AARE
Australian Association for Research in Education

  AARE Conference 1994 - Abstracts  

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The 1994 AARE Abstracts have been converted to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) to allow better utilisation of the internet's power as a medium of communication. This means that you can search all the abstracts by tapping [CTRL][F] and searching for any words you choose.

Most of the abstracts below have a link "Paper" to the relevant paper. Not all papers were presented, and some were not submitted for publication. Some papers were submitted without an abstract. If you can't find the paper you seek, try the alphabetical list.

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Doug Absalom, University of Newcastle

Mixing methodologies in ESL-Practice meets theory

Keywords: ESL; language learning.

Because of the availability of a number of differing methods in teaching second languages, practising teachers have, over the past decade or so, adopted an eclectic approach, combining processes which past experience has shown to be successful with more radical strategies which they believe can do little harm to language learners.

This paper looks at two such combinations in an area of learning English as a Second Language (ESL) with a view to identifying the types of problem that might arise from arbitrary combinations in a program. The first section examines the introduction of a sustained period of computer-assisted language learning (CALL) into an intensive immersion program for a group of ESL learners during the December- January period in 1993/4, while the second examines the addition of a translation process onto a similar immersion program for an individual student during the second half of 1993. Specific language features of students, along with their results in University examinations, are used as indicators of the relative merits of each of the combined methods.

Antoinette Ackermann and Sandi Plummer, University of Canberra

Examination into the use, place and efficacy of group work in university courses

Keywords: group work; higher education.

Group work is a central part of courses in Health Education/Community Counselling; and group projects are an assessable component of some units. As part of the dynamic ongoing process of unit/course evaluation and self-reflexive praxis, the researchers sought to clarify tensions concerning co-operative learning methods (based on non-competitive rationales) and the competitive academic environment.

Questions addressed were: What is/are the learning needs which unit convenors believe that they are meeting when they include group projects as assessable components of a unit? Are there other teaching or administrative reasons why unit convenors set group projects as assessable components of their units? What student needs have been met by group projects? How have the students experienced the organisation of the group projects? Do students believe that the expected learning outcomes of the group project were presented clearly and effectively? How have the purposes of including the group projects as assessable components of the units been reconciled with the "typical individualistic" environment of the University?

The action research approach used is consistent with the co- operative/consultative nature of "appropriate" group experiences. The researchers were mindful of a number of dilemmas in using this approach, including ensuring every voice is given an equitable hearing; guarding against bias in expression; recognising objective suggestions for change from subjective reports; and recognising and valuing of subjective experiences (convenors and students) and at the same time evaluating these experiences in a way which allows values (notions of appropriate and inappropriate practices) to be placed on specific uses of group projects.

Di Adams and Coralie McCormack, University of Canberra

A change in the "whether"?: The introduction of an evaluation service for university lecturers

Keywords: evaluation of teaching; quality assurance.

In 1994, a new service to gather student feedback on teaching and units was offered by a new Centre (The Centre for the Enhancement of Learning, Teaching and Scholarship) of the fairly new University of Canberra (1990). The service was used by approximately 10% of the staff and over 3,000 student questionnaires were processed. A subsequent evaluation process was undertaken to ascertain the perceived usefulness of the service and its relevance to academics at the University of Canberra. The investigation team surveyed all staff who used the service, and met with student groups and faculties to provide opportunities to comment on the scheme, to raise concerns, and to seek further information on the purpose, structure, administration and processing of the questionnaires.

The overall perception seemed to be that it was "a good thing" to have the service. However, there was a variety of concerns expressed, and some mixed reactions from both staff and students. This paper will describe the themes which emerged, the perceived tension between institutional quality assurance measures and individual needs for feedback, and the strategies employed in an attempt to embed the service into a culture of critical reflection and self-evaluation for the university lecturers at the University of Canberra.

John Ainley, Australian Council for Educational Research, and Michael Sheret, Australian International Development Assistance Bureau

Changes in mathematics achievement over the high school years

Keywords: mathematics achievement; mathematics education.

One of the important developments in the way achievement is used in studies of school and individual influences on learning has been the use of achievement growth rather than a static achievement score as an outcome. As part of a longitudinal study of students' progress through the later years of high school, mathematics achievement was assessed in Year 9 (in 1987) and Year 12 (in 1990). In both Year levels students completed a modified version of the Progressive Achievement Test in Mathematics 3A. This test measures generalised mathematical performance rather than achievement specific to students' current studies. Scores at both levels were available for over 1,000 students from 22 schools. In addition, as part of the study, students provided information about their attitudes to school, self-rated achievement, type of course, approaches to learning and social background. The schools constituted a representative sample of non- selective government high schools in New South Wales.

Over the period from Year 9 to Year 12 most students improved their scores on the mathematics test. The average gain was just under half a standard deviation but there were differences between the types of mathematics course studied, gender and school attended. There was no significant association between gain score and social background. The paper reports on a series of analyses which examined the extent to which differences in the growth in mathematics achievement were associated with type of course, gender, social background, self-rated achievement and school attended.

ALFRI94.178

Irlande Alfred, National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia

Innovation in collaborative processes

Keywords: collaboration; literacy education.

Some of the issues that educators and researchers face to-day are the type of educational research that is in demand by policy makers and by practitioners, the research culture as it is evolving to-day, and the changes in the educational environment.

One of the goals of the Australian Language and Literacy Policy as set out in the White Paper is to establish a network of research in literacy across the country. The NLLIA Literacy Research Networks have developed strategies for setting up such a network and for ensuring better communication and collaboration between researchers and teachers. However, some of the following ingredients should be included in a paradigm of collaboration in education so that theory and practice can mesh and give rise to innovation in all aspects of literacy education: priority given to the recognition of teachers as potential researchers; a commitment to a balance between experimental research and research that addresses questions that are relevant to the practitioners and learners; and a belief that collaboration is the way to approach the literacy issues of to-day.

This paper will address these three points and report on an innovative model for making research-based knowledge accessible to practitioners whilst involving them in a professional development process to provide them with a strong scholarly basis for practice. The role of teachers in the research and the critical role that professional associations can play in this complex educational environment are also examined.

Andrea Allard, Maxine Cooper and Rosalind Hurworth, University of Melbourne

"Why are we kicking up and they are not?" Teacher education students' constructions of femininity and masculinity

Keywords: gender issues; teachers' beliefs.

This paper reports on a longitudinal study (currently in its third year) which is providing important information regarding teacher education students' beliefs and understandings concerning gender. Ways in which these constructions of gender inform the students' curriculum experiences and teaching performance in primary schools are a major focus of the study, as is staff professional development in relation to gender issues.

This Australian Research Council funded study has produced a large body of data including: annual questionnaire results, transcripts of student interviews, work samples, journal entries, and researchers' observation notes. While all students in the study completed the annual questionnaire, interviews were carried out with approximately 20 students who volunteered each year.

Additionally, individual interviews with all staff teaching in core subjects each year were completed to ascertain their background and understandings of gender issues, how they implement gender issues through the teacher education program, and in what ways they think the BEd (Primary) course can be improved in considering gender issues.

Findings from the data are being interpreted using concepts from feminist poststructural theory as a means to understand the various positions of students and staff. In this paper, we explore how particular students construct their own understandings of "appropriate" masculinity and femininity. We consider the implications such constructions have on and for feminist educators working for curriculum change.

Nola Alloway, James Cook University of North Queensland

Challenging gender: Teachers' efforts to work with young children

Keywords: gender issues; early childhood education.

Early childhood education has been largely ignored in national efforts to address issues of gender. Early childhood educators have had little guidance as to how they might begin to work with children to achieve more emancipatory understandings of what it might mean to live as an embodied female or male in our society.

In a DEET-funded project, a number of teachers in 10 sites throughout Queensland and New South Wales participated in an action research study, Addressing the Construction of Gender in the Preschool to Grade 3 Years. This paper reports on the work of these teachers, the issues they addressed, the strategies they adopted, and their reports of success in working with children in the 4 to 8 years age range.

The paper also asserts the need for early childhood education to move from the margins to the centre of research and international dialogue on gender.

Annemarie Møller Andersen and Helene Sørensen, Royal Danish School of Educational Studies, Denmark

Science education development in the Folkeskole

Keywords: science education; curriculum development.

The first part of the paper will introduce the "Folkeskole", the Danish school system for pupils aged 6 to 16. There will be a special emphasis on school science and teacher education.

The second part will deal with development projects in schools and research supported by the Innovation Council of the Folkeskole previous to a new Act of Education and new curriculum guides.

The last part of the paper will focus on a new interdisciplinary science subject called "nature/technique", which emphasises pupils' own experiments, investigations and explorations related to biology, chemistry, geography and physics. The curriculum provides a framework for the choice of teaching content from four central areas of knowledge and skills: "the near surroundings", "the distant surroundings", "Man's interactions with nature", and "thinking and working methods".

Darcy Anderson, Richard Walker and Cathrine Neilsen, University of Sydney

Student essay writing-task conceptions, approaches, quality of outcomes

Keywords: essay writing; SOLO.

This project aimed to examine the relationships between student conceptions of, approaches to and quality of outcomes in an essay writing task in a core undergraduate course in educational psychology. Two different but related strands of research provided the theoretical rationale for this project. The first was from recent research from a phenomenographic perspective in which detailed examination is made of interview data intended to provide a description of the learning process from the perspective of the learner. The other strand is from the Neo-Piagetian perspective of Biggs and Collis who developed the SOLO taxonomy as a tool to assess levels of thinking in terms of the structural complexity of student responses to tasks.

Following the completion of a major essay task, a sample of 18 students were interviewed (for about 30 minutes) on their conceptions of the task and their approaches to it. Categories of conceptions of the task were developed following examination of the interview transcripts by two of the researchers, along with other information gleaned from the interviews. The essays were then rated by two researchers on the structural complexity of the essays using the SOLO taxonomy as a framework. The grades for each of the essays as determined by the markers of the assignments were also obtained. Relationships amongst student conceptions of the particular task, their perceptions of their own essays, their conceptions of essay writing in other contexts and the quality of outcomes on the SOLO ratings and the markers' grades were investigated.

ANDED94.433

Damon Anderson, Monash University

Private versus public vocational colleges: A case study in comparative educational research

Keywords: vocational education; TAFE.

This paper reports on the major findings of a recent comparative study of private and public vocational education and training (VET) colleges in Australia. The study examined the nature, role and significance of private VET providers from an intersectoral perspective and in the context of the emerging training market. As such, the study constitutes the first attempt to explore and chart the terrain of the private vocational education and training sector, a dimension of post- school provision hitherto neglected by educational researchers in Australia. It is also the first study to undertake a systematic comparison of institutional providers of off-the-job training in the public and private sectors.

Based primarily on six in-depth case studies, the study provides an insight into the structure, culture and educational activities of TAFE colleges and their private sector analogues, commercial colleges. The study sheds light on the changing roles and relationships of public and private VET providers and discusses some of the key policy issues and implications arising from the shift to market-based VET provision.

In the course of reporting on the design and conduct of the study, the paper examines a number of conceptual and methodological problems which arise when undertaking comparative studies of public and private sector provision of post-school education and training. The paper highlights the need for further investigation of post-school VET provision and for new methodologies for comparative intersectoral research.

ANGUL94.182

Lawrence Angus and Lynton Brown, Monash University

Living in schools of the future

Keywords: educational policy; school management.

The paper will report work in progress in a series of case studies of Victorian secondary schools that are being conducted in order to document and interpret institutionalised, changing or contested educational practices, and, most importantly, the influence of the policy of Schools of the Future on institutionalised practices.

The purpose of the case studies is to examine in detail the social processes of construction, negotiation and interpretation occurring at the school level as a result of changing systemic policy. Sites have been selected not as typical or representative, but simply as locations in which educational practice and policy are constructed and enacted. The dynamic nature of these processes will be the focus of the paper.

Jennifer Archer and Jill Scevak, University of Newcastle

The relationship between tertiary students' motivation to learn and a tertiary subject's characteristics: Perspectives from two complementary approaches

Keywords: motivation; tertiary education.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of changes in a subject's characteristics (e.g. resubmission of the major assignment after feedback from lecturers, the right to work co-operatively, choice of assignment topics, and the provision of a booklet for writing good assignments) on first-year tertiary students' motivation to learn.

Approximately 270 students completed a motivation questionnaire assessing perception of mastery and performance achievement climates before changes to the subject (end of Semester 1) and again at the end of the year (end of Semester 2). In addition, a sample of students (60) were interviewed. The questionnaire results showed increasing levels of mastery climate perception, a weaker performance climate perception and increased enjoyment of the subject. The interview findings reflected the mastery orientation and provide a better understanding of how changes to a subject's characteristics may influence students' motivation to learn. Implications for the design of tertiary courses are discussed.

Charles Arcodia, Queensland University of Technology

Confucian perspectives on educational policy and practice

Keywords: Confucian philosophy; Asian Studies.

Confucian philosophy and its perspectives on education have a substantial contribution to make to educational theory, policy and practice. It is of particular relevance as Asian Studies emerges as a national educational priority in response to Federal and State initiatives in curriculum development. Its pertinence is also evident as educational systems in Australia adopt an eighth Key Competency, that of Cultural Understanding.

This paper reports on the first stage of a three-year study which investigates Confucian philosophy and its influences on contemporary educational discourse. The study seeks to contribute to the development of cultural literacy and an intellectual preparedness cultivated through the acquisition of knowledge, experience and understanding of one of Asia's contemporary philosophies.

Confucius spoke constantly of a unifying principle which gave meaning and guidance to human interaction. This unifying principle was jen, transliterated by a variety of scholars as "benevolence", "magnanimity", "virtue", "compassion", "human-heartedness". The purpose of the paper is to focus on this key tenet of Confucian philosophy and to draw some implications for educational theory and practice. The paper contributes to the process of making more accessible one of the most influential philosophies of the East and assists in opening up channels for future discourse between educational theorists from both the East and West.

Charles Arcodia and Tom Cooper, Queensland University of Technology

Student perceptions of an inner-city secondary school

Keywords: student perceptions; effective teaching/learning.

The Teaching for Effective Learning in Senior Schooling (TELSS) project is a three-year collaborative study conducted by the Queensland University of Technology and Kelvin Grove State High School. The project was funded by the Australian Research Council and has, as its aim, to review and renew teaching and learning in the senior school whilst determining how the needs of students can best be served given the changing nature of Australian society.

A number of studies are being conducted within the school. The purpose of the paper is to report the key issues which emerged when the school's student population was surveyed. The focus of the questionnaire was to canvass opinion on a broad range of concerns which affected their experience of schooling and to analyse these data to provide insight into student perceptions of effective teaching and learning. The questionnaire is the first phase of a two-part survey which addresses the following issues: demographics, home environment, ethnicity, employment, teacher effectiveness, vocational education, subject choice, study habits and discipline.

The data suggest a number of conclusions which have implications for effective teaching and learning in the senior school. These include autonomy in learning, vocational relevance, career counselling, responsiveness to diverse learning styles and a multiplicity of teaching strategies.

Julie Arthur and Bob Bingham, Australian Catholic University (Queensland)

All at sea: A dissonance model for teacher inservice

Keywords: action research; parent-teacher partnerships.

The involvement of parents in schools has been shown to have significant effects on student achievement. Catholic schools have a defined policy related to the importance of parent-teacher partnerships across all levels of schooling. However the practices of parent involvement often fall short of the rhetoric. Trends in research have identified teachers as the key to parental involvement. Against this background a pilot project was instituted with a cohort of K-12 teachers from Catholic schools in a coastal Australian town. The teachers (N=16) were involved in twilight seminars, collaborative reflection through collegial groups, and the implementation of action research projects related to parent-teacher partnership.

An initial survey of teacher beliefs and practices was complemented by interviews with participant teachers and analysis of personal journals. Ongoing research indicates that teachers have concerns about the decline in parent participation as children progress through schools. Of particular concern at the secondary level was the delay in reporting student achievement to parents. Differences have been identified between the beliefs teachers espoused about the importance of parental involvement and the practices in their schools.

The paper presents a description of the pilot inservice project and the action research process. The researchers report their perceptions of the efficacy of the project and discuss the expected outcomes for teachers, parents and administrators. This paper also reports on preliminary findings related to participant perceptions of the action research process and on teacher understandings of the nature of parent- teacher partnerships.

Julie Arthur and Bob Bingham, Australian Catholic University (Queensland); Peter Ireland, Colleen McQueen, Paul Martin, and Danny

Rankin, Classroom Teachers, K-12 Inservice Project

PANEL DISCUSSION: "You didn't tell us what to do!": Teacher perceptions of action research

Keywords: action research; parent-teacher partnerships.

The traditional expert delivery model of inservice with teachers has been shown to have some limitations for long-term understanding and professional growth. As an alternative, a facilitated action research inservice model offers the opportunity for teachers to identify areas of interest and their associated individual professional development needs. Such a program has been implemented throughout 1994 by Australian Catholic University personnel with a cohort of teachers (K-12) from six Catholic schools in a provincial town.

The format of the session includes an introduction to the project with brief presentations from teachers interspersed with audience participation and interaction. The session allows the teachers from the K-12 Inservice Project to outline their areas of focus and report on their experiences in the project. Areas of focus include academic motivation (Senior Secondary College), pastoral care (Junior Secondary College), personal development and sexuality (Primary School), and parent-teacher partnership (K-12).

To promote the exchange of ideas between teachers and Conference delegates some processes used in the project will be modelled.

Michael Arthur, University of Newcastle; Nancy Butterfield, New South Wales Department of School Education; and David McKinnon, Charles Sturt University-Bathurst

Case applications in a professional development program for communication partners: Reported changes in participant skills, knowledge and concerns

Keywords: communication; disability.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 16, Communication processes in students with severe intellectual disability: Issues and practices.

Brian R. Astill, University of Adelaide

Humanised statistics: Social values in a senior secondary school milieu

Keywords: statistics; social values.

This paper reports on a preliminary study which examined the social values of a Christian high school with a diverse student intake. Ninety final-year students, 45 parents, and 17 teachers were involved in the investigation.

To permit comparison with other research findings, the survey instruments administered to each participant included an internationally established Values Questionnaire (Schwartz, 1992), and a brief socio-demographic survey. Responses were processed using Cluster, Dimensional, Factor and Smallest Space analysis, as well as more commonplace statistical techniques.

The results suggest that the usage of quite complex statistical procedures can provide valuable insights into otherwise incomprehensible data, without the researcher needing high levels of knowledge of the underlying mathematical theory to enable understanding.

Bill Atweh, Robert Bleicher, Clare Christensen and Colin Lankshear, Queensland University of Technology

Successful school subject literacies within the context of disadvantage

Keywords: disadvantage; literacy.

Research into literacy and school subject performance focuses overwhelmingly on identifying and addressing risk factors associated with under-achievement. Strenuous efforts are devoted to diagnosing the "causes" of literacy failure that is pattered by ethnicity, social class, gender and other variables. This paper explores the possibility that equal or even greater insights into and potential benefit for school attainment may be achieved by investigating instances of successful school literacies practices within context officially designated as "disadvantaged".

It is a preliminary report which deals with six case studies comprising clusters built around successful students in English, science, physics, home economics, mathematics and economics at a secondary school in Brisbane. Each of the clusters consists of a student identified by their teacher as highly competent in the literacy of a given subject, one of their teachers and one of the students' caregivers. Interviews with all cluster members, classroom observations and journal-keeping by students are the main data collection techniques employed. The aim of the study is to develop contextualised theories to explain phenomena of success in disadvantaged settings and to identify social and pedagogical factors associated with success. This paper will report the findings of the present study, and comment on how they compare with those international studies of scholastic success in contexts of disadvantage.

Robert Austin, University of Newcastle

Freire, Fref and literacy texts in Chile, 1964-1970

Keywords: adult literacy; Chile.

As with the period of the UNESCO-backed literacy campaign in Cuba before it, the period 1964-1970 in Chile is arguably one of the great watersheds in twentieth century history of education. Responding to popular literacy debates reaching back to the latter decades of the 19th century, the Fref Montalva administration sponsored a literacy campaign which transformed the relationship between subject, text and society. The links between the ideological subtext of the literacy campaign and the popular rejection of "democratic" capitalism in Chile were not insignificant. Indeed, there remain influences in global educational discourse today of the Freire/Fref period.

This paper analyses the social and cultural context of the period, and locates literacy within that context. Inter alia, it argues that the centrality accorded the early work of Freire in the Chilean literacy process has tended to marginalise the significant contribution of co- workers (for instance, no English edition of Pedagogy of the Oppressed carries reference to its Chilean editor Marcela Gajardo); and that there remain unresolved contradictions between the stage of Freirian theoretical development applicable, and the textual representations of that theory.

Nado Aveling and Diana Frylinck, Murdoch University

Interactive video: Teaching/learning at a distance

Keywords: interactive teaching strategies; videoconferencing.

At a previous AARE conference we reported our preliminary findings on the use of videoconferencing in a distance education course offered by Murdoch University. Since then we have used videoconferencing in a second unit and explored in more depth issues raised by the first program.

Literature on the topic and our own experiences suggest traditional teaching methods are often not suited to videoconferencing and new teaching strategies have to be adopted. In this paper we report on some of the strategies we have trialled for use specifically in videoconferencing. These strategies and practical guidelines for videoconferencing are integral parts of a handbook, presently in press, which will be available to Murdoch staff and others who want to use this innovative technology most effectively. This paper will appeal to those who are keen to adopt videoconferencing but are concerned by the lack of pedagogical research into teaching strategies suited to the medium.

Paul L. Ayres, University of Western Sydney Nepean

Asian/Australian perceptions of Asian success in mathematics

Keywords: Asian attributes; cross-cultural issues.

Over the last 15 years many studies have been completed which have compared students in the USA with similar students in Asia on various mathematical tasks. In most cases the Americans have performed poorly compared with their Asian counterparts (notably Japanese and Chinese). Several theories have been forwarded to explain these international differences. Many focus on differences in cultural values towards education. The following study explores this cultural theme further by looking at Australian/Asian perceptions about Asian success in mathematics.

Three groups of students were interviewed: 59 Australian-born girls in Year 12 attending a private Sydney school, 20 Asian-born (mainly ethnic-Chinese) girls in Years 10-12 attending a private Sydney school, and 32 trainee teachers (both sexes) at the University of Western Sydney, Nepean. Subjects were asked to rank particular attributes to explain why Asians might excel in mathematics. These included ability, age, effort, pressure from parents, teaching at school, rewards for success, and luck.

Both groups of Australian-born subjects agreed on the two main attributes: hard work and pressure from parents, which suggests that these beliefs may be widespread. However, Asian-born students ranked hard work and the quality of teaching as their main two attributes. Pressure from parents was ranked much lower. Although it is of no surprise to hear that the work ethic is perceived as important for Asian success in mathematics, a more significant result may be that Asians have different values about teaching.

Richard G. Bagnall, Griffith University

Educational research in a postmodernity of resignation: A cautionary corrective to utopian resistance

Keywords: postmodernity; research methodology.

The paper develops from the premise that our several and collective realities may be taken as being and becoming increasingly postmodern in nature. Postmodernity is seen as culture that is self-consciously informed by an understanding of: the interpretative nature of human perception; the contextualisation and fragmentation of belief, meaning and being; and the de-differentiated and generalised nature of contemporary communication.

Two opposing currents of postmodernity are recognised: one of resistance and one of resignation. Analytical attention to date in educational research has tended to focus on the former. As a counter to that utopianism, the present work seeks to elucidate the nature of educational research in a postmodernity of resignation.

It is suggested that such research would be characterised by its immediacy, ephemerality, superficiality, fragmentation, changeability, non-progressiveness, anti-intellectualism, crude instrumentalism, and marketisation. Educational research as a vocation would be suffused with uncertainty, insecurity, demoralisation, and self-interest.

In traditional modernist conceptions of alternative research approaches, a postmodernity of resignation is seen as favouring idiographic over nomothetic, inter- or multi-disciplinary over disciplinary, eclectic over traditional, political over apolitical, and objectifying over participative research. In other respects, there are contradictory indications within it, particularly with respect to whether the research would tend to be grounded or paradigmatic, hermeneutic or empirical-analytic, historicist or universalist, qualitative or quantitative, and action-based or descriptive.

Robert G. Baker, Curtin University of Technology

Academic staff perceptions of teaching and learning in a university

Keywords: tertiary education; university teaching.

This paper reports the findings which have emerged from a survey of 368 academics who represent 42% of the full-time staff at a major university. The questionnaire was very comprehensive, containing almost 200 items. Some of the main issues addressed were the relationship between teaching and research, publications, staff selection/induction/promotion and student learning, and the value placed on teaching and learning by various groups or levels within the university.

Results revealed large differences in the perceived value placed on teaching and research by university administration, school/department, and individual academic staff. Of interest was the significant difference between the perceptions of academic staff who had a teaching qualification and those who did not. Indeed, significant differences in perception were apparent across professional and teaching qualifications, gender, teaching service, academic position and status, and faculty affiliation.

These findings have wide implication for academic staff development programs and the actions of universities responding to recent moves towards quality assurance and the advancement of quality teaching and learning in universities.

Ian L. Ball, Deakin University, and Rosemary Jones, Consultant Researcher

Capturing employers' perceptions of the benefits of teacher placements in industry to facilitate education-industry linkages

Keywords: education-industry partnerships; professional development.

This study reports the perceptions held by industry personnel concerning the long-term placements of experienced teachers in their organisations. Staff from 55 organisations participating in the Teacher Release to Industry Program (TRIP) were surveyed using a methodology found useful by BP (UK). The benefits of TRIP to the organisation and its impact on the organisation were ranked in priority order as were the perceived benefits for schools and the impact of the program on schools. The 34 respondents also commented about the program from their experiences with the teachers. Subsequently a subset of nine employers were interviewed about the perceived benefits of having teachers on long-term placements in their organisations. In selecting organisations a balance of large and small enterprises and medium-size industry were included.

Of particular interest were the results of the benefits analysis of the value added by participating in partnership programs. It was evident that participating organisations strongly valued the access that TRIP has provided to different resources, the expertise and fresh perspectives of the teachers involved.

An analysis of the qualitative data showed that the Program was achieving objectives in three areas: enabling business and industry better to meet the needs of education, increasing the productivity of the organisation, and providing relevant professional development for teachers. These analyses also reveal the importance of unintended outcomes in education-industry partnerships and that each partner has the possibility of increasing the potential for becoming "a learning organisation".

Deidre H. Barron, Deakin University

Children's perceptions of environment through an ecofeminist, poststructuralist lens

Keywords: environmental education; gender issues.

Weedon argues from a feminist poststructuralist perspective that the construction of men and women as opposites in a superior and inferior relationship is manifested in hegemonic discourses. Davies adds that through these discourses the hegemonic social order is maintained as individuals learn to take up femaleness or maleness as if it were an essential element of their personal and social selves. What these feminist poststructuralist theorists overlook is that one of the many subject positions available to women and men is their humanness. That is, within the social process individuals not only learn to take up gender-appropriate roles but human-appropriate roles.

In this paper I deconstruct the hegemonic discourse of environmentalism revealing how it has been based on the notion of "culture" as masculine, "nature" as feminine. I argue that discourses that present this notion as "truth" work to maintain the current social order of male over female, culture over nature. I am also interested in exploring the ways in which these discourses can be challenged, thereby offering an alternative to the "male" versus "female", "culture" versus "nature" dualisms.

This deconstruction of current environmental discourses takes place within the context of my analysis of children's responses to hearing environmental stories. I examine the relation between the discourses made available through the stories and the children's interpretation based on their understandings of everyday life. This is combined with the current understanding generated by feminist poststructural analysis of children's perception of gender to generate an understanding of how perceptions of nature and perceptions of self are interrelated.

Neil Baumgart and Alison Elliott, University of Western Sydney Nepean

Asia across the curriculum: Student perspectives

Keywords: Asia; cross-cultural issues.

One of three programs of the Asia Education Foundation (AEF) is the Magnet Schools Program. Under this program, approximately 10 schools in each State and Territory have been identified to initiate teaching and learning about Asian countries and their people "across the curriculum".

As part of the evaluation of the AEF programs, questionnaires were given to a sample of students in 16 Magnet Schools, including both primary (N=316) and secondary (N=323) students, in all States and Territories. This paper reports on the perceptions of these students on a range of issues: geographic, historical, cultural, social, economic and political. An analysis of the data provides a description of students' current knowledge and understanding of Asian countries and allows inferences about factors related to the growth of inter-cultural understanding. Based on these findings, the paper draws implications for curriculum and for teaching and learning about Asia in Australian schools.

Mike Baynham, Dominique Beck, Katherine Gordon, Alison Lee and Caroline San Miguel, University of Technology, Sydney

Constructing a discourse position: Quoting, referring and attribution in academic writing

Keywords: writing skills; academic writing.

Becoming proficient in academic writing can be theorised as entry/apprenticeship in the ways with words of a discourse community. It follows from this perspective that the writing conventions which students learn will be specific in many ways to their discipline area/discourse community. As Batholomae puts it, "The student has to appropriate (or be appropriated by) a specialised discourse" (Bartholomae, 1985:134).

One set of conventions that the student must acquire are those for quoting and referring to the work of others, primarily published academic sources. Acquiring these conventions can be seen as one of the ways that the student learns to take up a discourse position in text. This paper will report on a study of quoting and referring practices in three undergraduate discipline areas: information studies, humanities and nursing. Through a variety of methods (text analytic and critical ethnographic) the study investigates the role of quoting and referring practices as student writers learn to construct an appropriate discursive position within the text.

Neil E. BTchervaise and Annigje Tarte, University of Sydney, and Michael Tarte, Ibex Consulting

Contesting the culture: The effect of implementation of Total Quality Management in a NSW independent school

Keywords: school management; school culture.

The management of education, of teaching and learning, and of administration, at all levels in an educational institution ultimately determines how well the students can learn. This project examines an attempt to implement one particular approach, Total Quality Management, to the management of teaching, learning and administration in a New South Wales independent secondary school. It traces the program from its genesis to its untimely conclusion, suggests reasons for the lack of success of the program, and provides suggestions for alternative implementation strategies to improve the likelihood of uptake of the program at senior executive level.

BECKL94.479

Lori Beckett, ACSSO, and Jane Kenway, Deakin University

PANEL DISCUSSION: Power plays: Developing strategies for boys

Keywords: gender issues; boys' education.

This presentation intends to generate some discussion and academic argument about the focus on boys, and the policy directions at the State and national levels. It revolves around the debate that has been happening in New South Wales this last twelve months, Minister Chadwick's response, the work of the National Advisory Committee for the Education of Girls, and the establishment of the MCEETYA Gender Equity Task Force and Expert Reference Group.

The session will be formatted like a Four Corners program taped in the studio. The chair will introduce the topic, provide an historical overview, and raise the question about what it means for gender equity. She will then call on speakers to make a contribution and, throughout, the audience is invited to actively participate and offer some critical feedback.

Warren Johnson, the Executive Officer of the Parents and Citizens Federation, will summarise parents' concerns about boys in relation to their concerns about girls. Joan Lamaire, the Women's Co-ordinator with the New South Wales Teachers' Federation, will give an indication of parents' concerns. Nola Alloway, from James Cook University, will provide a response, drawing on her research into early childhood and the social construction of gender. Julie Lewis, Education Writer for the Sydney Morning Herald, will comment on the media's role in generating public debate. Stephen O'Doherty, MP, and Chair of the New South Wales Government Advisory Committee on Gender Equity, will report on his advice and recommendations to Minister Chadwick. Jane Kenway, from Deakin University, will comment on the theoretical perspectives that are brought to bear on theorising about gender in education. Van Davy, New South Wales Manager of Targetted Programs, and Lyn Martinez, Principal Policy Officer in the Queensland Gender Equity Unit, will both speak on the emerging pressures on gender equity policy and systems' responses to those pressures.

The identified issues will include educating for equality and gender justice, masculinities and gender relations, youth culture, behaviour management, and established initiatives in girls' education. It is hoped that there will be a fruitful exchange between the different stakeholders, and that people will have an opportunity to voice their concerns and furnish their suggestions to accommodate boys in gender equity initiatives. An informed academic debate will benefit everyone, and give policy-makers an indication of just what the education community expects.

BELLG94.186

Garry Bell, Southern Cross University

Language and conceptualisation: A study of some mathematical terms

Keywords: conceptual development; cross-cultural issues.

Differences in culture, education, parental support for schooling, and innate ability have all been cited as factors contributing to the discrepancy between East Asian and American, and Australian students in demonstrated mathematics achievement. Another factor which has emerged as significant is the base-10 language structures of Asian number naming grammars. It has been established, for example, that Korean and Vietnamese 5-year-olds have base 10 conceptual structures for two-digit numbers that can facilitate addition and subtraction. The conceptual structures of native-English-speaking children, on the other hand, predispose them towards the more limiting strategy of operating in units of one.

It may be that other linguistic forms similarly facilitate mathematical conceptualisation. The Japanese word for area "menseki" includes the word for multiply-an operation which is often used to find area. The major Asian fraction names (except for Indonesian) usually name the denominator first, (two-thirds in Japanese is "three parts, take two") which is probably conceptually the first step in fraction construction.

This study reports on a pilot study of Korean and Australian Year 9 students' conceptual constructions for some mathematical terms. Students were asked to select a word from a list ("sharp", "balanced", "compact") and write it next to only one geometrical term ("square", "cylinder", "trapezium"). In another task, students were asked to rate a series of eight inadequate definitions from best to worst. While there were noticeable similarities, interesting differences have emerged.

Richard G. Berlach, Edith Cowan University

Processes of self-concept integration in student teachers

Keywords: self-concept; expert/novice.

Considerable research evidence has been amassed to suggest that individuals integrate a concept of themselves by utilising any one of a number of processes. The current research investigated two such processes, namely self-enhancement and self-verification, and indicated their significance for the way in which student teachers integrated a concept of themselves as professionals.

The design took the form of providing feedback to second-year teacher education students who took part in responding to a series of classroom-related vignettes, and then examining their responses against the criteria for self-enhancement and self-verification established from the literature. The integration processes favoured were designated as the dependent variables, with independent variables consisting of status (expert/novice), age (mature-age/school leaver), type of feedback presented (favourable/ unfavourable), and performance on school-based teaching practice. Data were analysed using Analysis of Variance and findings are discussed. Implications for preservice teacher education courses are considered.

BERRM94.190

Michael M. Berrell, University of Tasmania, and Russell J. Smith, University of Southern Queensland

Strange bedfellows: An adaptation of the Analytic Hierarchy Process as a nexus between logical positivism and interpretive understanding in educational research

Keywords: research methodology; structured hierarchies.

This paper examines an adaptation of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), originally developed by Thomas Saaty, as a method of participatory research. In essence, the methodology provides a nexus between purely logical positivist approaches and phenomenological perspectives to educational research. It is well suited to research settings where complex issues are involved.

The adaptation results in a dynamic and innovative research methodology which combines aspects of the foundations of cognitive science, the matrices of arithmetic and interpretive understanding to provide insights into research problems that could not be achieved by using mutually exclusive frameworks. The process utilises both iterative and reflexive stages.

The findings of a recent project using the adaptation of the AHP in a university setting will be presented. Problems encountered during this project will also be identified. As well, the steps taken to solve those problems are described.

Alex Beveridge, University of Newcastle

Student and supervisor expectations of field experience in a social welfare setting

Keywords: supervision; field placement.

The purpose of this study was to inquire into the expectations about field placement of a Social Welfare Studies student and Field Education Supervisor. The study attempted to identify the explicit and implicit expectations of the principal actors in this complex educational process and context.

Scant attention has been paid to student expectation and satisfaction with field placement. Whilst there is extensive literature on field placement in a general context, most of it is from the point of view of field educators, and to some degree agency supervisors.

This paper describes a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews undertaken with a Social Welfare student and Agency supervisor in the context of an Acute Psychiatric field placement setting. Individual constructs surrounding the student's and supervisor's expectations are elaborated and grounded in relation to previously collected research literature.

BEVEA94.492

Alex Beveridge, Mira Gordon, Phillip J. Moore and Lorna K.S. Chan, University of Newcastle

Surface motives and strategic learning in post-secondary students

Keywords: motivation; strategic learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22, Motivation, strategic learning and school achievement-II.

Alan J. Bishop and Christine R. Brew, Monash University

Provision for NESB students in the mathematics classrooms of Victorian schools

Keywords: mathematics education; ESL students.

The task of teaching secondary-level mathematics in classrooms containing large numbers of non-English speaking background (NESB) students with different first languages has long been recognised to be a difficult one for any mathematics teacher. In this paper, we report on a range of strategies that have been adopted by schools that reflect various pedagogical perspectives.

Apart from some specific exceptions, the dominant ideology is that the study of mathematics is essentially language-free, or at least this belief lurks not far from the surface. In relation to the work of ESL support staff, they are likely to be involved in some way in mathematics and science teaching but more so in science, and the most common way they work with students is either in a team teaching mode or in a support capacity. Additionally, since the recent massive education budget cuts in Victoria, best practice schools which were interviewed state that specific programs have been either diminished or dismantled entirely. The highest priority for support is with new arrivals, and support at VCE level has consequently declined.

Alan J. Bishop, Monash University

Towards better regional collaboration in mathematics education

Keywords: electronic networking; mathematics education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 18, Developing the educational collaboratory.

Fred Bishop and M. A. (Ken) Clements, University of Newcastle

Predictions of gender differences in performance of Years 5 and 6 children on pencil-and-paper mathematics items

Keywords: gender issues; mathematics education.

Sixteen items were chosen from the 1992 and 1993 Newcastle Permanent Primary School Mathematics Competition tests which are taken by school children in Years 5 and 6. Five of the items were such that males gave a statistically significantly higher proportion of correct answers than females; six of the items were such that the proportions of males and females who gave correct answers were virtually identical; and five of the items were such that females gave a statistically significantly higher proportion of correct answers than males. The 16 items were randomly sequenced and shown to 60 educators-20 practising primary teachers, 20 trainee primary teachers, and 20 tertiary mathematics educators. Each educator was asked to select questions on which they would have expected (a) boys to have done significantly better than girls; (b) girls to have done significantly better than boys; and (c) girls and boys to have performed at about the same level. Results of the analyses are discussed in the paper.

Jill Blackmore, Deakin University

What are the possibilities of a post-masculinist institutional politics in an era of self-governance?

Keywords: educational administration; gender issues.

This paper considers the current paradox of women being positioned as the emotional managers/leaders of education systems increasingly oriented towards privatisation and marketisation-systems which emphasise individual choice over community. It also looks to consider the strategic possibilities of how women in leadership can work in different ways in the context of shifts towards self-governance and self-regulation in education, the merging of the global and the local, the changing nature of educational work, and emerging foci in management literature and practice (managing diversity, ethics of care, "post-modern", etc.). It considers how and what feminisms have largely contributed to feminist work in educational administration, why and with what effect. It also focuses upon how feminists must think strategically about their relationship with the State, men and each other, of how difference is conceptualised. It suggests that, for a post-masculinist politics to emerge, masculinity itself must first be made problematic.

The paper draws on three related ARC research projects which consider the positionality of women. The theoretical framework draws from recent post-structuralist work in educational feminist and organisational theory which utilises notions of discourse and culture, but which also strives for a sound materialist understanding of the conditions under which particular discourses come to be more powerful than others, e.g., Hennessey. It will address issues such as the possibilities for a post-masculinist politics (as framed by Anna Yeatman's and Wendy Brown's political analyses) in an era in which Equal Opportunity policy makers confront new relationships between the individual, the State and education.

Robert E. Bleicher, Queensland University of Technology

High school students as apprentices in university research laboratories

Keywords: science learning; workplace learning.

This study was designed to explore the learning potential for high school students working as apprentices in university solid state physics laboratories, as part of a summer science program. It examined the communication between scientists and students and how this supported or constrained learning.

Videotaped laboratory instructional events and student public presentations of what they were learning in their laboratories were submitted to an interactional sociolinguistic analysis. Frequency tables compare concept coverage in the laboratory to the presentation. Discourse analytic maps illustrate connections between talk in laboratory to talk in presentations. Students experienced the uncertainty of future directions of experimentation, the daily need to collect data, the frustration and urgency of repairing equipment, both the ups and downs of everyday life in the laboratory. Presentations were directly tied to what was learned in laboratory. From laboratory experiences, students took up particular vocabulary, a way of talking about it, and ways of representing it (particular charts, graphs, overhead transparencies).

Examination of the learning opportunities made possible for high school students in authentic research settings reveals the range of skills they are capable of in resource rich learning environments. This has implications for future secondary science education curricular reform.

Douglas Blomberg, National Institute for Christian Education

A teacher-researcher focus for inservice award courses

Keywords: teacher as researcher; inservice education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 4, Transforming the practice of teaching through research partnership.

Janette Bobis and Robyn Cusworth, University of Sydney

Teacher education: an agent of change for attitudes towards mathematics and science/technology

Keywords: mathematics teaching; science/technology.

This paper reports on the initial phases of a longitudinal investigation of the attitudes of preservice primary teachers toward mathematics and science/technology and toward the teaching of these subjects.

Four aspects of the project distinguish it from previous investigations of preservice teachers' attitudes toward mathematics and science. First, the project takes the perspective that preservice education can have more than a superficial and short-lived impact on the attitudes of beginning teachers (Denscombe, 1980; Martinez, 1992). Instead, it suggests that preservice programs have the potential to change not only their existing attitudes toward mathematics and science, but their attitude toward teaching practices. Secondly, research concerned with attitude toward mathematics and science has traditionally been reported in the literature separately. This investigation raises issues common to both disciplines and allows insights to be gained from a comparison of the two. Thirdly, the study identifies the importance of calculators and computers in influencing attitude toward mathematics and science. Previous investigations have not considered the impact of technology on the attitudes of preservice teachers. Technological changes in the curriculum will invariably be accompanied by changes in attitude toward mathematics and science and toward the teaching of these subjects. Lastly, multiple data gathering techniques provide a more holistic perspective on the change process, allowing the researchers to focus on the underlying reasons for attitudinal shifts. While traditional quantitative and qualitative techniques provide the basis, the actual change process was monitored via reflective journals.

Observational data collected during practice teaching provides evidence of attitudinal changes transferring to classroom practice.

Sandra Bochner, Macquarie University

Evaluation of a CD-ROM tutorial on writing skills for first-year students

Keywords: writing skills; program evaluation.

Over recent years, many academic staff have become concerned about the difficulties experienced by first-year students in essay writing. These problems are encountered by students who performed well at university entrance examinations, as well as those who performed poorly, and can probably be traced back to the very different essay writing skills needed at secondary school, compared with those required for university study. Most students are able to write descriptive prose, but are not accustomed to assembling information from a variety of sources, synthesising ideas, developing arguments and writing in a scholarly style. It was in recognition of these problems that an application was made for a CAUT Teaching and Development Grant to design a CD-ROM Tutorial on writing skills for use by first-year students. The proposed Tutorial would be located in the University Library and would provide an optional source of help for students needing help with essay writing.

The CD-ROM Writing Skills Tutorial comprises a Reference Book on essay writing, an example of a well-written essay together with copies of earlier drafts, working notes and collected reference material, and a tutorial which can function as a guide for students using the CD-ROM. It can be used flexibly, with the student following the set path of the tutorial or browsing through items of specific interest.

An evaluation study to compare the effectiveness of the CD-ROM Tutorial with a more traditional writing skills tutorial will be conducted in Semester 2, 1994. Results will be reported here.

Ted Booth, University of Wollongong

Evaluation of an access and equity program on secondary students' post-secondary choices

Keywords: access and equity; post-secondary choices.

The Secondary School Link Program at the University of Wollongong is an outreach program initially funded by DEET (1989) and mainstreamed in 1992 within the University's Equity and Access Program. Link's central school-based work is through small group-based conversations between university and TAFE student role models with Year 10 and 12 students. Role models are selected from the six DEET-identified equity groups with representation from all faculties and the Illawarra Institute of TAFE. After training, the role models work in teams of four in visits to the 32 targeted schools. All Year 10 students participate in the 40 to 90 minute sessions.

The paper briefly reports on the changing national equity context and the rationale and institutional evolution of the Wollongong program. Evaluation of the program's effectiveness has been an integral component of the program's activities. Data drawn from surveys of students and careers advisers as well as role model diaries provide a range of data that demonstrate the program's effectiveness. External survey sources from a 1993 university-wide study explore student perceptions of factors which encourage and discourage tertiary participation and the impact of the current program on their choice patterns. A longitudinal study of UAC data charts the enrolment patterns from three schools which have participated in the program since 1989. The benefits to the professional and personal development of the university and TAFE role models as an unintended outcome of the program will also be discussed.

Ted Booth, Neil Hall and Wilma Vialle, University of Wollongong

The role of research and inquiry in undergraduate teacher education

Keywords: research methodology; reflective teaching.

In this paper, we argue that a compulsory unit on research methods and inquiry skills is critical for the development of reflective teachers. Given the accelerating rate of change and reform in school curricula and in teacher education programs, it is imperative that universities respond by offering courses that increase the likelihood that graduates will become reflective teachers, critical consumers of research, and individuals capable of conducting their own inquiry- based professional development.

The paper has resulted from developments within the Faculty of Education at the University of Wollongong concerning the roles of research and inquiry methods in preservice teacher education, and is in part concerned with the placement of such a subject within the Bachelor of Education program. The origins of the debate, the activities of an internal working party, a literature review, a grid of research/inquiry skills and knowledge, data gathered from stakeholders, short-term developments and possible future changes are presented and discussed.

Gillian Boulton-Lewis, Queensland University of Technology

The SOLO Taxonomy as a means of shaping and evaluating quality in tertiary learning

Keywords: higher education; quality teaching and learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 9, Quality, students and learning in tertiary settings.

Sid Bourke and Max Smith, University of Newcastle

Quality of teachers' professional lives: teacher stress, workload and satisfaction

Keywords: teacher stress; teacher satisfaction.

With the greater personal and professional demands made on teachers in recent years, it is reasonable to expect that the ways in which teachers viewed their responsibilities might have been affected. In common with all Australian teachers, demands increased on teachers employed by the New South Wales Department of School Education throughout the 1980's; however, from the Scott Report in 1990 through 1992 to the present, the rate of change accelerated rapidly. Expectations of teachers have changed most markedly in the areas of accountability and assessment.

This paper considers secondary teacher stress, workload and satisfaction in the Hunter region of New South Wales and compares self-reported levels of stress, workload and satisfaction in 1989 and 1992. Four measures of stress are employed: stress arising from students and conditions, time pressure, administrative conflict, and lack of rewards and recognition; four measures of workload: administration, teaching, managing resources, and assessment of students; and three measures of satisfaction: workload and conditions, relationships with students, and relationships with administration and senior staff. It is suggested that any changes in perceived levels of stress, workload and satisfaction may be related to overall changes in the social and professional context of teachers in the region.

Jennifer M. Bowes, University of Sydney

Knowledge about work and work procedures: Lessons from unpaid work at home and at school

Keywords: conceptual development; social cognition.

Children's ideas about paid work, particularly their understanding of who does particular jobs, and the monetary and status rewards of different occupations, has been the main focus of research on children's knowledge about work. School programs on work have also concentrated on the world of paid work, and on category rather than social knowledge. Relatively neglected, the field of unpaid work at home and at school provides a context for much early learning about the distinctions to be made between work tasks and the social rules associated with work.

The paper will draw together literature on children's developing understanding of work at home and at school, and will discuss children's perceived interconnections between these work contexts and the world of paid work. It will be argued that children's social cognition about work is more advanced in contexts in which they have had experience, and that this knowledge, particularly their knowledge about the social rules of work, can be built upon in teaching children about the world of paid work.

BRANJ94.405

Jillian Brannock, Ross Brooker, Leonie Daws, Lisa Ehrich, Brigid Limerick and Georgia Smeal, Queensland University of Technology

Partnerships in action research as a process for developing gender knowledge

Keywords: action research; gender issues.

The ideal of developing true partnerships between insiders and outsiders in action research projects has often not been realised in practice. One reason for this gap between rhetoric and reality is that insufficient effort is put into developing a process in which such partnerships can occur. This paper will report on an action research process that brought together university academics and school-based personnel to develop professional development modules that teachers could draw upon to assist with implementing practices that most contribute to the equality of outcomes for boys and girls in years 7- 10.

The collaborative nature of the development process for the federally- funded project (conducted in two States) was particularly fruitful for fostering professional development, developing gender knowledge, working within teacher culture, identifying and responding to resistance, changing practices and understandings, and responding to particular school contexts.

BRANJ94.406

Jillian Brannock, Ross Brooker, Leonie Daws, Wendy Patton and Georgia Smeal, Queensland University of Technology

Young people's attitudes to sexual violence: The story of a project

Keywords: peer research; sexual violence.

The SVAYA Project (Sexual Violence and Youth Attitudes), funded by the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme, is currently investigating the perception and attitudes of young people to sexual violence. The project has employed a research model which recognises that research "on youth" should translate into research "with youth". To this end, the university-based authors have worked collaboratively with a team of young people who are co-researchers. Data collection instruments consist of interviews, questionnaires, and a survey of youth agencies in all States.

This paper will report on the peer research paradigm employed, and the data revealed by the project in its final stages. It will focus on methodological and ethical issues implicit in the research, and the patterns of perception and understanding revealed by young people in the interviews and questionnaires.

BRENM94.288

Marie Brennan, University of Central Queensland

A gendered critique of current foci on school planning in Australian educational reform

Keywords: educational administration; gender issues.

This paper considers the current trend towards an emphasis on planning in moves towards greater devolution and tighter central accountability in school-based responsibilities. School plans and associated indicators of achievement of the outcomes of these plans are now the primary focus of steering State school systems. The paper considers the underlying assumptions about change, reform and action embedded in these approaches to school planning through an examination of the policies and administrative regulations of State education departments in Australia related to the organisation of school strategic, annual, performance improvement plans.

The paper argues that the model of planning underlying these reform efforts is seriously flawed both in its attempt to steer action, and its potential to realise even its own limited goals. It suggests that the narrow conception of planning as a steering and accountability mechanism draws on both theoretical and commonsense understandings of leadership which have relied on a (now discredited) separation of public and private spheres in which male leaders have been able to practise abstracted forms of leadership by relying on the largely unseen work of women workers, paid and unpaid. New forms of masculinity are seen as being endorsed as the new norm for educational leadership, forms which are potentially inimical to the field of education and to many of its practitioners, whether women or men. The analysis draws strongly on recent critical organisational theory and feminist postmodern theorising of democracy to reconstruct a different approach to school-level planning and accountability.

BRENM94.493

Marie Brennan, University of Central Queensland

Practising globalisation: Methodological and analytic relations in a multi-country study

Keywords: cultural politics; research methodology.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23, Cultural politics and educational research methodology.

Margaret Bride, Deakin University

Issues in the evaluation of the delivery of career education programs in selected Victorian secondary schools

Keywords: program evaluation; career education.

Quantitative methods of evaluation were used to test the hypothesis that student outcomes, in this case vocational maturity, were not affected by whether or not the career education program was delivered as an integrated part of the general curriculum.

An initial survey, sent to all post-primary schools in two educational regions of Victoria, was used to identify 10 schools with an integrated approach to delivery of career education programs and 10 schools where the program was not integrated. The Career Development Inventory-Australia (CDI-A) was administered to a selected group of Year 11 students in each of the 20 schools, totalling 400 students. The results showed a differential in student outcomes in the cognitive aspects but not in terms of the attitudinal aspects of career development between the two types of delivery.

Research issues to be addressed in the paper are: the challenges of conducting research across a school system which has decentralised much of its decision-making to the school level; the difficulties of obtaining a suitable sample of students in the later years of secondary schooling when pressure on student time is great; and the use of a well-researched and standardised test in program evaluation.

Issues relating to career education programs which will be addressed are: which students benefit by an integrated approach to the delivery of career education and in what aspects of career development they benefit; and the interaction between gender and type of program delivery.

BROOR94.362

Ross Brooker and David Smith, Queensland University of Technology

Assessing tertiary students in an education faculty: Perceptions and practices

Keyword: assessment practices; academic staff development.

This paper reports on the process and outcomes of an action research project focused on the assessment practices of university lecturers in an education faculty. The project specifically explored lecturers' understandings and applications of criteria and standards of performance in literature-based assignments and the extent to which assessment practices were explained to, and understood by, students. Data were collected from interviews with 22 lecturers and 130 students and by examination of subject outlines.

The study indicated that there was relatively high agreement between lecturers and students that the literature-based assessment items were beneficial to learning and reflected unit objectives. There were, however, marked discrepancies in the perceptions of lecturers and students regarding the extent to which the purposes of assessment and assessment criteria and standards were made clear to students. Similarly, although most lecturers stressed the importance of formative feedback, a relatively high proportion of students reported that the assessment feedback provided was only moderately helpful or not helpful at all. Many of the students suggested modifications to assessment procedures.

The paper presentation will include two case studies, one illustrating an instance where there was strong agreement between the perceptions of lecturers and students, and the other where there was disagreement. The next stage of the project is to conduct a workshop to share the findings with participating lecturers with a view to improving assessment practices.

The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the study for tertiary educators.

Ian Brown, University of Wollongong

The role of policy implementation and its effect on policy outcomes

Keywords: educational policy.

Over the past twenty years public policy analysis has identified the emergence of a new subfield: the role of policy implementation and its effect on policy outcomes. This paper explores this important new field in relation to educational policy.

In this era of obvious change and reform in education, it is important for educationalists to stimulate or modify educational policy and enter the policy arena equally with other influential bodies. It is the belief of the presenter that to be efficient and enter into influencing, then it is critical to understand the policy process- implementation, in particular.

The presentation will outline the progress of a higher degree study which describes the implementation process of a Commonwealth policy (Education and the Arts) as it was implemented at the State level. This presentation will be of interest to educationalists concerned with educational policy development and implementation in an intergovernmental setting.

Merle Bruce and Lorna K.S. Chan, University of Newcastle

Effects of strategy instruction in reading on upper primary students' attributional beliefs, strategic learning and reading achievement

Keywords: motivation; strategic learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22, Motivation, strategic learning and school achievement-I.

Clarrie Burke, Queensland University of Technology; Ken Jarman, Kippa-Ring State School; and Letitia Whitmore, Queensland University of Technology

Disruptive and anti-social behaviour in primary schooling: Foci for professional development and community education

Keywords: classroom management; professional development.

This paper provides a broad base of information concerning the occurrence of disruptive and anti-social behaviour in the primary schools of the Redcliffe School Support Centre area in South-East Queensland. It presents a basis for critical understanding of, and strategies for managing, such behaviour in a co-ordinated, supportive school environment. The study provides a focus from which future policy, professional development and community education programs seeking to improve behaviour management may be initiated.

Through a reflective analysis of, and commentary on, key issues arising from teachers' perceptions of the incidence of disruptive and anti-social behaviour, the study raises important questions that heighten awareness of the problems and issues involved.

BURNJ94.328

Jen Burnley, University of Wollongong

Children as evaluators: A challenge to Michael Fullan's approach to educational innovation and change

Keywords: curriculum evaluation; curriculum change.

Although the literature on action research and reflective practice in schools includes students as stakeholders, very little research relies heavily on the students themselves as key informants. In a recently concluded study in a New South Wales high school, students were involved in evaluating an innovative, interdisciplinary core subject at the school, namely Global Education. Not only did the students help to evaluate the course, but they also helped to redesign segments of the course. Students, parents, other teachers, an outside researcher and the author were all involved in evaluating four main areas of the course: the goals, course structure, teaching strategies, and the perceived value and appropriateness of the course compared with the respondents' views of "traditional" social science approaches for Years 7-10.

The study analysed responses over a 10-year period, a far longer period than most research into curriculum innovation. It explored two interlinking areas of inquiry. The first evaluated the actual processes of reflection and action carried out in the project. The second explored the students' attitudes towards introducing Global Education into the curriculum. It is significant that the innovation was initiated from within the school rather than from outside. It is the contention of the author that many of the concerns raised by Michael Fullan regarding curriculum change have not taken into account matters relating to internally initiated curriculum development as distinct from externally directed change. This raises a number of methodological questions for researchers who are using Fullan's model of change as their guide.

Robin Burns, Rolene Lamm and Ramon Lewis, La Trobe University

The education of educational researchers: student and supervisor perspectives

Keywords: educational researchers; supervision.

Higher degree students are researchers-in-training, yet little is known about the processes of undertaking a higher degree outside the sciences, especially in professional areas like education, where the majority of students are mature age, with considerable work experience. In particular, it could be predicted that with more individualised choice of topic, larger numbers of part-time students, and greater demographic and experiential similarity between students and supervisors, issues related to the supervisory relationship would have a significant impact on the success of undertaking a higher degree.

The research reported here is the result of a study in a professional School combining the use of questionnaire, interview and focus group. It investigated student perceptions of the process of undertaking a higher degree in education, and student and supervisor perspectives on what is involved, what the task means, and the difficulties encountered. Both research students, and those undertaking the minor thesis in coursework degrees, were included. While students sought a collegial relationship, and positive feedback, supervisors showed little knowledge of student concerns. Only a minority saw their role as inducting students into a research culture. A model of supervision is developed, and the implications, especially for the induction of educators into the research process, are considered.

Jude Butcher, Australian Catholic University (NSW)

Toward a theory of teacher development in the management domain

Keywords: teacher development; management.

A grounded theory of teacher development from novice toward expertise in the management domain has been constructed to provide a research- based conceptual framework for teacher educators. This framework is to assist teacher educators in both understanding the nature of teacher development in this domain and planning teacher education components to facilitate such development. An overview of the theory is presented.

A major focus in the paper is on transitions in development and on factors influencing that development. Extensive phase cross-sectional and longitudinal data which show transitions in development are presented. Case studies of student teachers who were in a transition period of their development are then used to provide further understanding of the nature of transition and how transition toward expertise can be facilitated.

Jude Butcher, Australian Catholic University (NSW), and Michael Bailey, University of Sydney

Conceptual space and the measurement of cognitive structure

Keywords: cognition; conceptual maps.

Investigations of cognitive processes and structures are receiving increasing emphasis in the study of teacher thinking. This paper describes the application of some graph-theoretical methods to the investigation and mapping of conceptual structures in the area of classroom management practices produced by teacher education students and experienced teachers. The advantages of the graph-theoretic approach include the ability to accept different types of conceptual structure rather than requiring response using a structure imposed by the researcher.

This more open-ended procedure brings problems in establishing measures comparable across different kinds of structure. A method for dealing with these problems is described.

Nancy Butterfield, NSW Department of School Education; David McKinnon, Charles Sturt University-Bathurst; and Michael Arthur, University of Newcastle

Learning to communicate: Investigating the developmental model in students with severe intellectual disability

Keywords: communication; disability.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 16, Communication processes in students with severe intellectual disability: Issues and practices.

Glenda Campbell-Evans and Carmel Maloney, Edith Cowan University

Learning to teach: A snapshot of second-year education students

Keywords: beginning teaching; teachers' knowledge.

The process of learning to teach has traditionally taken place in training institutions where students undertake a standard teacher education course that aims to develop knowledge, skills and attitudes relevant for the task of teaching. This learning provides a foundation that integrates with the practice component of the training. The degree of success of this integration has long been a contentious issue for teacher educators and students alike. Where and how do students' knowledge and skill of teaching develop? More specifically, this research addresses two questions: what knowledge of content and pedagogy is demonstrated through students' classroom practice, and what do their actions in the classroom tell us about their understanding of teaching?

This research focuses on a sample of second-year Faculty of Education students completing a three-year Bachelor of Arts (Education) course. Data were collected from observation of the students in the classroom, written feedback about the specifics of the lesson, and individual and group interviews focused on general issues related to the practice. An interview schedule guided the interviews which were taped and transcribed verbatim. Issues emerging from the preliminary analysis include evidence of students' limited pedagogical content knowledge, reliance on teacher guidance and input, and preoccupation with personal survival. These findings have implications for teacher educators concerned with the nature of preservice teacher education courses.

Robert Cantwell and Peter Beamish, University of Newcastle

Executive strategy control in secondary and tertiary populations: Contrasting understandings of self-regulation

Keywords: metacognition; child development.

One hundred and two tertiary students and 152 secondary students completed the Strategic Flexibility Questionnaire (Cantwell, 1991, 1994). Factor analysis of the responses of the tertiary students revealed three identifiable predispositions towards the executive management of strategic decisions: adaptive executive control, marked by a reported willingness to mindfully plan and orchestrate strategy choices in processing; inflexible executive control, marked by a reported predisposition towards the mindless application of known strategic algorithms and routines; and ambivalent executive control, marked by a loss of control over strategic planning and implementation. For these students, adaptiveness was associated with better performance in academic learning, while both inflexibility and ambivalence were associated with markedly less successful learning outcomes.

Factor analysis of the responses of the secondary students revealed a less clear-cut executive management profile. The most theoretically and empirically consistent interpretation of the factor structure was one where adaptiveness remained as an identifiable predisposition, but where ambivalence and inflexibility coalesced into a single factor labelled maladaptive executive control.

The lack of differentiation between the inflexible and ambivalent elements of maladaptive executive control are discussed in terms of possible developmental differences in the quality of metacognitive reflections between the middle high school and university years. Performance data for the secondary students was in the process of collection at the time of writing.

Teresa B. Carlson, University of Queensland

Expectations of physical education and their effect on student attitudes toward the subject

Keywords: physical education; student attitudes.

This paper reports an investigation of secondary students' attitudes toward physical education, and identification of the variables that contribute to the formation of these attitudes. An attitude survey was given to 150 Year 8 and 9 students at two schools. The survey results were then used as a screening device to select 36 participants, who held varying attitudes toward physical education. Data were collected by: (a) conducting two group interviews with each of the student participants; (b) conducting stimulated recall sessions and individual interviews; and (c) observing and videotaping classes. The data were coded and analysed to identify differences and similarities between students who held varying attitudes toward physical education.

Aspects of cultural, societal, and school contexts were found to be the major influences on student attitudes toward physical education. Factors within each of the three contexts interacted and influenced student expectations of physical education class-expectations which led many students to believe that physical education was not a "real" subject. This belief contributed to student attitudes toward physical education. A model was designed to explain how the various factors contributed to student attitudes toward physical education. Although designed specifically for the physical education setting, the model could be used and adapted for other subject areas (particularly specialist subjects), and for expectations of, and attitudes toward, school itself.

Annemaree Carroll and Peta Odgers, University of Western Australia

An alternative explanation of the at-risk behaviours of adolescents: Goals, reputations, and coping strategies

Keywords: adolescent behaviour; self-regulation.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 19, Adolescents taking control of their lives: Western Australian research.

Annemaree Carroll and Peta Odgers, University of Western Australia

Assessing reputation: Development of the Reputation Enhancement Questionnaire

Keywords: reputation enhancement; adolescent attitudes.

The purpose of this paper is to detail the instrumentation development and subsequent findings of two separate yet related research projects on reputation enhancement theory. The first of these projects involves a population of delinquent, at-risk, and not at-risk adolescent males, while the second project focuses on adolescent substance users, ex-users, and non-users. Both of these projects commenced with focus group studies to ascertain the type of vocabulary, and the issues, themes, and attitudes of adolescents in relation to reputation enhancement. The findings of these focus groups assisted in the initial construction of the Reputation Enhancement Questionnaire.

Detailed analyses of the results attained from both projects has led to the refinement of this questionnaire which will be discussed in detail, with particular reference to the reliability and validity of the scales. The congruence co-efficiency data will also be examined in order to determine the durability of the questionnaire across different data sets.

Jean Carroll, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Working with a mathsphobic teacher trainee

Keywords: mathematics teaching.

Student teachers' negative attitudes towards mathematics and the inadequacy of their mathematical performance have been a concern of mathematics educators for many years, both in Australia and overseas. The discipline review of teacher education in mathematics and science (1989:18) reported that a significant number of students entering early childhood preservice teacher education admitted that they had difficulties with mathematics. The review cites concerns identified in research about the inadequacy of the mathematical backgrounds of students, describing their mathematical knowledge as superficial, and also identified consistent reports of primary preservice teacher education students entering programs with feelings of fear and anxiety and negative attitudes towards mathematics. Concerns about teacher trainees' poor performance in mathematics are not new. Ellerton and Clements (1989) in describing primary teachers' preparation around 1900 state "that many students were not far ahead of their students from a mathematical point of view".

This paper resulted from concerns about these issues. In an attempt to understand the interaction of cognitive and affective factors in mathematics learning, this paper presents a case study of one preservice early childhood/primary teacher education student's experiences of learning mathematics in primary school, secondary school and at university. A range of methods including interviews, a questionnaire, tests and a journal were used to gather information. It was found that social factors had a considerable influence on the subject's mathematics learning and the nature of her beliefs about mathematics were also limiting. The study highlights issues which are of concern to all teachers and teacher educators.

Patricia Cartwright, University of Ballarat

Critical literacy, language and gender

Keywords: critical literacy; gender issues.

This paper will explore the proposition that writing pedagogy can be used to investigate the relationship between literacy and social structure and between curriculum and critical pedagogy. The aim is to consider the importance of language in the construction and maintenance of social power and control, and to discuss the development of a critical literacy that is grounded pedagogically in a politics of difference and which goes on to directly introduce those knowledges, discourses, texts and genres necessary for academic success and sociocultural power.

The research on which this paper is based has been taking place in an enabling, or bridging, program, the objectives of which are to provide students with those skills that would enable them to participate successfully in tertiary study. Essential though these skills are, they do not necessarily address the construction and maintenance of the dominant discourses in society, which marginalise certain individuals, and perpetuate social inequality. Students are engaged in the construction and critique of varying texts, as well as critical journal writing in which they investigate and contest varying issues in society and education. Texts from journal writing are analysed using feminist poststructuralist analysis as an interpretive framework. This analysis allows an examination and interrogation of the conflicting, partial and contradictory discourses present in journal writing, together with a focus on relations of power and the multiple subjectivities that are available to individuals in society. The findings of this research will have application to the development of pedagogies for the exploration and implementation of critical literacy in general, and for adult continuing education in particular.

Yola Center, Macquarie University

An evaluation of Reading Recovery

Keywords: Reading Recovery; program evaluation.

An evaluation of the effectiveness of the Reading Recovery Program was undertaken in 10 primary schools in New South Wales. Children, selected by their teachers as low progress readers in Year 1, were randomly allocated to either Reading Recovery or to a control condition in which they received only the resource support typically provided to at-risk readers. Low progress readers from five matched schools where Reading Recovery was not in operation were used as a comparison group in order to test the spill-over effects of Reading Recovery. All children in the three groups were pre-tested, post- tested after 15 weeks (the average discontinuation period for Reading Recovery children), after 30 weeks to assess short-term maintenance effects, and after 12 months to determine medium-term effectiveness.

Results indicated that at short-term evaluation, the Reading Recovery group were superior to control students on all tests measuring reading achievement, but not on two out of three tests which measured metalinguistic skills. There were no significant differences between control and comparison students. At medium-term evaluation there were no longer any differences between the Reading Recovery and control children on seven out of the eight measures used. However, because of selective attenuation of the control group, these results must be treated with caution. Single-case analysis suggested that, twelve months after discontinuation, about 35% of the Reading Recovery students appeared to have benefited directly from the Program and about 35% had not been "recovered". The remaining 30% would probably have improved without such an intensive intervention, since a similar percentage of control and comparison students had also reached average reading levels by this stage without individualised assistance. Implications for Reading Recovery implementation in NSW schools are also discussed.

Felicia Chadwick, University of Newcastle

Developing classroom music programs for intellectually homogeneous groupings of students of differential musical ability in selective secondary school settings: Implications for teaching practice in music education

Keywords: music education; gifted education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 24, Music education practice.

Paul Chandler, University of New South Wales

Human mental processes

Keywords: instructional design; cognition.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 5, Some mental processes and their consequences for designing teaching materials.

Clive Chappell, University of Technology Sydney

Vocational education and training-A modernist project

Keywords: vocational education; training.

The past decade has witnessed unprecedented changes in the social, political and economic contexts in which work is organised in post- industrial societies. We now exist in a social environment redolent with contradictions. More people than ever are involved in paid work while more people than ever are unemployed or under-employed. Those of us in paid work are working harder while those of us without work are unemployed for longer. The less work there is, the more education appears to be focused on developing the skills and abilities needed to participate in work. Vocational education and training is being asked to become more general while general education is being asked to become more vocational. Future work is said to need a more flexible workforce while at the same time industries and enterprises are being asked to develop national standardised work descriptions.

Given these contradictions, it is not surprising that there is a great deal of confusion and antagonism among those practitioners who are being asked to implement changes to post-compulsory education and training. School and TAFE teachers, workplace and industry trainers, university lecturers and other Human Resource Development personnel are being asked to implement major changes to education and training in a policy environment which is itself in a state of flux, giving off mixed and in some cases contradictory signals. The paper suggests that in this environment all education practitioners must re-examine the taken-for-granted world views which have influenced the development of their particular sector of education.

This paper argues that vocational education and training is a project firmly embedded within the modernist paradigm. It explores how this genealogy has influenced the theory and practice of vocational education and training and finally questions the appropriateness of modernism as an explanatory paradigm in the present debate.

David Chawszczewski, Oglethorpe University, Georgia, USA

Further investigations into classroom tasks

Keywords: assessment practices; content analysis.

For better or ill, classroom regimes of assessment provide windows into the interactions and experiences of the classroom, and with them the school, in much the way that actual observation does. Indeed, these tasks provide opportunities for students and their parents to see into the thinking of teachers, just as the students' responses allow teachers to see into the thinking of students and, by extension, their home lives. Assessment also provides the foundation, more generally, for the ways in which members of this triad are held accountable for their part in the school experience.

For several years, The Center on Restructuring has been gathering data through a variety of means in order to describe and discuss the nature of change in schools, and the resulting impact on educative substance. Among the data collected to this end are two primary resources- teachers' descriptions of the tasks and the students' responses to those assignments-that reveal insights about the nature and use of tasks in classrooms.

One part of the effort to analyse these texts involved the training of teachers in the local community to score each group on a variety of scales or rubrics designed to provide empirical renderings of the value of the texts that could be employed across schools, grade levels, curricula, and aims. Yet the reductionism inherent in this process, while yielding an analysis of one type, deters questioning the texts on other levels. It is my intent here to report on a continuing investigation of these artefacts that employs an alternative view of these texts, namely the use of a phenomenological content analysis. By employing this approach, I aim to uncover further themes as they might exist in these particular glimpses into teachers' lived experience, while at the same time providing some description of the tasks themselves.

David Chawszczewski, Oglethorpe University, Georgia, USA

The dialectic and teacher supervision

Keywords: supervision; phenomenology.

As Tabachnik and Zeichner (1991) have discussed, the notion of reflection, particularly in the context of student teacher supervision, has been developed in a variety of often disparate manners, with only moderate agreement as to the most valuable approaches and outcomes. On the one hand, it is generally seen as a tool for professional development. On the other, it is seen as a platform for investigating the social constructs of the classroom and teaching. While the use of a reflective frame has been generally agreed upon, and these are worthy aims, the psychological and subjective context in which novice teachers function has been largely ignored, and yet may play the most important role in the development of reflective teachers.

This paper investigates the theoretical relationship between reflective student teacher supervision and constructivist philosophy in an effort to co-ordinate the pedagogical, social, and psychological potentials for reflection. Building upon a foundation established by Dewey, the paper argues for a blending of constructivist and phenomenological approaches to supervision, and highlights the conception of the dialectic, as re-defined by Riegel (1973). When framed within the context of the constructivist approach to teacher education, as outlined by Fosnot (1989), such an approach has the potential to bring about professional development by creating the basis for any inquiry-oriented path to consideration of social and pedagogical issues in light of the individual development of novice teachers, especially given their relationship to themselves. The ultimate aim of the inquiry, then, is to provide a sound philosophical basis for directing new research and thinking into the phenomenon of student teachers' conceptions of the meanings of their peculiar predicament.

Wing S. Cheung, University of Wollongong

Analysing instructional events in educational software packages

Keywords: computer-assisted learning; program evaluation.

Computer technology is part of the learning environment of students. Sometimes educational software packages are used to provide instruction for them to learn. As a result, the quality of the packages is very important. Usually the content and the instruction are equally important for a good educational software package.

Jonassen and Harris (1990) suggest five primary instructional events: prepare the learner, present information, clarify ideas, provide practice, and assess learning. These may be used as guidelines to evaluate the instructional aspects of the chosen software packages.

In this paper, I will evaluate five educational software packages according to the five primary instructional events. I believe this paper will suggest one approach to evaluating the quality of instruction and stimulate teachers to choose good quality educational software packages. The discussion of the findings will also provide input for educational software development.

CHIAT94.349

Chia Teck Chee, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Common misconceptions about frictional force among preservice physics teachers

Keywords: physics education; conceptual learning.

It is not uncommon that preservice physics teachers possess some common misconceptions in physics even though they have completed, at the very minimum, first-year university physics. Frictional force is one of the topics in which many have misconceptions.

In this study, we found that common misconceptions concerning the force of friction involve particularly the direction of the frictional force. Based on the misconceptions, we developed appropriate demonstrations and learning activities to highlight the inconsistency of the misconceptions. These misconceptions may be correct in one situation but incorrect in other situations (differentiation). We also designed meaningful learning experiences in order for student- teachers to link the experiences to the scientific conceptions (conceptual bridging). During the lessons, the conceptual change learning strategy was adopted and the lessons were conducted through the prediction-demonstrations/activities-explanations approach. About three weeks later, a post-test was administered and the results indicated that almost all of the trainees had overcome their misconceptions.

In this report, we include also the analysis of the improvement of performance on each item and the improvement of individual performance in the post-test.

Mohan Chinnappan, Queensland University of Technology

Construction of problem space: The effect of instruction on knowledge generation

Keywords: knowledge generation; problem-solving.

In a study of geometry problem-solving, Lawson and Chinnappan (1994) identified five major categories of processing events that are involved in the solution attempt: Identification, Management, Generation, Self-assessment and Error. Analysis of students' think- aloud protocols for these events revealed that on the more difficult problems, the high-achieving students activated a significantly greater number of Identification, Management and Generation events than their low-achieving peers. This suggests that instruction that would enhance the activation of these three events could improve students' efforts at solving problems.

This is an investigation of the effect of instruction that aims to promote the production of information on the activation of Identification, Management, and Generation processing events. The instruction highlighted the importance of identifying given information, analysing the problem for clues and using these clues to retrieve related information from memory. The experiment was designed to test the prediction that the treatment group would invoke a significantly greater proportion of the above three events than the control group. Comparison of the percentage of the process categories activated before and after exposure to the instruction revealed that the treatment had a significant effect on activation of the Generation event. Subjects in the treatment group also showed significant improvement in the solution outcome.

The above set of results is interpreted within the framework of problem space (Newell & Simon, 1972), and implications for classroom instruction are discussed.

Krystyna Cholowski and Lorna Chan, University of Newcastle

Nursing diagnosis as clinical problem-solving: Factors that influence performance

Keywords: problem-solving; nursing education.

Current research into student learning and problem-solving has linked motivational constructs and prior content knowledge with the quality of learning outcomes. In the present study these relationships are examined in the context of a group of second-year nursing students.

This paper reports on an empirical study investigating the relationships between nursing students' motivational orientation, structure and accessibility of their content knowledge, and the quality of their logical reasoning with the accuracy and quality of nursing diagnoses made in a simulated clinical problem-solving task. One hundred and thirty-eight preservice nursing students completed the Study Process Questionnaire (Biggs, 1987) and the Causal Attribution Scale (Chan, 1994) prior to receiving four lectures on "Predisposing and Precipitating Factors in Mental Health". Post-tests of content knowledge and the clinical problem-solving task provided measures of structure and accessibility of content knowledge, quality of logical reasoning, and the quality and accuracy of nursing diagnosis.

Results from the path analysis linked motivational constructs with measures of prior content knowledge and the quality of logical reasoning in predicting the accuracy and quality of nursing diagnoses. A major finding in the study was the important role of the amount and structuring of prior content knowledge, in conjunction with the quality of reasoning, as predictors of success in clinical problem- solving in nursing. Implications of these findings for nursing instruction are discussed.

John A. Clarke and Barry C. Hart, Queensland University of Technology

The relationship between students' approaches to learning and their perceptions of what helps and hinders their learning

Keywords: learning processes; learning environment.

This multi-method paper examines the relationship between tertiary students' self-reported deep, surface and achieving approaches to learning and their perceptions of those classroom-based activities and lecturer/tutor behaviours that they claim help or hinder their learning.

Nine hundred and eighty-four students from 10 Schools in five Faculties at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane, Australia, completed the Study Process Questionnaire (SPQ), a 42-item forced-choice Likert scale inventory that can be used to classify respondents as having a predominantly deep, surface or achieving approach to learning, and the Perceptions of Learning Environments Questionnaire (PLEQ), a semi-structured but open-ended questionnaire designed to gather students' views about what helps or hinders their learning and why. The findings are related to existing research, including a variety of beliefs of how students go about learning, and their implications for tertiary teaching and the construction of learning environments which facilitate the development of meaningful approaches to learning by students are discussed.

John A. Clarke, Queensland University of Technology

Students' views of their learning environments and their implications for quality in tertiary teaching

Keywords: higher education; quality teaching and learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 9, Quality, students and learning in tertiary settings.

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

Who owns the curricula of Australia's schools?

Keywords: curriculum development; national curriculum.

The authors have only recently completed a book on attempts to develop a national curriculum in Australia. In this paper they will discuss the issue of curriculum ownership, which is one of the major themes in their book. They will argue: (a) that the nationally developed, outcomes-based curriculum profiles are derived from neo-behaviourist principles which, for at least some curriculum areas, are not in accord with findings of research; (b) that the State, Territory, and Federal Ministers of Education, and Directors of Curriculum, do not own the curricula of schools; (c) that in any proposed changes to curriculum, all major stakeholders should be involved at all stages of the curriculum development process, including the policy formation stage; (d) that the consultative processes adopted, over the period 1988-1993, in the national curriculum development exercise were inadequate; and (d) the model for the national curriculum development exercise in Australia was the now discredited United Kingdom national curriculum.

Margaret Clyde, University of Melbourne

The relationship between role perceptions and leadership attitudes and practice in child care centres

Keywords: early childhood; role perceptions.

Preliminary investigations carried out by Rodd and Clyde (1992) on a sample of Victorian child care directors indicate that Australian caregivers do not respond positively to the traditional descriptions which characterise leadership. This may be due to the fact that the role of child care director is a female role whereas the leadership profiles have been developed from a male-oriented perspective and may not be perceived as appropriate for women. Kinney (1992) has developed a list of characteristics that better describe female leadership behaviour: these descriptors have been incorporated into a new protocol trialled on 50 directors of child care centres in Victoria. In addition each director has been interviewed to ascertain their perceptions of the leadership role and the skills necessary to fulfil this role.

Preliminary results indicate that child care directors have a concept of leadership and the skills involved in leadership which reflect the kind of centre they operate in (public or private) and their length of experience in the child care field.

These results have strong ramifications for the kinds of training, both preservice and inservice, offered to leaders in the child care field, and the need to develop innovatory techniques in order to assist directors to "marry" their perceptions of the kinds of skills needed to implement their role.

Barry Cocklin and Jane Mitchell, Charles Sturt University; and Jenny Gurtner, Temora Public School

The "voice" of rural, women teachers

Keywords: rural teachers; gender issues.

What are the connections that teachers make between their biographies and (1) the reasons why they became teachers; (2) their current perspectives on education and schooling; and (3) their classroom practice?

Drawing on the biographies of three women working in a rural school, this research explores the extent to which gender and rural location are dimensions that impact upon these women's careers, teaching knowledge and teaching practice. Through a series of in-depth interviews, this research considers the way in which these teachers construct and interpret their own careers and practices and how their lives as teachers both constitute and are constituted by the social and cultural context in which they are located. The different ages of the women in this study provide interesting points for comparison of their perspectives and practices.

Most research studies related to gender and teaching are conducted in urban environments. This study acknowledges the particularities of a rural location and background and the interaction between this and gender with respect to the values and perspectives held by the women in this study. Likewise there has been considerable research interest in the way in which children experience gender relations in the classroom and how their ways of knowing and thinking are gendered. In a similar way this research begins to locate some of the contextual details that are part of these teachers' histories, and considers the extent to which their subjectivities, social practices, knowledge and relationships, particularly with respect to teaching, are gendered.

Barry Cocklin and Rod Francis, Charles Sturt University

Outcome-based education: A case study of change in a secondary school

Keywords: outcome-based education; educational change.

This paper is presented as part of Symposium 13, Outcome-based education in progress: An action research project in five schools.

Roger Coldwell and Michael Ellis, Curtin University of Technology

Industrial innovation and education: The case of Charles Babbage

Keywords: industry innovation; Babbage.

Traditionally, the interaction between industry and education has developed a number of innovations on both sides. Such a case was that of the work of Charles Babbage who developed the first computer in mid-nineteenth century Britain. However, the social deterrents to Babbage's work were quite considerable. Not only did the scientific community try to deter him from innovating, but the social community saw his ideas as a threat to the core of society. The idea that a machine could be used to do menial tasks for man was, in the mid- 1800's, thought to be intolerable.

The major contribution that Babbage made has always been thought to be that of his analytical machines. However, closer analysis of his writings-and the writings of others about Babbage generally-suggests that his major contribution, which outweighs all others, was in his analytical and creative process. Whereas it is quite common, in 1994, to talk about a "design cycle" in response to Design and Technology education, the process that Babbage followed makes our current design approach seem flippant. Babbage pre-dated developments in brainstorming by a mere century! He discussed design problems with a wide range of people before he even posed a hypothetical solution. He outlined the problems related to artificial intelligence-the theory behind computer-aided learning-at about the same time.

Babbage was a mathematician, on the one hand, and an industrial designer, on the other. He lived throughout the first half of the nineteenth century. And yet his ideas are still shocking conservative people today. This poses a primary question for educators. How does Education deal with the struggle between its conservative advocates and its progressive advocates? Further, in a conservative context like Australia, do we have any hope at all of innovating in Education?

COLQD94.137

Derek Colquhoun, Deakin University

The Health Promoting School in Australia: Research issues and possibilities

Keywords: Health Promoting School; health education.

This presentation will discuss the recent development of the Health Promoting School in Australia. Throughout the presentation potential areas for research will be highlighted and examined. In particular, the presentation will examine innovative approaches of relating the development of the Health Promoting School concept to individual school development plans.

Inter-sectoral research will also be explored as a possibility for future developments.

Barbara Comber and Helen Nixon, University of South Australia

Making educational documentaries about disadvantage: theoretical and practical issues

Keywords: literacy; disadvantage.

An across-university team in South Australia is producing educational video documentaries as part of an innovative research and curriculum development project. The project explores the connections between economic disadvantage and literacy achievement, school programs which address literacy/disadvantage, and ways in which this knowledge can best be "taught" using video text and other materials. The research raises the theoretical, practical and ethical dilemma: "Who can represent someone else, with what intention, in what 'language', and in what environment" which, Ruby maintains, "is a conundrum that characterises the post-modern era" (Ruby 1992:42).

This paper takes as its research text the making of educational documentaries. It explores the political, ethical and educational issues of representation and reception which have to be addressed when video footage is used to represent school communities living with high levels of poverty.

General issues addressed by the researchers include those of voice, authority and authorship in ethnography (Clifford, 1986; Geertz, 1988) and the tensions and contradictions inherent in the researcher- researched relationship raised in post-colonial theory (Said, 1978) with particular reference to documentary film-making (Ruby, 1992; Minh-ha, 1989). Specific issues addressed are the possibilities and complexities of integrating theory and practice when engaged in research and teaching about/for social justice (Anyon, 1994; Ellsworth, 1989; Cherryholmes, 1994). Examples will be drawn from the researchers' attempts to use the video medium to problematise the dominant discourses of disadvantage and literacy achievement for preservice teacher education students.

CONWR94.459

Robert Conway and Neville Schofield, University of Newcastle

Quality of school life: An analysis of secondary students' perceptions

Keywords: student welfare; quality of school life.

Building upon an earlier study of the perception of quality of school life of students in State high schools across New South Wales, the current study sought to examine student perceptions of their quality of school life within the Hunter region.

Schools were randomly selected from State high schools, Catholic Education Office high schools, together with all independent high schools. A random sample of students from Years 7 to 11 inclusive were administered the ACER Quality of School Life questionnaire and Our High School, a questionnaire developed by the authors. Each instrument was analysed using confirmatory factor analysis, and a series of ANOVA was conducted for grade, gender and school system.

Results showed significant difference for gender, grade and school system. The outcomes of the study will provide schools with a basis on which to plan for future student welfare needs.

CORMP94.063

Phil Cormack and Helen Nixon, University of South Australia

A case study of educational reform: One school's response to the Profiles for Australian Schools

Keywords: profiles; literacy.

The Profiles for Australian Schools (PAS) have been introduced to schools in South Australia for familiarisation in 1994. Teachers will be expected to use them for reporting on student outcomes from 1995. The rhetoric accompanying the introduction of the PAS has emphasised their role in promoting a focus on outcomes in school education and driving an improvement in the "quality" of education, particularly for students from targeted groups. In other words, there is a strong change/reform agenda implicit in the PAS.

The authors are conducting a case study (as part of a DEET-funded project) in one disadvantaged R-12 school in South Australia which focuses on the ways the school uses the PAS in developing whole school approaches to reporting and assessing students' literacy levels in English. During the session we will do two things. First, we will describe the complexity involved in the introduction of this innovation to the school. This will involve outlining some of the features of life in a disadvantaged school which render problematic many of the assumptions about school change/reform. Second, we will reflect on the issues confronting researchers working to document an innovation in a school where perceptions about the innovation vary considerably between those in schools and those who promote the innovation. Discussion will include approaches we have used to document and report on this school in ways which reflect the school's concerns and provide useful information to funding providers.

COSTG94.415

Graham Costin, Queensland University of Technology

Education to prevent osteoporosis

Keywords: health education; osteoporosis education.

Osteoporosis, a condition characterised by low bone mass and microarchitectal deterioration of bone tissue, is an increasing health care problem of bone fragility in all ageing societies. The ageing population of Australia is a sample of this international group with an increasing incidence of diagnosed osteoporosis. A significant factor contributing to this situation is an increasing proportion of the population living into old age who are more at risk of such deterioration-induced conditions.

Bone mass later in life is determined by the peak bone mass acquired in the third decade of life. Studies to date have identified three significant factors contributing to the determination of peak bone mass-genetic inheritance, nutritional factors and level of physical activity.

Education relating to osteoporosis to date has adopted a medical model of focusing on the condition. This practice of informing people about the condition, what causes it, and how to manage it, offers little to the younger age groups who are the potential sufferers of the future. This paper will look at the wider possible educational implications of this evidence. It will address how the current data on the causes of osteoporosis can be used to devise intervention programs which will prevent its occurrence or reduce its severity.

CRAWK94.317

Kathryn Crawford, University of Sydney

Making a safe space for innovation: Teachers, communication and technology

Keywords: mathematics/science education; technology.

There is widespread acceptance by policy makers, curriculum developers and teacher educators of the need for changes in both the content and processes of mathematics and science education. For change to occur, teachers need to become active and autonomous learners. Effective, large-scale change will also require risk taking, experimentation, reflection about and reconceptualisation of the subject domains and processes of teaching and learning for both experienced teachers and student teachers.

A naive assumption of several projects seeking to provide professional support for teachers has been that opportunities for greater communication with other colleagues would be welcomed. It is now clear that, in many educational systems, teacher isolation has an important function as a means for the maintenance of privacy and professional autonomy. In general, teachers are reluctant to discuss their pedagogical practice or new ideas about a subject domain in a professional culture where expertise is highly valued and curiosity may be confused with incompetence.

The paper discusses two systemic approaches to the support of teachers' learning in context and the impact of new technologies in the process. In one project student teachers experiment with new techniques for active learning in mathematics. In the second project, secondary teachers are supported while they experiment with the use of simulation software in science. A particular focus of the discussion will be on the development of a professional environment in which creative innovation, and communication about educational practice, are valued and supported.

Toni G. Cross and George F. Lewis, Macquarie University

Early childhood teacher workforce study: Supply and demand in New South Wales

Keywords: early childhood education; teacher supply and demand.

The Early Childhood Workforce Study aimed to quantify the extent of shortages of early childhood teachers in New South Wales, identify patterns in relation to different sectors of the industry and different geographical locations, profile the workforce participation of early childhood teachers in New South Wales, and recommend strategies for establishing a balance between projected supply and demand estimates.

The research estimated supply and demand for trained early childhood teachers in different types of services and in different geographical locations, based on a number of projections for the future expansion in centre-based places for children in the preschool age range. The core data of the study came from three surveys of centres, teachers and graduates, and was supplemented by a range of other data sources. Demand estimates took into account teachers employed above New South Wales regulation requirements, teacher turnover, anticipated expansion in community-based child-care services and work-based and commercial (for profit) services, and school sector employment. Supply estimates included the annual output of preservice early childhood graduates and rates of entry and re-entry to the preschool long-day- care workforce in New South Wales.

Demand and supply estimates were projected on the basis of a series of different assumptions about the expansion of children's services in New South Wales, which ranged from a status quo assumption to full implementation of recent Commonwealth child care strategies. Limitations on the estimates of demand and supply are discussed and recommendations for relating supply to demand are canvassed.

Stephen Crump, University of Sydney, and James C. Walker, University of Canberra

Real choice in Australian education: Reshaping the role of government

Keywords: educational reform; educational policy.

This paper reports on part of a project on the movement for choice and diversity in education, in several countries, which examines the related issues of public interest, private freedom, marketisation, commodification and State control.

It was fashionable in the 1960's and 1970's for educational reformers to be critical of the role of government, especially the "ideological State apparatus" in education. Now that "choice" and "markets" are buzzwords in educational policy, what has happened to that earlier concern about the State? For many it seems that the State is no longer part of the problem but part of the solution. This is not a point about the content of policy (e.g. "economic rationalism" or "corporate managerialism") but about who exercises power and how.

We argue that in Australia the role of the State has become so far- reaching that many instances of so-called "choice" and "market reform" have not increased choice or diversity at all. We are critical of State involvement in the detail of educational policy and practice and of union support for this. We suggest a general role for government as provider of resources and regulator in the interests of equity and justice. We advocate a strong role for the education profession as well as community participation in educational development. Thus we take issue with common positions on both left and right.

David D. Curtis, University of South Australia, and Michael J. Lawson, Flinders University of South Australia

Scheme and strategy in problem-solving

Keywords: problem-solving; computer games.

We undertook a study in which we investigated the behaviours of students while they played a computer-based adventure game. In our analysis, we sought evidence of the use of a range of strategic behaviours-both general and specific to the domain-and evidence of the influence of students' schemas for the problem domain. We compared novice and experienced players in terms of their use of strategies, their access to schemas for these games, and their performances. We also compared the use of strategies and access to schemas of high- and low-performing students.

We found that experienced players had well-developed schemas but that they did not make greater use of general strategies than novices. Further, we found that high performers did make use of general strategies, but that schema did not influence performance. We report the results of our study, and compare them with published claims about the use of these games as environments for the development of problem- solving behaviours. We comment on the implications of our work for the use of these games in classrooms, and reflect on what we see as a perplexing lack of influence of our schema measures on performance.

Pamela Curtin, Griffith University-Gold Coast

Performance theory and educational research: Locating the teacher- performer in postmodern times

Keywords: teacher performance; postmodernity.

Although it is not uncommon for public action to be declared a performance, the association of performance theory with educational research is still relatively unexplored. Pineau (1994) stresses that until recently the notion that teaching is performance has appeared to imply that performance is an outcome, and teaching is an art or skill that must be learned.

This paper endeavours to draw together performance theories as interpreted across a variety of disciplines. It looks at roles and routines effected in the classroom, visual representations and the negotiation with Difference. It argues that whilst performance is an outward display it is not only an outcome. Rather, it is also an internal process of which the teacher can learn to be consciously aware. It is this invisible performance that enables empowerment or disempowerment, and the construction of power/knowledge discourses within the classroom.

From a postmodern perspective, performance requires learned quasi- reflexivity, and practised reflection. It presupposes that action on reflection considers contextual variables (both spatial and temporal, and in relation with the Other), and that only through self- examination (recognising that we cannot fully eliminate bias) can we begin to negotiate positive and productive levels of interaction across differences.

Robyn Cusworth, University of Sydney

Researching the "taken-for-granted" in educational practice: Crossing methodological boundaries

Keywords: newstime; curriculum methodology.

The distinction is often made between quantitative and qualitative methodology when looking at educational problems, and the superiority of one is often promoted over another (e.g., Bulmer, 1978 cf Althusser, 1977). While it has been argued that a quantitative, outcome-based approach to research may be systematic in its control of individual differences (Palmiter, et al., 1993), it cannot examine or explore the variations and complexities of individual experiences. It must also be noted that these distinctions are fairly artificially polarised and that often within each paradigm a range of different approaches to and methods of research are included.

The current study of newstime aimed to develop a rich and layered description of this fragment of the curriculum-an everyday school practice which has wider implications for teaching and learning. It was therefore imperative to use a range of data-gathering methods crossing traditional methodology boundaries. Rather than begin with a theory or hypothesis, the intention was that the outcome of the research would lead to a clearer definition of newstime as a curriculum event.

The researcher has attempted to integrate both a careful study of observed practice on a small scale with patterns obtained from a larger sample of teachers about their newstime practices. Initial case studies led to examination of more general teacher practice which in turn led to ethnography. The whole research process was "constantly shaped and reshaped" (Burgess, 1984:9) during the investigation as the researcher tried to take up the challenge to subject a curriculum event often "taken-for-granted" to critical scrutiny (Delamont, 1991:197).

Robyn Cusworth, University of Sydney, and Anna Dickinson, Harbord Primary School

Changing curriculum practice: An innovative case study

Keywords: curriculum change; innovation.

In New South Wales the early 1990's have seen wide-ranging changes advocated both in the ways schools are organised and in most curriculum areas. Despite the directives of the centralised Board of Studies, it is teachers who must implement curriculum initiatives. In studying how planned educational change can occur, it is important to gain some understanding of both the micro and macro levels-what change means from the teacher, student, principal and parent perspectives as well as the institutional factors which influence change (governments, unions, school systems, etc.). This study has focused on the process of curriculum change at the micro level.

This paper reports on an exploratory longitudinal study which has monitored one primary teacher's changing curriculum practice in an urban government school over four years. The case study has used a range of data-gathering strategies (observational, "conversational" interviews, team teaching, videotaping, survey) to examine the change process experienced by one teacher coming to terms with new curriculum documents and an innovative approach to teaching and learning.

Some of the factors necessary for change to occur at the classroom level are highlighted, including the importance of interpersonal relationships and ongoing professional development opportunities. Change in curriculum practice in this instance is portrayed as a gradual interactive and multidimensional process (Fullan, 1990).

Susan Danby, Queensland University of Technology

The gendered practices of young children in a preschool classroom

Keywords: discourse analysis; gender issues.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 17, Reconceptualising communication in families and schools.

Barry Dart, Queensland University of Technology

Teaching for improved learning in small classes in higher education

Keywords: higher education; learning environment.

Twenty-two preservice teacher education students enrolled in a Postgraduate Diploma of Education at Queensland University of Technology completed statements about their beliefs relating to learning as well as a measure of their study processes, before and after a semester course in Educational Psychology. They also indicated their preferred classroom learning environment (before) and their perceived classroom learning environment (after). They were provided with learning experiences designed to help them take more responsibility for their own learning, to develop and/or reinforce "constructive" conceptions of learning, and to improve their knowledge of the structural complexity of learning. These practices included collaborative learning and discussion, peer teaching, learning contracts, and self, peer and collaborative assessment.

Results indicate that there was an improvement in the level of structure of their knowledge of learning; that reality exceeded their preference for autonomy in learning; and that achieving motive and achieving strategy decreased. These outcomes are discussed in terms of the particular learning experiences to which the students were exposed.

Barry Dart, Queensland University of Technology

The modification of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) to measure tertiary learning environments

Keywords: higher education; learning environment.

This paper reports an attempt to validate the factorial structure of the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey (CLES) (Taylor & Fraser, 1991) at the tertiary level, using both "theoretical" exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.

The CLES was originally developed and validated for secondary school settings. The data comprised responses from 500 students enrolled in various subjects offered by the Faculty of Education of a large metropolitan Australian university. Modification of this scale through the deletion of unsatisfactory items and the inclusion of other appropriate items led to the development of a scale more suited to measuring constructivist learning environments at the tertiary level.

DAVIB94.279

Bronwyn Davies, James Cook University of North Queensland

The discursive construction of gender in the classroom

Keywords: gender issues; teacher-student discourse.

Drawing on my research with preschool and primary school children and my analyses of videotaped classrooms, I will examine the ways in which students become gendered through the discursive structures and practices evident in classroom text and talk, and through the practices of "teaching as usual" which take place inside taken-for- granted patterns of authority between teacher and student and between student and text.

I will look at the way students' perceptions of themselves and others and their related patterns of desire are shaped. In doing so I will look at their understandings of sexuality, and in particular compulsory heterosexuality and the ways in which these are constituted through a combination of discursive practices, social structures, and the shaping of the "inner being" of each student. I will then look at the possibility of working with students to enable them to make visible those practices and structures through which they are constituted. I will elaborate the idea of critical/deconstructive reading/writing as a major avenue for this work with students.

Steve Dinham, University of Western Sydney Nepean

Societal pressures and teaching

Keywords: teachers' work; social context.

Education systems world-wide have experienced considerable change in recent years. Schools and teachers have increasingly been required to address and remedy the problems of society while at the same time satisfy the needs of national economies through the provision of appropriately trained school leavers. Youth unemployment levels have remained high and post-compulsory retention has risen. There has been pressure to modify curricula to accommodate these students. There has also been greater public and government scrutiny of how schools and educational systems transform their financial inputs to measurable educational outcomes. The age of the teaching profession has steadily risen and it seems more difficult to entice talented young people to enter teacher training, a situation exacerbated by the general ageing of the population which has led to teacher redundancies in some systems. It is in this context that teachers have been expected to operate.

This paper draws upon this contemporary context, an interview study of 57 resigned teachers, and the literature, to examine the pressing issue of societal demands, expectations and pressures on teaching, schools and education. It was found in the study in question that societal pressures were a significant factor in teacher dissatisfaction and resignation.

DIXOR94.307

Roselyn M. Dixon and Herbert W. Marsh, University of Western Sydney Macarthur; and Robert J. Dixon, University of Sydney

Meta-analysis of research comparing children with and without disabilities on multiple dimensions of self-concept

Keywords: self-concept; disability.

This paper will present the preliminary results of a meta-analysis of research comparing disabled and nondisabled children on multiple dimensions of self-concept. Meta-analysis is a technique that can overcome difficulties in previous research with people with special needs. These difficulties include small group sample size of children with disabilities, lack of control groups, and poor conceptualisations of self-concept.

The theoretical background for the meta-analysis came from a review by Marsh and Johnstone (1992). The meta-analysis examined how differences in self-concept differed as a function of: (a) age; (b) the nature and severity of the disability; (c) the component of self-concept (e.g., social, physical, academic or general) and its relation to the disability; and (d) the nature of the educational setting.

Implications of the findings will be discussed with reference to policy formation and factors related to integration, and the processes involved in the formation of self-concept, its maintenance and change.

Rosemary Dobbins, University of South Australia

Social justice and the practicum

Keywords: practicum; social justice.

The paper reports on a study in which I have been involved over the last two years, investigating the learning of final-year primary student teachers and their co-operating teachers during the practicum. The setting for the study was a "disadvantaged" school within the South Australian State education system, which has a high proportion of children from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Two conclusions relating to learning and the practicum in a disadvantaged school setting can be drawn from the study: (1) There are significant positive learning outcomes for student teachers as a result of having a third-year practicum in a disadvantaged school setting; BUT (2) Immersion is not enough if student teacher learning is to be maximised.

As a result of having their values confronted and challenged, the student teachers involved in the study changed their attitudes towards disadvantaged schools and children in poverty. They also learnt about social justice and how this translated into the classroom. However, immersion was not enough for the student teachers to maximise their learning from this setting. Recommendations for changes to the practicum, based on the notions of empowerment, collaboration and reflection, are discussed in this paper.

DOIGB94.058

Brian Doig, Australian Council for Educational Research

They call us wogs: The cultural understanding of Victorian children

Keywords: cultural studies; multiculturalism.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 12, Young people's understandings of Australian society.

DOIGB94.059

Brian Doig, Australian Council for Educational Research

Politics in the playground: The political understanding of Victorian children

Keywords: politics; conceptual learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 12, Young people's understandings of Australian society.

Shani Doig, Queensland University of Technology

The problems of developing theoretical models for collaborative research projects

Keywords: curriculum change; action research.

Teaching for Effective Learning in Senior Schooling (TELSS) is an ongoing ARC collaborative project between the Queensland University of Technology and Kelvin Grove State High School. The four separate pilot projects which have developed so far are united by a basic commitment to the improvement of teaching and learning at Kelvin Grove State High School. These projects, while joined loosely by the philosophy of action research, have followed separate methodology and have until recently remained ungrounded by a tight theoretical agenda.

A chicken and egg scenario may be drawn from the experiences of the TELSS project. It is generally considered that theory should be in place before the practical components of research are undertaken. Is it possible and feasible to reverse this process, i.e., to overlay the practical research agenda with theory or to allow the theory to develop out of the research act? Such questions have been debated within the contexts of the project. While not devising a cohesive answer, the theories about the role of theory in the research process have implications beyond the TELSS project.

The paper presented will outline the history of the project to this point with specific reference to the problems of developing a cohesive theoretical model which all the pilot projects could be united by. An outline of the theoretical model developed will be presented along with an analysis of the processes and politics which were involved in its development. In a more general sense the difficulties of creating theoretical models for collaborative action research projects will be viewed.

Murray Drummond, Edith Cowan University

Masculine research-feminist methodology: An innovative approach to studying men

Keywords: gender issues; research methodology.

Research on masculinity, and its relationship with sport, is in its infancy. At this early stage of development new theoretical frameworks are being produced around which masculine research is based. New methodologies are also being utilised to provide appropriate levels of analysis.

In this paper I argue that research on masculinity, particularly the relationship between masculinity and sport, is important for inter- and intra-gender relations. I also argue that feminist research methods, such as individual case studies and life historical accounts, which incorporate phenomenological interviewing techniques, are powerful tools for the study of social structures as they impinge upon personal life. An exploration into the lives of elite level male bodybuilders, surf lifesavers and triathletes using these methodologies substantiates these claims.

The paper highlights the need for innovative research on masculinity and emphasises the dearth of knowledge surrounding this area of study.

Murray Drummond, Edith Cowan University

Muscles, men and masculinity

Keywords: masculinity; gender issues.

Sociologists and anthropologists will argue that now, more so than any other period in history, muscles have become an important part of masculine identity in Western culture. However, in the quest to attain this muscular physique, the majority of men must work their bodies in a physical manner. Therefore, muscles have become synonymous with sport and exercise. Unfortunately there are many men who abhor physical activity, often as a consequence of bad childhood experiences with sport, or there are those men who simply do not have the time to exercise due to their work commitments. For men such as these, life can involve a constant battle with their own conscience as they struggle with their decision not to exercise; however, they must face the consequence of negative social regard and criticism.

The benefit of muscularity is instilled into boys at an early age. Boys suffer if they can't or won't accept the obligation to develop a "manly" physique. Muscular, athletic boys are generally well accepted by peers and have a positive self-concept. In general, athletic physiques in males are revered and applauded by Western society.

My doctoral research examines the lives of 12 elite-level sportsmen, from the sports of bodybuilding, surf lifesaving and triathlon. It aims to discover the emphasis these men place on the size, shape and muscularity of male physiques as well as the way they perceive masculinity, including their own Therefore this paper will investigate the importance of muscles in the development of masculinity throughout the lifecourse of men, utilising the data collected thus far.

Jessie Ee and Lorna K.S. Chan, University of Newcastle

Attributional beliefs, goal orientations, strategic learning and achievement of Singaporean Grade 6 students

Keywords: motivation; strategic learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22, Motivation, strategic learning and school achievement-I.

Hedy Fairbairn, Phillip J. Moore and Lorna K.S. Chan, University of Newcastle

Assessing approaches to learning, attributional beliefs and strategic learning in specific subject domains: Scales development

Keywords: motivation; strategic learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 22, Motivation, strategic learning and school achievement-II.

Lesley Farrell, Monash University

Making grades

Keywords: cross-cultural issues; NESB students.

Questions about the control of access to education are recognised as especially complex when they arise in cross-cultural contexts. These questions are, however, frequently framed in simplistic ways. When issues of language are addressed they are understood to be primarily questions about the way in which non-English speaking background students might best gain control of formal English language and literacy and of specific generic structures.

This paper argues that current debates about the control of access to higher education must take account of the ways in which cultural values are realised in language and literacy practices and expressed in characteristic text structures. Language and literacy practices are centrally important in the process of "allocating people" and "legitimating knowledge" through tertiary entrance examinations. The paper examines the ways in which Anglo-Australian cultural values are evident in the criteria used to discriminate between candidates presenting for Year 12 external examinations in economics, Australian history and legal studies between 1981 and 1991 in Victoria. Specifically, it focuses on culturally-located concepts of "literateness", "relevance" and "politeness and face". It describes the way in which these concepts are realised in characteristic text structures and the way in which these structures are taken by the examiners to provide unambiguous evidence of the "academic merit" of individual candidates. It argues that the grade a candidate achieves in these external examinations is, at least in part, a measure of the congruence between the cultural values of the candidate and the cultural values of the examiner. The paper raises questions about the justice of distributing scarce university places on the basis of these examinations.

Carlo Fasano, University of Wollongong, and Jim Walker, University of Canberra

Policy processes in education: A possible research and development agenda

Keywords: educational policy.

This paper will be presented as Symposium 1.

Denis Fennessy, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Assessment of teacher collegiality

Keywords: teacher collegiality; professional development.

This study describes the development of a teacher collegiality scale for use in research on school improvement and the professional development of teachers. The concept of teacher collegiality has been well defined by past research in terms of a collection of helping and sharing interactions about teaching and curriculum matters. Previous methodologies for examining collegiality have included case studies, observation, teacher logs and self-reporting. These provided limited estimates of levels of collegiality and restricted the application of higher-order quantitative analysis of relationships between collegiality and other measures available from schools and teachers.

Qualitative material from previous studies was used as the basis for developing a pool of 77 Likert-type items. A sample of 114 primary teachers described the frequency of their use of each behaviour listed. Data was analysed using a Rasch partial credit model and resulted in a 25-item Teacher Collegiality scale. The scale arranges behaviours in a developmental sequence. The pattern of teacher responses on the scale holds implications for teachers and professional development consultants who include coaching in their programs.

FERNM94.107

Marjorie Fernandes, Monash University

Regional disparities in education in Australia and India: Similarities and dissimilarities

Keywords: regional disparities; cross-cultural issues.

This paper considers the nature and magnitude of regional disparities and their implications for government policy in Australia and India and brings out the similarities and dissimilarities between the two countries.

As compared to the socio-economic dimension, the regional dimension generally tends to be neglected in studies of educational inequalities within a country. Also, comparisons between Australia and India with respect to educational phenomena in general, and regional disparities in education in particular, are hardly ever made. This paper attempts to remedy both aspects-it focuses on the regional dimension and looks at the situation in both Australia and India when discussing the nature and extent of educational inequalities and their implications for government policy.

Both countries have federal systems and are characterised by regional disparities in education, the reduction of which is an objective of government policy. However, considering the vastly different socio- economic and educational contexts of the two countries, the nature and extent of regional disparities in education differ considerably between them. As a result, different government policies may be required to tackle the regional disparities in education in the two countries. Even if a particular policy is to be adopted in both countries (the policy of financial transfers under fiscal federalism is taken as an example), it would need to be designed to suit the specific contexts of each country.

Brian Ferry and Christine Brown, University of Wollongong

The use of a multimedia journal to help teachers experience the processes involved in technology education

Keywords: multimedia; technology education.

Research has shown that teachers in primary schools have little opportunity to develop skills that can assist them to instruct children in the processes involved in designing and technology. Because they have limited access to professional development courses in designing and technology, they are unlikely to develop the competence and confidence needed to provide effective instruction. Furthermore, it has also been shown that just providing teachers with one-off written documentation and one-off professional development courses has minimal impact. Therefore alternative ways of delivering the required professional development need to be explored.

Interactive multimedia can provide an innovative means of instruction that is both efficient and cost-effective. This paper presents an interactive multimedia journal developed to support a subject that provided both preservice and inservice teachers with an opportunity to develop instructional skills in design and technology. It discusses the rationale for the subject and the theoretical model of technology and design that supported the multimedia journal. The final product will be demonstrated and the directions for further research discussed.

FIELB94.218

Barry A. Fields, University of Southern Queensland

A study of student mobility in primary schools: Factors influencing mobility and educational implications

Keywords: student mobility.

The dynamic nature of school populations is perhaps one of the least well known and appreciated facets of the formal education process. The paucity of literature, research or otherwise, on student mobility is testimony to the extent of ignorance of the phenomenon and any importance which might be attached to it. Educators are no less culpable than the community at large in this regard, by maintaining an image of schooling as a system focused on relatively stable class groups where the class roll at the end of the school year differs very little from the roll at the beginning of the year (Lash & Kirkpatrick, 1990). The available data, however, paint a very different picture, and one which compels not only the attention of educators but that of a variety of individuals from the helping professions and welfare agencies.

In this paper, the magnitude of the problem of student mobility is discussed. Particular attention is given to data on the extent of student mobility, factors contributing to family and student mobility, and the educational implications of transient school populations. The above factors are illustrated with data from a recent study of student mobility in Queensland primary schools. The study is unique in that it is one of the few Australian research projects which focuses on civilian families. Much of the available Australian data has been based on the children of defence force personnel, with questionable generalisability to civilian populations.

Helen J. Forgasz, Monash University, and Gilah C. Leder, La Trobe University

Mathematics and English: Stereotyped domains?

Keywords: gender-stereotyping; students' beliefs.

Historically, mathematics and English are academic disciplines which have been gender-stereotyped: mathematics as "masculine" and English as "feminine". Mathematics is also generally considered to be more important. In this paper we report the findings of a study of Grade 9 students' beliefs about themselves as learners of mathematics and English.

A questionnaire which included closed and open-ended items was administered to the students. The questionnaire was in three parts and items prepared to determine beliefs about mathematics were slightly adapted for English. For both subject areas, students' causal attributions for success and failure and their beliefs about their achievement levels were ascertained from closed items scored on five- point Likert-type scales. Students' responses to open-ended items reflected the extent to which each discipline was stereotyped.

When beliefs about mathematics were compared to those about English, males were found to be more consistent about the two subjects than were females. Gender differences were found in the patterns of responses about mathematics and about English; greater variation was apparent for English. Both males and females stereotyped the two subjects in predictable directions. For example, more females than males disliked mathematics while more females than males liked English. The males were found to be more stereotyped about each discipline than were the females. While very few of the female students believed men were better at mathematics, over 20% of the male students did. For English, more males than females believed women were better at the subject.

Christine Forlin, University of Western Australia

Inclusive practices: How accepting are teachers?

Keywords: disability; integration.

Within the last two decades teaching has become increasingly more complex and according to many reports considerably more stressful. In this climate of change there has been a world-wide emphasis placed on the rights of all children, regardless of disability, to receive an appropriate education. The current position in the human rights discourse is delineated as one of equal access and equal opportunity. In many instances this is interpreted to mean placement of children with a disability in the regular classroom with age-appropriate peers, yet limited regard has been given to the values and beliefs of educators who are expected to accommodate such student placements.

This research addresses the question of educators' beliefs about the rights of children with a disability to be included in regular schools in Western Australia. Educators from all Education Support Centres (ESC's) and attached primary schools rated whether they considered children with either a physical or intellectual disability should be integrated full-time or part-time depending upon the degree of disability (severe, moderate, mild). Educators appear to have strong beliefs regarding inclusive practices, and these beliefs do not necessarily reflect the momentum towards greater inclusion.

Acceptance of integration was lower for the child with an intellectual disability than for a child with a physical disability and decreased with a converse increase in severity of the disability. Educators were more accepting of part-time integration, but mostly only for the child with a mild or moderate disability. Educators from the ESC's were more accepting than were their regular school peers, and as educators became more experienced they became less accepting of inclusion.

Peter Forlin, University of Southern Queensland

Legal frameworks for devolution in Australian regular and special education

Keywords: devolution; legal frameworks.

This paper will present a research-based analysis of legislative frameworks that facilitate proper decentralisation where schools are mandated to define their own educational processes and systems, including curricula. The major issues to be addressed in this paper are as follows: educators are not well prepared for this new autonomy; few, if any, countries have developed an appropriate legal framework for devolution; school autonomy can only have meaning if it is supported in law; education law is multifaceted; no new piece of legislation can remove an existing model; teachers may be more empowered but in reality powers are still defined by law; and teachers cannot move outside their mandate.

New education laws are essential and will require amendment. Together with new legal frameworks, educators will use their autonomy and power to develop new and innovative policy directions. This paper will present examples of legal frameworks needed to support devolved systems of education. Frameworks that are under development in Australia and those that are in operation overseas will be offered as examples.

Victoria Foster, University of Western Sydney Nepean

"What about the boys!": Presumptive equality, and the obfuscation of concerns about theory, research, policy, resources and curriculum in the education of girls and boys

Keywords: gender issues; curriculum development.

The paper draws on doctoral research, and analyses the demands made during 1994 for a "Boys' Education Strategy", in New South Wales in particular. It examines claims that equality for girls has largely been achieved. The paper argues that demands for a boys' strategy are based on a framework which is atheoretical, eschewing a consideration of gender relations in society and schooling, and of the research which has documented those relations.

The paper describes the implications which have resulted for educational policy-making, resourcing and curriculum development. Some ramifications for the schooling experiences of girls and boys are considered. Preferred directions for comprehensive curriculum reform to address the continuing gendered nature of schooling, and girls' and boys' schooling needs, are put forward.

Stuart Fowler, National Institute for Christian Education

Bridging the gap between theory and practice through research partnership

Keywords: teacher as researcher; theory and practice.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 4, Transforming the practice of teaching through research partnership.

Christine Fox, University of Wollongong

Listening to the multiple voices of research into intercultural relations: A defence of authentic intercultural communication

Keywords: cross-cultural issues; poststructuralism.

This paper explores the many issues surrounding recent research into intercultural communication. Traditional research has focused on anthropological narratives across cultures, on the linguistic and philosophical dilemmas of translation, or on cross-cultural adaptation into a host society. More recently, researchers have expanded on a poststructuralist view that no authentic communication is possible across cultures, particularly where the communicators come from very different cultural backgrounds and normative discourses. Other researchers have employed Habermas' view of an Ideal Speech Situation which posits a hypothetical "as if" situation where interlocutors can develop a mutual understanding. However, they too tend to see that such a situation threatens where a common cultural background is lacking.

In this paper, it is argued that none of these positions is acceptable. Authenticity in communication across cultures is not only possible, it is imperative. An authentic communicative situation is an honourable kind of conversation based on mutual trust and a respectful sharing of intended meanings. It requires a sense of resonance between those who seek to reach agreement and understanding. By contrast, the idea that cultural incompatibility is more or less inevitable can be construed as an eurocentric view which tends to point to stereotyping of the "other" and the continued marginalisation of non-European cultures. The theoretical development explored in this paper shows how people from contrastive world views can indeed bridge deep chasms of discursive difference if they work together to create intercultural communicative situations.

Christine Fox and Robyn Iredale, University of Wollongong

The dilemmas of researching issues of equity: Outcomes from a mostly quantitative study on the impact of immigration on education in New South Wales

Keywords: equity; multiculturalism.

The authors recently concluded a research consultancy for the Bureau of Population and Immigration Research on the impact of immigration on education in New South Wales (Iredale & Fox, 1994, in press). Statistical data on students from language backgrounds other than English were relatively easily available, although different education systems (government/non-government; schools/TAFE/university) used different criteria to decide who belonged to a first or second generation immigrant family. From this data, it was possible to ascertain overall numbers of students, percentages of students from various language backgrounds, and the demographic movement of immigrants within NSW and across regional boundaries. Data were also analysed on differences in participation of NESB students in government or non-government schools, and in TAFE compared with higher education. Further statistical information provided such data as numbers of students receiving English as a Second Language, and numbers of teachers employed for ESL teaching and support services. The various administrative and policy-making bodies supplied detailed information on policies and programs developed for NESB students over the last ten years.

Such data were useful indicators of the supply and demand of specialist services. However, it was far more difficult to ascertain what percentage of the students were receiving the services they needed. Moreover, no reliable accounts were available of the degree to which the whole education system was responding to the changing ethnic composition of student populations. The study has made a number of recommendations relating to issues of equity in education which will be explored in this paper.

Dawn Francis, James Cook University of North Queensland

A voice in the wilderness: Meetings as ritual in the cross-cultural context

Keywords: cross-cultural issues; meetings.

Meetings in institutional contexts can reproduce or transform cultural conventions. This research examines the interaction occurring in meetings in a tertiary institution with staff from different cultural backgrounds. Meetings are framed as ritual, stereotypic, quasi- dramatic, repetitive behaviours which persevere and are valued regardless of what is actually achieved. Having access to prestigious forums of knowledge, along with the prerogative to determine which knowledge and discourse types may be legitimately drawn upon in the meeting frame, allows those with power to determine the rules of the game. Perhaps more importantly, it allows them to treat these rules, once normalised, in a more flexible way than less powerful participants. Those who have communication competence as defined within this frame not only exercise influence, but determine others' ability to do so. Non-participants collude with this with their silence. Collusion sustains existing perceptions of power, knowledge and competence.

From the data a picture is constructed of meetings as ritual which has the potential to be creative, but which typically maintains the status quo and presents an image of efficiency. The data also suggest possible alternative strategies for use in a cross-cultural context.

Change in the institutional context cannot occur if we continue to collude in the disempowering discourses of meetings, particularly in the cross-cultural context. This research examines the practice of meetings with a view to deconstructing patterns which maintain the status quo.

FREAM94.246

Mark Freakley, Griffith University

Chartering values: The Review of the Queensland School Curriculum

Keywords: moral education; curriculum evaluation.

The Review of the Queensland School Curriculum was commissioned by the Queensland State Government in 1993 and the report published early this year. An important element in the Review Panel's recommendations is the formulation of a Draft Charter of Values intended to underpin the curriculum content and processes recommended elsewhere in the report.

With regards to moral education, I claim that the Panel's stance on values may turn out to be ineffectual because it fails to address the hard and central issue of how character is formed. The main argument rests on the premise that action is constitutive of character but not of values. Thus it is argued that values education may have little impact on behaviour, whereas a moral education which focuses on the development of particular virtues actively demands changed behaviour.

Peter Freebody, Griffith University, and Christine Ludwig, Department of Education, Queensland

Literacy practices in home and school: Methodological issues

Keywords: literacy; early childhood education.

Concerns about the nature of reading and writing, their values and functions in the social/economic life of a community, and how best to teach and assess them, have dominated debates about what constitutes literacy core competencies and how these might best be developed in homes, schools, colleges and workplaces.

In order to address some of these issues, a project is underway which involves a study of the literacy practices of students in the early years of schooling, of community members from a range of socio- economic backgrounds, and of the teachers working in schools in these communities. The project is being conducted by Griffith University in conjunction with the Queensland Department of Education and funded by the Department of Education, Employment and Training (DEET).

The first year of the project, which began in 1993, involved a close ethnographic study of the ideas and everyday practices and demands in and out of the early childhood classroom that shape the culture of literacy use connecting the practices in urban schools. These practices have been documented and described in an interim report. This, the second, year of the project involves further analysis and interpretation of the descriptive work of the first year.

The workshop will discuss the research methodologies of the project, the analytical procedures used to analyse the large corpus of data, interpretations and summaries of some of the data, and significant findings to date. Significant texts and interactions found from the study will also be examined to exemplify the analytical procedures and findings. Implications for school, classroom and community literacy practices will be explored.

Sandra Frid, Curtin University

Secondary school mathematics in perspective: Conceptions of its nature and relevance

Keywords: mathematics education; students' beliefs.

This study addresses a vital but neglected factor of the effect of recent curriculum changes in secondary mathematics: the conceptions of the recipients of the curriculum. Specifically, it investigates the nature of students', teachers', and community members' conceptions of what mathematics is, the intentions of school mathematics, and the outcomes of school mathematics.

A questionnaire was administered to teachers and Years 10,11 and 12 students at four secondary schools in Western Australia, including government, independent, Catholic and country schools. In addition, interviews with a selection of teachers, students, administrators, other educators and other community members were conducted to obtain detailed information on individuals' perceptions of mathematics and related curricula.

Results indicated a number of conflicts in the expectations and needs of students as compared to teachers in relation to mathematics learning. As well, there was incongruity between the intents of curriculum documents and the outcomes of mathematics learning as perceived by students, teachers, administrators, and other community members.

FRYG94.141

Geraldine Fry and Andrew Martin, University of Western Sydney Nepean

The influence of identified stressors on school personnel engaged in supervisory roles

Keywords: teacher stress; practicum supervision.

There has been an increasing body of work investigating the nature, extent and consequences of stress in the workplace. One line of research has sought to extend this investigation into the field of education. For the most part, this has involved an analysis of stress experienced by classroom teachers, while a smaller body of work has investigated stress experienced by school administrators, principals, and student teachers. To date, however, very little attention has been given to stress experienced by co-operating teachers during the school practicum, particularly as such stress pertains to their role as supervisor. The present investigation, therefore, seeks to assess the incidence and degree of stress experienced by co-operating teachers in primary schools. In particular, stress is examined as it pertains to (a) the supervising teacher's relationship with the student teacher, the school and the university supervisor; (b) the student teacher's relationship with the class; and (c) the co- operating teacher's role and duties in the workplace during practicum.

Results obtained following the administration of a questionnaire suggest that there are subscales and items within subscales that identify factors contributing to stress as experienced by teachers in the co-operating teacher role during school practicum. The study also identifies independent variables such as gender, position in the school, and age of the teacher that appear to influence the level of reported stress. These results are discussed in the light of recent theory and previous research in the area.

Joan M. Fry, Charles Sturt University; Jacqui Hood, New South Wales Department of School Education, Western Region; and Carol Woodruff, Charles Sturt University

School-university partnership: A case study of professional renewal in physical education

Keywords: physical education; school-university partnerships.

According to the Schools Council (December, 1990), systematic and relevant professional development, supported by purposeful review, will strengthen professional quality. This paper is an interim report on a professional exchange between a high school personal development, health and physical education teacher and a physical education/health teacher educator.

Contextual factors which led to the exchange will be discussed as well as the participants' perceptions, collected through interview, of the program's impact on teaching philosophy and strategies and views of self as a professional. Preliminary survey data gathered from student participants at the two sites will also be examined in terms of student reactions.

Susan Fullarton, Monash University

Motivation in mathematics: Perceived control, engagement and achievement in the mathematics classroom

Keywords: motivation; mathematics education.

This study examined the effects of perceived control on engagement and achievement in mathematics. All the Year 10 students at a co- educational, outer suburban government secondary college were asked to indicate their level of agreement with statements about strategies for achieving success and avoiding failure in mathematics, and to what extent they felt they personally had the capacity for each of these strategies. Students were also surveyed about the level of control they had over success and failure, and the level of cognitive and emotional engagement that they felt in mathematics. Their teachers were asked separately for their perceptions of each student's level of cognitive and emotional engagement.

Many aspects of perceived control were found to be significantly related to teachers' ratings of student engagement in classroom learning. Engagement, confidence and achievement were found to be promoted by high control beliefs, and by high strategy and capacity beliefs in ability. In contrast, engagement was found to be undermined by low capacity beliefs about ability, powerful others and luck.

Recommendations for the use of the attitude survey instrument in the classroom are discussed, as are general implications for teaching mathematics in ways to maximise student engagement and therefore learning.

Trevor Fullerton and M. A. (Ken) Clements, University of Newcastle

The relevance of generic teacher competencies in the training of prospective teachers of mathematics

Keywords: generic competencies; mathematics education.

This paper will take the form of a conversation. For many years, Trevor Fullerton has been developing and researching a set of generic teacher competencies which can be applied to teaching in all areas of the curriculum. Ken Clements, on the other hand, has been sceptical that such generic competencies can be helpful insofar as mathematics teacher education is concerned. He has always considered that such competencies are unlikely to assist in the process of satisfactorily developing prospective teachers of mathematics. The two have had long discussions on whether their positions can be reconciled, and this paper will present the fruits of their deliberations.

John Furlong,University of Wales, Swansea, Wales

Research, theory and scholarship: The future role of higher education in initial teacher education

Keywords: teacher education; higher education.

The development of competency-led, school-based initial teacher education in the United Kingdom and elsewhere has increasingly raised questions about the future role of higher education in initial teacher education. These developments have particularly raised questions about the continued role of those forms of knowledge traditionally associated with higher education-research, theory and scholarship. There is, as a result, a growing crisis of confidence amongst British teacher educators as to what their contribution to teacher education can and should be. This is a question echoed both by policy makers and by those in senior managerial roles in higher education institutions.

This paper will begin by illustrating the crisis by presenting findings from an ongoing research project which examines the changing role of higher education in initial teacher education. The paper will then go on to explore what the rationale for the continued involvement of higher education might be. It will be suggested that it is inappropriate to seek such a rationale in the "ownership" of particular forms of educational knowledge (research, theory and scholarship) or in particular professional principles (the commitment to reflective practice). Rather, it will be suggested that that rationale is to be sought in the principles underlying higher education itself. It will be argued that it is only by the involvement of teacher education with institutions committed to certain fundamental values-to open mindedness, to enquiry, to the commitment to question the assumptions underlying current knowledge and practice-that the nature of teaching as a complex and moral activity, rather than a technical process, can be maintained.

Michael Furtado, University of Newcastle

Employing critical reflection for cultural inclusion through religious education/religious studies

Keywords: religious education; multiculturalism.

A major aim of study of religion is to prepare future citizens to understand and critically appreciate the role of religion in society and culture. A study of religion, therefore, equips the learner to make sound decisions in relation to participating responsibly in the multicultural and multi-religious Australian polity.

In order to foster responsible decision-making and behaviour in students, it is necessary to address their underlying conceptions of what is desirable in a religious context, why it is desirable, and how it should be achieved. This paper describes the development of five 90-minute learning units which use structured controversy to generate cognitive conflict and to promote conceptual and attitudinal development. The trialling of the learning units used a conceptual change approach to taking account of established understandings and perspectives of the learners.

The paper further describes the research conducted in order to evaluate the learning units in terms of learner and expert observer perception of the learning process, and objective evidence of a conceptual and attitudinal change. Outcomes of the research will be used to refine the approach and learning units for future use in the promotion of education for social justice locally, nationally and internationally.

Maurice Galton, University of Leicester, UK, and John Williamson, University of Tasmania, Launceston

Research for policy development: Swimming with sharks

Keywords: commissioned research; policy making.

In the United Kingdom a feature of recent Government policy initiatives in education has been the use of commissioned research to support these changes. The obvious example was the Three Wise Men's Report (Alexander, et al., 1993) which was used to justify, among other things, the increase in school-based teacher training. More recently the White Paper, setting out revisions in the 1988 Reform Act, indicated a change in the law governing links between clusters of small schools to enable them to seek Grant Maintained Status. This change was justified by research commissioned by the Department for Education and carried out by one of the authors.

Alexander has complained that his research findings were misused. A similar claim can be made for the small schools research carried out at the University of Leicester. As a result, Hammersley and Scarth (1993) have argued that those who carry out research for governments with known ideological biases are at the best naive and at the worst unprincipled.

The paper is in two parts. In part one the British experience will be explored to see how far policy research of this kind is possible or desirable. In part two the Australian contributor will look at the implications of the British experience for developments in future Australian policy making on teacher education.

Jenny Gardner and John Williamson, University of Tasmania, Launceston Teacher professional development: An evaluation of the Atkin Model of

Integral Learning and its effects on students

Keywords: professional development; student learning.

Professional development for teachers, frequently in the form of inservice workshops, appropriates a large slice of educational funding. Much of this professional development is aimed at improving the quality of student education, cognitively, affectively and socially. However little research has been conducted in Australia to ascertain the outcomes for students as a result of their teachers attending inservice workshops. A PhD study conducted in Tasmania over a three-year period (1992-4) examined a model of professional development, the Atkin Model of Integral Learning (Atkin, 1992), the level of its implementation by six teachers, and the extent to which they adapted and refined the model to suit their special needs. Student learning was also examined in two classrooms where the model was implemented at a significant level.

Atkin claims that use of her model will lead to "effective learning". Therefore two other teachers, unfamiliar with the Atkin model but matched on grade levels taught, were also studied. The purpose was to ascertain whether they, recommended as "best practice" teachers, would be using similar strategies, and achieve similar student outcomes, as those who had attended the Atkin workshops, or whether Atkin was, in fact, introducing new and more effective learning experiences.

Preliminary results show that the Atkin Model of Integral Learning, "a general model of the process of learning: a deliberate design of learning experiences for integrative whole brain learning" (Atkin, 1992), has been positively received by teachers. Levels of implementation, however, varied from use to non-use. When implemented, some learning experiences do appear to have positive results for student learning.

John Gardiner, Edith Cowan University

Differential teacher response to type of behavioural disturbance: The good, the bad and the forgotten

Keywords: special education; behaviour disturbance.

In recent years there has been a large amount of attention focused on the disturbingly high rate of youth suicide in this country. Suicide has been shown to have links with early indications of emotional disturbance, especially the internalising disorders such as depression. Primary teachers' ability to identify and then react appropriately to indications of such disturbance is one possible means of reducing the youth suicide and attempted suicide rates.

This presentation outlines a study where teachers were surveyed with regard to their responses to descriptions of children with behavioural disturbances. A comparison between their responses to externalising behaviours, such as conduct disorder, and internalising disorders suggests that the latter go relatively unrecognised and are of less concern to teachers. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for the early identification of at-risk students.

Jane Gilbert, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Beyond "girls can do anything": The deconstruction and reconstruction of feminist approaches to science education in New Zealand

Keywords: gender issues; science education.

In New Zealand over the last 10-15 years a series of policy initiatives has been taken which were aimed at making science education more "girl-friendly", more "inclusive" of the needs of girls.

I look at some of the (unintended) political effects of these interventions, arguing that policy development in this area has been hampered by the lack of a coherent theoretical basis. I suggest a framework within which science education can be re-thought-a framework which incorporates recent work from feminist philosophy and from the history and philosophy of science-so that the development of workable interventions on behalf of girls in science becomes possible.

Pam Gilbert, James Cook University of North Queensland

Girls talk: Gender, disadvantage and schooling

Keywords: gender issues; disadvantage.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 8, The gender dimensions of disadvantage.

Pam Gilbert, Rob Gilbert and Sue McGinty, James Cook University of North Queensland

"What's going on? Teenage girls talk about tough times" (Video presentation and discussion)

Keywords: gender issues; disadvantage.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 8, The gender dimensions of disadvantage.

Rob Gilbert, James Cook University of North Queensland

Supply side social justice and the problem of difference

Keywords: disadvantage; social justice.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 8, The gender dimensions of disadvantage.

Judith Gill, University of South Australia

The baby and the bathwater: Reflections on current debates in educational research

Keywords: research methodology.

Much current teaching and debate in educational research is constructed around false dichotomies, most notably the qualitative/quantitative divide. This division is largely a construction of the research literature and one which is produced most vehemently by the proponents of qualitative approaches. While that division may have had some historical basis, its usefulness is long past. Currently there is a danger that the continual revisiting of this non-debate hinders the advancement of educational knowledge rather than promoting it.

Qualitative researchers continually affirm their commitment to not treating their respondents as "subjects", to not reducing complex human responses to numbers on scaled questionnaire forms and to not utilising complicated statistical procedures which further remove the personal story from the overall picture. In contrast, they believe in valuing the people involved in their studies and adopting methods which preserve the dignity and privacy of the respondents while allowing them free range of responses. However, despite these noble sentiments, the integrity of the research is frequently at risk. The argument here is not that research based in positivist quantitative methods is either the best or the only form of acceptable educational research, but rather that there is a need to recognise a multiplicity of research approaches and to acknowledge the value of the situated knowledges that emerge.

The question of mixed as compared to single-sex schooling is offered as a case study of research which addresses an issue of interest to practising educators from a range of approaches.

GLOVS94.484

Sara Glover, Deakin University and Lois Kennedy, Queensland Department of Education

Implementing the National Statements and Profiles in Health and Physical Education: Documenting work programs and work samples

Keywords: health education; work programs.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 21, Reviewing curriculum in the health and physical education learning area: A model for professional development and national review of the Health and Physical Education Statement and Profile for Australian schools.

GODFJ94.505

John R. Godfrey and Russell Waugh, Edith Cowan University

Measuring student perceptions about cheating in independent schools

Keyword: cheating.

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 in State and independent schools. Cheating by students has become an important issue to be addressed by teachers because of the increased opportunities to cheat with the introduction of assignments done outside class time.

The questionnaire used to collect the data covered six main aspects regarding cheating: perceptions of the seriousness of cheating, perceptions of what constitutes cheating, perceptions of why cheating occurs, perceptions of how cheating can be discouraged, past behaviour about cheating and the attitudes towards cheating in examinations and assignments. Data from 294 students aged 15 to 18 years old in 13 schools in an independent school system from all States of Australia (except Western Australia) were collected.

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. Separate scales for males and females consisting of attitude statements marking off equal intervals were constructed from those attitude statements fitting the model and are recommended for use in measuring student perceptions of cheating. These scales are helpful in understanding student beliefs about cheating, religious factors operating in cheating behaviour, and methods of discouraging cheating.

The analysis suggested implications for further research in building models of moral behaviour and for teachers in their efforts to overcome cheating.

Winnie Göllner, OTEN Open High School, and John Harvey, University of Sydney

Time-compressed speech: Emerging ideas for audio in computer-based learning

Keywords: computer-based learning; time-compressed speech.

Recent advances in the capabilities of personal computers have now made high-resolution colour graphics, animations, video clips, and audio relatively commonplace in computer-based learning (CBL). While text clearly remains the major medium, programs are appearing which use speech either as a supplement to the text or, less frequently, as a replacement.

It is standard advice in interface design that filling the screen with text is undesirable-users simply do not read it. Yet the user must often be given such information. Designers thus tend to employ multiple screens, scrolling boxes, or condensed, point-form text. Systems which can offer speech as an alternative are therefore attractive as they not only free valuable screen space but a voice can carry nuances and cues lost in text. Further it is a relatively simple matter to provide alternative languages and voices.

The disadvantage of speech is demonstrated by Junor (1992) who estimates that listening to a message may take up to three times longer than reading it. Further, it is normally not possible to speed scan an audio track either to listen for the gist or to find a particular section.

Speech researchers have been interested in meeting these challenges by using time-compressed speech (TCS)-speech which by various means is speeded. Studies suggest that this has positive advantages. Arons (1993) reports both improved intelligibility and comprehension with TCS, and that after a period of familiarisation listeners report being uncomfortable with speech presented at normal rates.

This paper describes recent developments in speeded listening and associated devices, and discusses applications in CBL.

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

Reflection on teaching: Factors affecting changes in the cognitions and practice of student teachers

Keywords: reflection; mentoring.

Teacher education programs frequently advocate reflection as a way of learning, without always specifying how reflective analyses of one's own teaching should be carried out.

This paper examines the role of a mentor as a reflective agent in eliciting and structuring student teachers' verbal reflections on particular lessons they had taught, and traces in detail the effect of the mentor's assistance on one student's cognitions and practice. Relationships between the mentor's actions, students' perceptions of their developing teaching skills, and constraints within the practice teaching context are also explored so as to identify factors which influenced the extent to which students benefited from the mentor's intervention.

Jennifer M. Gore, University of Newcastle

Power in pedagogy: Within and beyond the schooling institution

Keywords: power relations; Foucauldian analysis.

In this paper, I present new data from a systematic study of power relations in four pedagogical sites. Based on a Foucauldian conception of power relations (which includes the view that power circulates rather than being possessed, can be productive as well as repressive, and exists in action-functioning at the level of the body), this study has produced finely detailed data documenting specific practices of power used by teachers and students in pedagogical sites located within and beyond schooling institutions. I briefly outline the broad methodology for the study with particular emphasis on the several steps of qualitative and quasi-quantitative analysis used to construct the data in the form presented.

The mapping of power relations across the four sites in this study enabled the identification of site-specific patterns in the exercise of such practices as exclusion, distribution, normalisation, surveillance, totalisation and individualisation. Particular patterns were evident in comparisons made between the institutionalised sites (secondary physical education classes and teacher education classes) and "non-institutionalised" sites (a feminist reading group and a women's discussion group). These patterns are indicative of some important continuities between institutionalised and non- institutionalised power relations in pedagogy. Some surprising differences between sites-in the relative use of specific practices, and in the particular forms these practices took-are also discussed. In the final section of the paper, I will examine these empirical data in relation to contemporary accounts of power in pedagogy, particularly as theorised in the fields of critical and feminist pedagogy.

GOREJ94.494

Jennifer M. Gore, University of Newcastle

Politics, poststructuralism, persuasiveness

Keywords: cultural politics; research methodology.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23, Cultural politics and educational research methodology.

Annette Greenall Gough, Deakin University

Beyond Eurocentrism in science education research: Promises and problematics from a feminist poststructuralist perspective

Keywords: science education research; feminist research.

Sandra Harding recently argued that "around the world as in the West, new social movements have challenged the authority of the West to impose its values and standards on peoples with histories and present concerns that are opposed to those of privileged groups in the West". One such challenge comes from feminist critiques of the mechanistic and dualistic views that dominate science and society and which have suggested profound changes in how human relationships with nature are perceived-changes which also have educational implications. Other challenges are forthcoming from the multiple discourses of domination of nature through gender, race, class and colonisation.

Within science, the postcolonial critiques argue that Western science has resulted in partial and distorted accounts of nature and social relations, and that "science educations rarely expose students to systematic analyses of the social origins, traditions, meanings, practices, institutions, technologies, uses, and consequences of the natural sciences that ensure the fully historical character of the results of research". Drawing on the work of people such as Harding, in this paper I explore some of the critiques of Western science and the possibilities of multiple discourses for the problematics that are raised for research in science education, and for the promises. The concern is to explore the poststructuralist argument that "no discourse is innocent of the will to power", but within the practical intent of exploring possibilities for innovative science education research and practice.

Noel Gough and Annette Greenall Gough, Deakin University Research in fiction: Detective stories as analogues of educational enquiry

Keywords: research methodology; textual strategy.

In this paper we explore some ways in which understandings of educational research methodologies can be illuminated by strategically positioned readings of selected works of fiction. We argue that the understandings so gained are pertinent to teaching graduate programs in educational research methodology and to choosing textual strategies in educational inquiry.

Since many stories of educational research resemble detective fiction- a quest for "the truth" about some problematic or puzzling aspect of curriculum, teaching or learning-our primary focus is on this literary mode. We argue that educational research can be informed by two aspects of detective fiction, namely, the characteristic investigatory methods of fictional detectives and the characteristic ways in which stories of fictional detection are told. These two aspects of detective fiction are linked by an underlying reflexivity in this storytelling mode. That is, the formal problem of detective fiction can be understood as a quest to tell a story-to reconstruct what "really happened"-which concludes not when "whodunit?" is revealed but when the detective is able to tell "the true story" of the murder (or other crime) in the form of a coherent linear narrative.

Thus, issues of both methodology and textual strategy arise when we consider undertaking educational research in ways that might be analogous to-for example-the detachment and "objectivity" of Sherlock Holmes, the involvement and subjectivity of Philip Marlowe, the socially-critical feminism of V.I. Warshawski, the literary artfulness of Kate Fansler, or the postmodernist playfulness of Dirk Gently.

Noel Gough, Deakin University

Regarding nature in new times: Reconceptualising studies of science and environment

Keywords: educational change; curriculum change.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium, 15 New subjects for new times.

Robert Gowing, University of Technology Sydney

Learning from the lived experience of the workplace

Keywords: workplace learning; co-operative learning.

Several university courses require students to spend time in the workplace to make connections with the learning gained from lectures. This is a significant way to learn about work, and their discipline. However, the opportunity to learn from the placement will vary from student to student.

The paper will report on a National Teaching Development Grant being undertaken at UTS and UWS-Hawkesbury. Project members are drawn from the disciplines of agriculture, education, engineering, and nursing. We have produced a generic kit for workplace learning, and will pilot this in second semester, 1994. The kit incorporates a structure that will maximise the learning opportunities for students in workplacement. It states the intended outcomes and competencies, and encourages development of critical thinking skills. It will also provide for a stronger link between classroom learning and the dynamism of the workplace. Following evaluation of the workplace learning kit, we believe universities will be able to offer enhanced co-operative learning opportunities. We also expect that students in any workplace setting will become more empowered and more able to direct their own learning experiences.

This project supports the philosophy of co-operative education, and attempts to maximise the learning opportunities for all stakeholders in the "real" world environment of the workplace. We see the students, workplace mentors and university staff forming a partnership which will encourage the use of workplacements as a learning strategy that will bring so much sense to what is learned.

GOWL94.466

Lyn Gow, Educational Consultant; Marcel Calvez, University of Rennes- 2, Haute Bretagne, France; and John Balla, University of Sydney

Beyond normalisation to aggregation: New directions for the integration of people with disabilities

Keywords: disability; integration.

The principle of normalisation has underpinned services for people with disabilities since the mid-1960's. The concepts of integration, social integration and inclusion were derived from this principle. Implementation of integration policies has been slow and problematic for a range of financial, political and socio-cultural reasons.

The presenters argue that the principle of normalisation is limited and that a new guiding principle is required. Based on Van Gennep's (1909) model of the passage from one status to another, the notion of aggregation is proposed. Aggregation will identify a further step for integration and guide its extension beyond current normalisation standards.

GOWL94.470

Lyn Gow, Educational Consultant, and John Balla, University of Sydney

Integration of people with disabilities: An annotated bibliography

Keywords: disability; integration.

The presenters will demonstrate an annotated bibliography using state- of-the-art computer technology. The bibliography consists of over 800 pages of annotations of professional and referred journal articles, books, conference papers and dissertation abstracts related to the integration of people with disabilities from the 1980's, as well as seminal papers from the 1960's. The bibliography is comprehensive and covers topics such as school integration, transition education, integration into the workforce and delivery of services to aged people in the community. It provides a resource for researchers and practitioners endeavouring to identify trends, themes and issues for further exploration. It is intended to provide educators, practitioners, and caregivers with implications for programming, delivery of services and policy development for people with disabilities.

Anne Graham, Southern Cross University

The use of deconstruction in postmodernist enquiry

Keywords: postmodernism; power relationships.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 11, Using postmodernist perspectives in researching current education and training issues.

Jim Grant and Noel Thomas, Charles Sturt University

Outcome-based education at Forbes North

Keywords: outcome-based education; educational change.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 13, Outcome-based education in progress: An action research project in five schools.

GREEB94.354

Bill Green, Deakin University

Teaching the technology subjects: Technology, culture and education in new times

Keywords: educational change; curriculum change.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 15, New subjects for new times.

GREEB94.495

Bill Green, Deakin University

Speaking for others: Intellectual work and post-politics

Keywords: cultural politics; research methodology.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23, Cultural politics and educational research methodology.

GREEP94.135

Pamela Green, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Gaining and maintaining access: Avoiding the dreaded brick wall

Keywords: research access.

In order to avoid hitting the dreaded brick wall, at which research halts, a number of key principles can be put into place. The paper will address the issue of gaining and maintaining access to the research site. As Delamont (1992:79) states, "Access is not negotiated once and then settled for the whole of the fieldwork".

The paper draws on current doctoral research focusing on the literacy demands on students involved in the transition from their final year of primary school to their first year of secondary school. The study necessitated ongoing liaison with six schools, and more than 13 classrooms, over a two-year period. This meant negotiating with principals, teachers, co-ordinators, students and parents. Thus, opportunity for meeting a dead-end or the dreaded brick wall was immense. Responses to requests for access ranged from open arms to reactions bordering on "paranoia". The paper aims to address a number of strategies for gaining and maintaining access, with opportunity for discussion of the research focus and/or the sharing of "access stories" and solutions.

Cedric E. Greive, Avondale College

Cigarette advertising and adolescent intentions to smoke

Keywords: smoking; adolescent attitudes.

The issue relating cigarette advertising to adolescent smoking was briefly raised in mid-1994. This report examines the potential effect of cigarette advertising upon adolescent intentions to smoke.

From a review of the literature a causal model of attitudinal belief was developed. This model linked exogenous background factors through potential beliefs about smoking to intention with regard to smoking behaviour. The belief scales used in the study were created from adolescent perceptions of the propositions about smoking implicit within the cigarette advertising commonly found in magazines in 1990- 1. These perceptions were turned into potential belief scales and included in a questionnaire. Data collected in the Hunter region allowed the compatibility of the model with the data to be tested.

The study found that those adolescents who took part in the study believed that the propositions implicit within the advertising suggested that smoking provided the participant with a social advantage and an enhanced sexual image. They also believed that the advertising was directed at themselves and was meant to influence their decisions about smoking. Results indicated that those respondents who intended to smoke were significantly more likely to believe that smoking provided a social advantage and an enhanced sexual image than were those who had no intention to smoke. Path analysis found that the two belief clusters were significantly linked to both experimentation with smoking and to future intention with regard to smoking.

Ruth Gresham, University of Newcastle

Education/community networking

Keywords: support services; students' welfare.

Traditionally, schools have relied on support services attached to the Department of School Education to address the needs of student welfare. The recent growth in the numbers of students requiring support, and the degree of difficulties being experienced by students, have placed considerable strain on existing support services. Furthermore, these services tend to meet the needs of students only at school despite the fact that many issues relate directly to the students' home environment.

The Homelink program, which began in the Hunter Region in 1991, invites the involvement and participation of members of the wider community to address the welfare needs of students. Trained volunteers provide assistance and support on an individual basis to referred students. Their role involves contact with the student at school or home as well as contact with the parent. Information is exchanged and, where necessary, families are referred on to services outside those provided by education, e.g., Health, Community Services.

The impact of Homelink on schools has been assessed both internally and externally, and at this stage of development offers exciting potential for further research. Results to date show that Homelink: (a) raises the status of volunteers in schools to be regarded as skilled, well- resourced individuals with the capacity to effect positive change for students' welfare; and (b) provides a mechanism for communicating more effectively with families who have been traditionally difficult to reach by letter or phone.

GRIES94.435

Susan Grieshaber, Queensland University of Technology

What the teachers don't see: Daily rituals of getting ready for school

Keywords: discourse analysis; gender issues.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 17, Reconceptualising communication in families and schools.

Patrick E. Griffin and Shelley Gillis, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Cross-national comparisons of English proficiency tests

Keywords: English language testing; cross-cultural issues.

The International English Language Testing System was developed as a joint project between the British Council and the International Development Program of the Australian Universities and Colleges (IDP). A series of tests was developed assessing English proficiency in Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing. Trials of the tests were undertaken throughout the world. Data were collected in Europe, Asia and Africa. The Australian project team gathered trial data mostly in Asia while the UK project team gathered data in Europe. Receptive skill tests consisted of a range of multiple choice, supply and completion items. Productive skills were assessed using proficiency rating scales developed specifically for the tests. Special purpose tests were developed for Arts and Social Sciences, Science and Technology, Life and Medical Sciences and General Training.

Analyses of the tests enable cross-national analyses of item behaviour and the establishment of international calibration of test items. Comparison of European and Asian data illustrates slightly different response patterns. Implications for Australian Higher Education institutions accepting international students are drawn from the data analyses.

Patrick E. Griffin, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Destinations of adult literacy students: A longitudinal study

Keywords: adult literacy; adult education.

A longitudinal study of adult literacy has reached the third data collection phase. Over 400 adult literacy program clients have been interviewed over a three-year period. Case study and survey techniques have been used. Changes in employment, education, social and community activity have been monitored. A series of data reduction procedures based on scale definition have identified changes over time mapped in developmental scales of perceived community involvement, effects of literacy programs, attitudes to work, education and reading habits.

The study also illustrates the effect of persistence in adult training programs in terms of expectations and aspirations in employment and education. Explanations are explored for changes identified in the lives of participating adults.

Susan Groundwater-Smith, University of Technology Sydney

Using dilemmas as a lens for reflection

Keywords: dilemmas; practicum.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 3, Dilemmas and paradoxes in teacher education: Challenging orthodoxies in professional development.

Shirley Grundy, Murdoch University, and Elizabeth Hatton, University of New England

Teachers for the 21st century: The passions and perplexities of some graduating teachers

Keywords: teachers' knowledge; beginning teachers.

This paper forms part of an ongoing study of teacher educators and student teachers. Here the focus is upon the data from extensive interviews with a group of teacher education students about to graduate. The paper examines the importance placed by the students upon interaction and relationship as a principal concern for teaching. It is argued, however, that the forms of teacher/student relationships remain largely unexamined and untheorised.

While these student teachers were able to articulate well their concerns for relationship, the question of knowledge emerged as problematical. The data suggest a distinct lack of concern for the place of knowledge in teaching-either for knowledge transmission or construction. Through an examination of these student teacher responses, the authors consider issues that are raised regarding possibilities for the transformation of schooling.

Kathryn Grushka, University of Newcastle

The professional collaborative design process as a model for the teaching of visual design

Keywords: art education; visual design.

Professional practice in art-making has for some time been presented as a model for curriculum design in art education. This paper links the professional collaborative design process of artist/designers, architects and the interior designer, who merge their professional skills to create a unified look or collaborative aesthetic. The model presented has application in Visual Design courses.

The design process is illuminated through an in-depth study of a collaborative design project supported by an Australia Council Grant for Art in Public Places, bringing together artist/designers and the building industry. The resulting liaison saw the production of four large-scale site-specific works. The design process model of this project will be presented to illustrate the power of the collaborative process, the professional development of the individual artists and the strength of the collaborative aesthetic. The paper draws attention to the professional characteristics of the collaborative process which sees the artists involved in: (1) The Collaborative Aesthetic: the practice of merging individual artists' aesthetics and a sharing of technical and artistic skills towards the creation of an original "look" which sees the emergence of new symbols, images, colours and forms; (2) Team Production Skills: the practice of collaboration in production.

Parallels are drawn between this model and the collaborative design engagements of three groups of second-year Art Education students. The outcomes achieved and the processes explored by each group offer ideas for curriculum innovation and directions for aesthetic development when teachers embark on group design projects.

Jacqueline Guy and Roslyn Tinker, Australian Catholic University

Nursing students' approaches to learning: A new paradigm

Keywords: learning approaches; nursing education.

With the introduction of Nursing Education to Universities in Australia it was questioned whether nursing students could handle the rigour of academic study. In order to investigate the learning approaches of their students, the researchers used the Approaches to Study Inventory (ASI) developed by Entwhistle and Ramsden (1983). To date no research based on this perspective, using the ASI, has been conducted with nursing students.

The slightly modified ASI was administered to 300 first, second and third-year Bachelor of Nursing students at Australian Catholic University (NSW). Items measured approaches to learning, learning styles, motivation and study methods. Factor analysis of the ASI identified three approaches to learning and studying: meaning (deep approach supported by intrinsic motivation), reproducing (surface approach underpinned by fear of failure) and strategic (use of both surface and deep approaches motivated by the need for achievement). The research supports the view that nursing students are predominantly surface learners. Students' examination results were also correlated with ASI results.

This paper will provide insights as to how nursing students view teaching and other learning context variables and will also identify relationships between academic results and learning approaches. The research explores ways of using the ASI to identify individual students being at risk of using undesirable study approaches and has implications for teaching strategies.

The second stage of this research will involve identified "at risk" students in an intervention program which challenges the student to change their perceptions of the learning context and focus on how well learning is accomplished rather than how much learning takes place.

Paul Hager, University of Technology Sydney, and Jim Butler, University of Queensland

Two paradigms of assessment

Keywords: assessment practices; performance assessment.

Many educational developments in recent decades pose a serious challenge to the traditional scientific measurement paradigm that has dominated assessment practices. The scientific measurement paradigm has led to an over-emphasis on statistical tests and the reification of single measure test scores. The educational developments that challenge the scientific measurement paradigm include problem-based learning, newer understandings of cognition, and the rise of performance assessment. These developments reflect widespread attempts by educators to reform assessment practices so as to encourage more effective learning. As a result, a new paradigm of educational assessment, which we call the judgemental paradigm, is emerging.

The basic assumptions and features of these two paradigms will be compared and contrasted by referring them to a three-level conceptual model of education, training and assessment for workplace performance. In this model, each of the levels is nested in, and a prerequisite of, the next level. Also each of the levels has its own appropriate curriculum and assessment technology. The contrasting strengths, limitations and appropriate uses of the two assessment paradigms are underlined and clarified by considering their differing contributions to, and roles in, the proposed three-level model of education, training and assessment for workplace performance.

Neil Hall and Jan Wright, University of Wollongong

The roles of question/answer techniques in secondary school mathematics

Keywords: mathematics education; questioning.

As part of two research projects we studied secondary school teachers in mathematics classrooms: videos were transcribed and texts analysed. The purpose of this paper is to discuss with the audience possible interpretations of sections of these transcripts, particularly a selection of question and answer interactions.

Our paper will briefly examine the literature on questioning techniques in mathematics classrooms, especially the question/answer/evaluation sequence. We will also relate our interpretations of the texts to interpersonal relationships in the classroom, to the kind of discovery learning these texts imply, and to the implications of these texts both for students' making meaning of the topic under consideration and for student construction of mathematical meanings in general.

We anticipate the discussion will focus on the extent to which "guess what's in my head" questions are used in mathematics classrooms, and what this suggests concerning values and beliefs about mathematics teaching and learning. These questions inevitably raise issues about knowledge transmission and construction, about interpersonal relationships in the classroom, and about power and control through language. For example, some of these texts seem to suggest that learners studying a topic for the first time already have this mathematical knowledge in their heads, and that questioning is primarily concerned with extracting it.

John Hammond and Scott Dickson, University of New England

Fitness characteristics of clumsy children

Keywords: motor development; physical education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 10, Applied Research in Motor Development.

Tim Hardy, University of Canberra

Educational implications of research into the everyday experiences of adults

Keywords: science education; decision-making.

Educational decisions for schools are often made on the basis of assumptions, or underdeveloped notions, about the lived experiences and needs of adults. This suggests that focused research on aspects of adult experience might provide understandings that could lead to more valid decisions being made in education. This paper examines the potential of detailed studies of the everyday life of adults to inform the development of education, with a particular focus on the areas of science and technology education.

A case study of the everyday life of a dairy farmer is presented to demonstrate the potential of such research in assisting the clarification of some fundamental questions in education. The case study is one part of a larger study commenced in New Zealand which has used extended interviews as the primary methodology to investigate the complex science and technology experiences of a range of adults in different life situations. The project has selected individuals to reflect diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity, occupation, age and family structure.

The findings suggest that there is significant potential from such a research agenda. In the case of science and technology education, research into adult experiences could inform decisions about the scope of science and technology education, educational aims and learning, and teaching approaches.

Lyn Harrison, Deakin University

Empowering research? Some problems with "shifting" power relationships in research with young women

Keywords: power relationships; gender issues.

In this paper data generated by a qualitative research project conducted with three young women in Year 12 over a period of 12 months are used to explore the possibilities and the limits of empowering research.

During this project these young women discussed a range of health- related issues that they identified as being important to them. The aim of this research was to give these young women a "voice" and to take seriously what they had to say about their everyday experiences in order to make this research experience an empowering one for them. It is argued that the term "empowerment" is premised on a notion of power as property and as such it is assumed that this possession can be transferred from researcher to researched, if not merely through an act of will then at least by using the right research methods. Michel Foucault's conception of power as a network of relations exercised in and through everyday practices is used to problematise this notion of empowerment. An examination of the discursive positioning of research participants, influenced in part by their institutional locations, seeks to explore the different and bounded subject positions available to both researcher and researched in this particular context. As part of this critique the use of qualitative non-directive interviewing is also problematised.

This research process is premised on the ability of the researcher to persuade research participants to self-disclose. It is argued that the fact that researchers are not subject to the same imperative raises the question "empowering for whom?"

Jim Harvey, University of South Australia

It's the measures not the medium: A case study of structuring for success in an open learning project

Keywords: disadvantage; open learning.

This paper takes as its focus an Open Learning initiative to provide university level studies in an outback community. The grant which supported the project described in this paper required utilisation of strategies which were both innovative and quality-enhancing. Specifically, this project was required to demonstrate the effectiveness of computer-assisted and group-centred methods as supports for students disadvantaged by the dual impediments of geographical remoteness and adverse social and economic circumstances.

The paper describes the processes and experiences involved in developing an open learning "cell" in an outback mining town which is experiencing severe social and economic dislocation as the consequence of depressed prices for and reduced production of its mineral output. It describes the processes by which community interest and later ownership were created. It raises issues concerned with the impact of the differential backgrounds and experiences of prospective students on the location and organisation of the facilities provided by the project. The rationale underlying the selection of the appropriate teaching-learning strategies and technologies is discussed in some detail.

In brief, the paper argues that the medium (in this case forms of computer-managed learning) cannot by itself overcome educational disadvantages generated in lives lived at the geographical and social margins. Students in these social locations require and demand strategies and structures which both acknowledge their differences yet support them in their geographical and social isolation as learners.

John Harvey and David Reid, University of Sydney

Multimedia items in computer-based testing

Keywords: computer-based learning; multimedia.

The integrated use of text, graphics, animation, video and sound is becoming relatively commonplace in the presentation phases of computer-based learning (CBL) material. Less common, however, is the use of different data types for questions in the test phases of CBL. This paper discusses possibilities for "multimedia" test items and illustrates their use in projects under development.

Questions have been a key element in CBL virtually from its inception as researchers and developers capitalised on the machine's capacity to provide automatic scoring, to generate tests from item banks or from algorithms, and to provide detailed item analyses. More advanced systems use adaptive testing. In the main, however, test items tend to be screen presentations of conventional, text-based, completion/short-answer or multiple-choice pencil and paper questions. It is also the case that often the computerised version offers the user less flexibility than the non-computerised counterpart (Ring, 1993). That, along with the need to develop techniques by which extended (non-multiple choice) answers can be computer-scored, remain an issue.

The focus of the present paper, however, is on possibilities for additional item types. Developments in using multimedia for test items include audio, applicable in many fields (e.g., language learning, music, medicine), high quality colour graphics, greater variety in response modes (e.g., direct manipulation of screen objects as in assembling or using apparatus), items involving animation and video clips (e.g., in simulations), time-controlled responses, items which require the student to "call up" and employ a certain tool or procedure, and items for which help or other "look-up" resources are available.

Michael Harvey, Edith Cowan University

An exploratory study of exemplar administrative teams in primary schools

Keywords: administrative teams; school management.

The administrative team is a negotiated arrangement that serves to co- ordinate the endeavours of the principal, deputy principal(s) and other school staff with administrative responsibility in the self- managing school. In many schools the administrative team is a problematic phenomenon.

The paper examines the operation of exemplar administrative teams in five primary schools in the government education system of Western Australia. The research attempts to identify some of the main organisational characteristics of successful administrative teams. Interview data are used to examine the history and evolution of the administrative teams, the allocation of responsibilities among team members and the way in which administrative teams contribute to school effectiveness. Special attention is given to examining the professional relationship between the principal and deputy principal, and also the linkage of the administrative team to other committees and the policy process in the self-managing school.

Although differences were evident among the administrative teams, an attempt is made to identify some of the necessary and sufficient conditions for the development of very effective administrative teams. Criteria are proposed for evaluating the worth of administrative teams in primary schools. The paper also assesses the implications of the administrative team for the professional orientation of principals and deputy principals.

Elizabeth Hatton, University of New England

Corporate managerialism in a rural setting: A contextualised case study

Keywords: corporate managerialism; strategic planning.

Governments in Australia have become increasingly committed to policies drawn from economic rationalist perspectives. It is now commonplace in Australia to find education managed by two modes of operation originating from the corporate world of private enterprise: devolution of authority and responsibility, and strategic or school development planning.

This case study provides an interpretive account of the process of strategic planning in devolved structures in a small, rural primary school in northern New South Wales. It documents and analyses how the school sets about the process of strategic planning and follows the planning process through to classroom practice and student outcomes. Attention is drawn to distinctive difficulties of operating under management modes arising from corporate managerialism in a working- class, racially-divided, small rural community.

Elizabeth Hatton, University of New England; Geoff Munns, University of Western Sydney; and Jane Nicklin Dent, Katoh Gakuen, Japan

Dealing with diversity: Three Australian primary school responses

Keywords: cultural diversity; cross-cultural issues.

Monitoring responses to diversity in educational institutions is worthwhile. Careful study of policies and practices offers important insights into policies and practices which have the capacity to promote progressive change in educational practice.

This paper focuses on three differently located Australian primary schools: Graytown, a medium-sized inner city school in New South Wales; Mungar, a medium to large suburban school in Brisbane, Queensland; and Meiki, a small, rural school in New South Wales. Each school is located in a working-class area and has a culturally diverse clientele. The schools' responses to social and cultural diversity are contrasted and analysed in terms of their capacity to contribute to socially just outcomes from schooling.

Debra N.A. Hayes, University of Newcastle

Revisiting and deconstructing research into gender and science education in Australia: A description of work in progress

Keywords: gender issues; science education.

It is only during the past 20 years that the education of girls has become an issue of concern in Australia. The election of the Whitlam Labour government after 23 years of conservative leadership at the national level provided an important impetus for drawing attention to the education of girls. Since this original impetus, a large body of research has developed which focuses on issues of gender in education.

As with any field of research, there are many characteristics and variables that can be identified and analysed in order to develop a better understanding of the field. In the case of research into gender and education, previous studies have, for example, mapped the field in terms of the topics of research or the disciplines out of which the research has emerged, summarised the findings of research and outlined the context of research in Australia as a way of drawing comparisons with similar research overseas.

The research described in this paper specifically focuses on the gender and science education discourse. By analysing the research in terms of its discursive characteristics, it is hoped that this will reveal the nature of the knowledge produced. Such an approach is based upon an understanding that research is a process of producing knowledge and that deconstructing this process will help answer questions such as: Who contributed to the development of this discourse? Why were certain issues taken up, researched and given funding priority? and, Whose interests were served through the discursive practices that developed?

HEDKL94.507

Lana Hedke, Monash University

Teachers' career change

Keywords: Teacher career change.

The question of career change was a matter of great concern to many of the 9,000 teachers who left the employ of the Victorian government in an exodus beginning in December, 1992. A review of the literature brings to the fore a great variety of factors considered by a cohort of American teachers prior to their decision to opt for career change in the early 1980's.

The results of a study to confirm whether similar results apply to the current Victorian cohort of teachers will be pre-empted here.

Dieter P. Heinsch, University of Newcastle

New directions in second language acquisition research: Some implications for curriculum development, teaching and learning

Keywords: second language; curriculum development.

Findings of the ZISA research group from Germany laid the foundations to a principally new approach to understanding the principles of regular, sequential L2 development and variation in speech production. The acquisitional sequence of developmental features is the surface manifestation of underlying acquisition principles, i.e. processing prerequisites acquired at one stage are the basis for the development of processing procedures at the next stage. Since structures (e.g. word order rules) are acquired in a hierarchical order of processing complexity, this set of strategies predicts the order of acquisition for these structures.

Within the stages of development learners demonstrate considerable variations due to their different orientations to the language development process. Thus, two systematic and independent dimensions in SLA have been established: development and variation. However, the process towards accuracy is not a linear one; rather, correctness increases in both directions, i.e. correctness cannot be equated with development. Since SLA is constrained by speech-processing prerequisites that have to be acquired sequentially, Pienemann (1984) predicts "that a linguistic structure cannot be added through instruction of the interlanguage of a learner at any desired point in time in his/her acquisitional career" (Teachability Hypothesis). Evidence from studies with children and adults in mixed natural and formal settings support the Teachability Hypothesis.

Some challenging implications for curriculum development, teaching and learning are to be considered when reconciling the emergence of developmental and variational features and the aim of mastery.

Brian C. Hemmings, Charles Sturt University

Senior secondary school persistence and attrition: Testing a theoretical model using a logit analysis

Keywords: attrition; post-compulsory education.

This paper explores the reasons why students decide to continue or discontinue their studies during the post-compulsory school years. This exploration involves the development, testing, and validation of a comprehensive theoretical model. This model portrays a causal sequence consisting of eleven constructs which leads to a decision to persist with or withdraw from senior secondary school studies. The constructs are drawn from similar studies of both tertiary institution and secondary school students and are labelled individual attributes, family background, school commitment 1, goal commitment 1, academic integration, social integration, needs accommodation, expectation versus reality, school commitment 2, goal commitment 2, and intention. The relationships among, and the relative importance of, these constructs that influence this decision over time are highlighted.

A sample of students from 10 New South Wales rural and metropolitan secondary schools was surveyed three times over a 13-month period to collect data on each of the constructs. A logit analysis was carried out to test and validate the developed theoretical model. The results of the logit analysis confirmed that the theoretical model was both adequate and appropriate in explaining and predicting senior secondary school persistence and attrition.

Christopher Hickey, La Trobe University, Bendigo

A moment of reconciliation? The current debate about good practice in physical education

Keywords: physical education; effective teaching.

In a recent edition of QUEST, O'Sullivan, Siedentop and Locke (1992), world-acknowledged educators within a technical, positivist tradition of physical education research, have urged collegiality between competing research viewpoints. This reconciliatory moment could be interpreted as a recognition of the contributions critical perspectives have made to accounts of the limitations of current provision and to theoretical frames within which to postulate key principles to guide "quality" teaching and learning in physical education.

This paper will outline some of the contextual issues which are shaping this proposed reconciliation, such as the perceived shortcomings attributed by each side to one another, and the reputed limitations of critical perspectives in terms of translation into actual practice. This paper will conclude by reporting on research which addresses this theory/practice issue in the context of a study that sought to change preservice physical education students' perceptions of good practice within a critical pedagogy.

Robert M. Hilgenfeld, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Defying gravity: A paradigm for developing teacher skills and attitudes in CBL courseware development

Keywords: computer-aided instruction; educational technology.

The computer has transformed the process of learning as well as the manner in which societies view education. It is now an integral part of the classroom scene, from the primary grades through tertiary education, around the world. With the development of this technology there has come a deliberate effort by educators to define, refine and delineate the role of this exceptional tool. The use of computer technology in education has seen many trends which have provided methods for the integration of computers into the learning environment to enhance student development. Each has made progress toward a more definitive understanding of the computer's relationship to/with the learner and learning. Now the potential for teachers to participate in the development of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has been enhanced through software applications such as HyperCardS, ToolBookS, and Macromedia DirectorS. These applications make it possible for instructors to develop their own educational courseware.

This research focuses on the integration of major educational theories like that of Bloom, GagnT and Piaget with instructional technology classes in courseware design at the National Institute of Education, Singapore. An objective of the course is to develop students' metacognition as they learn and experience a hypermedia application and apply that problem-solving knowledge in their project courseware. The preliminary findings indicate a correlation between the students' understanding of learning theory and their ability to incorporate/apply that understanding to course projects which are more successful and are more theoretically, educationally and practically effective. Students also indicate more confidence in their ability to apply theory to the production of general classroom media materials as well.

Bob Hill and Noel Thomas, Charles Sturt University; and Joost Cote, Deakin University

A preliminary report on the audit of overseas practicums

Keyword: practicum.

There have been over 20 programs conducted in the last five years under which Australian teacher education students undertake a teaching practicum overseas in countries as diverse as Indonesia, Samoa and the United States. Funded by the Asian Education Foundation, a team from Deakin and Charles Sturt Universities is undertaking an audit of these practicums. The audit has three components: firstly, the construction of a national database of these overseas practicums; secondly, preparation of a selection of case studies of Asian practicums; finally, a survey of the perceptions of the success of the programs held by graduates of two such programs. Proposed methodology and preliminary findings will be reported upon.

Peter W. Hill and Kenneth J. Rowe, University of Melbourne; and Ross Turner, Board of Studies, Victoria

The use of a generalised measure of achievement to establish comparability of Year 12 school-based assessments

Keywords: assessment practices; school-based assessment.

At the Year 12 level in Victoria, as in several other State systems, there is widespread recognition of the value of ensuring that final assessments are based on a mix of subject-based examinations and structured school assessments. In particular, school-based assessment is seen as a means of ensuring assessment of the broadest possible range of valued outcomes and of improving the validity of final assessments.

The use of school assessments within a high stakes environment, does, however, raise significant issues regarding the comparability of those assessments. In the past, these concerns were addressed largely through statistical moderation which ensured that the location and spread of school-based assessments within a given school were adjusted to the location and spread of the examination results of students within that school. With the introduction of the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE), statistical moderation was abandoned in favour of a system of verification based on external checking of samples of student work. The system proved inefficient and following reports by Ball and Brown (1992) and Hill, Brown and Masters (1993), the Board of Studies, Victoria, adopted a new system for ensuring comparability of school-based assessments. This involves all students taking a General Achievement Test (GAT) mid-way through Year 12. Scores on sub-sections of this test are used to construct composite scores which best predict students' results on school-assessed tasks. A two-level regression model is used to identify unexpected patterns of results and these are followed up by external markers. Where the assessments of a school are within the expected range given their scores on the GAT, the school's assessments are automatically confirmed.

This paper describes the new system, presents results from applying the new procedures in 1994 and provides a general discussion of the challenges presented in endeavouring to ensure fair and authentic school assessment at the Year 12 level.

Judy Hodgman, University of Tasmania

An evaluation of the effects of the criterion-based assessment process on design outcomes and student outcomes

Keywords: assessment practices; design education.

Design assessment criteria which reflect the educational objectives (learning outcomes) of units and programs are important tools for teaching the subject. The criteria are used to assess and therefore reflect learning outcomes and are made available to the student at the beginning of each project.

The aim of the research was to test the hypothesis that assessment criteria have the capacity to direct the design decision-making and problem-solving process, and directly influence design outcomes. The research investigated the extent to which the students used assessment criteria and the effect that this had on the development of formative and summative evaluation skills.

The project outcomes of students that had and those that had not been given assessment criteria were compared. The results showed that students who had no access to assessment criteria achieved a higher result overall for design and problem-solving and they demonstrated a greater use of formative and summative evaluation skills. The research concluded that the criterion-based assessment process limits the development of essential design evaluation skills and that the national evaluation process has doubtful validity in terms of defining design education objectives.

Allyson Holbrook, Carole Collett, Jo May and Doreen Moran, University of Newcastle

From interview to analysis: The problems inherent in, and procedures necessary for, coding oral history testimony and associated documentation for analysis using qualitative data analysis software

Keywords: oral history; qualitative research.

This is a working paper that will draw on the combined experiences of the research team working on the project The School, Work, and School to Work Transition Experiences of adolescents in New South Wales 1930- 54. The intention of the paper is to render visible the research process involved in a large-scale interviewing project at a critical stage in preparation for analysis.

Much has been written on sound research interviewing technique but there has been less emphasis on the transformation and translation of the data. The oral history interviewing approaches of the team will be discussed, and examples of style of interview and nature of testimony will be provided in order to illuminate the difficulties and issues involved in breaking down the very complex and multi-layered nature of the data into coding categories for analysis using NUDIST software. The procedures that were used to code the information are explained and the implications for the interpretation of the data are discussed. The project began in 1993 and expected completion date is the end of 1996.

HOWAP94.183

Peter Howard, Australian Catholic University (NSW)

Significant mathematical views of two mothers and their daughters: An ethnographic study

Keywords: mathematics education.

This paper reports on part of a large ethnographic study, the purpose of which was to investigate the expressed views of parents, students and teachers towards mathematics in two Year 6 classes. Data were collected from interviews held in a Western Sydney school during March 1994. A total of 12 parents, 31 students and two teachers agreed to be interviewed. The interviews were held in a conversational style with interviewees freely able to express their views. This paper discusses the analysis of four of these interviews which involved two mothers and their daughters.

The analysis revealed four significant issues which the interviewees considered to have a detrimental effect on students' learning of mathematics. Mothers and daughters identified (i) a lack of stimulation in mathematics teaching, (ii) the "homework conflict" in mathematics between school and home, (iii) student transition from class to class, and (iv) "in-school absenteeism" as issues related to student achievement in mathematics. This paper argues that, having been identified, these four issues need further investigation within school settings.

Sue Howard, Griffith University-Gold Coast

Parent involvement in the introduction of human relationships education in Queensland State primary schools

Keywords: parent participation; human relationships education.

In Queensland education in recent years, policy changes at State level have indicated a move towards more meaningful parent participation at school level. In particular, the Human Relationships Education (HRE) initiative invited parents to have input in the introduction of HRE at their child's school. Such parent participation in curriculum development and decision-making at the school level appeared to be a significant departure from traditional Government policy, and this study sought to explore the input parents actually had and the factors affecting this.

The methods used in this study were ethnographic. The process used by six State primary schools to develop their individual HRE programs was followed over a period of 20 months. By participant observation, interviews and document analysis, the nature of parent-teacher interactions in this process and the perceptions of parents and teachers were explored.

Differences in perceptions did emerge, with teachers feeling parents had participated and parents in general feeling that they had not been able to participate in the decision-making. A tokenistic approach on the part of teachers to the introduction of HRE and the involvement of parents emerged. "Pseudo-participation" occurred through "pseudo- consensus". From an analysis of the reactions of parents to this approach, a disempowering model of parent-teacher interactions has been postulated.

Wen-ying Hsieh and Yuehluen Hu, National Hsichu Teachers College, Taiwan

Formative teaching evaluation criteria for student teachers

Keywords: evaluation of teaching; formative evaluation.

The main purpose of this study was to examine formative teaching evaluation criteria for student teachers. The study administered the self-devised Formative Teaching Evaluation Criteria for Student Teacher Evaluation Questionnaire to the educational professors of teachers' colleges, principals, grade principals, elementary teachers and teachers' college students. A total of 1,101 of 1,394 questionnaires were returned, for a rate of 79%.

The findings showed that: (1) There were five areas of teaching performance of formative teaching evaluation criteria for student teachers; the five areas of teaching performance were teaching attitudes, teaching plans, teaching methods, teaching techniques and teaching evaluations. (2) The five areas of teaching performance included 22 teaching behaviours which included 73 teaching behaviour indicators. (3) The most important area of teaching performance was teaching attitudes; the second was teaching techniques; the third was teaching methods; the fourth was teaching plans; the last was teaching evaluations. (5) The items of formative teaching evaluation criteria for student teachers were rated as important on a Likert scale. The index of discrimination of those items was generally good.

Wen-ying Hsieh and Yuehluen Hu, National Hsichu Teachers College, Taiwan

Summative teaching evaluation criteria for student teachers

Keywords: evaluation of teaching; summative evaluation

The main purpose of this study was to investigate summative teaching evaluation criteria for student teachers. The study administered the self-devised Summative Teaching Evaluation Criteria for Student Teacher Evaluation Questionnaire to the educational professors of teachers' colleges, principals, grade principals, elementary teachers and teachers' college students. A total of 1,006 of 1,395 questionnaires were returned, for a rate of 72.1%.

The findings showed that: (1) There were five areas of teaching performance of summative teaching evaluation criteria for student teachers; the five areas of teaching performance were teaching attitudes, teaching plans, teaching methods, teaching techniques and teaching evaluations. (2) The five areas of teaching performance included 20 teaching behaviours which included 25 teaching behaviour indicators. (3) The most important area of teaching performance was teaching attitudes; the second was teaching techniques; the third was teaching methods; the fourth was teaching plans; the last was teaching evaluations. (5) The items of summative teaching evaluation criteria for student teachers were rated as important on a Likert scale. The index of discrimination of those items was generally good.

HUNTR94.503

Robert Hunting, La Trobe University, and Brian A. Doig, Australian Council for Educational Research

Research as a basis for assessment practice in mathematics

Keywords: assessment practices; mathematics education.

An ARC-funded project of the Institute of Mathematics Education is to develop and validate a clinical instrument suitable for an initial assessment of a student. Priorities need to be set about what constitutes a "critical task", since there is simply not enough time to systematically sample every content cell from a traditional scope and sequence analysis of the curriculum.

We provide background to the project, including phases in the validation process. Issues raised by consultant experts, practitioners and the development team in making decisions about revision, inclusion and exclusion of tasks will be discussed. We also take up the issue of provision of research rationales to underpin tasks, and discuss the necessity of making explicit the research foundation for an assessment task. Three examples from the Level B (upper primary) task set will be exhibited and the relevance of their theoretical underpinnings explained.

Anne Hurley, University of Melbourne

The acceptance of disabled children in regular schools: An important factor in successful integration

Keywords: disability; integration.

Three hundred and thirty-nine teachers in the south-eastern metropolitan region of Melbourne were surveyed to obtain information on factors contributing to the success of an integrated child in their class. A factor analysis of the results shows eight factors, the first of which accounts for almost 20% of the common variance and is defined as Acceptance. The variables loading on this factor, listed in accordance with the strength of their relationship to the factor, are: (a) peers choose to play with the child in the playground; (b) peers choose to work with the child in the classroom; (c) the child considers him/herself popular; (d) the child is not rejected by peers; (e) the child exhibits positive social behaviour; (f) the child is satisfied with his/her school performance, and (g) the teacher is happy to accept the child into his/her class. A correlation of .65, significant at the .01 level, was found between this factor and successful integration. Peer acceptance, self- acceptance and teacher acceptance, therefore, play an important part in the successful integration of disabled children into regular schools.

The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations for instructional strategies and classroom management factors which will contribute to the acceptance and therefore more successful integration of these children are made.

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

Multimethods of program evaluation: A reflection on evaluation of the counselling referral program

Keywords: multimethods evaluation; program evaluation.

The purpose of this study was to apply multiple methodologies to evaluate the referral program which integrates social systems to help children have a normal and healthy development. There were three types of tasks in the referral program, including management-oriented tasks, activity-oriented tasks, and information-oriented tasks. To evaluate the above-mentioned tasks, this study developed three types of methodologies: (1) the CIPP (context, input, process and product) evaluation scale; (2) the survey, including the activity scale and the task scale; and (3) the document review such as the telephone consultation record.

The findings showed that: (1) The CIPP evaluation scale was highly structured, concise and complete. The strength of this scale was that it was able to get valuable qualitative data about the referral program through on-site evaluations. However, the weakness of this scale was that the data from ongoing events of the referral program, such as participants' feelings about each activity, could not be collected and analysed. (2) The strengths of the activity scale and the task scale were that quantitative data were able to be collected in a short time, and that the reliabilities of both scales were also good. However, due to evaluation pressure, the validities of both scales were poor. (3) The telephone consultation record served as the important indicator in the development of the referral program, especially on the tasks of forwarding information.

The significance of this study was twofold. First, this study showed how to develop a multimethod evaluation according to the needs of a program development. Second, it provided understandings of the strengths and weaknesses of the CIPP evaluation scale, the survey and the document review in an empirical study.

Suleiman A. Idiris and Barry J. Fraser, Curtin University of Technology

A study of learning environments in agricultural science classrooms in Nigeria

Keywords: learning environment; agricultural science education.

A sample of 1,175 students and their teachers in 50 agricultural science classes at the secondary high school level participated in the first learning environment study worldwide specifically in agricultural science and one of the very few learning environment studies ever carried out in Nigeria. The particular focus of the research was the constuctivist nature of Nigerian classrooms as assessed by scales adapted from the Constructivist Learning Environment Survey and the emphasis on individualisation as assessed by selected scales from the Individualised Classroom Environment Questionnaire.

The study yielded numerous salient outcomes: (1) A widely applicable instrument assessing the constructivist and individualised aspects of classroom environments was evolved and validated for future research in the Nigerian milieu. (2) Agricultural science classrooms in Nigeria generally were found to be less constructivist and individualised than those found in other countries in past research. (3) Past research was replicated in that associations were found between the nature of the classroom environment and students' attitudes, inquiry skills, and practical performance; and (4) An investigation of the determinants of classroom environments revealed statistically significant differences according to student gender, school location (forest/savannah), school type (urban/rural), and the nature of the school-level environment.

Bruce Jeans, Deakin University

What's in a name?: Professional and academic degrees

Keywords: higher degrees; research training.

There has long been tension between academic and professional schools in most universities. Academic schools tend to see professional schools as skill-based and lacking in intellectual rigour. Not unnaturally the professional schools are somewhat critical of the academic schools because of their apparent focus on pure knowledge and lack of concern for the everyday lives of their students. There is not a lot of merit in either position.

However, in the particular case of higher degrees there are some differences in philosophy, form and function of higher degrees that have practical consequences. Higher degrees are usually predominantly generic or specific-the Master of Arts versus the Master of Education and the Master of Distance Education, for example. The former is often research-based and is seen as a preparation for a research-based higher degree. The latter, it is argued, are equal to but different from the Master of Arts, and are a means of credentialling people in the professions. Whilst the two forms of degree meet the credentialling function, they differ in the way that they prepare students for educational research.

This paper examines some parameters of educational research and the ways in which the two university functions are balanced in higher degrees. The author concludes that the Master of Education certainly meets the credentialling function but that it is an inadequate preparation for educational research. The more recent Doctor of Education is examined from the same perspective. The role of research training in higher degrees in Education is considered.

Bruce Jeans, Deakin University

What knowledge is of most worth?

Keywords: curriculum change; science education.

From one perspective school subject curricula have undergone significant change in the last twenty years. For example, the dominance of text over context has been so modified that now it is normal for curriculum education programs at all levels to emphasise context, even at the expense of text. Science education programs, for example, would be considered inadequate if they did not in some way address issues such as sustainable resource management, pollution and environmental degradation, gender effects on science learning, and the role and status of women in science.

From an epistemological perspective, however, very little has changed. The science text that we choose from is almost, if not entirely, Western or Cartesian science text. There is no doubt that Cartesian science is more effective than any other known science in its capacity to engender technology. It is probably also unmatched in its undesirable effects on the environment. Indigenous science/technology seem to have much less effect on the environment (but population size and density are confounding variables). There might be value, therefore, in considering some aspects of indigenous science/technology in the school and university curriculum. There has also been increasing recognition of the potential value of some indigenous folk remedies; there has been considerable investment in research and development of naturally occurring pharmaceuticals. This paper examines the case for including some aspects of non-Western science/technology in contemporary science education and where and how it might be incorporated.

Neryl Jeanneret, University of Newcastle

Changing preservice primary teachers' attitudes to music: Implications for music education practice

Keywords: music education; music teachers.

Although some school systems maintain music specialists in primary schools, the reality of the situation is that a large number of generalist primary teachers in Australia, Great Britain and the United States have the responsibility for teaching music in their classrooms. A significant amount of research from these countries has supported the notion that generalist and preservice primary teachers have a negative attitude towards and lack the confidence to teach music.

This study attempted to assess whether preservice primary teachers' attitudes toward music and the teaching of music in their classrooms might be influenced by their experiences in a music fundamentals course which was a prerequisite to a methods course. Although there is some research on developing positive attitudes towards music in preservice primary teachers via music methods classes, little has focused on the role a music fundamentals course may play in the formation of these attitudes. This paper discusses the preliminary findings from a study of preservice primary teachers at the University of Arizona and the University of Newcastle and explores some of the implications that these findings have for tertiary teaching practice.

Peter L. Jeffery, Christine Noble and Vicki L. Soeurt, Swinburne University of Technology

The nature and extent of computer-based electronic communications use by Swinburne University of Technology Multi-modal Learning (Applied Science) students and staff

Keywords: multi-modal learning; computer-assisted learning.

An analysis of the nature and extent of computer-based electronic communications use by Swinburne University of Technology Multi-modal Learning (Applied Science) students and staff will be presented. Students and staff in the MML Project each have personal portable computers and full Internet connectivity from the University and home. Their special network facility includes group and sub-group broadcast arrangements to promote extensive communications for educational purposes. The paper focuses on the variety of social, administrative and learning uses of email and associated facilities including Gopher, FTP, Archie, IRC, World Wide Web and others, by students and staff. A collection of email messages directed to the authors or broadcast on the network by staff and students is the basic data source.

Use and abuse, benefits and problems created for students and staff involved with this open electronic educational infrastructure are described and analysed.

Leonie Jennings, Southern Cross University

Research in the modern/postmodern

Keywords: postmodernism; action research.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 11, Using postmodernist perspectives in researching current education and training issues.

Steven Jessup, University of Tasmania, and Paul Webb, University of Wollongong

Teacher perceptions of the essential skills of classroom management and discipline

Keywords: classroom management; rating scales.

This paper reports on a study that sought to identify and investigate the most important skills that teachers perceive they ought to have to be effective in classroom management and discipline, and the levels of difficulty they perceive are associated with development of these skills.

Behaviourally-anchored rating scale procedures were used to design a survey instrument that consisted of 56 individual skills categorised into eight broad competency areas. Responses were measured on two five-point rating scales, as to the perceived level of importance and difficulty associated with development of each of the individual skills. From an original stratified random sample of 237 teachers, there were 101 respondents. Whilst respondents were not equally representative of primary and secondary teachers, nor male and female teachers, sufficient responses were received to identify a number of significant differences between groups, as well as identify those specific skills that respondents in general considered to be the most important, and the most difficult to acquire.

The results showed that effective skills in classroom management and discipline were perceived to be multi-dimensional, and to fall into a number of broad areas. Generally, skills relating to developing a personal philosophy, using effective communication, and having positive interpersonal relations, were perceived to be relatively high in importance, and relatively low in difficulty for teachers to acquire. Skills involved in teaching the curriculum and individualising it, and in dealing with and resolving behavioural problems, were also perceived to be amongst the most important, and were perceived to be the most difficult for teachers to develop. Skills associated with professional development in the area of classroom management and discipline were also considered relatively difficult to acquire, but were not considered as important to develop as skills in other areas.

Greer Johnson, Griffith University-Mt Gravatt

Accounting for teaching within shifting discourses of moral responsibility

Keywords: teacher-student discourse; moral education.

The following paper is written around the talk of one teacher immediately after an English lesson in a co-educational metropolitan secondary school. Following the methods of Kress (1985), Fairclough (1989, 1992) and Gee (1990, 1993) on critical discourse analysis, Silverman (1993) and Baker (1983) on conversational analysis and Jayyusi (1984) on ethnomethodology, the transcribed account of the teacher's talk about her teaching English is analysed in terms of versions of moral responsibility: the ways the teacher holds herself accountable for the students' learning or failure to learn in her classes (cf. Walkerdine, 1984).

The discourse of moral responsibility is seen as dominant yet unstable in so far as it shifts and changes as it attains links with other discourses of authority, literacy and assessment. Analysis of the three associated discourses gives a clearer picture of how the teacher maintains moral responsibility for her teaching practices. This innovative way of critically analysing teacher talk enables teachers and teacher educators to look inside everyday life in classrooms in order to retheorise future practice. Another potential benefit is the use of insights of the analysis in teacher education. Consequently the often-mentioned dichotomy of theory versus practice at the school and university sites may be disbanded in favour of a more harmonious and cyclical interaction of the two.

Lorraine Johnson-Riordan, Deakin University

Cultural studies/pedagogical practice: Autobiography, pedagogy and cultural critique

Keywords: cultural studies; critical pedagogy.

This paper directly addresses the Conference theme: "Educational research: Innovation and practice". It makes an argument for a rearticulation of (1) the discourses of educational research and pedagogy (e.g., Lather), and (2) the discourses of critical pedagogy with a feminist and "post-colonial" cultural studies in order to move beyond what seems to be the current impasse, both in educational research and critical pedagogy.

Secondly, the paper explores the possibilities for innovative classroom pedagogy and research opened up by autobiographical speaking/writing in adult/tertiary classrooms. The particular instance I will draw on is work-in-progress in teaching communications and the cultural politics of "race" to a group of mostly white young adult women in a country town.

Sue Johnston and Juliana Broda, University of Canberra

Supporting educational researchers of the future

Keywords: postgraduate supervision; educational researchers.

Education, social sciences and the humanities have been nominated for their long completion rates and high drop-out rates for postgraduate research students. Although these trends result from a number of factors, one consideration must be the quality of postgraduate supervision and the ways in which supervision is modified to cater for the particular needs of postgraduate students within these disciplines.

This paper will report on a CAUT-funded project in which postgraduate students and supervisors in a Faculty of Education worked collaboratively to enhance the quality of postgraduate supervision using an action research process. As well as detailing the process used in the project and some of the outcomes, there will be examples given of some of the difficulties encountered by postgraduate research students and supervisors involved in the project. An emphasis in the project has been an in-depth exploration of the process of supervision as it is experienced by individual supervisors and students. The analysis in this paper will reveal practical ways in which the quality of postgraduate supervision in education might be enhanced. The future of educational research relies on inducting our postgraduate students into a positive research culture, and Faculties of Education have a major responsibility to be aware of the ways in which postgraduate students are experiencing the process.

Stephen Johnson, University of Western Australia

Adolescent decision-making styles and "fact finding"

Keywords: decision-making; transition.

To make wise vocational decisions Parson's "true reasoning" model is often taken as the template for counselling and information provision. This model stresses the necessity for information about the individual, the world of work, and careful reasoning to allow a "match" between the two. This model has been embraced wholeheartedly by private, State and federal agencies which, in addition to more "traditional" resources, provide a massive information pool for youth to access. Yet research has repeatedly shown that students rely on parental and peer information when making vocational decisions. Is this too broad a generalisation? This research examines the manner in which the style of decision-making, as proposed by Irving Janis and Leon Mann, influences the information-gathering behaviour of Year 12 students facing transition from high school.

A total of 240 Year 12 students from four selected co-educational government high schools were asked questions about their decision- making style, what they thought they would be doing in the following year, and what information resources they had used. The survey was conducted three times during the year in order to examine changes in resource use.

It must be stressed that this is an exploration of some of the psychological bases that help or hinder decision-making. The model presented is by no means exhaustive, yet raises concerns on the current teaching of decision-making, the provision of information, or assumptions of rationality, and current approaches to vocational counselling.

Stephen Johnson, University of Western Australia

Helping or hindering: The influences on decisions

Keywords: adolescent behaviour; decision-making.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 19, Adolescents taking control of their lives: Western Australian research.

Nicole S. Joncour, Ken E. Sinclair and Michael Bailey, University of Sydney

Computer anxiety, computer experience and self-efficacy

Keywords: computer anxiety; computer education.

The rapid development of technology over recent years and, in particular, the advent and proliferation of computers, has had a tremendous impact on people's lives. As a consequence, concern has arisen about factors which may operate to impede the use of computers, particularly computer anxiety. Computer anxiety is believed to decrease with computer experience; however, literature regarding this area has revealed inconsistent results, with some studies indicating that anxiety increased with experience.

In the study to be reported, the effects of a compulsory introductory computer course on first-year education students were assessed. One hundred and forty-one first-year students completed the Computer Anxiety Rating Scale, a Computer Statements Scale and the Computer Self-Efficacy Scale, at the beginning of the computer course and at the completion of this course. In addition, the study examined other possible correlates of computer anxiety including gender, prior computer experience and computer ownership. It was hypothesised that at the conclusion of the course subjects would display an increase in their computer efficacy and therefore a reduction in computer anxiety. It was further hypothesised that those subjects who own a computer and have prior experience would report lower levels of anxiety, as would males as compared to female students. Those subjects reporting high computer anxiety were expected to also report more negative, task irrelevant thoughts when using computers than low-anxious students. Results are interpreted with regard to Bandura's (1986, 1988) self- efficacy conception of anxiety.

JONEA94.513

Anthony Jones, La Trobe University

Educational implications of preservice teacher education students using computer-mediated communications

Keywords: computer-mediated communication; electronic networking.

In this paper research currently in progress at La Trobe University will be described and reported. Throughout 1994 a small group of preservice teacher education students have been exploring electronic mail and electronic bulletin boards as media for communication, especially for discussion of issues that arise during teaching practice.

The project developed as an attempt to overcome problems associated with isolation (one, or at the most two, teacher education students at a school that is not within commuting distance of the university), and to encourage critical reflective thinking about classroom experiences. As an integral part of their preservice course, a group of 30 teacher education students were trained to use two forms of computer-based electronic communication. At a later stage in their course, when they were assigned to a secondary school for practice teaching, they were expected to make contact with other members of the group and their university supervisors.

A number of issues have arisen during the progress of the project, including ownership of equipment in schools, the nature and cognitive levels of electronic discourse, and the professional development of classroom teachers in educational aspects of computer-based communication.

Brian L. Jones, Kevin F. Collis, Jane M. Watson and Sharon Fraser, University of Tasmania

Progression in students' understandings of reflections in a pond: A cross-age pilot study

Keywords: concept development; science education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 2, Cognitive functioning in mathematics and science.

Barbara Kamler, Deakin University

Shaping up nicely: Gendered subject formation in the first month of school

Keywords: gender issues; early childhood.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 14, Shaping up nicely: Gendered subject formation in the first month of school.

Jan Kane, Macquarie University

Vocational education and training: Implications for students, teachers and the planning agenda

Keywords: vocational education; post-compulsory education.

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, Finn and Carmichael Reports, which emphasise the development of competencies for employment and lifelong education and training.

This paper will explore this developmental trend, focusing on a current research study which examines a number of vocational programs in New South Wales schools. The paper will explore research results which relate to variations in student levels of self-esteem, development of career-path expectations, and student perception of the influence and impact of teaching approach and style on progress in vocational programs. It will further examine the influence of teacher image on subject choices and will discuss the implications of these research results in the light of the current emphasis on the development of a vocational training agenda in the post-compulsory years of secondary schooling.

Ruth Kane, Griffith University

Beginning teachers: Survival at the expense of intelligent action

Keywords: beginning teachers; theory and practice.

In recent years there has been controversy concerning the contribution of the formal, on-campus component of preservice teacher education (propositional knowledge) to learning to teach effectively (intelligent practice). It is commonly said that "beginning teachers learn from experience", yet how this learning occurs has proven difficult to isolate and articulate. It is unclear to what degree the propositional knowledge informs (or is informed by) the developing practical or procedural knowledge of the beginning teacher, if at all.

This paper reports on an investigation into the genesis and development of the knowledge base of beginning teachers, through investigation of the view that propositional knowledge becomes procedural knowledge through authentic practice.

Two teachers participate in a longitudinal study tracing the development of their practical knowledge through preservice teacher education and their first year of teaching. The study suggests that the practical experiences of preservice are artificial and inadequate, resulting in neophytes cloning the overt behaviours of "more knowledgeable others". Confused by the difficulties of relating theory to practice, the first year teachers remain locked into apprenticeships of observation and by-pass their pedagogical knowledge for less valid and less effective alternatives which they perceive will ensure survival.

The writer proposes that if the goal of teacher education is to prepare intelligent practitioners who actively engage in "knowledge transforming" in their classrooms, then they must be provided with the opportunities to interpret, model, reflect upon, and engage in critical discourse on, the thinking and intentions which drive intelligent practice.

Berinderjeet Kaur, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Dudley Blane, Monash University

Probing children's strategies in mathematical problem-solving

Keywords: mathematical problem-solving; learning strategies.

This paper will address some of the findings from a large scale study of the strategies used by students when solving mathematical problems. In particular it explores two hypotheses: (1) that there is a time lag between the age at which problem solvers are able to carry out certain mathematical calculations and the age at which they are able to use the same mathematical skills to solve problems; and (2) that most students are able to select from only a limited range of problem- solving strategies or heuristics and that there is a developmental sequence throughout which more sophisticated strategies become available to the student.

Two written tests, of mathematical computation and of problem-solving, were given to a sample of 626 students in Years 5 to 8 from a range of Singapore schools. The computation test consisted of questions which used exactly the same mathematics as that required to solve each of the problems. A sub-sample of students was interviewed and asked to explain the strategies they had used to solve the problems.

The interview data revealed that the general assumption that unsuccessful problem solvers lack relevant mathematical skills is not necessarily true. An analysis of the problem-solving strategies used by the students indicated that there are a few basic strategies which most students tend to use across all Year levels. Further it appears that these may be divided into one or two primary, or general initial strategies, followed and complemented by more sophisticated secondary strategies used only by the most successful problem solvers.

KELLK94.305

Kathryn Kelly, Griffith University

A model for induction of beginning teachers: An unintended outcome of educational research

Keywords: beginning teachers; teacher induction.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that considerable stigma is attached to the position of "first-year" teacher. In many cases there is an assumption that beginning teachers can learn only from the "old hands" of the profession. Recent years have seen the emergence of induction programs designed to "induct" beginning teachers into the accepted and accumulated knowledge and competencies of the profession. Such assumptions and practices ignore the considerable benefits that can arise from beginning teachers learning from and being supported by their peers.

An ethnographic approach focusing on group interviews formed the basis of research conducted over a three-year period with beginning teachers. An unintended outcome of the research was the contribution that this approach made to the induction of these beginning teachers. These meetings offered the opportunity for participants to share their experiences, collaboratively solve problems that they were encountering, and offer mutual support. This paper proposes that the method adopted for this research provides a useful model for induction.

Peter Kell, James Cook University of North Queensland

Vocational education, regions and the State towards 2000

Keywords: vocational education; regional development.

This paper relates to work in progress on examining the impact of a number of policy frames relating to vocational education and regional development. The project consists of a study of two regional centres in North Queensland examining issues in terms of schooling, training, economic development and the social structure. The study examines areas where new industries in the service industry are emerging. Particular attention is directed towards examining how the State functions as a facilitator in the development of new economic patterns.

Another focus of the study is an examination of the social justice implications of such policies in terms of whether they have an impact in changing social structures of ownership and power.

Kerry Kennedy, Australian National University, and Barbara Preston, Research Consultant

Teacher competencies and teacher education: Progress report on a research project

Keywords: competency standards; beginning teaching.

The authors have been commissioned by the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Training to carry out a project to investigate the relationships between the National Competency Standards for Beginning Teachers and initial teacher education courses, and to determine how the framework can be used to improve initial teacher education-in particular through the development of a set of guidelines and protocols for the application of the standards. The project is due to be completed at the beginning of 1995, and is being managed by a working party including representatives of teacher professional organisations (the unions and the Australian Teaching Council), school authorities, higher education, and the Commonwealth.

We will be looking at about a dozen initial teacher education programs of different types, and holding discussions with the staff involved on matters such as the usefulness or otherwise of the competency standards to the development and review of course curriculum, pedagogy, assessment processes and criteria, and the integration of elements of courses.

The paper will outline the project, report on progress to date, and discuss issues which have been raised by the project.

Steve Kennewell, University of Wales, Swansea, Wales

A computer's role in revealing and influencing learners' understanding

Keywords: mathematics education; computer-assisted learning.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 7, Articulating mathematical thought: Beliefs and processes.

Jayne Keogh, Griffith University

Beyond the pantopticon: Accounting for behaviour in parent-teacher communications

Keywords: discourse analysis; parent-teacher relationships.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 17, Reconceptualising communication in families and schools.

Mon Khamis, University of Western Sydney Nepean

A full-time secondary Dip Ed or an internship: Expediency or efficiency in teacher education

Keywords: Dip Ed; internship.

The internship concept within any teacher education course has received some acceptance, yet there is minimal agreement about the desired outcomes and how best to achieve them. University of Western Sydney Nepean implemented an internship program for secondary mathematics and science graduates within the Dip Ed course while continuing with the full-time mode.

Perceptions of a sample of 45 full-time and 30 internship graduates from the past two years were compared in order to determine the level of contribution the two modes of delivery made towards developing graduates' competence in planning, questioning, assigning work tasks, management and motivation skills. Furthermore, the graduates were asked to assess their current level of confidence in performing various competencies as a result of their personal attributes and experiences.

The full-time graduates appeared to show a more positive trend in their overall perceptions compared to the internship graduates. The ramifications for the design and delivery of any internship program, particularly when it is part of a relatively short teacher education course, will be discussed. The positive outcomes and the limitations of the internship model will be highlighted.

Mohammad Khayyer and Philip R. de Lacey, University of Wollongong

Prediction of academic achievement from some demographic, family background and locus of control variables among elementary school students

Keywords: academic achievement; locus of control.

This study addressed three questions: first, the contribution of some demographic, familial and locus of control (LOC) variables in predicting academic achievement; secondly, the contribution of some familial and demographic variables in predicting LOC; thirdly, the direct and indirect effects of each demographic and familial variable on both LOC and academic achievement. Children were drawn randomly from six primary public schools. In total, the sample size consisted of 502 students in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 (235 boys and 267 girls).

The results showed that all of the independent variables, except family size and mother's work, made a significant contribution in predicting academic achievement. The best predictor of academic achievement was LOC and then SES, grade, sex and language background, in that order. It was shown that 22.6% of variation of academic achievement can be explained by the independent variables.

Grade, SES and language background, in that order, made significant contributions to predicting LOC. Only 7.4% of variation of LOC is explained by the independent variables. Family size and mother's work had indirect effects on academic achievement through their significant correlation with the other independent variables (SES, or family size, sex and mother's work). These variables had indirect effects on LOC through their significant correlations with SES. Causation was not necessarily implied, because the seven variables in the model might have shared their variances with other variables not included in the present study.

KILEL94.388

Lindsay Kiley, Institute for Study Abroad

A workshop on meeting the academic needs of overseas students

Keywords: overseas students; tertiary education.

In Australia a new view regarding overseas students has emerged as a result of changing government policy toward overseas students. Overseas students have become "consumers" in the new overseas marketing approach to Australian tertiary education. To compete with other host countries, the Australian government and Australian universities are now focusing on the "quality" of their tertiary education services. While the focus of research and funding has remained on expanding and increasing the quality of support services available to overseas students on campus, the role of academics in providing quality teaching to overseas students has not received much attention.

The main aim of the study was to develop a model workshop for academic staff to assist them in meeting the academic needs of overseas students. The workshop was designed using results from a survey to overseas students and another survey to academic staff as baseline data.

The survey of overseas students determined the self-perceived academic problems of the overseas student population while at the same time creating an accurate profile of this student sub-population. The survey of academic staff determined the barriers that impede academics in providing high quality teaching and assistance to overseas students.

The data from the two surveys was presented in the workshop for academic staff. This data also determined the content and the form of the workshop.

Roy Killen, University of Newcastle

A cross-cultural study of factors influencing students' understanding of science lessons

Keywords: teacher effectiveness; cross-cultural studies.

The literature on teacher effectiveness identifies numerous presage, process and context variables that influence student learning in school classrooms. Much of this literature reports studies in which the data were gathered by direct or indirect observation and/or by analysis of information supplied by teachers. The study reported in this paper took a different approach by examining teacher effectiveness through the eyes of students. It was concerned with identifying teacher behaviours that students saw as helping them understand a particular science or mathematics lesson and with identifying teacher behaviours that students saw as inhibiting their understanding of that lesson. The study involved 955 junior high school students from four countries (Australia, USA, Finland and the Republic of South Africa) in an attempt to identify aspects of teacher effectiveness that were common and unique to the four sites.

The students in the study identified 43 distinct teacher behaviours that helped them to understand the information presented by their teachers, and 29 teacher behaviours that confused them or made it difficult for them to understand the information presented by their teachers. There were numerous similarities, and several important differences, in the behaviours identified by the students in different countries, but at all sites the students were much more readily able to identify things that helped them to understand than they were able to identify things that hindered their understanding. The paper presents a detailed description of the findings and discusses some of the implications that they have for teacher educators.

Roy Killen, Marilyn Pedder and Anthony O'Brien, University of Newcastle

Credit transfer for nurses: How do Australian universities deal with hospital/health sector qualifications and experience?

Keywords: credit transfer; nurse education.

In 1992, the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) launched a series of initiatives aimed at standardising the credit transfer arrangements that Australian universities used when processing university-university and TAFE-university student transfers. Nursing was one of the areas of study targeted for investigation. The initial phase of the nursing credit transfer project resulted in a pilot scheme for university-university credit transfer in 1994, and a recommendation that there was no need for a national scheme for TAFE- university credit transfer for nurses. This paper reports on aspects of the second phase of the nursing credit transfer project, the phase that investigated credit transfer arrangements for applicants to university nursing courses who had qualifications and/or experience from the hospital/health sector.

The principal focus of this paper is the methodology of the nursing credit transfer study. It describes the two different approaches that were used to obtain data about the credit transfer policies and practices of Australian universities, and discusses the difficulties that were experienced in obtaining and verifying the accuracy of these data. The paper highlights the inconsistencies in the approaches that Australian universities use when determining credit transfer policies and when translating those policies into decisions about individual students. The methodology will be of interest to anyone engaged in research that attempts to reconcile the policies and practices of academic institutions, particularly as they relate to student admissions and credit transfer.

Arthur Kingsland, University of Newcastle

Broadening the base and deepening the understanding in problem-based learning

Keywords: problem-based learning; higher-order learning.

This paper explores the integration of both essential theoretical material and specialisations, at a deep learning level within integrated problem-based learning (PBL) courses. This opposes what is seen as a simplistic approach to PBL in which student objectives are focused on identifying what the problem is, discovering learning needs and solving the posed problem. This view limits all learning to shallow thinking associated with the practical aspects of the problem to be solved.

This paper argues that a tertiary education setting should allow students to develop and master higher order knowledge, processes and attitudes. PBL is presented as a concept and a strategy rather than as a formula to be followed. Discussion includes the opportunity created by the PBL approach for divergent search beyond the immediate problem for issues that may have an impact on the solution. This is then followed by a rigorous analysis of the relative merit of the material and the development of understanding of the usefulness of this material specifically for the problem as currently posed and as more general professional development for the future.

This paper provides examples where, although the problem solved may be anchored in practical workplace settings, the issues that can be developed involve higher-order thinking and exploration of complex concepts. The paper demonstrates that the initial divergent search for material relating to the scenario can be used to concentrate in depth on issues that are normally taken as givens in workplace settings.

Clive B. Kings, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

The impact of assessment on learning

Keywords: assessment practices; meaningful learning.

Within tertiary education, assessment engages both lecturers and students for a large proportion of their time. Assessments can determine what students learn, whether they learn in a meaningful way, and whether they have jumped the hurdles to successfully complete a tertiary qualification. Since successful graduates and postgraduates have the potential of making positive contributions both to the workforce and to the community, assessment practices must be relevant, of high quality and promote meaningful learning if the workplace is to become more efficient and effective.

Some previous studies by the author would indicate limitations in assessment practices. For example, most assessment is based on written assignments; the range of objectives assessed is extremely small; many objectives are not assessed; self/peer assessment practices are rarely used; and assessment of practical work can often be unfocused. Studies also reveal that impediments to continuous improvement of assessment include a low level of personal skill in assessment planning, staff timetable constraints and workload, and departmental and institutional requirements.

In order to probe these issues a series of case studies was undertaken and analysed. The results show differences in: the relevance of the objectives to the context, discipline and workplace; the nature of the assessment used to promote deep learning; the nature of the criteria for the assessment; the use of criteria to empower students in their own learning; the management of assessment; approaches to continuous improvement; and quality control of assessment practices. These various factors had considerable impact on what is learnt and how it is learnt.

Clive B. Kings, Narendra Dixit and Zhang Yen Ming, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

The roles of Heads of Department: Promoting quality assurance in schools

Keywords: school management; quality assurance.

In Singapore many of the issues of the world-wide quest for Total Quality Management (TQM) have been addressed with specific reference to schools. The responsibility for thorough implementation of TQM in schools rests with middle management which in schools is represented by the Heads of Department. It is clear that the emphasis formerly given to pattern maintenance or maintenance of the status quo within departments has necessitated a shift to a greater emphasis on continuous improvement and quality assurance. Such shifts of emphases necessarily require Heads of Department to have a greater range of skills and abilities if roles are to be adequately fulfilled.

A study was undertaken to ascertain the perceptions of Heads of Department about their roles and the ways in which these can be further supported to enhance quality assurance in schools. The sample of 125 was drawn from the 1993-4 cohort of Further Professional Diploma in Education students at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. A questionnaire was designed which probed the major roles of Heads of Department. The results reveal that they perceive all roles to be important; however, some roles are emphasised more than others.

The paper discusses the perceptions and feelings that Heads of Department have about their roles, the abilities and skills they require in fulfilling those roles, and the areas in which they they need more support. This research is ongoing and has the potential for cross-cultural comparison.

Denise Kirkpatrick and Martyn Wild, Edith Cowan University

Designing software support for a complex cognitive task

Keywords: computer-assisted learning; cognitive tasks.

This paper will report the design and development of a User Performance Support System (UPSS) to enhance lesson planning skills in first-year teacher education students. This is part of a larger study investigating the development and implementation of a UPSS to facilitate lesson planning.

Much conventional software has been criticised for its failure to acknowledge the cognitive processes involved in the task. A UPSS is interactive software that is intended to both train and support the novice user in the performance of complex tasks. This paper will focus on the features of a UPSS which support the performance of a complex cognitive task (lesson planning) and report the design process involved in the development of the software.

Mary Klein, James Cook University of North Queensland

Constructivist pedagogy and action research in preservice teacher education in mathematics: The possibilities and limitations and social justice

Keywords: constructivism; action research.

This paper is written to explore the meta-theoretical assumptions framing some interpretations of both action research and constructivist pedagogy as practised in classrooms and tertiary institutions. My concern is that such interpretations perpetuate a purely cognitive view of learning as product, taking place in an ahistorical and apolitical environment. It is my contention that such practice is likely to be constitutive of individuals who perpetuate the status quo in mathematics learning and teaching because the struggle against cultural "givens" requires more than a cognitive knowledge of the social world-it requires system-wide structures supportive of and reactive to the dialogical processes of learning which are both culturally and socio-historically determined.

Patricia Klinck and Andrea Allard, University of Melbourne

Neither frogs, nor princes: Changing models of leadership in academia

Keywords: leadership, gender issues.

This paper reports on a pilot program run for male academic staff at the University of Melbourne which aimed to enable men to explore their understandings of gender, power and models of leadership.

The Affirmative Action Program for Women has resulted in a number of initiatives to encourage and support women to succeed in academia. Underpinning these initiatives is the often unexamined assumption that it is women who need to change in order to achieve "success", to fit into academia. However, some recent work has explored the "masculinist culture" of academia and the need for this to alter.

The program, reported on in this paper, was an initial attempt to discuss with male academics their understandings concerning gender and the ways in which power is exercised by them as teachers and as researchers, and to consider alternative leadership models, including those based on collegiality and collaboration. The program was organised on the model of a collegial support group which has been successful in leadership training in the US and Canada as well as in Australia. One of the aims of this pilot project was to investigate how male-only groups responded to such a model.

The pilot study met with mixed results and some surprising observations and insights for the two (female) facilitators. In this paper, we will outline the program, discuss the barriers to change that emerged and report on the follow-up investigation done after the program.

Norma Koehne, University of New England

The construction and maintenance of gender in a rural high school

Keywords: gender issues; classroom interaction.

Using poststructuralist feminist theory which regards subjectivity as "precarious, contradictory and in process, being reconstructed in discourse every time we think or speak" (Weedon, 1987), this paper looks at the way Year 9 girls were constructing their subjectivity in a rural high school.

The paper focuses on interactions between male and female students in the classroom, which can be located within a patriarchal discourse of male power and domination. The strategies the female students used to position themselves in relation to male behaviour will then be analysed.

Deslea Konza, University of Wollongong

Early intervention evaluation: Current issues and concerns for researchers and parents

Keywords: early intervention; early childhood education.

Early intervention, or early childhood special education, is one of the most recently developed specialised areas of education, coming into widespread existence only in the last 25 years (Kirk & Gallagher, 1983; Wolery, 1993). As economic difficulties continue to place restraints on government funding for education, greater pressure is exerted for accountability in all educational provisions, and demonstrations of program efficacy are rightly demanded by administrators who have increasing calls on limited financial resources. Service providers are also concerned that the type of program they offer is the best available, therefore evaluations of different program types and service deliveries should provide them with the necessary directions. Parents, too, have the right to know which particular programs will best suit their children (Jephson, 1992).

The purpose of this paper is firstly to provide an overview of the evaluation problems which have surrounded early intervention research and outline some of the attempts being made to address them. This is divided into four broad sections: (1) threats to internal validity; (2) the absence of appropriate statistical analyses; (3) the use of limited outcome measures; and (4) the lack of a conceptual base to intervention programs.

The paper also reports briefly on parents' views of five early intervention programs currently operating in the southern region of New South Wales.

Yuri Koszarycz, Australian Catholic University (Queensland)

Constructive nurse education for critical reflectivity in ethical decision-making

Keywords: nurse education; reflectivity.

How are post-registration Nursing students given an opportunity to explore the social and philosophical context of ethical decision- making in courses relating to Ethico-Legal Studies? Does course content in Nursing Ethics make a difference in making nurses more conscious of the processes involved in making ethical decisions? How do nurses reflect and critique information received during lectures, and do they see "ethics education" as informing them to become better ethical decision-makers in the workplace?

Educational perspectives on ethical decision-making will be examined in the light of philosophical and educational relationship to "action learning" with emphasis on the concept of "reflective practitioner".

Kerri-Lee Krause, Macquarie University

The effect of goal-setting and planning on the writing competence of secondary school students

Keywords: writing competence; essay writing.

This paper examines an intervention study aimed at improving the essay writing skills of secondary school students. The program has been trialled with a group of Year 8 students, with a view to conducting a similar program in Year 10. The premise of the study is that goal- setting and planning are crucial, often ignored, elements of the composing process. These factors influence writing quality, and may be related to student attitudes to writing.

Two intact Year 8 classes from the same school were designated as control and experimental groups respectively. Two facets of writing were assessed at pre-test. Firstly, writing anxiety levels of students from both groups were determined using the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Inventory, a pre-tested instrument in the form of a Likert-type scale. Secondly, the writing competence of both groups was assessed by means of an in-class narrative writing exercise which was marked by two experienced teachers using predetermined marking criteria. The experimental group underwent the intervention program, comprising eight class periods over six weeks. The control group continued with regular English classes during this time. After eight weeks, the two groups completed a post-test comprising a second in- class narrative essay and the Daly-Miller Writing Apprehension Inventory. Think-aloud protocols were also conducted with case studies from the experimental group.

Results suggest that direct instruction of goal-setting and planning strategies do influence the composing process and the quality of student writing. In some cases, this instruction also serves to alleviate writing anxiety. The study has implications for classroom practice and student writing competence.

KRAUK94.276

Kerri-Lee Krause and Magdalena Mok, Macquarie University

The school life experiences of Year 12 girls

Keywords: school life experiences; adolescent girls.

The study aims to investigate the Year 12 school life experiences of girls from their own perspective. Eight focus group discussions were conducted involving 39 Year 12 female students from four different schools in the Sydney Metropolitan North and South-West regions. Informed consent was obtained from the students and their principals. All interviews were completed on the campuses of the respective schools between 18th April and 2nd May, 1994. Each focus group interview lasted for about one hour, and was tape-recorded. The group sizes ranged from four to six students. During the focus group discussions, students were invited to speak freely around open-ended questions related to their school life; the interviewer acted as a facilitator only.

Interview data from the eight focus groups were content-analysed for emerging themes. The analysis identified six themes: (1) the concern caused by HSC examinations and the associated stress; (2) the friendships amongst students; (3) the role played by teacher quality and teacher-student relationships in facilitating/debilitating students' learning; (4) factors outside school which affect adolescent girls' attitudes and expectations of school; (5) students' perceptions of what the future holds for them; and (6) the under- utilisation of school counsellors. Implications of these findings for teachers and policy makers are discussed in the paper.

Anna Kwan, University of New South Wales

The effects of practicum experience on first-year primary student teachers' professional development

Keywords: practicum; professional development.

This study aims at charting the initial development of primary student teachers of a school of teacher education in which the school experience has been under innovation. More practical and structured school experience was intended to provide opportunities for fostering reflective practice.

Three student teachers have been involved in the intensive case study. Data have been collected at the beginning of the program, before and after the block practicum. Data include concept maps, focused written self-evaluations of their videotaped teaching episodes, post-lesson evaluations and weekly journals. Data collection procedures are expected to be completed in August, 1994.

Preliminary results seem to indicate that the student teachers changed their conceptions of good teaching as the program proceeded. Greater confidence in teaching towards the end of the three-week block practicum was demonstrated. More willingness to put pupils at the centre of their teaching and to tolerate uncertainty during the teaching process was also observed. Their reflective thinking, however, appeared to be mainly concerned with the technical level in Van Manen's terms. Critical thinking was found related to content of curriculum and pupil learning ability. Regarding the context of the program under study, a possible explanation might be that the focus of the courses in campus seemed to be on the technical aspects of teaching. Important educational issues had not yet been introduced systematically to foster such awareness among student teachers.

Elizabeth Labone, University of Sydney

Teacher burnout: Towards preventative strategies

Keywords: teacher burnout; teacher stress.

During the last decade problems with teacher morale in North America gave rise to a significant body of research into teacher burnout. Similar problems in the teaching profession in Australia, particularly in New South Wales, became salient late in the last decade. Research into the problem of teacher burnout has focused largely on organisational factors and static individual traits associated with burnout. Few studies have considered dynamic individual variables which may mediate between organisational stressors and feelings of burnout. This study addresses this deficit by longitudinally studying changes in the relationship between teachers' beliefs and feelings of burnout with the aim of developing intervention strategies that may reduce levels of burnout.

Three hundred and fifty teachers working in New South Wales government schools are currently participating in a longitudinal study monitoring the relationship between changes in their beliefs and their feelings of burnout. This study proposes a new model of teacher burnout focusing on the role of teacher beliefs in the development of burnout, and discusses the scope for strategies aimed at reducing teacher burnout.

LABOE94.133

Elizabeth Labone and Robyn Cusworth, University of Sydney

Primary teachers define their work

Keywords: educational change; primary education.

Since 1989 the education system in New South Wales has been undergoing far-reaching changes with the aim of restructuring the school system. This study aims to investigate how these changes are perceived by primary teachers and the impact that the changes are having on their work. There is a dearth of Australian studies that have investigated primary teachers' perceptions of their work. There is clearly a need to ask teachers of primary school children their views on the profession, their daily work and the effects of structural change. The purpose of our research is to address this by asking practising teachers to write and talk about their work and the effects the changes are having on them, their teaching and students.

One hundred and five teachers working in New South Wales government primary schools completed an open-ended questionnaire about their perceptions of their role and the impact of the reforms on their work. While teachers in the study believed their role should centre around the facilitation of the children's learning, it appears that the changes are strongly impacting on teachers' ability to maintain this focus, hence altering their perceptions of their role. This study reports on these changing perceptions as well as teachers' perceptions of the impact of these reforms.

LADWJ94.496

James G. Ladwig, University of Newcastle

Constructing science with an attitude

Keywords: cultural politics; research methodology.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23, Cultural politics and educational research methodology.

LAMBI94.125

Ian Lambert, National Institute for Christian Education

Collective action frames: Shaping meaning through inservice courses with a teacher as researcher focus

Keywords: teacher as researcher; social movements.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 4, Transforming the practice of teaching through research partnership.

LASKL94.444

Louise Laskey, Deakin University, and Sally Leavold, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Gendered reflections: A linguistic analysis

Keywords: gender issues; sexual harassment.

This paper examines reflections on secondary schooling by a group of preservice teacher education students from the perspective of gender relations. Their communication of experiences involving sexual harassment was analysed linguistically. A prior study indicated that students were either unaware or reluctant to label such experiences as sexual harassment. However, linguistic patterns suggested that sexual harassment was accepted as a natural phenomenon in their student years. A second stage explored whether this tendency prevailed during tertiary education.

LAWSE94.126

Eleanor Lawson, Charles Sturt University-Mitchell

Primary school gender differences in achievement motivation: Has deception confounded interpretation?

Keywords: deception; gender issues.

The methodological justification for deception in research is that deception enables valid inference by reducing causal ambiguity, or confounding, to a minimum. Although 1970's research undermined this justification, deception is still widely used and its efficacy is assumed pervasively. Therefore, in the present study, the efficacy of deception is further evaluated.

The focus is upon the influential conclusion in gender differences research that girls are more helpless, or lower on general academic achievement motivation, than boys by primary school. Researchers have pressed this conclusion from a pool of experimental studies, despite acknowledging its contradiction with findings from three bodies of achievement-related data. These data imply that girls are not lower on achievement motivation than boys. In discussing this contradiction no researcher has noted that deception was used in the experimental studies, but that the other three bodies of data are nondeceptively derived. Metatheoretical analyses show that the experimental data can be interpreted as artefacts of deception, and that this interpretation holds plausibility advantages over an achievement motivation interpretation. Thus deception has seriously confounded the conclusion that girls are lower on achievement motivation than boys, and the methodological justification for deception is not sustained in this area.

LEDEG94.262

Gilah C. Leder, La Trobe University; Glenn Rowley and Christine Brew, Monash University

Learning from assessment

Keywords: mathematics assessment; gender issues.

The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) was introduced on a limited basis to all Victorian schools in 1991, and fully implemented in 1992. The new assessment structure, with an emphasis on research and project work as well as formal examinations, has attracted much attention, favourable as well as unfavourable.

In this paper we use 1992 data to compare the performance of groups of students on the different Common Assessment Tasks (CATs) set in the six mathematical subjects offered. Specifically, comparisons were made between the performances of females and males, and between those of students enrolled in the regular English course and those enrolled in English as a Second Language (ESL).

There was a consistent pattern across all six subjects-females excelled in the two internally-assessed CATs (project and Challenging Problem), while males excelled in the two externally-assessed CATs (examinations). ESL students excelled in all CATs. Comparisons with English performance revealed that the two internally-assessed CATs had higher verbal components than the externally-assessed examinations, which goes some way towards explaining the first result but not the second.

Our findings indicate that the newer modes of assessment genuinely assess different aspects of mathematics learning to the traditional examinations, and that they present tasks that involve a higher degree of verbal skill, and are more accessible to females than traditional examinations.

Lucille Kam-Wah Lee, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

An intervention program of teaching problem-solving strategies in Singapore schools: Preliminary case studies

Keywords: problem-solving; science teaching.

An intervention program on the teaching of problem-solving skills, consisting of the think-aloud and general problem-solving strategies, was introduced as part of a chemistry inservice course to a group of Singapore teachers. Feedback from the teacher-participants on the program and its usefulness to learning problem-solving skills was favourable.

In an attempt to investigate the effect of this program on students' problem-solving skills, case studies were undertaken a year later. This paper reports the findings of four case studies on the implementation of the intervention program to chemistry students and evaluation of the students' problem-solving performance and behaviour before and after the intervention. Four teachers from two secondary schools (ages of students were 14-15) and two junior colleges (ages of students were 16-17) were involved in the case studies. The methods of evaluation of the students' problem-solving performance and behaviour varied among the four teachers. One case emphasised the quantitative perspective whereas the other three cases the qualitative perspective. The implications of the case studies for the teaching and learning of problem-solving will be discussed.

Molly N. N. Lee, University Sains Malaysia

Higher education in Malaysia: Emergent issues

Keywords: higher education; educational development.

This paper is a critical review of the development of higher education in Malaysia. Reforms in higher education and current policies are analysed in the light of emergent issues such as higher education and the State; autonomy v. State intervention; management efficiency v. academic freedom; equity issues; changing patterns of higher education; private v. public education; distance education; the balance between research and education; curriculum issues; different forms of assessment; and brain drain. The paper also explores future development with suggestions for reforms that aim at improving the quality, increasing the efficiency and promoting greater equality in the Malaysian higher education system.

Lesley Levins and John Pegg, University of New England

Professional development of secondary science and mathematics teachers: A model

Keywords: professional development; inservice.

Since 1990, the teachers of science and mathematics in the North West region of New South Wales have been serviced by a professional development model that arose out of teacher concerns for current inservice practices. Concerns identified included the short-term nature of professional development programs on offer, the lack of control over what was available, and the lack of follow-up. The model that was developed by the tertiary project team centred around the methodology of problem-solving and ownership of outcomes associated with addressing an issue or problem. As a result, each participating school identified its own area of concern and addressed it over a twelve-month period, using their own strategic action plan. The UNE team acted as a catalyst for action and provided support and professional advice.

This paper provides details of the model and some of the overall perceptions of the program developed by the delivery team from UNE and the school participants from the region.

Lesley Levins and John Pegg, University of New England

An exploration of the notion of cycles of levels within modes of the SOLO Taxonomy

Keywords: SOLO Taxonomy; cognition.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 2, Cognitive functioning in mathematics and science.

Ed Lewis, Australian Catholic University (NSW); Beth Southwell and Joe Relich, University of Western Sydney Nepean

Learning styles and ways of representing and constructing ideas in K-6 mathematics

Keywords: learning styles; mathematics education.

Constructivist theories of mathematics learning suggest that learners personally negotiate meaning by creating different mental representations of mathematical knowledge. They may then progress towards relational understandings of mathematical ideas by making connections between the different modes of representation. Partnerships between concrete materials and computer software offer a way of enhancing the value of both approaches and have benefits in making learning more powerful by the integration of concrete, pictorial and symbolic modes of representation.

This paper outlines a classroom study involving the use of the computer in linking the different modes of representation of mathematical knowledge. Three groups of students were formed and were taught by methods which were predominantly either concrete, pictorial or symbolic in their style. The topics treated were decimal numeration and operations. Aspects of individual student learning style were also identified and utilised in the analysis of results to determine the efficacy of different teaching approaches and of matching individual learning styles with specific types of teaching.

LEWIR94.025

Ramon Lewis, La Trobe University

Classroom discipline: Preparing our students for democratic citizenship

Keyword: discipline.

Classroom discipline, although often seen as an adjunct to school curriculum, may be a critical factor in shaping the values of students regarding people's rights. The existing approaches to discipline apportion these rights differentially. For example, an assertive approach assumes that students have few if any rights to determine classroom behaviour. In sharp contrast, the non-interventionist approach assumes that individual students have as much right as the teacher in determining their own classroom behaviour. Further, a group processes approach reflects a view that the right to determine the behaviour of individuals resides with the group, which comprises both the classroom teacher and the students.

This paper reports on the level of support provided by teachers for each of these competing paradigms with their implicit value orientations. The responses of a representative sample of 556 postprimary and 427 primary teachers from Melbourne, Australia, indicate that the latter prefer a group processes approach to an assertive one, although both are deemed acceptable. The postprimary teachers provide almost equal levels of support for these two approaches. Both groups of teachers reject non-interventionist models of classroom discipline. Further analysis shows that, contrary to the espoused philosophy of their employer, the Department of School Education, teachers are more supportive of student participation for younger rather than older students.

The implications of these findings are that insufficient thought may be given to the role of discipline in preparing students to take their place in a democratic community with its attendant expectations of participative decision-making.

LEWIR94.481

Ron Lewis and Ruth Reynolds, University of Newcastle

The state of social studies in the Hunter region of New South Wales

Keywords: social studies education; curriculum implementation.

Research from the U.S.A. and anecdotal research from local Hunter Valley schools suggest that little time is spent on social studies in our primary schools. It has also been suggested that when time is devoted to social studies, textbooks are heavily used and factual recall is emphasised.

The study of a random selection of primary schools from the entire Hunter region examines the extent to which this is the case. All teachers in these schools were asked to fill out surveys asking for basic demographic data such as size of school, preservice training and inservice professional development in this area, and also details of the time spent on social studies, textbooks used, other teaching methods used, and the degree to which social studies are treated as an integrated study with other learning areas.

When considering these details it was felt that it was important that the teacher's philosophy of teaching social studies was explained. Research from the U.S.A. suggests that there is "an ideological chasm" separating teachers and teacher educators. Teachers were asked to respond to open-ended questions designed to probe their philosophies of good social studies teaching. A Likert attitude scale was also administered. Teacher ratings were compared to "expert" views of what "good" social studies teaching should be. NUDIST software was used to examine the unstructured responses and to search for commonalities in the teacher texts.

Petra Lietz, Flinders University of South Australia

Issues in the measurement of change in reading achievement over time

Keywords: reading achievement.

In the literature, assumptions regarding the structures involved in the reading process vary. While previously the discussion focused on different skills involved in reading and their possible hierarchical ordering, the scholarly debate has shifted to distinguish between processes associated with different types of reading materials.

These assumptions, in turn, have an impact on the way in which student test scores are calculated. If, for example, skills are considered to be distinct, the calculation of a total score involving items that assess different skills may appear inappropriate. If, on the other hand, the assumption is that different skills exist but that they share a substantial common trait, the calculation of a total score may be appropriate. In this paper, the assumptions underlying the tests employed in two studies of reading achievement at the 14-year-old level undertaken by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), namely the 1970/71 Reading Comprehension Study and the 1990/91 Reading Literacy Study, are examined using confirmatory factor analysis (CAF) and item response theory (IRT).

In addition, an attempt is made to investigate the changes in student reading performance over the 20-year period for those eight countries that participated on both occasions (Belgium French, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, USA) using the items that were common to the two reading tests.

Tock Keng Lim, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Factorial validity of the Occupational Stress Indicator

Keywords: administrator stress; school administration.

This study investigated the use of the Occupational Stress Indicator (OSI) on school administrators (principals, vice-principals and heads of department) in Singapore, focusing on the reliability and factorial structure of the OSI. The OSI takes a combined person-situation approach to the conceptualisation and measurement of occupational stress. Generally, the school administrators had fairly high scores on Sources of Pressure at work and consequently higher levels of Mental and Physical Ill Health.

In the examination of the factors of the six scales, psychometrically, the factors of three of the scales, Sources of Pressure, Job Satisfaction, and Mental and Physical Health, were found to be quite reliable. Some of the factors of the three other scales, Type A, Locus of Control and Coping Skills, were found to be less reliable. The items of these three scales had to be re-factor analysed and the new factors for the scale were found to have higher reliability.

For comparative purposes within the sample, the factors of the OSI scales were analysed by gender and marital status. The males found more job satisfaction, in design and structure, in organisational processes and in personal relationships. The females used social support as a coping skill more than the males. Surprisingly, there were no significant differences in job stress between the single and married administrators, except for home/work interface, where the married administrators, understandably, perceived it as a higher source of pressure.

Bob Lingard, University of Queensland; Paige Porter, University of Western Australia; Leo Bartlett, Central Queensland University; and John Knight, University of Queensland

Federal/State mediations in the Australian national education agenda: From the AEC to MCEETYA 1987-1993

Keywords: national education; Australian Education Council.

Drawing on research interviews with some key participants and analysis of relevant documents, the paper examines the changing forms of the national education agenda as it was developed and modified in the Australian Education Council (AEC) from 1987 to 1993.

Particular attention is given to four significant developments in this period: national curriculum statements and profiles, and the Mayer competencies; the national training reform agenda; higher education; and the National Strategy for Equity in Schools.

The study is situated within general developments in Australian federalism and the changing political complexion of State governments across the period which led to the creation of the new inter- governmental council in education, the Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA).

Janette Long, Australian Catholic University (NSW)

The dark side of mentoring

Keyword: mentoring.

A common theme that emerges from the literature is that mentoring is a beneficial and desirable process that abounds with rewards not only for participants but for the organisation as well. From a review of approximately 50 articles found within the ERIC database using the key words of mentoring and education, it was found by the author that an image was generally presented of a glowing picture of the wonders of mentoring for the advancement of personal and professional goals for all participants. However, a common finding from the literature reviewed reveals that there is a lack of awareness from many researchers about the concerns of mentoring and the ambivalence connected with institutionalised or formal mentoring programmes.

Some of the problems identified include unsuccessful matching of participants, personality and gender conflicts, role mismanagement and the time constraints and commitment that this type of relationship demands. As a result, this paper seeks to analyse the other side of the mentoring experience by examining some of these concerns and limitations as identified by mentors and mentees who have experienced the process and reflected on its outcomes. The "dark side of mentoring" has been focused upon so that potential candidates who seek to embrace this type of relationship may critically evaluate the process before the "bonus bandwagon" of mentoring is embraced.

Michael Long and Lyn Robinson, Australian Council for Educational Research

The course experience of Year 12 students

Keywords: secondary education; course experience.

Youth in Transition is a longitudinal study of four cohorts of Australian young people. The youngest sample was established in 1989 when some 5,600 14-year-olds were contacted in their schools. Contact has been maintained annually since that time. In 1992 the majority of the members of this sample were in Year 12. The questionnaire completed by respondents at the end of 1992 included 20 items which asked about their experiences of Year 12. For example, respondents were asked to indicate the frequency with which the following statements were true: (a) The aims and objectives of the course were not made very clear. (2) Teachers were extremely good at explaining things to us. (3) We were generally given enough time to understand the things we were learning.

The distribution of responses to particular items (and the distribution of scores for scales formed from these items) are of interest from at least two perspectives. First, to the extent that student responses differ between States and subject areas, there are implications for curriculum and course structure in senior secondary education. Second, to the extent that course experiences vary across categories of personal, educational and family background, there may be implications for the equity of secondary education. This paper will explore these issues.

Michael Long and Christine Boyer, Australian Council for Educational Research

The political knowledge of Australian 14-year-olds

Keywords: politics; citizenship education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 12, Young people's understandings of Australian society.

Robert Long, University of Canberra

The development of themelic Christian schools in Australia

Keywords: Christian schools; private schools.

Themelic Christian schools began in Australia in 1962 in a reformed and evangelical tradition and context distinctively different from other Protestant denominational, Catholic and ecumenical schools. The rhetoric of being "Christ-centred" and "biblical" serve as shibboleths for these schools which are founded on a fundamentalist epistemology. In practice many of these schools operate on a pragmatic/utilitarian basis which results in considerable conflict and schism within the movement.

In 1994 in Australia these schools numbered 287 and had approximately 55,000 students and continue to grow at the rate of 8% annually. This represents approximately 7% of the non-government school sector and 45% of the Protestant school sector. The only research even remotely connected to these schools was presented in the Australian Journal of Education by Don Anderson (1993), Prideaux and Speck (1994). Their research has been inadequate and inaccurate. Very few educators or bureaucrats understand the dynamic of the fastest-growing school sector in Australia in the past 30 years. There are six different types of themelic schools and seven tertiary themelic institutions. The Australian Association of Christian Schools represents the majority of these schools providing financial services and a significant lobby in Canberra.

John Loughran, Monash University

Learning about teaching: A longitudinal study of beginning teachers

Keywords: beginning teaching.

In 1991, 20 beginning science teachers volunteered to participate in an ongoing study into their pedagogical development. This paper extends the findings from the first two years work (Loughran 1992, 1993) as it outlines the teachers' views of their third year of full-time teaching. Zeichner and Tabachnick (1981) described the attitude shift that student teachers make when they move from university course work to school teaching. The results of the third year of this study further enhances the view that teachers' preservice training is not so much "washed-out" but repressed (Loughran, in press) as the conditions of teaching restrict their practice.

With greater content familiarity, confidence and a sense of belonging in their school, the teachers in this study demonstrate how their views of teaching and learning begin to direct their practice in ways similar to their preservice experience. They appear to have reached a point in their development where they feel in control of their teaching and are able to teach in more challenging ways to enhance their students' understanding. This paper discusses how these teachers approach their classroom practice through a developing confidence in their ability to "teach" rather than "tell" their students about a topic.

Terence Lovat, University of Newcastle

Hindu and Islamic identity in Australia and ramifications for curriculum development in select areas of social education

Keywords: social identity; cross-cultural issues.

Recent research by the author into significant Hindu and Islamic communities in New South Wales, Australia, has uncovered conceptions of identity which clearly differ from those which are assumed in the formation and development of new public curricula in the areas of Religious Studies and Values Education. This would seem to confirm the hypothesis that a lack of effective consultation with these and other such groups in the implementation of these curricula has left them subject to the domination of Australia's more traditional religious cultures. The fact that new curricula in social and cultural studies could be implemented which lack the capacity to provide cultural continuity and preserve the cultural heritage of Hindu and Islamic Australians in the way recommended by the Galbally Report (1978) and, more recently, the report of the National Advisory and Coordinating Committee on Multicultural Education (1987) may be indicative that such injunctions have been largely ignored.

This paper will explore the above theme, as well as provide historical testimony to the rights of Hindu and Islamic followers to be provided with curricula that preserve a religious cultural heritage. Finally, the paper will summarise the results of the field research so far, with particular concentration on those conceptions of religious identity that would seem to differ from those assumed in the curricula in question.

Tom Lowrie, Charles Sturt University

Horses for courses: Ways in which children solve mathematical problems

Keywords: visual imagery; mathematics education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 6, Visualisation employed by primary school students in mathematics.

Sandra Ludlow, Macquarie University

A teacher researcher's reflection on educational change

Keywords: teacher as researcher; educational change.

This paper reports the preliminary results of a 21/2-year longitudinal case study into the process of implementing change as a solitary teacher-researcher. The research presented will identify and discuss the forces that contributed to and constrained the development and maintenance of developmentally appropriate practice in the teacher- researcher's own multigrade classroom.

An action research design was used in the study to identify emergent themes in the change process. In order to investigate the issues, the reactions of the children, parents, colleagues and administration to the changes in philosophy and practice will be discussed.

Data were collected through the use of journal keeping, vignette and reflective story-telling, tape recordings and photographs. Results of the study will identify issues, challenges and directions for implementing change in educational practice.

Judith MacCallum, Murdoch University

The role of context in students' perceptions of motivational change

Keywords: motivation; transition to high school.

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 forms the basis of students' differing theories of success.

Ten students, considered to be motivationally "at-risk" on the basis of their motivational orientations, were interviewed before and after the transition from primary school to high school. The students were part of a larger study examining students' theories of success in mathematics and English. This paper presents the students' critiques of school (after Thorkildsen and Nicholls, 1991) and their perceptions of the changes necessary within themselves and the school environment for motivational change to occur.

Judith MacCallum, Murdoch University

University students' perceptions of collaborative learning and assessment

Keywords: collaborative learning; co-operative groups.

Although collaborative learning is strongly supported in psychological learning theories and research findings it is not used extensively, especially in tertiary settings. The aim of the study reported here was to examine changes in adult students' perceptions of collaborative learning and assessment issues and the fairness of these practices in relation to their personal goals and learning preferences over the period of their participation in a semester course focusing on collaborative learning in both content and process.

Students (N=30) enrolled in the collaborative learning course completed questionnaires in the first and last week of the course. The questions concerned students' learning preferences (co-operative, competitive, individualistic), motivational goal orientations, satisfaction with group learning and perceptions of the fairness of group assessment. A small group of students was interviewed to probe the changes they had to make in order to learn collaboratively. This paper highlights the issues that need to be addressed for the successful implementation of collaborative learning.

Doune Macdonald, University of Queensland; David Kirk, Deakin University; Bruce Abernethy, University of Queensland; and Ross Brooker, Queensland University of Technology

Cognition and context: Revisiting skill learning through a multi- disciplinary approach

Keywords: cognition; physical education.

With the trend for increasing specialisation and fragmentation of knowledge, similar theories of learning have developed in different academic fields. This paper is intended to initiate discussion about the learning of physical skills (for instance, those which form the substance of physical education in schools) by drawing on contemporary analyses and trends in motor learning, cognitive psychology, socio-cultural studies and physical education pedagogy. Thus, it is an attempt to begin a process of synthesising the trends in these different fields which may form the basis of a future research program.

Of particular interest is the influence of the context in which learning occurs. Curriculum innovations in physical education, such as Teaching Games for Understanding, Sport Education, and the Queensland Board of Senior Secondary School Studies Trial Physical Education Syllabus, have each foregrounded the importance of the socio-cultural- ecological context of and for learning, yet the relationship between the context and cognitive dimensions of learning is poorly understood.

While skill learning in physical education is the focus, our deliberations may be applied equally to other dimensions of education such as those within music, dance, manual arts, and computer and technical studies.

Doune MacDonald, University of Queensland, and Gayle Di Pietro, Deakin University

Auditing curriculum in the health and physical education learning area: The implications for the implementation of the National Statement and Profile

Keywords: health education; curriculum evaluation.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 21, Reviewing curriculum in the health and physical education learning area: A model for professional development and national review of the Health and Physical Education Statement and Profile for Australian schools.

Ian Macdonald, Monash University

What Year 10 students think of school and learning

Keywords: student learning; student attitudes.

As part of a larger investigation aimed at improving the learning skills of secondary school students, 130 Year 10 students in a Victorian secondary college were asked about their understanding of the purpose of school, and what "learning" means to them. Responses were sought from the entire Year level (over a four-week period) through class discussion, group work, questionnaires, and individual interviews.

This paper looks at the reasons students at this level have for attending school, the expectations they have about their role as students in the classroom, about their teachers and the methods they should use, the types of outcomes they expect to have from their time at school, and the learning tools they see as being available to them to achieve their educational aims. Particularly significant is their understanding of the processes and outcomes of "learning". Common trends, and the degree of diversity in responses, are both explored. Future training in appropriate learning strategies will depend on the beliefs and skills the students currently have.

Lynette Mackenzie, University of Newcastle

Students as peer assessors

Keywords: assessment practices; oral examinations.

The Occupational Therapy course at Newcastle University has been developing innovative ways to assess their students in order to complement the problem-based learning philosophy of the course. Students are used collaboratively with tutors as evaluators of their peers during the assessment of several Occupational Therapy subjects. In second year, the assessment consists of individual case scenario oral (viva) examinations. It is anticipated that such a technique will assist not only in the development of students' clinical skills, but also their professional development. However, issues about the reliability and validity of this technique are raised-such as the ability of students to act as markers and the use of oral examinations.

Data were collected from three consecutive groups of second-year students from 1991 to 1993-a total of 93 subjects. Results demonstrated that ratings of the performances of student presenters by the panel of assessors consisting of two peer students and a tutor were significantly correlated. Student anxiety was not seen as a determinant of performance as an examiner or as a presenter. There was also a positive change in performances as a peer marker and as a presenter between semesters one and two, suggesting that the examination process was contributing to student learning throughout the year. Overall student attitudes towards the viva examination were also remarkably positive.

The study concluded that despite the potential for controversy about the use of peer examiners, this was an effective innovative method to use, and met the objectives of the course.

MACLR94.346

Rod Maclean, Deakin University

Girls' playground interactions in the third week of school

Keywords: gender issues; early childhood.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 14, Shaping up nicely: Gendered subject formation in the first month of school.

Agnes Macmillan, University of Newcastle

Children thinking mathematically beyond authoritative identities

Keywords: mathematical concepts; cognition.

This paper seeks to explore the dimensions and characteristics of preschool practice in which young children are able to develop mathematically. Transcripts of preschool children's discourse during engagement in daily routines and activities form the basis of an analysis of their quantitative and logical thinking. The relationship between the quality and nature of the discourse, the activities and experiences of the children and the sociological dynamics of the environment are also examined.

In such an environment personal volitional and motivational dispositions are able to function and the possibility of individual interpretations being valued becomes a probability. Within this context, to what extent does a sense of autonomy lead to cognitive growth?

Ian Macpherson, Queensland University of Technology; Roslyn Trost, Jill Shepherd and Sonya Gorman, Kelvin Grove State High School; and Charles Arcodia, Queensland University of Technology

Collaborative action research: Lessons learned from a Queensland example

Keywords: collaborative research; action research.

This paper reports an ongoing study of the Social Sciences at Kelvin Grove State High School within a much larger study, funded by an ARC Collaborative Research Grant over a period of three years. The focus of this larger study is Teaching for Effective Learning in Senior Schooling. This study is built around a model of collaborative action research.

The focus in this paper is not on the Social Sciences per se, but rather on the collaborative action research approach used in the study. The paper seeks to examine to what extent collaboration was, in reality, a distinctive feature of the Social Sciences study and to identify useful lessons for those engaging in collaborative forms of research.

Firstly, an overview of the Social Sciences study during 1993 and 1994 is provided. Secondly, a set of reflections (completed individually as short vignettes by the five participants) on the early months of the study is presented. A number of principles for collaborative action research form part of these reflections. These include open communication, avoidance of jargon, clarity and sense of purpose, frameworks for critical reflection, professional development and advocacy, and equity in decision-making. Thirdly, actions emanating from the early months of the study and reflections on these actions are reported.

It is from the reflections, both early and later in the study, that a number of lessons to be learned are suggested for those engaging in collaborative action research.

R. J. S. (Mac) Macpherson, University of Tasmania

Educative accountability policies for Tasmania's locally-managed schools

Keywords: accountability; educational policy.

This paper will report and discuss the outcomes of a three-phase policy research project supported by the ARC that aimed to produce accountability policy intended to enhance the quality of learning, teaching and leadership. The first phase of the project involved mapping policy preferences concerning appropriate accountability criteria and processes in locally-managed schools. Stratified samples of community groups, teacher groups, system administrators, principals and others such as union leaders and parents' representatives, were all interviewed prior to the development of an instrument that measured the intensity of policy preferences held by each group.

The second phase involved expanding the common ground between these perspectives through discussions of the maps of preferences with the major stakeholder groups, systematically refining policy "touchstone". Leaders acted as co-researchers to refine their understanding of their own groups' views on accountability, identify the extent of common ground or "touchstone" that is available for policy building and the shared values it represents, help others understand that conflicts in policy preferences are theories about accountability in competition, use "touchstone" values to test alternative proposals and to reconcile them to a degree, and identify exemplary practices in schools.

The third phase involves making the touchstone policy available to schools and systems, with stakeholder support, along with practical exemplars of practice and incentives to encourage the transfer of this practical theory about educative accountability.

Karen Malone, Deakin University

Celebrating our subjectivity: Research as lived experience

Keywords: participatory research; feminist research.

This is a discussion paper on a research project in progress. The research project shares the struggles of a school and its community to retain a school and its community-based environmental education program in times of hardship and rationalisation. What begins as an enthographic role for the researcher evolves into a complex web of roles stemming from empathy, co-option and personal activism. The research becomes the site of a struggle to differentiate between lived experience and research experience, the knower and the known, fact and fiction.

I ask the question: Can we dissociate feeling from knowing, the conscious from the subconscious or the person from the researcher? I believe that research and lived experience cannot be separated and by identifying the "I" in the research we present the story of the researcher as a voice alongside the voices of others. As praxis I position myself in new and liberating power relationships which shift according to the emergent research design, a design which is deconstructed and reconstructed through the needs of the participants throughout the research process. In this process I am disempowered and yet empowered as I share the outcomes of the research with the participants and as I discover my own history through the multiple histories of others. The research becomes the story of my own and others' lived experiences, embedded in the social, political and historical platforms from which we make sense of our world. I argue that isn't it time we let go of the myth of objectivity and celebrate our subjectivity in research as lived experience.

MALOP94.422

Patricia Malone, Australian Catholic University (NSW)

Evaluating some values and attitude outcomes of the NSW Studies of Religion HSC syllabus: Baseline data

Keywords: values education; religious education.

This paper reports on a research project examining the basic assumption underpinning the New South Wales Studies of Religion Syllabus for Years 11-12, namely that study of this course can influence the knowledge and attitudes of students towards other people in multicultural Australian society. It presents the preliminary data obtained in a pilot study and the first phase of a larger study to establish some baseline data about Year 11 students and their attitudes towards religion and religions. It discusses some of the factors that will need to be considered in carrying out systematic research into the effect of this course on students' knowledge of, and attitudes towards, other religions in Australia.

The particular focus of this paper is an examination of the examples of religious and cultural prejudice reflected in the sample of students and the relationships between prejudice and various factors such as religious practice, knowledge of other religions, language spoken at home and a range of demographic factors.

MARCN94.146

Nadine Marcus, University of New South Wales

Making instructions easier to understand

Keywords: instructional design; cognition.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 5, Some mental processes and their consequences for designing teaching materials.

Perc Marland, University of Southern Queensland

The practical knowledge base of effective teachers of junior secondary mathematics and science

Keywords: teachers' knowledge; mathematics education.

The aim of this project was to document the practical knowledge base of 10 highly effective teachers of junior secondary mathematics and science. Participating teachers had been selected from those nominated as highly effective by members of administrative teams in a variety of secondary schools, public and private, urban and rural. Criteria used in the nomination process were developed from the research and discursive literature in mathematics and science teaching and then refined with the assistance of school- and university-based personnel with expertise in mathematics education and science education. Data on teachers' practical knowledge were gathered during a series of in-depth interviews. Where possible, lessons were observed and records of lessons used to assist teachers to identify instances of good practice and the practical knowledge underpinning it. Transcriptions of interviews were analysed to map teachers' conceptions of effective teaching and to document the wisdom of practice.

The outcomes of this study are seen as having the potential to enrich understandings of good teaching and to contribute to the establishment of a professional knowledge base in science and mathematics teaching.

MARSK94.510

Kathryn Marsh, University of Western Sydney Macarthur

Australian children's playground singing games: Implications for music education practice

Keywords: music education; cultural relevance.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 24, Music education practice.

Kay Martinez and Peter McNally, James Cook University of North Queensland

Beginning teacher support: Mille-feuilles or doughnuts: An action- reaction research report

Keywords: beginning teachers; interventionist action research.

This paper reports on case study research of two beginning secondary teachers in a large rural secondary State school in Queensland. The research set out to investigate multiple support programs for the teachers at school, district and regional levels. Support approaches included formal and informal mentoring, administrators' support, cluster group seminars of beginning teachers and professional development of the support personnel. Researchers became increasingly involved in support and appraisal issues when it became clear that one of the beginning teachers was going to fail her first-year probation report.

The two teachers each experienced considerable difficulties in their career entry, despite the high level of multiple support at the school site. The paper documents some of those personal and professional difficulties, evaluates the support offered, and draws some implications for preservice teacher education, school and district support, and appointment procedures.

In addition, the paper documents the research journey, highlighting the ways in which such small-scale qualitative, descriptive research has the potential to transform into interventionist, collaborative action research, as researchers and researched share their humanity.

Grace Masselos, University of Wollongong

Investigation of the dynamics and strategies used within peer interactions of young children in early childhood settings: The role of "disequilibrium"

Keywords: early childhood; disequilibrium.

The various strategies that young children use to control their lives within their peer culture can be complex, sophisticated and realistic within their own peer culture. This ongoing qualitative research, which spans two countries to date, will report on the ways in which various groups of young three- and four-year-old children within their block play, and learn to cope with acceptance and rejection and the general mores of their specific peer culture.

Special emphasis will be placed on the role of "disequilibrium" and how the young children in this qualitative study developed strategies to cope with conflict and the impact of their peers' various interactions.

Donald Matthews, University of Newcastle

Teaching in the Maldives: A new perspective on final-year (matriculation) examinations

Keywords: matriculation requirements; cross-cultural perspectives.

This paper compares final-year matriculation requirements in the Maldives, with special reference to English, with matriculation examination requirements in NSW.

It is the result of research based on very recent experience in the Maldives, and considers some implications of using the Cambridge GCSE Language paper as a yardstick for judging standards of literacy in a developing country.

1994-95 syllabuses will be used for comparison purposes, and some observations on relative pedagogical techniques will be provided.

David Maunders, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology Orphanage education

Keywords: orphanages; educational opportunity.

In her recent book on orphanages in the progressive era in Baltimore, Dr Nurith Zmora suggests than on occasions greater opportunities were provided for those in institutional care than for those with intact families. What was the experience of those who experienced institutional care in Victoria, Australia? This paper is based on interviews with over 90 Victorians who spent all or part of their childhood in institutional care between 1914 and 1980. Some comparisons are made with interviews conducted in Canada and the USA.

The research shows a very broad range of experience. In the 1920's and 1930's, little more than basic elementary education was offered. Some students experienced support from teachers and some discrimination from other students. In some cases elementary school was followed by a period of work experience in the orphanage, usually in farming or gardening (boys) or child care (girls). Increasingly after the Second World War, capable children were offered secondary education. Some, however, were not able to take advantage of educational opportunities due to emotional stresses related to their situation. The paper outlines the career development of respondents and considers possible factors contributing to educational success: the experience and background of the child outside and prior to entering the institution, support within the institution, attitude of staff, etc.

The paper reflects on the unclear distinction between care and education and considers subjects' views on how this could best be offered in future. Tentative conclusions are that institutional care need not impede educational opportunity, though there seem to be greater barriers encountered by those who entered care very young or had no siblings or visitors from outside.

MCCAC094.049

Cameron McCarthy, University of Illinois at Urbana

Public school songs and the transaction of adolescent identity: Reading the postcolonial context

Keywords: music education; sound identities.

In this research paper the author reports on a discourse ethnography that he is conducting in Barbados looking at the role of British- derived public school ritual in the identity formation of Barbadian adolescent school youth as intellectual subjects. This study combined semiotic analysis of 24 Barbadian public school songs with ethnographic observations and interviews conducted with students in five grammar schools. In addition, the author looks at the students' writings, school magazines, and the students' actual performance of the songs in formal and informal settings. The interviews attempt to get at their interpretations of the songs' themes and messages.

Preliminary analysis indicates the songs as a complex and contradictory projection of British imperial ideals concerning the topics of loyalty, service, masculinity, femininity, and cultural taste into the post-independence life of the Barbadian school system. Early data analysis also indicates the ambivalent relationship of Barbadian school youth to the ideals of loyalty, service and sacrifice promoted in the songs. The findings from this study will contribute new knowledge regarding the formation of adolescent identities generally and specifically in relation to the postcolonial context.

MCCAC94.498

Cameron McCarthy, University of Illinois

The uses of culture: Canon formation, postcolonial literature and the methodology of multiculturalism

Keywords: cultural politics; research methodology.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 23, Cultural politics and educational research methodology.

Ann McCormack, University of Newcastle

The effect of the practicum on the development of classroom management by preservice teachers

Keywords: classroom management; practicum.

Classroom management has moved beyond the control of behaviour to the recognition of teacher action to create supportive learning and teaching environments in schools that face complex and changing needs. For preservice teachers, how to manage their classrooms is a very important and vital pedagogical skill to acquire. The skill and knowledge associated with classroom management can be provided through theoretical preparation courses and field teaching experiences. The role of teacher educators is to help preservice teachers develop a base that will facilitate acquisition of superior knowledge and skill in teaching and managing their specialised subject area by linking the theoretical with the practical. The field teaching experience or practicum is seen as an important part and influence in this process.

The aim of this paper is to investigate how a group of 75 preservice specialist physical and health education teachers develop and implement their classroom management systems. Their classroom management concerns, problems, strategies and influences will be analysed. The effect of the practicum, of mastery of the teaching situation gained through progression from 2nd to 4th year, together with gender differences, will be analysed to detect group changes in patterns and absolute level of responses.

Results of the study gained through quantitative analysis of the data will be given and interpreted. Recommendations will be made for the provision of more effective pedagogical programs and strategies to assist future preservice teachers develop classroom management skills.

Darren McCosker, Macquarie University

Student attitudes to group work and assessment

Keywords: assessment practices; group work.

This study considered student attitudes to group work and assessment. Students in their third year of an undergraduate degree program were invited to share their views on what they perceived as the benefits/drawbacks of working in groups, what they liked/disliked about group work, the value of different styles of assessment of group work, and what role they perceived group work and assessment had in their courses.

It is projected that by analysing student attitudes to group work the findings may be able to assist in undergraduate course design. The data were gathered using 12 subjects who participated in two separate focus group discussions (six subjects per group) which were audiotaped and later transcribed with all subjects' permission.

The student responses were coded for emerging themes. The data indicates that the students recognise three distinct types of class group work. The first is group work that is not assessed. The second involves the assessment of the group as a whole, and the third involves the group undertaking the project together, but each member submitting their assignment individually.

Preliminary investigation indicates that many students are dissatisfied with the implementation of group work in their undergraduate courses. A number of recommendations are made as to how to improve the value of group work according to student attitudes.

MCCOM94.120

Mary E. McCorriston, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Specific spelling processes and knowledge in children with developmental spelling difficulties

Keywords: spelling difficulties, orthographic knowledge.

This research was concerned with cognitive processing strategies and orthographic knowledge in children with specific spelling difficulties. Four groups of Grade 6 children were tested. They were either good or poor at both reading and spelling, or had a substantial discrepancy between the two skills. There were thus two groups of poor spellers: dysgraphic children, poor only at spelling, and dyslexic children, poor at both spelling and reading. Contrary to prediction, dysgraphic and dyslexic children showed a similar deficiency in sublexical processing. The source of this unexpected sublexical deficit in dysgraphic children was explored in six experiments. Knowledge of sound to spelling alternatives, the frequencies of their use, orthographic and morphographic constraints on letter selection, were assessed.

While the framework of the series of experiments will be presented, this paper will be restricted to discussion of the morphological study. It was found that the only way in which dysgraphic children outperformed dyslexic children was in their knowledge of alternative spellings for sounds. Their higher reading performance could not, alone, account for this and it is argued that neither condition is pathological.

MCCRC94.214

Colin McCraith, Coburg/Preston Secondary College

Violence in schools: Principals' perceptions

Keywords: violence; school environment.

The provision of a safe learning and workplace environment is a fundamental requirement that principals must be able to fulfil. Following a series of extraordinarily violent incidents in both my school and surrounding schools, research was undertaken to ascertain the significance of violence in schools for principals and what proactive and reactive programs have been implemented. At present Victorian school principals receive little or no advice or tangible support.

Principals of 30 secondary schools in the northern suburbs of Melbourne were asked to rate the relative and absolute significance of violence upon their school operations, the frequency and significance of 20 forms of school violence and perceivable patterns of violent incidents. I have documented specific school programs that have been undertaken to reduce the problem of violence in schools and the relative successes of these programs. I have examined 30 possible causes of violence, their significance, and solutions that schools have attempted. The research examines changes in the level of violence in the past three years and perceivable differences in the nature of violence in each school, in relation to the age, gender and ethnicity of those involved.

The implications of my paper are that most school principals are confident in the managing of student/student and student/teacher violence, but they are not confident in the managing of violence inside the school which is perpetrated by outside people, nor are schools capable of dealing with violence which is a result of factors outside the control of school principals and their staff.

Helen McDonald, Monash University

Teacher change within a computer-enhanced learning environment

Keywords: teacher development; learning environment.

This paper is based on a three-year study investigating teacher change within a computer- enhanced learning environment. A qualitative enquiry, utilising interviews, observation and surveys, the research examined the responses of teachers to the introduction of personal laptop computers and a constructionist learning philosophy at the Year 7 level at Methodist Ladies' College, a girls' school in Melbourne, Australia. The paper considers how the introduction and implementation of the Sunrise program affected teaching staff in relation to teacher's role, teaching style, classroom dynamics and relationships, professional development considerations and personal perspectives on learning theory. It looks at how the people in the program coped with a change that was constantly evolving, and constantly challenging past beliefs and practices.

Mark McFadden, Charles Sturt Universit-Mitchell

Corporatism as a cultural strategy: The demise of "Access" in the UK?

Keywords: access and equity; corporatism.

Access courses are offered in Further Education (FE) colleges in the UK and until 1995 have been funded through grants tied to Section 11 of the Race Relations Act. These courses offer students from "New Commonwealth backgrounds"-particularly those of Afro-Caribbean and Asian background-who might otherwise not have the opportunity to access higher education the chance to enter universities and complete an appropriate undergraduate degree program.

As colleges move to corporate funding, and as the source of allocated funding for Access courses from the provisions of the Race Relations Act dries up, it is timely to investigate the likely impact of such changes on the pattern of offerings of Access courses and the consequent effect on students. Throughout the first half of 1994, interviews were conducted with regional administrators, curriculum officers and course directors involved in Access education in the Birmingham area. Interviews were also conducted with over 30 Access students at two FE colleges in this area. Students returning to mainstream education via the Access route are attempting to influence the course of their lives. The effect of broad government policy such as corporatism can have a dramatic effect on their ability to make positive choices about their educational options.

Sue McGinty and Peter Kell, James Cook University of North Queensland

Educational administration research: Part of the solution or part of the problem?

Keywords: educational administration; research praxis.

This paper examines issues in educational administration research in the context of restructuring, corporate managerialism and the increasing tendency to develop universal measurement-driven research to represent the work of administrators.

The paper looks at the implications of a trend towards instrumental research which legitimates system imperatives and contextualises this trend with the development of the Master of Education subject School Administration Practicum at James Cook University of North Queensland. The paper examines and analyses the development of this unit in which small-scale research emphasises a participant-driven action research framework for administrative practice. The paper describes the development of several workplace research projects which contributed to the development of a more participative administrative practice.

The paper also describes several interesting developments in teaching, such as school site tutorials with students. These have important implications for future delivery of postgraduate and professional development for educational administrators.

Helen McGrath and Chris Perry, Deakin University

University-school partnership: Implementing a multiple intelligences model

Keywords: multiple intelligences; whole-school research.

This paper will report on a pilot study of a university-school partnership program which involves teachers in school-based research. This program operates with National Development Professional Development funding.

The research was initiated by the Principal and school staff and responded to by appropriate university staff with relevant expertise. The paper will describe the roles of the Principal, the university link persons and the teacher/co-ordinators and other school staff. Details will be given of programs in two Melbourne primary schools which involve the implementation across the whole school of a multiple intelligences model. The program incorporates the development of diagnostic instruments for developing a student and staff data base across each of seven intelligences. As well, it focuses on the application from K-6 of innovative teaching strategies based on the model of multiple intelligences.

All teachers are involved in the process of evaluating and refining the checklists, the teaching strategies and the model of implementation. The issue of teacher professional development in this process is also discussed.

Dennis M. McInerney, Lawrence A. Roche and Valentina McInerney, University of Western Sydney Macarthur

Universal goals of school motivation? An application of LISREL to cross-cultural research

Keywords: cross-cultural issues; motivation.

Research at the classroom and school level suggests that students perceive classrooms as stressing various goals. The goal theory of achievement motivation argues that the goals stressed by schools have dramatic consequences for whether children develop a sense of efficacy and a willingness to try hard and take on challenges, or whether they avoid challenging tasks, giving up when faced with failure. It is commonly believed that the goals stressed by Western-oriented schools are inappropriate to indigenous minority group students and predispose them to school failure.

This paper reports on a continuing study with a range of cultural groups in which the aim is to demonstrate the cultural relevance and applicability of school settings. In particular, the paper describes the use of LISREL to develop motivational scales representing achievement goals that have validity and reliability in cross-cultural settings.

Dennis M. McInerney, Valentina McInerney and Lawrence A. Roche, University of Western Sydney Macarthur

Achievement goal theory and indigenous minority school motivation: The importance of a multiple goal perspective

Keywords: cross-cultural issues; motivation.

Children from many indigenous cultural communities appear to be at a particular disadvantage with regard to academic achievement and school retention. This paper reports on a continuing study with Aboriginal and North American Indian children investigating the relevance and applicability of achievement goal theory to explaining indigenous minority motivation in school settings. In particular, it examines the multiple goals-task goals, ego goals, social solidarity goals and extrinsic goals-as a means of explaining and predicting indigenous minority motivation in school settings.

Valentina McInerney, Dennis M. McInerney and Lawrence A. Roche, University of Western Sydney Macarthur

Computer anxiety and computer competency instruction: Aptitude- treatment interaction effects

Keywords: computer education; computer anxiety.

This paper reports on a study designed to examine the comparative effects of co-operative group learning and direct teaching on student acquisition of computing competencies, as well as the comparative efficacy of these modes of teaching on the reduction of computer anxiety among students.

Using a quasi-experimental design, two equivalent groups of students completing computer coursework were given alternative modes of delivery of an introductory computing course. One group received "training" through direct teaching, and the other group received "training" through direct teaching plus collaborative self-regulated learning facilitated by the instructor.

In this study we report on the differential effects of each treatment for high anxious versus low anxious computing students and discuss the results in the context of effective teaching models for introductory computing courses.

Charles McKavanagh and John Stevenson, Griffith University Development and validation of a classroom environment questionnaire for vocational education

Keywords: adult learning, classroom environment.

This paper reports the development and validation of the Training Environment Questionnaire (TEQ) which can be used to assess psycho- social aspects of classroom environments in vocational education settings. Measurement of psycho-social aspects of classroom environments in Australian classrooms has been extensively undertaken by Fraser, who developed the Individualised Classroom Environment Questionnaire (ICEQ) for use in schools, and the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI) for use in higher education. These instruments are based on Moos' conceptualisation of environments in terms of three dimensions: interpersonal relationships, goal orientation or personal growth, and system maintenance and system change. The factors in Fraser's instruments have not been confirmed when used in TAFE settings and the need to refine Fraser's instruments further in terms of Moos' original conceptualisation of environments has been established.

The TEQ is based on Moos' schema, but takes more account of adult learning principles. The pilot questionnaire has been administered in a wide range of training environments including the armed services, emergency services, the civil aviation industry, management training organisations, universities and TAFE colleges. The instrument has been revised and readministered and its face validity and internal factor structure established. It is envisaged that this new instrument will contribute to valid and reliable measurement of psycho-social aspects of vocational classroom environments. Such measurement is necessary for research which examines the interrelationships between teaching and learning in these settings. An understanding of these relationships will enable modelling of vocational instruction and facilitate the improvement of instructional practices.

MCKIC94.154

Charmaine McKibbin, Queensland Institute of Technology

Parent participation and the school community: Convictions and constraints

Keywords: parental participation; parents' responsibility.

Literature is increasingly emphasising the educational necessity for parental and broader community participation in primary and secondary schools. Informing family members is seen to be a crucial role for school personnel. The argument is that positive educational change only occurs through changes in teacher attitude combined with a more informed family environment.

Within Queensland, government initiatives have emphasised the partnership between school and community and have ". . . strongly asserted the need for increased community involvement in education" (Wiltshire, 1994:3). The 1994 budget of the Queensland Department of Education provided money for: (a) activities to skill parents for participation in school management, and (b) employing Parent Development Officers to work with parents on participation. In respect to this, the Minister for Education claimed that the Queensland government was ". . . undertaking the greatest encouragement of parental and community participation in schools ever seen in Queensland" (Comben, 1993:33).

This paper focuses on and describes parent participation in an action research "case study" of a local inner-city high school and its "school community", as represented within a larger investigation, Teaching for Effective Learning in Senior Schooling (TELSS), studying curriculum development and teacher change in Years 11 and 12. This paper proposes to delineate some issues and concerns encountered at the chalk-face, and particularly outline some tensions which exist between the various stakeholders in these initiatives. I shall look at the various roles, rights and responsibilities of these participants, and propose that although limits exist to such endeavours for numerous reasons, there are some strategies which could be successful in encouraging parent participation in schools.

Charmaine McKibbin and Tom Cooper, Queensland University of Technology

Parents' perceptions of an inner-city secondary school

Keywords: parental participation; curriculum development.

The literature is increasingly emphasising the educational necessity for parental and broader community participation in primary and secondary schools. Informing family members is seen to be a crucial role for school personnel. The argument is that positive educational change occurs only through changes in teacher attitude combined with a more informed family environment. Within Queensland, government initiatives have emphasised the partnership between school and community and strongly supported the need for increased community involvement in education.

The Teaching for Effective Learning in Senior School (TELSS) project is an ARC-funded three-year collaborative study conducted between Queensland University of Technology and an inner-city secondary school, with the aim of renewing teaching and learning in the senior school whilst determining how the needs of the students can best be served given the changing nature of Australian society. A number of studies have been conducted within the school. The purpose of this presentation is to report on the key issues which emerged when the school's parent and guardian population was surveyed concerning whether the school provided an education geared to the students' interests, abilities, and career futures, how useful communications and school support services were, and parents' understanding of government policy moves to promote more participation within the school.

The data collected were supportive of the school but raised concerns that have implications for effective teaching and learning. These focused on "key" subjects (e.g., mathematics), teacher effectiveness, classroom management, student self-discipline, counselling support, gender equity and lack of communication to the home. There was a particular plea for more parent and guardian involvement in the school.

David McKinnon, Charles Sturt University-Bathurst; Michael Arthur, University of Newcastle; and Nancy Butterfield, New South Wales Department of School Education

Creating communicative contexts: A factor analysis of the inservicing questionnaire raises an interesting question

Keywords: communication; disability.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium16, Communication processes in students with severe intellectual disability: Issues and practices.

Elizabeth McKinley, University of Waikato, New Zealand

Equity and curriculum policy in Aotearoa New Zealand: Challenges, opportunities, uncertainties

Keywords: curriculum development; Maori.

Recent educational reforms in Aotearoa New Zealand have pursued concurrently both equity and choice as social goals. Although these two goals are somewhat paradoxical, Maori (indigenous) education has made some rapid advances under the reforms, especially in the field of curriculum development. Current curriculum reform has been primarily concerned with equity, especially in the area of Maori education. The writing of curriculum statements in Maori can be seen as being consistent with current political trends, as well as showing support for educational initiatives taken by Maori over the last decade or so. Only 10 years ago it would have been impossible for Maori to "speak" in this way, that is, through an official policy text in Maori. Yet it is the very same reasons that prevented Maori from speaking then that allow Maori to speak today.

While the writing of national curriculum documents in Maori appears to be equitable in supporting Maori language and cultural initiatives in education, the concept of Maori control of Maori education is still a long way from being realised. This paper outlines the background to current debates and development work in language, culture and curriculum documents, with specific reference to science education, in Aotearoa New Zealand.

MCLAM94.065

Margaret McLauchlan and Allyson Holbrook, University of Newcastle

Case studies of two adult literacy classes at a regional college of TAFE

Keywords: adult literacy; TAFE.

A teacher-researcher methodology was employed to explore in all its rich detail the experience of students and teacher in two adult basic education (ABE) classes (day and evening) conducted in a regional college of TAFE. The study was prompted by an interest in the students' perceptions of their achievements in such classes and the impact such perceptions had on the individual's decision to stay or to leave the class.

This particular paper will focus on student outcomes. Several types of data were collected to examine such outcomes, including learning journals, diaries, term review documents, field notes and student written work. One of the interesting findings relates to the distinct difference in the way student and institution perceive outcomes, a factor that is only recently emerging as a basis for debate in the literature. In order to contextualise the study, the introductory section of the paper examines the provision of TAFE ABE courses in New South Wales and the degree to which the findings of the cases outlined translate to this broader context. An examination of the pertinent literature is incorporated in the analysis of the data.

Barbara McLean, Macquarie University

Student exposure to research methods: A case study

Keywords: research methods.

This paper will report on the nature and extent to which undergraduate students in a School of Education are provided with opportunities to learn about and to engage in research activities. The study was initiated as a result of discussions arising from the need to produce a Teaching Management Plan and consideration of wider issues relating to Quality Management. One aspect of this is the need to review the different courses and to consider how they relate to each other, and what learning outcomes are intended. The different opportunities which students have to learn about educational research was taken as one focus for the purposes of this paper.

Analysis will be made of the content and assessment activities of core and optional courses as they relate to research, and issues raised with regard to articulation and appropriateness of offering. Questionnaire data will also be presented which will throw light on the extent to which students value particular activities and what they have gained in their understanding of research methods from their undergraduate program.

It is hoped that the experiences reported will form the stimulus for discussion about ways and means of introducing students to educational research and perhaps engaging in such research given very real difficulties such as quality and readability of some published research, barriers to understanding statistics, and access to subjects.

Julie McLeod, University of Newcastle

Parents and teachers: Collaborative researchers

Keywords: parent-teacher partnerships; collaborative research.

Despite the rhetoric of politicians, educators and organised parent bodies advocating the establishment of partnerships between parents and teachers, the reality of the school and classroom reveals that such partnerships have been difficult to achieve and have often remained essentially tokenistic and hierarchical.

This paper examines four different pictures of parent/teacher partnerships and establishes that, where reality most closely approximates rhetoric, there is an acknowledgement of parents' knowledge as an essential supplement to teachers' knowledge in enabling children's construction of meaning. In these contexts successful partnerships between parents and teachers are collaborative, mutually empowering, and responsive to contextualised need.

A collaborative action research model is developed which aims to facilitate the development of further successful parent/teacher partnerships. This model is implemented through the Oral Language for Literacy and Learning Project and is evaluated in both the macro- context of the Project and the micro-context of the classroom using participant observation, questionnaires and interviews.

The model is shown to have the potential to create and support partnerships between parents and teachers that are collaborative, empowering and responsive to context. The model acts as a catalyst for change in different contexts-the home, the classroom, the school, and the community. It is seen to benefit each member of the education triangle-parent, teacher and child.

Erica McWilliam, Queensland University of Technology

Seduc(a)tion: A risky inquiry into pleasurable teaching

Keywords: pedagogy; teacher effectiveness.

Combining pleasure and teaching as a research project is very "touchy" indeed, given current hegemonic constructions of the "good" teacher. In the paper I am attempting to reclaim seduction as a legitimate metaphor for the sort of pedagogical work successful teachers do. I argue that such teachers appropriately mobilise forces of desire (the desire to teach and the desire to learn), both of which are productive, not malicious. Further, teachers often do so in ways that lie outside our cultural norms of legitimate pedagogical exchange.

Against this, I believe that teachers are increasingly called upon to deny what Chambers (1984) calls "the claim to seductive power", and without the means of redress that seductive power makes possible. We have become "no/bodies" in the discursive construction of educational practice. It is for this reason, I argue, that inquiry into the legitimate seductive power of the teacher is not mere scholarly indulgence, but pragmatic and overdue. By reclaiming "seductiveness", it becomes possible to affirm as legitimate the duplicity of pedagogical power-that it conforms to the learner's desires while also having the function of satisfying other desires (e.g., the desire to instruct) in the teacher.

Erica McWilliam, Queensland University of Technology

Seductress or schoolmarm: On the improbability of the great female teacher

Keywords: pedagogy; gender issues.

This paper explores the question of the relation of gender and pedagogy by inquiring into the importance of male diction in the construction of the great teacher as a cultural phenomenon. I ask whether the same mobilising of desire becomes malediction (seduction) when it is produced out of the pedagogical performances of women.

In examining this question, I do not adhere to the predictable tradition of critical feminist scholarship, given the extent to which, paradoxically, this tradition has made examination of the issue more difficult. I do allude to the newer tradition of psychoanalytic feminism, but, in the main, I draw on literary theory as a more fertile theoretical terrain because of its potential to disrupt theory and to disturb the disciplinary boundaries which prevent feminists from "saying it otherwise". Questions raised include: Must the image of a great female teacher be a contradiction in terms? Has it been otherwise? Could it again be so? What conditions would be necessary to achieve this?

Phil H. Meade and Marilyn McMeniman, Griffith University

Teacher knowledge in action: The theoretical base of effective teaching

Keywords: teachers' knowledge; effective teaching.

Based on the findings of a previous investigation (Meade & McMeniman, 1992), this study sought to establish whether Shulman's categories of the teacher's knowledge base were adequate for the examination of teachers' theories in action. Through the use of interview and video- stimulated recall techniques, the theories underlying the classroom actions of one effective teacher of upper secondary science were analysed. Although use was made initially of Shulman's categories, the data collected indicated that this categorisation needed a number of refinements and extensions to represent adequately the data. This was effected through the development of a categorisation based on an analysis of the current literature in effective teaching in general, and effective science teaching in particular.

Results of the study indicate that Shulman's categorisation can be usefully extended by reference to both the literature on effective teaching and the literature on domain-specific effective teaching. Further, this study concluded that, at least in relation to this one effective teacher, teacher classroom actions are strongly theoretically-based. The results of this study challenge the assertion by some that teacher actions are atheoretical and provide positive indication for further research with a larger sample.

Robert D. Meade, Western Washington University, Washington State, USA

Cultural diversity and teacher training

Keywords: cultural diversity; cross-cultural issues.

Since schools in many parts of the world must now enrol students from cultures different from that of the home school, problems of working successfully with these diverse cultures are beginning to create difficulties for teachers. In popular terminology, we are speaking here of "cultural clashes". Many schools are no longer culturally homogeneous while, at the same time, teachers find themselves unprepared for different personality profiles and personal expectations among their students. Further, these differences are also found between students and teachers. It is the thesis of this paper that current teachers could profit from inservice training concerning cultural diversity and that students yet in teacher training institutions should receive similar education.

This paper will outline some of the problems that have been encountered in the USA as well as in other countries. It will present some of the solutions that have been attempted to work with these cross-cultural situations. Topics discussed are: development and maintenance of personal motivation, setting levels of aspiration, time utilisation and time perspectives, determination of locus of control and differences in leadership styles. Some research-based conclusions are also presented.

Robert J. Meyenn and Judith C. Parker, Charles Sturt University

No longer Miss Muffett: Feminisation of the school workplace

Keywords: feminisation; gender issues.

As primary schools become increasingly staffed by women and are no longer dominated by males in executive and advisory positions, there is at least the potential for significant changes in work practices which may not have been possible or encouraged under male regimes. Through a series of case studies, this paper explores the impact and implications of the feminisation of the primary school workplace.

The paper draws upon an historical analysis of the control and organisation of primary education in New South Wales and is embedded in feminist theories and research on female-dominated workplaces and female management and organisation styles. The paper also addresses the question of whether the female-dominated primary school has implications for the attitudes of children to gender and other equity issues.

Themba Mhlambo, Murdoch University

The problem of indigenous parental involvement in education in South Africa

Keywords: cross-cultural issues; South Africa.

The previous Afrikaner Nationalist Party's policies of segregation, and the deliberate institutionalising and enforcement of Bantu education, have given rise to the production of "hundreds of thousands of illiterates and semi-literate blacks who lack effective control over their lives" (Nkomo, 1990:231). Through Bantu education, the government discouraged Africans from attaining and acquiring critical literacy skills for fear that "awareness of reality" would arouse critical consciousness, thus putting at risk the legitimacy of the government. Three possible solutions relating to the problem of illiteracy in the post-apartheid era, together with their advantages and disadvantages, are discussed in this paper.

These are respectively characterised as: (i) the "broad solution" in which the new government is expected by parents to tackle the problem of illiteracy; (ii) the "specific solution" in which the communities, through the parents, initiate and undertake literacy programs; and (iii) the "individual" solution whereby parents abdicate their responsibilities to individual teachers and tutors.

MIDDH94.094

Howard Middleton, Griffith University

Telling the whole story by getting the whole picture: Visual and verbal protocols in the analysis of creative problem-solving performance

Keywords: research methodology; problem-solving.

This paper outlines a new research methodology for collecting data about human cognitive activity using, in addition to think-aloud protocols, visual protocols of cognitive activity in the form of sketches and diagrams produced concurrently with verbal protocols. A coding scheme is outlined and methods for integrating and analysing verbal and visual protocols is presented.

The methodology has been developed in a research project that examined creative problem-solving by practising architects and by secondary school students in Design and Technology and Graphics classes.

Jane Mitchell, Charles Sturt University

The use of semantic scripts in analysing student teacher and associate teacher interactions

Keywords: practicum; semantic scripts.

This paper explores the use of semantic scripts to interpret evaluations between associate teachers and student teachers during the practicum. Semantic scripts are an attempt to draw out the invariant meaning of speech acts or genres. In this research the concept of semantic script is applied to a particular context, that of the post- lesson conference, to interpret and understand the interaction. Two semantic scripts will be presented that highlight particular aspects of the relationship between the participants and the nature and purpose of the evaluative activities. These two scripts represent quite different ways of evaluating.

While the development and substance of the semantic scripts presented in this paper are drawn from evaluating in practice teaching situations, the methodology is applicable in analysing ways of communicating in other learning and social settings.

Magdalena Mok and Kerri-Lee Krause, Macquarie University

A comparison of three data collection methods: Focus group interview, drawing and open-ended questions

Keywords: data collection; research methodology.

This study involves a comparison of the comprehensiveness and data quality of three data collection methods. The methods are: focus group interviews, drawings, and open-ended questionnaire. These methods were used in the same session to elicit responses on the school life experiences of adolescent girls.

The subjects were 39 Year 12 female students from four New South Wales secondary schools. The students were interviewed in groups of four to six for about an hour in their respective schools. At the start of the interviews, each student was asked to represent their school life experiences diagrammatically on A3 paper, using drawings, words or symbols. Then, facilitated by the interviewer, the students were encouraged to share their experiences of school life with the group. The conversations were tape-recorded. The students could add to their drawings during the discussion. At the end of the interviews, students were each given a one-page open-ended questionnaire on their school life.

Results from these three methods of data collection were separately content analysed for themes. The data collection methods were compared for the comprehensiveness of themes, and for data quality. Major findings included: (1) The stress associated with the HSC examinations was the dominating theme, irrespective of the method of data collection. (2) Focus group interviews identified more themes than the other two methods. (3) The students' drawings offered a depth and quality to the data that is perhaps not easily achievable using the other two methods. (4) The open-ended questionnaire was the least effective of the three methods.

MOKM94.278

Magdalena Mok, Macquarie University

Research methods in postgraduate theses and implications for course design

Keywords: research methodology; postgraduate students.

This case study reviews the research methods employed in MA and PhD theses at the School of Education of an Australian university. It aims to obtain data useful for the design of quality postgraduate Research Methods courses in Education.

The review was confined to a period of five years, starting in 1988 and ending in 1992. The questions addressed were: (1) research approaches adopted in postgraduate theses from 1988 to 1992; (2) methods of data collection employed; and (3) analytical skills used in the theses. This review was concerned with the methods of research, rather than with the content areas of the research. Classification into either one or another research design, data collection method, or method of data analysis, was directed by the writings of the authors, assuming accuracy and appropriateness of their choices. The reasons behind such choices were not addressed in the review.

Altogether 57 theses were successfully completed by MA or PhD students between 1988 and 1992. Of these, four were either lost or on loan; the remaining 53 were reviewed. The review found a wide range of research approaches adopted by postgraduate students. Many theses involved more than one approach. Survey research was the most popular approach, accounting for 38% of all the theses reviewed. Ethnographic research, action research, and analytical studies were rare. The methods of data collection were as varied as the approaches adopted; the norm seemed to be several methods used in one thesis. The majority of the theses involved statistical analysis (58%), and/or content analysis (42%).

Beverley Moriarty, Central Queensland University

Research into learning environments: Directions for the future

Keywords: learning environment.

Research into co-operative, competitive and individualistic learning environments has a long history, commencing in the 1920's and still being very strong today. Recent research has addressed some of the limitations of earlier studies by being conducted over longer periods, which enables the differential effects of the various environments to become more apparent, and by the use of cross-over designs which permit the effects of changing from one environment to another to be examined.

Perhaps the most innovative contributions recently have been the development of two theoretically-based instruments to determine the extent to which classes conform to the goals, tasks and rewards by which the environments under which they are required to operate are defined, thus addressing questions of validity. The Class Description Questionnaire (CDQ) was developed to determine the nature of the learning environment from high school students' perspectives. The Learning Environment Video Observation Schedule (LEVOS) is a system of video observation and analysis which enables the researcher to quantify the extent to which teachers and students conform to the requirements associated with the learning environment. The results of the LEVOS are presented on three-dimensional graphs indicating the percentages of class time spent on goals, tasks and rewards which are either co-operatively, competitively or individualistically based. The LEVOS also allows the researcher to identify any other variables which may not have previously been considered important but which may affect results on dependent variables such as achievement.

Allan Morton, University of Western Sydney Nepean

Computer-based simulations: Cognitive tools for secondary school students

Keywords: computer-based education; cognition.

Under the research microscope, the effects of computer-based simulation appear to be superior to conventional teaching in the affective domain. On the cognitive side, the impact appears to be less apparent and favourable results have often been qualified.

A pilot study of the effect of a computer-based simulation on cognitive performance, while inconclusive, suggested that issues associated with thinking processes, retention of understanding and transferability of understanding require additional study to establish a better understanding of the relationship between simulation and curriculum outcomes. A literature search has been conducted and research methodology is being refined to conduct a broader study.

Robyn J. Muhlebach, Deakin University

Action research: A suitable methodology for curriculum and professional development in environmental education?

Keywords: action research; environmental education.

In the search for exemplary practice, sound environmental education theory, suitable curriculum development and concurrent professional development processes, this research paper will present a case study of the teachers, students and community that constitute and support a primary school in rural Victoria in their attempts to develop their own environmental education curriculum.

Within this study there are two overlapping but essentially different research methodologies. On the one hand, a case study approach to the study has been adopted which is interpretive of the research of participants. On the other hand, the research is critical with respect to the researcher's own methodology. Furthermore, participating teachers were encouraged to adopt a critical action research perspective to their environmental education work.

The possibilities and pitfalls of action research within this primary school setting will be explored in this brief presentation.

MUHLR94.136

Robyn Muhlebach, Derek Colquhoun, Edward Errington and Rowena Errington, Deakin University

Peer conferencing and assessment as strategies for improving learning in university health and science education

Keywords: peer education; health education.

This ongoing project reports on the applicability of the processes of peer conferencing and peer assessment to the university setting. This presentation will locate this project within the vast literature of peer tutoring, mentoring, proctoring and peer conferencing, all of which link to the notion of peer education.

The project discusses the issues of using peer conferencing and peer assessment with undergraduates and postgraduates in the areas of science and health education. Students who volunteered to act as peer leaders used a topic approach to the subjects in the project.

Issues to be discussed include: the nature of knowledge in terms of content and process of unit materials, assessment, limitations and benefits of peer education in a tertiary setting, ethics of peer conferencing and assessment, practical concerns, and the notions of ownership and responsibility.

Discussion in the paper centres on the experiences of the students and the volunteer peer leaders, as well as the interpretation of the investigators. To this point in time the form of peer education used in this instance has enhanced student learning and has given students the opportunity to explore innovative pedagogical practices in health and science education.

Geoff Muir, University of Western Sydney Macarthur

Integrated or segregated education? Methodological considerations in the measurement of comparative efficacy

Keywords: integration; disability.

Following the current trend towards integration for students with disabilities, the transfer of two classes of students with severe intellectual disabilities from a special school to a regular school was undertaken in the Metropolitan South-West Region of the New South Wales Department of School Education. The transfer of the 12 students occurred in the early part of 1993, after consultation with staff, students and parents at the special school (Cooinda SSP) and with the Principal and parents at the new school (Bonnyrigg Heights Public School). A case study was conducted of the initiative.

The case study methodology is described in this article. Key elements of the study design were: student outcomes were measured; instruments measuring student outcomes needed to be carefully selected; qualitative methods of data analysis were used in conjunction with quantitative methods; and the relatively small numbers of students involved in the transfer created challenges for the research study.

One conclusion of this article was that the study needed to become a longitudinal study in order to assess fully the effects of the school transfer on the students. Another major conclusion was that the relatively small numbers of students with severe intellectual disabilities create a set of challenges for researchers. Preliminary results of the case study are to be published elsewhere.

Tsunehiko Nawano, Swinburne University of Technology

The effect of the acquisition of English to Japanese communicative style and values

Keywords: Japanese-English; cross-cultural issues.

It is anecdotally said that the acquisition of English alters the communicative style, behaviour patterns and values of Japanese native speakers. This research explored this phenomenon by interviewing nine Japanese-English coordinate bilinguals and analysing the context of the acquisition of English for each subject. This resulted in some hypotheses regarding factors which cause the changes.

These factors were used as independent variables for a questionnaire, whose results were obtained from 78 Japanese-English coordinate bilinguals. Dependent variables were questions related to the changes of Japanese communicative style and values towards the Anglophone culture.

Bivariate tests identified significant factors related to the change of Japanese communicative style and values. The positive factors for change in the direction of English communicative style were the duration of stay in Anglophone countries, the amount of interaction with native speakers, the amount of exposure to English, the amount of use of English in working situations and the proficiency in English.

Cathrine M. Neilsen and Jennifer M. Bowes, University of Sydney

Teaching functional skills to autistic children in natural settings: Skill acquisition, maintenance and generalisation

Keywords: disability; autism.

The present investigation examined a training package that included functional skill training, task analysis, reinforcement and modelling procedures in teaching four autistic children, aged 5-8 years, two self-help skills, crossing the road and turning a jumper in the correct way. A significant goal in the education of autistic children is to ensure the generalisation of newly acquired responses from the training milieu to the natural environment. Unless particular steps are taken to avoid the problem, the gains following treatment tend to be situation-specific. Emphasis was placed in this program on techniques that would enhance generalisation of skills to other environments (e.g., natural environments, multiple training settings, varying the materials used, varying the type of reinforcement, teaching functional skills). The tasks were broken down into smaller steps, each of which could be taught individually. Reinforcement was based on a continuous schedule with sessions conducted in a one-to-one setting.

Three of the four children mastered task efficiency at the completion of the 16 instructional sessions. A two-month post-test confirmed both the generalisation and maintenance of skills for all four children. Results are discussed with respect to the potentially important role of intrinsically motivational stimuli and multiple training environments in facilitating maintenance and generalisation of functional skills in autistic children.

Ted Nettle, University of New South Wales

Measuring student teachers' beliefs about teaching practices: Rash or Rasch?

Keywords: teachers' beliefs.

Studies of the attitudes and beliefs of teachers using attitude scales were more common in the 1960's and 1970's than they are now. Over the last few decades, the preferred methodology for studying such aspects of teachers' thinking has been the individual interview. The challenge taken up in this study is the replication, using a questionnaire approach, of an interview study of student teachers' beliefs about teaching practices (Dunkin, Precians & Nettle, 1994). In the initial study, student teachers' beliefs were characterised in terms of four pedagogical dimensions relating to teaching as activity and independence, motivation, interpersonal relations, and structuring.

The study examines earlier attitude and belief scales and outlines the measures used to develop an instrument based on the four pedagogical dimensions. The Rasch model was used in the development of the final instrument used.

In a field of study where the dominant research paradigm is qualitative rather than quantitative, the aim of this study is not to fuel the fires of the "paradigm wars" but to develop complementary measures of an educational phenomenon which has important implications for planning and teaching in teacher education.

NEVIL94.303

Liddy Nevile, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology

Using a conventional conference as the basis for an electronic networking opportunity

Keywords: electronic networking; Internet.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 18, Developing the educational collaboratory.

NEWPP94.007

Pauline Newport, Macquarie University

The construction of teacher beliefs and practice in relation to parent participation in the primary school and classroom

Keywords: parent participation; early childhood.

Currently there is an increased demand for teachers to work collaboratively with parents rather than distancing themselves as remote experts. The participation by parents in the schooling of their children has long been recognised as an important factor in children's education. Although the concept of parent participation has received strong support in Australian educational writing since the 1970's, there still appears to be a prevailing national ambivalence about its widespread implementation. Although major barriers to such participation have been categorised as the lack of a legal framework, particularly in New South Wales, the structures and processes of schooling which emphasise teachers and their work, and the attitudes, past experiences and current work practices of parents, arguably the most important factor is the manner in which teachers perceive their own roles as professionals and construct their thinking about teaching, especially in relation to working with parents in classrooms.

This paper will report the results of research on the manner in which the constructions of teaching and teacher professionalism by teachers in the three different New South Wales school contexts suggest certain attitudes towards parent participation. Data have been gathered using case study methodology, in-depth interviews and observations. Currently the research is at the data analysis stage.

NEWPP94.009

Pauline Newport, Macquarie University

Beginning teaching: issues and dilemmas

Keywords: beginning teaching; early childhood.

The first year of teaching has been recognised by many researchers as the most difficult year of a teacher's career (Veenman, 1984; Olsen & Osborne, 1991). Feelings of anticipation and the excitement of being with your own group of children as a "real" teacher are often mixed with feelings of frustration, inadequacy and anxiety as the ideals of teaching are balanced with its realities. The task for many beginning teachers is to develop a teaching role identity that fits with the early childhood context but which maintains their own ideals and beliefs. Increased understanding of how this transition is experienced by novices may help teacher educators in more effective ways of preparing future teachers.

Research has identified seven major areas of difficulty faced by beginning teachers. These are illustrated in a video which shows an early childhood teacher in a K-2 setting at the end of the first year of teaching reflecting, with her supervisor, on her development as a teacher and the experiences that have influenced this.

Being reflective is increasingly shown to be the key factor in becoming an effective early childhood professional. Undertaking this reflection, collaboratively, as the teacher in the video does, makes it even more effective.

Wai-Kong Ng

Disseminating educational technology research for practice in Malaysia

Keywords: educational technology; research dissemination.

Educational technology, and concurrently information technology, have been developed at varying pace and excellence in Malaysia over the last ten years. Substantial fundings have gone into resource centres, Teachers' Activities Centres, State Educational Resource Centres and computers-in-education projects. The bulk of the research on any of these entities still remains with the universities either as individual postgraduate efforts or as fully-fledged research projects of university staff through external fundings. In the last five years most of these individual efforts have focused on three main areas, i.e., computers-in-education, educational resource management, and instructional design; and most of the group efforts are in Resource Centres studies, media inventory, and program evaluations.

These efforts, while salutary, needed more co-ordination for their results to be disseminated. While localised distribution networks are available, there is a need for a central clearing house for effective dissemination, especially with due regards to specific fields of interests. An informed research audience could bring about a sharper research agenda focus and at the same time generate better understanding of the national and local needs.

This paper identifies inherent problems associated with policy- sensitive research, attempts to find ways to make the findings available, and proposes that much more of these research efforts be made available to the practising teachers. It is contended that the present centralised educational system could accommodate an across-the-board information dissemination set-up to enhance research and practice in this field.

Pamela Nilan, University of Newcastle

Issues of gender and social identity in classroom disputes and collaboration

Keywords: gender issues; social class.

While collectively developing a play for performance, male and female students in a mixed ability co-educational secondary classroom grapple with notions of femininity and masculinity. Conflict arises when one strong group of girls attempts to push the developing text in the direction of teen romance fiction. Other students, male and female, demonstrate their opposition to this trend by whispering subversively to each other. When one articulate girl loudly voices her disapproval, the teacher finds it hard to arbitrate effectively without condemning the genre of romance fiction.

In a later Drama lesson, a high-achieving middle-class boy and a low- achieving working-class girl collaborate on the writing of dialogue for male characters. Their agendas in this enterprise are found to be quite different, not only in terms of gender, but also of academic status in the school.

In both instances of co-educational classroom relations examined in this paper, issues of social class positioning and related orientations to the consumption and production of written texts are shown to be at least as significant as gender in explicating interactional phenomena. The question of effective feminist pedagogy is addressed in the light of these considerations.

Graham Nimmo and David Smith, Queensland University of Technology

The rehearsal and the performance: Interaction of biographical and situational factors in beginning teacher enculturation

Keywords: beginning teaching; teacher induction.

Teachers are enculturated into their profession in a variety of ways, through processes which begin in childhood and continue during their preservice education and their professional life. This study examines the enculturation process as experienced by two beginning secondary school teachers in Queensland State schools and evaluates the explanatory potential both of stage theory and teacher socialisation perspectives in accounting for the changes which occurred in the two teachers during their first year of teaching.

This longitudinal study utilises in-depth interviews, stimulated recall and observation of a sampling of lessons in an attempt to explore the nature of the enculturation process. While this triangulation process assists in authenticating data, the overarching conceptual framework for the study reflects a phenomenological perspective in which there is a strenuous effort to capture teacher voice.

The study concludes that socialisation perspectives and stage theory describe similar processes, but that both are inadequate, primarily because they give insufficient attention to the interplay of biographical and contextual factors which shape the enculturation process. Despite the idiosyncratic nature of significant aspects of the enculturation process, however, a number of themes emerge from the experiences of the two teachers involved in the investigation. Three such themes are discussed: viz., the interaction of personal biography and specific professional context to create an idiosyncratic teacher enculturation process; the non-linear nature of teacher development; and the concept of the first year of teaching as, in some sense, representing a dress rehearsal for "real" teaching.

Peter O'Brien, Queensland University of Technology

The State as process: "Governmentality" and policy text production in education

Keywords: educational policy; policy sociology.

This paper draws on the presenter's current doctoral work into the analysis of policy text production in recent federal initiatives in teacher education. It commences from a position, under debate in contemporary policy sociology at present, that a conceptualisation of the State is central to understanding the policy process. Given this centrality, the paper moves on to explore how recent theorising in social theory on the notion of "governmentality" may be useful in understanding policy making in the State. A Foucaultian concept, governmentality refers to the relationship between governmental programs, political rationalities and governmental technologies.

The task of this paper, then, is to outline this Foucaultian notion of governmentality, engage it in terms of the critical state theoretical perspective of the research being undertaken and evaluate its usefulness for understanding policy making in the State.

Dan O'Donnell, Independent Researcher

Ethics and values in education: Can schools teach Right and Wrong?

Keywords: values education; ethics education.

In the wake of the presentation of the Wiltshire Report to the Queensland Parliament there is much public interest in values education, and also much public disquiet at the findings that Australian State schools have never ever taught Right and Wrong since they have never been equipped professionally to do so. This basic premise appears to be fallacious, massive evidence extrapolated from Annual Reports of the Queensland Minister for Education to Parliament and from Inspection Reports on individual schools demonstrating abundantly that not only were schools and teachers making vigorous efforts to inculcate socially acceptable behaviours (such as abstaining from lying, cheating, stealing and murder) but that they were required by their employer to do so. Time and again it was reiterated that the development of good citizens was the primary obligation of all teachers above all else-including the three R's.

Two developments have arisen since the presentation of the Report to the Queensland Parliament. First, strenuous efforts have been made by supporters of the Wiltshire recommendations to influence the Government to introduce Ethics into every school as a "discrete, stand-alone subject" rather than the all-encompassing responsibility of every teacher. Second, every school "constituency" is to be encouraged to create its own "charter of values". This paper argues that both are radical departures from the traditional approach to values education.

ONEIC94.203

Cheree O'Neill and Joan Phillip, Charles Sturt University-Mitchell

Grammar returns from the wilderness: Or, the syntax of things including semantic choices and inservice provisions

Keywords: functional grammar; inservice education.

The paper presents a case study report of the implementation of Functional Grammar as required by the recent New South Wales K-6 English Syllabus.

In a rural setting 47 teachers participated in a twelve-hour professional development course, An Introduction to Functional Grammar. A term later we began a pilot ethnographic study seeking to profile the teachers' knowledge of the grammar component of the syllabus, their confidence in implementing it, their classroom practices and their future professional development needs to facilitate such a complex curriculum change. The research methodology included a questionnaire, group interviews and individual interviews which formed an interpretive framework for the project. The project itself was made complex by the researchers' vested interests in the success of their inservice, as well as the successful implementation of the syllabus, so their roles are essentially educative and perhaps transformative.

The immediate responses to the inservice course were positive in terms of teachers' confidence to approach the Grammar Handbook and to begin planning for classroom activities designed to address required syllabus outcomes. However, with the lapse of time this confidence may have dissipated unless there was further school-based support available.

Teachers have noted retrospective benefits of the inservice which became obvious as they worked through the syllabus in their schools. There is a range of attitudes, knowledge and confidence across the participant population; yet there is agreement that the processes of change will take time and will require determined efforts by all teaching personnel and curriculum support structures.

ONEIC94.294

Cheree O'Neill and Alan Smith, Charles Sturt University; and Bill Cox, Parkes East Public School

Outcome-based education: A case study of innovative school practice

Keywords: outcome-based education; innovation.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 13, Outcome-based education in progress: An action research project in five schools.

ONGSS94.514

Sigmund Ongstad, Oslo College, Norway

Educational research and the challenge of semiotics

Keywords: semiotics; classroom communication.

Educational research has explicitly or implicitly trusted language theorists, structuralists such as Saussure and Chomsky, functionalists such as Wittgenstein, Austin, Searle and Halliday, or poststructuralists such as Barthes, Derrida and Lyotard. Now, when the reliability of language is threatened, educational research needs to reconsider its relations to basic conceptions of language.

Thus the paper focuses the crucial difference between a dyadic and a triadic model of cultural signs as communication (semiotics). A dyadic understanding, such as Saussure's, considers aspects of signification as a system of structural dyadic oppositions of form and content and gives priority to structuralism and objectivism.

A triadic understanding, like Bnhler's and Peirce's, stresses the inseparable connection of structure, reference and action. Thus communication units such as signs, utterances, texts, genres and discourses, are seen as dynamic and three-functional. Triads question the possibility of traditional validity, since meaning no longer can be seen as fixed. Alternatively, the paper discusses conceptions such as positioning, ideology, and semiosis, which all complicate traditional approaches.

A paradigmatic shift to semiotics addresses a range of basic questions to educational research. To illustrate, the paper finally discusses some concrete examples from a project on classroom communication called Task Strategies in School and Education. It is asked what it means, semiotically (and pedagogically): to utter a task (educational constructs?); to utter as a reaction to a task (communication?); to utter tacitly (genre, ideology and context?); to perceive these processes (observing "reality"?); to utter about these experiences (research genres?).

Barry Osborne, James Cook University of North Queensland

The Strangler Fig: Teacher education, social justice and ethnically marginalised students

Keywords: teacher education; culturally relevant pedagogy.

In this paper I argue that schooling is in need of fundamental reformulation and reform. We need to promote social justice for participatory democracy in the light of the ongoing marginalisation of various ethnic groups within Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. This is needed because of the increasing ethnic diversity in these societies.

At the heart of such reformulation there must be concerted efforts to change curricula-content, classroom processes and assessment as well as the broader social practices in which they are located, like streaming, subject selection advice and credentialism. This paper focuses on but one of these themes, namely classroom processes. A knowledge base to inform socially just changes to classroom processes is derived from an ethnology of interpretive ethnographies conducted in more than 70 cross-cultural or multi-ethnic sites. The nine components of this ethnology of culturally relevant pedagogy (Osborne, 1991; Ladson- Billings, 1992) are briefly outlined.

I go on to suggest ways to incorporate this knowledge base into teacher education programs-preservice and inservice-in such a way as to not only empower teachers, but also to foster emancipatory social justice with all their students. In order to achieve this I argue the pertinence of the Strangler Fig metaphor and draw from the ethnology, critical pedagogues like Giroux, Apple and Aronowitz as well as practicum researcher/specialist Zeichner.

Kay Owens, University of Western Sydney Macarthur

Visualisation as an aspect of spatial problem-solving

Keywords: visual imagery; mathematics education.

This paper will be presented as part of Symposium 6, Visualisation employed by primary school students in mathematics.

Kay Owens, Bob Perry, Noel Geoghegan and Peter Howe, University of Western Sydney Macarthur

Affective processes in interactive construction of understanding in mathematics

Keywords: constructivism; mathematics education.

This paper reports on affective processes that emerged during a study of an adult mathematics class that used a teaching approach compatible with a social constructivist theory of knowing. The study was part of a larger research project on the effects of using a cyclical teaching model based on the premise that learning occurs through participation in the phases of experiencing, discussing, generalising, and applying. Paired groups worked through the phases by way of a series of mathematical problems with many opportunities for discussion. Whole- class student-led sharing sessions allowed students to continue their collaborative construction of meaning and solutions.

Goldin (1988) provides a model of affective pathways that may occur when students undertake mathematical problems. Goldin's model indicates certain links and pathways between descriptors of affective states. However, the nature of these links is not elaborated. The present study suggests that affective states are not as clear-cut as Goldin's model might suggest. Students with negative affects such as fear and anxiety about mathematical problem-solving in fact have a range of affective states relating to areas of knowing (such as teaching primary school mathematics) that are associated with the target area (mathematical problem-solving). These related affects assisted students to move away from negative affective states about mathematical problem-solving. Students who had high levels of risk- taking, high verbal analytical skills, or positive experiences with teaching primary mathematics were able to link knowledge and attitudes and feel more positive about mathematical problem-solving despite their initial negative feelings.

The research procedure used was itself compatible with constructivist theories of knowing and involved viewing tape-recordings of all teaching sessions (totalling 36 hours). The researchers then collaborated in drawing conclusions from the observations.

Jenny Ozga, Keele University, Staffordshire, UK, and Pete Nicholls, University of the West of England, Bristol

Manufacturing consent in primary schools: An exploration of the impact of human resource management (HRM) on primary school work cultures

Keywords: teachers' work; management.

The paper will address the following main themes: the need to study teachers' work (and its management) from within a theorised framework that draws on ideas current in sociology of work and organisations; the connections between changes in the management of the teaching labour force and occupational restructuring in the service sector generally; the exploration of the relationship between marketisation of schooling and the popularity of HRM precepts and forms; an analysis of the main elements of HRM that may be identified in primary school management practice, and discussion of its impact on management-workforce relations and on the labour process of teaching; and a discussion of the function of the HRM discourse in the restructuring and redefinition of teaching.

The paper draws on work in progress on a funded project that seeks to explore these themes through detailed case study work. The project consists of comparative case studies of the marketisation/HRM connection (and its impact) in three service providers-primary schools, nursing homes and restaurants. These organisations provide a spectrum of exposure to market forces and a similar range in relation to penetration by new management forms and discourses. The emerging evidence identifies strong connections between primary school work practices and HRM precepts-for example, group work, flat hierarchies, flexibility and unified cultural norms-suggesting important implications for the manufacturing of consent and compliance in this feminised, semi-professional occupational group.

Bill Palmer, Northern Territory University

Physical and chemical change as viewed through school textbooks: An initial view

Keywords: science education; textbooks.

More than 500 chemistry/science textbooks from a variety of countries and written at all levels of education have been looked at to see how they dealt with the topic of physical and chemical change. Textbooks have continued to cover this chemical topic for over 100 years. What evidence do school textbooks contain about the purposes and methods of teaching this topic? Is its coverage in textbooks increasing or decreasing? Does its coverage vary by country, by level or by degree of integration of the sciences? When was physical and chemical change first taught and is it still appropriate to teach this topic? These and other related questions will be considered in the paper.

David H. Palmer, University of Newcastle

Students' conceptions of the forces acting on objects in motion

Keywords: science teaching; conceptual learning.

Over the last two decades a great amount of educational research has focused on the ideas which students have in relation to scientific concepts. It is now well established that during their experiences in everyday life children develop their own "naive theories" which they use to explain the natural phenomena which they observe in the world around them. In this study, 275 Year 10 students from a range of schools in the Hunter area of New South Wales answered a questionnaire in which they were asked to draw and name the forces acting on a ball thrown vertically upwards well after it has left the hand. Just over 10% of these students were also interviewed.

Ninety-five per cent of the students correctly indicated the force of gravity, and 17% correctly indicated the force of air resistance acting downwards on the ball. However, 72% of the students indicated a force pushing the ball upwards-a conception which is scientifically incorrect. The results from interviews indicated that the majority of these students already has this notion of a pushing force before they learnt about science at school-then they simply added concepts such as gravity and air resistance to their existing conception. The results thus supported a constructivist interpretation of learning in this topic.

Nicholas Sun-Keung Pang, University of Newcastle

School values and teachers' feelings: A LISREL model

Keywords: school culture; School Values Inventory.

In research about organisational culture, qualitative methods are the traditional ones, and quantitative assessment of organisational culture is controversial. However, when organisational culture is interpreted as layers of assumptions, values and norms, different layers of culture are amenable to different research methods.

In this study, part of doctoral research based on a sample of schools in Hong Kong, an attempt was made to build a structural model of the relationships between school values and teachers' general feelings about school life. The study employed quantitative methods with a self-constructed, standardised instrument, School Values Inventory (SVI), to assess organisational values in schools in terms of bureaucratic linkage and cultural linkage. Structural equation modelling using the LISREL computer program was employed to analyse the data. The result of the study was a structural model of school values: the Linkages Model. This Linkages Model indicates that cultural linkage in schools promotes teachers' feelings of commitment, job satisfaction, sense of community and order and discipline, whereas bureaucratic linkage undermines such feelings.

John F. Paterson, Royal New South Wales Institute for Deaf and Blind Children

Teacher attitudes towards the integration of hearing impaired students: a comparison of two schools

Keywords: disability; integration.

Current educational practice has seen the inclusion of people with disabilities in mainstream educational settings. Many regular classroom teachers have no training or experience with these students. It is, therefore, critical to discover what attitudes are held by regular class teachers, as the success or failure of mainstreaming may depend largely on the attitudes which regular teachers hold towards disabled students.

An attitude scale was used to investigate regular class teachers' opinions towards the integration of hearing impaired students in two New South Wales State high schools. The sample included 56 teachers at one school and 43 teachers at the other school. Five dimensions of teacher attitude were investigated based on an attitudinal survey designed by Larrivee and Cook (1979). The survey has been used in other research and validated for the Australian setting (Hudson & Clunies-Ross, 1984).

The study found that teacher attitudes were generally in favour of integration, with teachers strongly supporting the belief that the regular class is superior academically, socially and emotionally to the separate special class. Teachers felt that many things they did with regular students were appropriate for hearing impaired students. Teachers were of the opinion that the integration of hearing impaired students would foster the acceptance of differences on the part of the regular school population. Teachers did not feel the need for significant restructuring of procedures in the classroom, but teachers did feel that they did not possess sufficient expertise to teach hearing impaired students.

John F. Paterson, Royal New South Wales Institute for Deaf and Blind Children

Getting it right? A new approach to deaf education: Is bilingual/bicultural education a valid alternative?

Keywords: disability; bilingualism.

Traditionally, Deaf education has been polarised between Oralist and Total Communication philosophies. A new player has entered the scene in the form of bilingual/bicultural education.

Historically, educators of the Deaf have been preoccupied with the teaching of English. New research in the area of second language acquisition has shown that a first language forms a solid foundation on which to base second language learning. Many deaf students, particularly those from deaf families, come to the educational process with their own native language, namely Auslan (Australian Sign Language).

The Thomas Pattison School at The Royal New south Wales Institute for Deaf and Blind Children provides a bilingual/bicultural program in which the language of instruction is Auslan. Whilst research in the area is new and definitive results cannot be claimed, there are strong indications that students are acquiring English as a second language through instruction in Auslan. No intermediary in the form of Signed English is used. The English language is explained to students using Auslan.

The stance taken by this program is supported by research in other areas of bilingualism that indicate students do not need to learn again from basic principles when learning to read and write in a second language. This paper explores bilingualism as a new alternative in Deaf Education.

Phillip Payne, La Trobe University, Bendigo

A critical ecological ontology for educational inquiry

Keywords: curriculum inquiry; environmental education.

Ten interrelated questions are formulated to guide inquiry and evaluation in "issues-based" curriculum such as environmental education. The presentation will emphasise how the questions constitute one approach to curriculum inquiry. How mediation of different discourses in environmental education might result for practitioners will be exemplified briefly.

The questions specify how individuals' bodies provide sites for learning about historical, social and cultural life, hence their relevance to most other "issues"-related curricula such as health, multicultural, and social education. Because the questions probe the temporal, spatial, and symbolic effects of "cultural embodiment" a wide range of learning interests are catered for.

The questions are derived substantively from Fay's metatheory of the critical social sciences and Giddens' theory of structuration, and procedurally from Dewey's theory of inquiry. At a conceptual level the questions and their derivation provide one curriculum avenue to explore uncertainties emerging from the dissonance of postmodern, feminist, and modern thinking.

The paper will outline the different, albeit dualistic, discourses in environmental education. It will describe briefly the relevant features of the selected metatheories in view of how mediation, not reconciliation, of dualistic thinking might proceed conceptually and practically in educational inquiry. Finally, the paper will signal some avenues from which educational inquirers might respond to various ambiguities surrounding the current ethical-political turmoil in social theory.

Lyn Peacock, University of Newcastle

Curriculum presage in technology education

Keywords: technology education; curriculum implementation.

National curriculum reorganisation has prompted the coalition of several previous subject/discipline areas. The chosen frameworks of national curriculum appear to have been developed for an economic rationalist purpose. In New South Wales, Agriculture, Computing, Home Economics and Industrial Arts have been gathered into one Key Learning Area, the Technological and Applied Studies Key Learning Area. This has resulted in tension, not only in the production of a new core subject, Design and Technology, but also in the methods by which this subject is delivered in individual schools.

This paper will seek to explain some of those tensions with reference to previous curriculum in the areas of Home Economics and Industrial Arts. In analysing the production of new curriculum, the influences of political and economic societal goals transposed on those charged with the task of curriculum development will be considered. Further, the models of curriculum organisation and conceptions about what should be taught and how it should be delivered provide spaces to identify disparity between previous and present practice. Technology education appears to "fall between the lines" and not present one clear orientation to curriculum. Such lack of conceptual clarity is evident in the inability of key documents to define key terms such as technology.

Currently, adoption of the desired classroom practice for technology education is problematic. In-school factors direct the nature of student experience. These processes of negotiation and renegotiation are the basis for a larger theoretical study being undertaken of power and resistance in curriculum implementation.

Robert Peard, Queensland University of Technology

Factors affecting student decision-making in a game of chance: Another misconception in probability?

Keywords: mathematics education; conceptual learning.

This paper presents the results of a research study which follows earlier research into misconceptions in probabilistic reasoning. The author has earlier reported results of an informal observation of student behaviour in a card game in which students demonstrated a preference to take the part of a player over the part of the dealer even when the odds were clearly in favour of the dealer. The present research set out to determine the reasons behind the students' decisions. Research questions posed were: Do the students fail to recognise that the odds favour the dealer? Is the duration of the game adequate for the relative frequencies to approximate the theoretical probabilities? Do the students demonstrate any type of misconception in their decision-making?

The game was played by two classes of Grade 9 students over an 80- minute period. During the play and at the end of the period, the students answered a questionnaire in which they gave reasons for their decisions. It was found that most students recognised that the odds favoured the dealer. The responses of those who recognised this but who nevertheless preferred to take the part of the player were examined to determine the basis of their decision. This examination identified a misconception in probabilistic reasoning that implied a misconception of the concept of mathematical expectation. The nature of this misconception is examined in light of the results of earlier research into misconceptions in probabilistic reasoning by secondary school students reported by the author.

Bob Peck and Karen Trimmer, Secondary Education Authority, Western Australia

Gender differences in tertiary entrance scores

Keywords: gender issues; tertiary entrance scores.

The imbalance between the numbers of male and female students at high levels of achievement continues to attract comment, not only from the public but also from some of those engaged in studies of gender difference. In all Australian States university admission is based primarily on a single aggregate mark (known as Tertiary Entrance Score, Tertiary Entrance Rank, Overall Position, etc.) which is intended to capture students' achievement in a wide range of secondary courses, and which is also intended to be a good predictive measure of aptitude for tertiary study. In some States, students who achieve very high tertiary entrance scores (TES) have not only been able to enter high-demand university courses but are also rewarded with well- publicised awards and exhibitions.

This paper discusses some well-known sources of gender difference and goes on to discuss some features in the formulation of a TES which amplify these differences, namely: (1) males are more variable than females between courses, and thus benefit more from the use of a restricted number of course marks in the TES; (2) males benefit more than females from a lack of requirements for breadth of study.

A number of changes to the formulation of tertiary entrance scores, which will achieve a more equitable outcome, are recommended.

Bob Peck and Karen Trimmer, Secondary Education Authority, Western Australia

The effect of birthday on access to university

Keywords: late birthday effect; tertiary entrance scores.

The "late birthday effect" is a label given to the observation that students who fail to thrive in the early years of primary school are frequently those with late birthdays-e.g., in November and December. This effect is manifested in Western Australia where the rules for entering primary school result in late birthday students being developmentally less mature than the rest of their classmates. For how many years does this effect persist? Does it affect achievement in senior secondary school and, by implication, access to university?

An analysis of tertiary entrance scores for 17-year-old Western Australian school leavers in 1992 and 1993 showed that for students who enter school at the normal time and who progress at the normal rate there was no evidence of lower achievement by late birthday students; however, there was a conspicuous shortfall in the number of late birthday students in this year group. A comparison with birth statistics showed that late birthday students are more likely to be aged 18 on leaving senior secondary school. They are also less likely to be university-bound than students with early birthdays.

A comparison of data from other Australian States confirmed the findings from Western Australia. Since the rules for starting school differ from State to State, this effect is attributed to developmental maturity rather than seasonal factors affecting innate intelligence. Since the removal of students from the "normal" cohort-by delaying school entry, making students repeat, or due to students leaving before the end of Year 12-does not increase the mean tertiary entrance score of late birthday students who progress at the normal rate, it is concluded that such interventions are unrelated to academic potential.

PHILJ94.202

Joan Phillip, Charles Sturt University-Mitchell

The problem with profiles is what they conceal: A deconstruction of the National English Profile

Keywords: English profile; literacy.

The paper explores the pedagogical and literary assumptions underpinning the National English Profile in the light of a functional theory of language, literacy, and the literary. The model of "critical social literacy" recommended in A Project of National Significance is also considered as a possible direction of innovation in English teaching.

The problematics of outcomes and achievement pointers are deconstructed in these terms and sample texts are re-visited. Questions are raised about the lack of reflexiveness in the Profile and about its closures which might inhibit innovation in English pedagogy.

Karen Pisk, Macquarie University

Accumulating degrees through taking single subjects-A possibility at Macquarie University

Keywords: tertiary education; university subjects.

The problem was to determine perceptions of undergraduate students at Macquarie University who take advantage of the non-award program's guidelines which allow them, after obtaining a "C" average in first year with 18 credit points, to obtain automatic entry into second year. These students have been admitted regardless of their TER score and have enrolled in single subjects with an up-front payment of $300 per credit point.

Invitations were given to volunteers to participate in a survey questionnaire which consisted of Likert-type questions and open-ended questions concerning the advantages and disadvantages of studying in the non-award program, the problems of being a student who has achieved a lower cut-off than the required aggregate, and the future plans of such students. Progress of the students at the University was also noted, as well as their response to gaining entry into a full degree program after one year.

A very positive response to the scheme was indicated by all the students, mainly because it gave them a chance to experience university life, enhance their career opportunities and demonstrate that they could pass at a tertiary level even if their TER scores were not high enough to enable them to enter.

The argument could be put that, like secondary education, tertiary education should be available for all who wish to take up the challenge. The case for competency-based training which is being implemented in other areas all over Australia, is equally valid at tertiary level where if the students show that they can successfully complete a course, they should be able to obtain formal recognition and accreditation.

Vaughan Prain, La Trobe University, Bendigo

Textualising your self in research: Some current challenges

Keywords: post-structuralism; authorship.

Poststructuralists' attempts to question and dismantle the authority and unity of authorship have prompted a diverse range of new discursive moves and textualised narrators, especially in the field of educational research. The proposed death of the patriarchal, male, "objective" authoritative author has led to various new subject positions as the self-critical, self-reflexive "individual". However, there is a variety of problems and concerns with these new valorised moves.

One strategy, as Gallagher (1989) has noted, aims to produce a stable critical subject by discovering an essential consistency beneath a professed non-identity, raising the problem of whether the narrating subject can really be dismantled or reconstituted effectively within an identity-based model. Miller (1993) has argued that those subjects whose subjectivity has hitherto been denied should be exempt from the general case implied by the death of the author. At the same time, Biriotti (1993) has pointed out that it is difficult to attack authority, even one's own, without becoming a new authority figure oneself. This paper will explore these and other issues related to recent attempts by researchers to include themselves, their own self- conscious sense of authorship, in the analyses they make.

PRAIV94.171

Vaughan Prain and Brian Hand, La Trobe University, Bendigo

Writing for learning in secondary science

Keywords: science education; constructivism.

This paper reports on the ongoing results of an inservice program (1992-4) based on constructivist principles with a group of eight secondary science teachers. The program explored a variety of purposes and strategies for using different genres of writing to clarify, develop and consolidate students' conceptual understandings in this subject. The study analysed a range of effects resulting from this diversification of writing types. These include: changes to the teachers' sense of science as a subject, to their pedagogical knowledge and to their sense of their role as teachers; and changes to students' attitudes towards science.

The paper concludes by outlining some of the implications of this program for future teaching and learning in the subject.

Barbara Preston, Research Consultant; James C. Walker, Ronald Traill and James Mitchell, University of Canberra

Initial teacher education in Australia: An early report on a study in progress

Keywords: teacher education; educational policy.

The Australian Council of Deans of Education has commissioned the Centre for Research in Professional Education at the University of Canberra to carry out a survey of initial teacher education programs in Australia. The project arose out of a recognition that significant developments are occurring in initial teacher education in the context of a thin public knowledge base.

The study, backed by a strong reference group representing all stakeholders in teacher education, was initiated in mid-1994 and has commenced with consultations with the reference group and teacher educators, and a documentary analysis of course outlines and other materials supplied by teacher education institutions. The content analysis of this material forms the basis for research questions to be followed up in interviews with university staff, system authorities and other relevant people.

This paper will report on progress with documentary analysis and feedback from the reference group and people working in teacher education.

Barbara Preston, Research Consultant, and Kerry Kennedy, Australian National University

Models of professional standards for beginning practitioners and their applicability to initial professional education

Keywords: competency standards; beginning teaching.

In 1993 the National Project on the Quality of Teaching and Learning developed a set of National Competency Standards for beginning teachers. Other similar sets of standards have been developed in Australia and overseas for school teachers and for similar professions. This paper analyses a number of sets of standards in terms of their applicability to initial professional education.

In particular, the paper discusses: similarities and differences between sets of standards; whether particular types of standards (or units within standards) are more or less useful for initial professional courses-in developing curriculum, assessment procedures and criteria, pedagogy; whether the standards show up significant gaps in the courses-in the formal content, in the ways different content areas are integrated, in assessment procedures and criteria, in pedagogy, in the work with practitioners in practical/clinical studies; whether the initial professional courses show up gaps or other inadequacies in the standards; how the development and application of standards have affected the relationships between the university-based teachers of the profession and practitioners; the development and application of any guidelines or protocols for the application of standards to initial professional education courses.

The paper provides background for a project being carried out by the authors on the application of the National Competency Standards for beginning teachers to initial teacher education courses in Australia, which is reported on and discussed in a separate paper at this conference.

PRESC94.198

Christine Preston, Lisarow High School/Macquarie University

A Total Quality Education approach to establishing teacher-student discourse

Keywords: Total Quality Education; teacher-student discourse.

Set in a scene from the recent theatre of Total Quality Management in Education, this paper addresses the changing roles of the players involved in schooling. A brief review of Total Quality Education philosophy introduces discussion on the notion of customer focus and feedback. The establishment of discourse between teachers and students regarding the quality of classroom practices is important in developing a quality school. Survey research methods can be used to gain feedback from students as a basis of beginning such discourse.

High school students were surveyed to elicit feedback on their perceptions of good teachers. Two hundred and seventy-nine Australian students participated in a dual-phase survey. Students listed free responses to the question "What makes a good teacher?" Responses were condensed to form a 23-item Likert-type scale to determine the relative importance of each item in making a teacher good. Responses formed common themes which were used to construct scales summarising the perceived characteristics of good teachers. A priority list of resulting themes of teacher characteristics written in the students' language enabled teachers to see with "student's eyes". This activity provides a step towards active student-teacher discourse about teaching and learning-discourse necessary for the achievement of true consensus between all of the partners of schooling.

PRESC94.199

Christine Preston, Lisarow High School/Macquarie University

A literature review of Total Quality Education in Australia

Keywords: Total Quality Education; Total Quality Management.

This paper will review and discuss the theories and practices surrounding the discourse of Total Quality Education (TQE). A review of the recent Australian literature will result in an assessment of the state of thinking on Total Quality Management (TQM) as an educational endeavour. The review will cover Australian research articles, books, journals, conference papers, etc. References will also be made to the key publications of TQE activity in America and Europe. Discussion will include a summary of the nature of work on TQE. The merits and demerits of TQE will be reported and debated. Suggested directions for future research will be given. Lisarow High School will be discussed as a case example of TQM in education and will be compared with other examples of TQM in high school.

Kimberley J. Pressick, Richard A. Walker and Michael Bailey, University of Sydney

Gifted/talented and mainstream classes: Social comparison processes and self-perceptions of academic achievement in mathematics

Keywords: ability grouping; gifted education.

Social comparison processes, learning goals, learning style preferences and expectations for academic achievement are variables related in an educational context. The relationship of these variables to academic achievement and academic self-concept is likely to be significant in an ability-grouped setting. The aim of this research was to explore the relationships amongst social comparison processes, learning goals, learning style preferences and expectations for academic achievement, and the relationship of these variables to academic achievement and academic self-concept in ability-grouped mathematics classes. A further aim was to specifically investigate how, when and with whom students make social comparisons.

The participants were 87 girls from two independent, single-sex schools where full-time gifted and talented classes were introduced in 1994. Fourteen Year 5 and 21 Year 7 students were in gifted and talented classes and 27 Year 5 and 25 Year 7 students were in heterogeneous, mainstream classes. Data were collected using questionnaires: mathematics items from Self-Description Questionnaire-1 (Marsh, 1990), Learning Preference Scale-Students (Owens & Barnes, 1992), Motivation Orientation Scale (Nicholls, 1983) and social comparison scales (based on Reuman, 1989). Interviews with selected students provided detailed data regarding social comparison processes.

Data collected from the questionnaires will be analysed quantitatively, while the interview data will be analysed qualitatively to create "Social Comparison Profiles" of students interviewed. Preliminary analysis indicates that students are most likely to make comparisons with same classroom peers to inform self- evaluations.

Murray Print, University of Sydney, and John Hattie, University of North Carolina

Determining research productivity of education academics

Keywords: research productivity; performance indicators.

In recent years d