisations (such as `texts can be read in different ways') integrate different kinds of knowledge and are more useful and enduring than particular facts from which the generalisation may have been learned (such as the details of the differences between two different readings of a particular book). It is also suggested that factual generalisations are easily taught and could form the basis of any curriculum.

Paul Van de Ven, Laurel Bornholt and Michael Bailey, University of Sydney.

Homophobic attitudes and behaviours: Telling which teaching strategies make a difference.

Comprehensive, reliable and valid measurement of prejudicial attitudes and behaviours toward lesbians and gay males is essential to the effective evaluation of outcomes of recently implemented initiatives for reducing homophobia. A sample of undergraduate (N = 97) and high school (N = 40) students completed three instruments for measuring cognitive (Modified Attitudes Toward Homosexuality Scale; Price, 1987), affective (Affective Reactions to Homosexuality Scale: after Ernulf and Innala, 1987) and behavioural (Homophobic Behaviour of Students Scale: newly developed) reactions to homosexuals. All scales were found to be reliable (internally consistent). The undergraduate students' responses confirmed the three-factor structure (Homophobic Guilt, Homophobic Anger, Delight) of affects in this domain, and supported the concurrent validity of the behavioural measure. Predictive validity of the behavioural scale was demonstrated by findings of a high school study which showed that students subsequently acted in accordance with their responses to this paper-and-pencil test. The fit of the overall measurement model was slightly less than optimal. However, the strategy of using the three scales to tell which teaching procedures make a difference in attempts to improve understanding and acceptance of homosexuality was judged to be tenable.

VANTJ93.229

Jan van Tartwijk, Mieke Brekelmans and Theo Wubbels, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Differences in the nonverbal behaviour of student-teachers and more experienced teachers.

Brekelmans, Holvast & Van Tartwijk (1992) found that the communication styles of experienced teachers were perceived by their students as more dominant than the communication styles of student-teachers. Creton & Wubbels (1984) found that both students and teachers prefer communication styles that are perceived as more dominant compared to other styles. In our paper we describe a comparison of the nonverbal behaviour of student-teachers and more experienced teachers observable in small time-units in the class.

Compared to student-teachers, experienced teachers have longer-lasting eye-contact with their students and speak longer and more loudly. We conclude that by showing these behaviours, experienced teachers give their students an image of their teacher as someone who is `competent and in control' and with whom they should communicate accordingly. Our results have implications for teacher-training programmes.

VANTJ93.274

Jan van Tartwijk, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands, and Darrell Fisher, Curtin University of Technology.

Teacher nonverbal behaviour in science laboratory classrooms and the perception of interpersonal teacher behaviour.

The aim of this study was to formulate specific clues about molecular teacher behaviours, that may help both student teachers and in-service teachers to improve their communication style. Molecular teacher behaviour is that which can be observed in small time intervals. In the research study described intervals of eight seconds were used. Teacher interpersonal behaviour is an important factor in learning environments and strong relationships have been found between students' perceptions of the teachers' communication style and both cognitive and affective outcomes. In this study nonverbal teacher behaviours in everyday teacher-student communication in their classes, turned out to be an important factor for both the perception of molecular teacher behaviour and for teacher communication style as measured with the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction.

Wilma Vialle, University of Wollongong.

Identifying children's diverse strengths.

Despite current theory and research into the nature of intelligence and the acknowledged shortcomings of IQ testing, many practitioners still operate with a deficit model for educating children with special needs. The author conducted a naturalistic study of African-American preschoolers living in impoverished circumstances. Many of these children had already been targeted as "At Risk for School Failure". A key assumption of the study was that all children possess a strength in at least one domain of intellectual activity. Gardner's theory of Multiple Intelligences (1983) was used as the framework for observing children's performance in different domains. These intelligences are: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal and intrapersonal. It was determined that the assessment of children's abilities should be made in natural settings as they interact with differing tasks and problems. The settings in which the children were observed, included day-care facilities, the home, and the church.

It was found that children at the age of four and five exhibited markedly different profiles of strengths and weaknesses across the intellectual domains. Most importantly, though, the research indicated that it was possible to teach children to overcome weaknesses in one domain by focusing on their strengths and helping the child make connections to other domains. For example, one child was described by the day-care provider as emotionally disturbed, non-verbal and lacking in concentration. The researcher found that he had high spatial intelligence. By nurturing this strength and providing positive feedback, the child's emotional outbursts almost disappeared. Additionally, he started creating stories to go with his drawings. Another child was taught to read and write the alphabet by capitalising on her musical and bodily-kinesthetic intelligences.

The implications for education are manifold. By identifying and valuing each child's individual strengths, it is possible to enhance her/his achievements in other domains. This approach is particularly vital for disadvantaged children whose strengths frequently do not lie in the traditional linguistic and logical-mathematical domains.

VOLES93.230

Simone Volet, Murdoch University, John Biggs, The University of Hong Kong, Patricia Denham and J Oner, The University of Canberra, and Peter Renshaw, The University of Queensland.

Overseas students in Australian universities: Comparative and longitudinal studies of students' expectations, goals and interactions.

• Introduction to the symposium by Dr Simone Volet.

VOLES93.286

Simone Volet, Murdoch University, and Peter Renshaw, The University of Queensland.

Qualitative differences in local and overseas students' learning goals and perceptions of learning settings.

The present study examined the extent to which South-east Asian students' goals and perceptions become more similar to local students at the end of one semester of academic study in Australia. Matched groups of local and South-east Asian students, enrolled in a first year economics unit were used for this short-term longitudinal investigation. The analyses of students' learning goals, based on Andrich's probabilistic unfolding preference model, revealed qualitative differences between the two groups' conceptualisation of goals at the beginning of the semester, but not at the end. South-east Asian students also started the course with higher levels of goals compared to local students, but a shift downwards brought them closer to local students by the end of the semester. Further support for the hypothesis that South-east Asian students are highly responsive to the demands of specific learning situations was found in their perceptions of the usefulness of various learning settings for achieving their goals. After one semester, South-east Asian students agreed with local students that independent study was the most useful form of study, and that individual consultation with tutors was less important than initially thought.

WALDB93.231

Bruce Waldrip and Geoffrey Giddings, Curtin University of Technology.

Culture, pedagogy and educational productivity.

This study combined qualitative and quantitative methods. The study attempted to (a) examine the relationship of current teaching practices to a number of variables that may affect students' learning in science classrooms, (b) examine which factors affect academic success in an external science achievement examination, and (c) determine whether an educational productivity model in the science education area was applicable. Similar science laboratory learning environments were found across most high schools with one of the environment scales, Open Endedness, the least favourable scale. Multivariant analysis showed that science academic achievement was related to quality and quantity of instruction, science laboratory learning environment scales and gender. As in similar studies in other countries, male students performed better than female students in external science achievement examinations whilst female students achieved higher in a practical science process test. Finally, the study identified some specific aspects of current teaching practices involving science learning environments and students' attitudes in Papua New Guinea.

WALDB93.232

Bruce Waldrip, Curtin University of Technology.

Student and teacher perceptions of video-conferencing between two campuses.

This research evaluated Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) video conferencing for the delivery of distance education programs between two campuses of Curtin University of Technology using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The sample comprised all students and their lecturers enrolled in two courses that utilised Video-conferencing. A reliable instrument was developed which consisted of five factors, namely, Student Learning, Instructional Techniques, the ISDN Medium, Attitudes and Potential Use. Analysis of the data showed statistically significant differences between campuses on all five factors, each in favour of the remote campus. No statistically significant differences in student learning outcomes, compared to regular scheduled courses, were observed as a consequence of participating in Video-conferencing.

Jim Walker, University of Canberra.

"Operation A": Youth culture and academic performance.

Operation A is an action research project which has been under way for 18 months. Young people from Years 9 - 12 join small groups, led by the researcher, to back each other in pursuit of personal goals which may be compromised or suppressed by subcultural norms and practices, by family circumstances, or by self concept and self esteem. A common goal is to achieve one's academic best while leading a balanced life with time and energy for fun, family and friends. The evidence is that the Operation A process is successful in assisting young people towards this goal It is hypothesised that as Operation A group members change themselves they will become agents of cultural change in their schools. The next step is to train teacher education students to lead Operation A groups and determine how generalisable the process is.

WALKJ93.276

Carla Fasano, University of Wollongong, Shirley Grundy, University of New England, Rod McDonald, University of Technology Sydney, Barry McGaw, Australian Council for Educational Research, Richard Smith, Griffith University and Jim Walker, University of Canberra.

The future of educational research in Australia.

The symposium will not involve presentation of formal papers, but will consist of short talks by the contributors, followed by a conversation and debate among them, and finally contributions from the audience.

The basic question is: does Australian educational research have a future, and if so what is it ?

In answering this question, contributors will address these issues:

• who will decide on research priorities and projects?

John Wallace, Curtin University of Technology, and Helen Wildy, University of Western Australia.

School site experiences with the National Schools Project.

This is an empirical study of the involvement of a small rural high school in the National School Project (NSP) during 1992/93. Qualitative methods are employed to examine the change processes utilised by the school as well as the substance of the changes. The data were gathered by the authors during regular visits to the school over twelve months. The authors attended planning meetings, evaluation meetings, meetings of school personnel with state NSP personnel, examined relevant documents and interviewed selected staff members. The study identifies a number of the issues related to the way in which the school interpreted its involvement in the NSP and undertook its work organisational changes.

Manjula Waniganayake, University of Melbourne.

Doing cross-cultural research in education: A question of concordance or confusion ?

Cross-cultural researchers may be described as naive wander bugs or instant experts when answering the question `what can we learn from them?'. The nature of research takes on a different meaning when one is attempting to learn from others across cultures which are distinctively different. It is fraught with difficulties and much of this is embedded in the social identity adopted by the researcher. Many identities are possible but once an identity is chosen, it will fashion `what you see in them and what they see in you' during the research process. In this seminar, the significance of the researcher's social identity in undertaking cross-cultural research in education will be examined by one still grappling with the problems of clarifying links between theory, methodology, practice and policy across and between diverse cultures. Evidence from doing research in Australia and in Japan will be discussed.

WARTP93.236

Pamela Warton and Magdalena Mok, Macquarie University.

Perceptions of effective teaching: Views of preservice teachers.

This paper outlines preliminary analysis of data from a study which examines the role of perceptions about the self and about effective teaching during teacher training. It describes the views of student teachers at the beginning of the year of their training in which they first encounter school experience. Using a combination of rating scales and open-ended responses, the study asks students to describe the qualities of " a really good teacher" and to consider similar attributes in rating themselves as teachers. The views of Primary (n=64) and Secondary (n=113) students are contrasted.

Pamela Warton, Macquarie University.

Learning responsibility: Lessons from homework.

One of the key understandings required for the development of a sense of responsibility is the understanding of self-regulation. In this study, children from grades 2, 4 and 6 were asked about homework practices and their ideas about self-regulation in regard to homework, for instance, remembering without being reminded. Results indicated few age differences in practices, but an age-related shift in ideas from other-regulated to self-regulated. It is argued that parents and teachers assist children to be responsible by giving reminders long after children have understood the general principle of self-regulation.

WATSA93.237

Alan Watson and Ranate Valtin, University of New South Wales.

Children's understanding of secrets.

Children's understanding of the nature of secrets as an expression of their knowledge of intentions was investigated. The sample of 200 was drawn from 5, 6, 8, 10 and 12 year old children (40 from each age group). Half were male, half were female and half were from Berlin and half from Sydney. Four kinds of secrets - guilty, innocent, dangerous and embarrassing - were presented in structured interviews by means of illustrated stories. The children were questioned to reveal whether they would tell the secret to mother and to a friend, why they would do so, and what they understood a secret to be. Differences across age were found for some secrets (for example, telling mother guilty and dangerous secrets) but not for others (for example, telling mother innocent and embarrassing secrets) and for some aspects of understanding mother's and friend's intentions. Some gender and cultural differences were found. Findings are interpreted in terms of the social and affective demands of learning to exercise trust in human relationships.

Rosemary Jones, The University of Tasmania, Margaret Watters, Deakin University and Alison Vincent, The University of Sydney.

Becoming professionals: Teacher education students linking industry and community.

"Professional development" is a buzz word in education and training circles. Considerable resources are spent in its name. Might it be wise, we ask, to pause and reflect on our understanding of what it means to be a professional today?A study that sought to evaluate the home economics professional practice unit within the BEd(Secondary) program at Deakin University brought to light a dilemma for educators of professionals. This paper points to some aspects of the dilemma for educators in educating for professional practice while exploring some possibilities in the links between education and business/industry.

Russell Waugh, Edith Cowan University.

Student job and educational aspirations.

This paper reports on the preliminary analysis of a study of the job and educational aspirations of 1183 students from Year 8 to Year 11 in Perth, Western Australia. Four aspects, a realistic short term choice, a realistic long term choice, an idealistic short term choice and an idealistic long term choice are considered to be indicators of two underlying traits, level of educational aspirations and level of job aspirations. Students responded to questions on each of the four aspects in terms of a list of educational levels ranked by status, and separately, in terms of a list of jobs ranked by status. The results support the view that the four aspects are indicators of the underlying trait, level of educational aspirations, when the items are related to educational status levels. However, while the results also support the view that the four aspects can also be indicators of the underlying trait, level of job aspirations, when the items are related to jobs ranked by status, the analysis shows that the items of this measure need refinement, possibly by making the job descriptions more general. The educational choices of the students show that most students wish to stay on, at least to Year 12, and that most want to go further to TAFE and University studies. The job choices show that while most students are aiming for high status jobs, with many probably making unrealistic choices, the choices of the older students are more realistic than those of the younger students. While there are many similarities between the job choices of the males and the females, there are still some strong differences.

Russell Waugh and Norm Hyde, Edith Cowan University.

Student perceptions of school. An action research project regarding disaffection.

This is a report of a collaborative action research study of student perceptions of a school, their teachers and their studies in relation to disaffection. All 716 students from Year 8 (13 year olds) to Year 12 (17 year olds) from one government senior high school were surveyed in 1992. On the positive side, the majority of students enjoyed coming to school and thought that their work was interesting. Most students perceived that the majority of their teachers were understanding and that the most of their teachers respected them. On the negative side there was a proportion of students in each year group who thought otherwise. Disaffection perceptions, with age and gender effects, focussed on safety at school, organisation at the school, uninteresting and irrelevant lessons, and teachers uninterested in the opinions of students. It is suggested that at least part of the disaffection problem is due to unintentional effects resulting from the way that teachers interact with students.

Charles Webber, The University of Calgary, Canada.

The current role of school superintendents in Western Canada.

This paper presents the results of a recent study, conducted in western Canada, of the current educational concerns of 87 school superintendents. The study was conducted to inform educational stakeholders about educational trends and about the perceptions that superintendents have of their role. Study subjects identified 70 educational issues that are of concern to them. Their top priorities focused on the areas of declining financial resources and planning for the future. School violence, vandalism and racism were among the issues receiving low priority ratings. Potential for conflict with teachers is implicit in relatively low priority ratings for teacher burnout and teacher work overload. The concerns and the themes among them were used to describe the perceptions that school superintendents have of their role.

Peter Webb, Victoria University of Technology.

Attitudes and mathematics anxiety.

A study investigating the relationship of attitudes towards mathematics and level of mathematics anxiety was piloted using complementary questionnaires administered to a group of first-year higher education students. Mathematics anxiety was found to be independent of non-mathematics academic anxiety for females, but not for males. Correlational tests indicated a relationship between mathematics anxiety and attitudes towards mathematics as a discipline, mathematics self-concept, and perceptions of mathematics learning, while a relationship between mathematics anxiety and attitudes towards teachers was apparent for males only. A gender difference was observed in the incidence and degree of mathematics anxiety but not for attitudes towards mathematics.

Patricia Weeks, Queensland University of Technology.

Facilitating a collaborative, reflective teaching development project in higher education: Reflections on the research method.

This qualitative study is based on data I have collected from my involvement as the facilitator of a teaching development project in higher education. I used narrative inquiry as the mode of research in this study as it is a viable means of understanding an experience in which the researcher as an active participant and for capturing the complexity of improving teaching in higher education. As facilitator of the project I kept a journal and other data were collected through a series of unstructured conversations with lecturers involved with the TRAC (Teaching, Reflection and Collaboration) project. Observations were made of group meetings and documents relating to the reflective, collaborative teaching development project were collected and analysed.

Research Questions

This study is based on the following research questions:

• How did I facilitate teaching development in higher education?

The presentation will explain my approach to narrative inquiry in this particular study. I will describe the research design and the data collection strategies, such as, participant observation, conversations and journals. The ethical questions and considerations of this study will be explained and examples from the findings of this study will be used to illustrate how the "story" was told.

Gaby Weiner, South Bank University, England.

The gendered curriculum - producing the text: Developing a poststructural feminine analysis.

This paper is concerned with exploring the specifics of curriculum analysis and interpretation by considering the gendered curriculum as a discursive framework in which `difference' is produced; such that girls and boys, teachers and pupils, different racial and ethnic groups are differently positioned as powerful or powerless, good or bad, feminine or masculine, workers or mothers and so on. It uses poststructuralist frameworks to analyze how gender relations are inscribed within curriculum practices, considering three examples of how such an analysis can be helpful. In two cases, the author considers studies of specific subject areas (mathematics and science) though in different sectors of education (reported in Walkerdine, 1988 and 1990: Thomas, 1990) and the third is the author's own study of British national curriculum documentation (reported in Weiner, 1992, 1993). In the latter instance, texts are scrutinised in order to reveal how precise forms of knowledge are produced and presented to teachers; how they are likely to affect current gendered school experiences - of pupils, students and teachers - and how they are utilised for political and rhetorical purposes.

Margaret Weppler and Sid Bourke, The University of Newcastle.

Selection, roles and responsibilities of advanced skills teachers in the New South Wales Department of School Education: An alternate career pathway?

This paper deals with the implementation of the Advanced Skills Teacher (AST) concept by the NSW Department of School Education. Survey information was obtained from 480 classroom teachers and ASTs from the Hunter Region, and by interviewing ASTs and AST selection panel members from a single Cluster. Teachers' reasons for applying for AST status and the outcome of their application are examined. Roles and responsibilities assigned to appointed ASTs are analysed. ASTs, classroom teachers and senior school executive differ in their views of the AST position. Perceptions are diverse as to whether the AST position provides a career path as an alternative to promotion or is, in fact, simply a stepping stone to future promotional opportunities.

Jean Westthorp, Great Southern Regional College.

How are those most affected responding to the processes and product of competency based training?

From a national perspective, industry is driving the competency based training curriculum model without the advantage of any evaluative data. Such data could demonstrate that the products of the programs are more acceptable within the workplace. The data could also add to current understandings of the relationship between this curriculum issue and teachers and students. Thus, this evaluation will make a genuine contribution to case studies.

Michael White, Curtin University of Technology.

Vocationalism revisited in Australian secondary education in three depression decades - the 1890s, the 1930s and the 1980s.

Current educational policy, largely driven by economic crisis, appears certain to effect the most profound upheaval in upper secondary education ever witnessed in Australia's history. An historical review of similar periods of economic crisis - the depressions of the 1890s and the 1930s - nevertheless reveals that current policy is remarkably similar to that in the earlier depression decades. This is particularly so with respect to vocational pressures on the organisation and curriculum of the pre- and post-compulsory stages of secondary education; indeed on the duration of compulsory education itself. This paper uses an historical approach to reveal the remarkable similarities between policy themes in the three periods, and incidentally to highlight the threat to liberal/humanitarian goals posed by present obsessions with utility.

Martyn Wild, Edith Cowan University.

Why pre-service computer education programmes often do not make a difference to the teaching practices of education students.

This paper presents the results of a research study into the effectiveness of the computer education programme undertaken by pre-service education students at Edith Cowan University, Western Australia. Although this investigation targets one institution, the computer education programme at Edith Cowan is taken to be representative of such courses in many institutions in Australia and beyond.

On the basis of the results, this paper further presents an important and comprehensive set of principles and implementation strategies upon which all pre-service computer education programmes should be based. These principles and strategies draw upon what is currently known about effective teaching and effective learning, rather than what we know about computer technology itself; they are also to be the subject of a future research study to be undertaken by the author.

Jenny Ing and Martyn Wild, Edith Cowan University.

Using a concept keyboard to improve young children's construction of informational texts.

Many children do not find it easy to write. They may have difficulty with finding ideas, with sentence structure and/or with the mechanics of writing. The demands of using correct structure in functional writing, considered to be the most important form of writing for children to learn, make these texts even more difficult to create. The use of a concept keyboard as an alternative computer input device, has the potential to help children better structure their writing.This paper reports the results of a research project to investigate the effectiveness of young children using a concept keyboard as an alternative computer input device to assist in creating functional texts.

WILKL93.246

Linda Wilkins and Susan Stevens, Monash University.

Peer marking in undergraduate assessment: Applications in management and communications courses for engineers.

Under pressure from the IE,Aust. (The Institute of Engineers, Australia), engineering departments are rapidly increasing the availability of management and communications courses available to undergraduates. Such courses usually have an oral component where students give presentations, often on technically related topics. Peer-marking as a partial or total option offers a number of educational benefits particularly with students from non-English speaking backgrounds. This paper comments on the issues which arise if peer-marking is treated as a serious alternative to more traditional forms of assessment. In particular we look at the following questions:

1. the correlation between student and staff marking

WILLA93.249

Annette Willis, NSW Department of School Education.

Quality assurance in New South Wales: A paradigm for chnage and development in schools.

This paper discusses the critical factors involved in this educational initiative and the assurance of quality in the 2300 public schools in New South Wales.

Public schools are accountable to their communities and the school system to the broader public through parliament. Accountability and change through the development process are two distinct aspects of work brought together through quality assurance in NSW public schools. Quality assurance provides the structure for the assessment of systemic performance on a broad range of criteria for effective schooling. The first phase of the three phase evaluation of the quality assurance initiative will be discussed. A qualitative study was conducted to determine the perceptions of the key stakeholders in the quality assurance initiative. Approximately sixty people were interviewed - from senior executives, teachers federation, parents organisations, to participants in the school review process. Michael Fullan's assumptions about the change development process were used as a foundation for examining the initiative to improve school practices through a school review process. This study evaluates the assumptions identified by Fullan which affect phase one of the evaluation of quality assurance.

WILLH93.248

Helen Williams, Queensland University of Technology.

Open learners as curriculum decision makers: Some implications for the structuring of open learning environments.

Open learning philosophy suggests a shift towards learners taking the initiative in curriculum decision making. The control perceived by learners registered with the Open Learning Agency of Australia was investigated using a longitudinal telephone interview methodology informed by a non-foundationalist, realist - coherentist epistemology. The data support a model of learner control based on an interplay of learners rights and responsibilities, resources and support, and individual capabilities. Analysis in terms of curriculum decision points on the one hand and perceived locus of curriculum control on the other indicates that curriculum structures determine many loci and that even where learners rights imply a transfer of control significant barriers remain. Some implications for the structuring of open learning environments and student support and advisory services are discussed.

Lesley Willcoxson, University of Sydney.

Response patterns in native and foreign language fiction.

In the attempt to determine the relationship between responses to native and foreign-language fiction, six native-English speakers studying Spanish were asked to respond in writing and, subsequently, whilst being videotaped to English-language and Spanish-language short stories. Results indicate that, although media of expression affects responses, reading strategies and response patterns are generally transferred across languages. Linguistic competence, however, exerts a major influence upon both approach to a text and the outcomes of reading. Readers with lower levels of linguistic competence focus upon affective meaning whereas those with higher levels of competence are able to process texts intellectually irrespective of perceived empathy with characters or setting.

Roger Wiseman, University of South Australia.

The classroom risks of more open education - in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.

In general teachers in Australia and neighbouring countries agree that there are many educational reasons for making school curricula more open, with more active and questioning students and less prescribed content and processes in learning and teaching. However, in practice it is relatively rare to find open problem-solving methodologies being used in schools. This paper reports on a study of the influence of personal, management and wider political factors involved in teachers making or not making curricular innovations - particularly in relation to potentially more open problem-solving uses of technology - in Australia, Indonesia and Singapore.

Analyses (including qualitative analyses using NUDIST) have been made of material gathered from classroom observations (about 50 lessons), discussions with teachers and others involved with education, formal curricular and other documents, reports and other studies of schooling in these societies.

WOODJ93.251

Jonathan Wooding, University of Western Sydney.

Quality issues in coursework postgraduate degrees: Comprehending the staggered start.

The issues involved in quality assurance in education, and especially the value-added model, become more complex as one moves away from the `main' Year 12--Bachelors Honours--research degree stream. Despite the extraordinary growth in coursework degrees and diplomas, the actual background and expectations of the students at commencing such degrees remain poorly understood and often at variance with national and institutional expectations.

This paper will discuss data from recent surveys of quality issues amongst coursework masters and diploma students in the light of recent theoretical debate on quality assurance and recognition of prior learning. In particular it will be considered how much the variety in background and expectation of students is being comprehended in coursework teaching and degree formulation and suggests some strategies to adopt.

Shu-chen Jane Yang, National Changhua University of Education, Taiwan.

The effects of two computer-assisted career guidance programs--DISCOVER and SIGI PLUS--on the career development of high school students.

This study examined the effectiveness of two computer-assisted career guidance programs, DISCOVER and SIGI PLUS, on high school students' career development with six dependent variables: career maturity, career salience, accuracy of self-knowledge, certainty of vocational preference, satisfaction of vocational preference, and vocational exploratory behavior. Subjects were 96 11th and 12th graders. Chosen for this study was a 2 x 3 (Group treatment x Learning ability level) randomized block design. Results revealed: (a) no significant multivariate interaction effect between treatment and learning ability level on scores of five of the dependent variables; (b) no differentiation between treatment groups with the best linear combination of 12 subscales of career development measures; (c) no significant difference between the two groups on the vocational exploratory behavior measure; and (d) no differentiation among the three categories of computer use time with the best linear combination of 12 subscales. Implications of practice are discussed.

Hilary Yerbury and Ross Todd, University of Technology Sydney.

Holistic model for the development of student autonomy: A case study.

The development of the autonomous professional, capable of self-determination and independence of thought has long been valued as a goal of professional education. This paper focuses on the implementation of a holistic model for the development of autonomy in students, as a goal of professional education, in which approaches to developing autonomy in learning were integrated with approaches to autonomy in content. The paper also addresses the varied roles of the teacher, and highlights some key outcomes of this integrated approach to developing student autonomy from the perspective of the students and the academic staff.

Hilary Yerbury and Jan Houghton, University of Technology Sydney.

Strategies for effective learning in the multi-cultural classroom.

Cultural and value systems impact on the approaches and outcomes of student learning. Therefore, certain types of learning activities and assessment practices may disadvantage students with a given value system or cultural background. The project reported here found that it is not necessarily that students are unwilling to take an active part in their learning, but that it may be almost impossible for them to react as they are expected to because of the norms they have been brought up with. The paper highlights key issues and identifies a series of strategies which can be used by academic staff to ensure that teaching and assessment practices are not discriminatory.

YOONS93.253

Suan Yoong, University of Science Malaysia.

The Indiana Student Scale of self-esteem measure: Validation in a Malaysian setting.

The English versions of two self-esteem measures, Indiana Student Scale (ISS) and Rosenberg Self-Esteem (RSE) Scale were translated into Malay and administered to a random sample of 100 undergraduates at a local university. The self-esteem measures showed fair to high reliability coefficients (Cronbach alpha's: 0.90 for ISS and 0.83 for RSE; 0.52 to 0.80 for 5 ISS Subscales). With RSE as an external criterion, ISS exhibited fair concurrent validity coefficients (0.69 for ISS, and between 0.39 to 0.74 for ISS sub-scales). Factor analysis supported four out of five ISS theoretical sub-scales. Regression analyses showed Competence sub-scale as the single best predictor of self-esteem for the Malaysian sample (accounting for 41% of the regression variance).

Deidra Young and Barry Fraser, Curtin University of Technology.

A comparison of science learning across ten countries.

In this investigation, 14-year-old students from ten comparable countries were used in order to examine differences in science learning. The ten countries, which had participated in the Second International Science Study (SISS), were Australia, England, the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Sweden and Thailand. This study focused on the similarities and differences in student learning and how these related to their attitudes towards science and their science achievement (as measured by the SISS instruments). An important feature of this study was the incorporation of a measure of home background into the model, as well as the comparability of the ten countries. The countries selected for this investigation had compulsory science education for this age group, along with compulsory schooling.

YUNH93.255

Hyun Sub Yun, Kangweon National University, Korea.

A model for moral transformation in juvenile delinquents.

A covariance structure modelling is tested; and the model is constructed being based on Kantian moral philosophical ideas. The three priomoridal ideas of Self, "I think, I feel, and I want", are the base in this model, from these ideas of Self, the Parental Images, and from these Parental Images, the idea of Moral Duty and the idea of Legality are generated. And these two moral ideas finally generate the Moral Universality. A preliminary study shows that this model is a valid one. For the final study 100 juvenile delinquents in dentention house would be tested. It is hypothesized that the juvenile delinquents are undergoing some particular mental moral transformations along the dimension of the pursuit of the Good-will. A guideline for moral education for adolescents would be suggested.

ZAINA93.256

Ahmad Nurulazam Zain, University of Science Malaysia.

Teacher-based assessment in a science classroom.

This is an article of a qualitative research designed to gain an understanding of the processes involved by a science teacher in assessing student learning. This research was done using ethnographic method; that is the techniques employed by anthropologists were being used to discover the "mechanics" of teacher-based assessment. Data were collected using classroom observations, interviews with the teacher, and analysis of relevant documents. Fieldnotes were written, interviews were tape-recorded, and relevant documents were collected. The process of data collection lasted three months. Findings from this research will be discussed in this article and will be useful for us to understand the teacher's day-to-day assessment practice.