This is the column in AARE News dedicated to publishing news on recent doctoral theses in education. This addition includes theses from the Cunningham Library ACER Education Research Theses database. These can be accessed at http://www.acer.edu.au/library/catalogues/theses.html.
Digital theses can also be accessed via the Australian Digital Thesis Program, coordinated through the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL). http://adt.caul.edu.au/
This issue of Recent Doctoral Theses in Education includes several abstracts. The first is for the PhD thesis by Kathryn Lynch titled 'Collaborative work skills for the beginning information systems professional'. This abstract was submitted by Kerry Theodera, Research Degrees Office, Faculty of Education, Monash University. Please encourage the research units in your Faculties/Schools of Education to consider forwarding details of recently completed theses. The remaining abstracts have been taken from the Cunningham Library. I have not been able to include names of supervisors because these are not listed on the database.
Abstracts of completed doctoral theses can be sent to me at: vharwood@uow.edu.au Guidelines for your submission can be found in AARE News Issue 42 (available on AARE's website). Please note that we are now publishing the names of candidates' supervisor(s), to include them in the celebration of the work completed.
Some key points to remember are:
Valerie Harwood
Executive Member
Dr Kathryn Lynch, PhD Collaborative work skills for the beginning Information Systems professional Supervisor's: Professor. Dick Gunstone and Associate Professor Julie Fisher Monash University
This thesis explores the skills required by information systems (IS) professionals in order to work effectively in collaborative teams in the workplaces of the twenty-first century. It also considers how these skills can be introduced into an undergraduate IS curriculum.
Dr Anna Clark, 'Teaching the Nation: Politics and Pedagogy in Australian History', PhD, University of Melbourne
There is considerable anxiety about teaching Australian history in schools. In part, such concern reflects the so-called "History Wars", which have been played out in museums and national commemorations, as well as history syllabuses and textbooks. Such concern also reveals a professional and pedagogical debate over the state of the subject in schools. This thesis problematises history education as a site of contested collective memory and argues that concern over "teaching the nation" is intensified and augmented by an educational discourse of "the child" that shifts the debate over the past to the future.
Whilst the nature of teachers' work in primary and secondary contexts has been the focus of considerable investigation, in the field of early childhood education, kindergarten teachers' work has been under researched. This has important implications for the field, specifically that the work of kindergarten teachers is not understood. Consequently, the work of kindergarten teachers is often under-valued and accorded a lower status than that of their colleagues in other teaching settings. The study provides an in-depth examination of four kindergarten teachers' work with the aim of illustrating the complex and diverse nature of kindergarten teaching. A second aim of the study was to gain an understanding of how individuals came to teach in kindergarten, the roles that kindergarten teachers are required to adopt, and what it means to be a kindergarten teacher. An ethnographic, narrative, case study approach to the research was adopted. Extensive observations and interviews of four kindergarten teachers working in government schools in northern Tasmania were employed to examine the nature of kindergarten teachers' work and the meaning of that work for these teachers. Through this study, a framework for understanding the nature of kindergarten teachers' work emerged. The framework takes into account the personal, professional and social dimensions of kindergarten teachers' work. The findings associated with the personal dimension suggest that these participants entered the area of kindergarten education through serendipitous circumstances or opportunities. The participants described their work as hard although kindergarten teaching was also viewed as being rewarding and a privilege despite the low status and lack of understanding that had been associated with their work. The professional dimension of kindergarten teachers' work revealed the participants were required to adopt diverse roles that can be divided into three broad categories; roles that reflect the purposes of kindergarten education such as introducing children and their families to formal schooling; roles that are related to specific aspects of kindergarten teachers' work which included the role of facilitator or social worker; and general roles such as being keeper of the peace or comforting children. The participants in this study often worked in relative isolation from other teachers, senior members of staff and their school's principal. The findings of the study suggest that the social dimension was influenced by the physical design or location of the kindergarten classroom, timetable differences between the kindergarten and the rest of the school and kindergarten teachers' perceptions that their work is misunderstood by those not involved in kindergarten teaching.
Dr Katrina Lamont'The relational nature of mentoring gifted children using desktop videoconferencing'EdD , University of Southern Queensland
The integration of technology into classrooms, the education of gifted learners, and the challenge this presents to classroom relationships as a result of engaging with computer technology are significant issues for teachers in this decade. The evolving paradigm of technology use, the deep learning of computer skills that students will require for future employment and how this can be incorporated into appropriate pedagogies for gifted learners also poses challenges for teachers. This thesis reports on a unique mentoring program that was developed to utilise desktop videoconferencing (DVC) technology and designed to specifically address these challenges. The study was undertaken in a large independent school (K-12) in New South Wales, Australia and involved six students and six teachers, none of whom had any previous experience of DVC or mentoring. The aim of the study was to investigate learning outcomes for teachers and gifted students. This study employed DVC as a didactic strategy over a 10-week period. The mentoring sessions of the cohorts and their post-mentoring interviews were evaluated using grounded theory methods of data gathering and analysis over a 2-year period. The findings demonstrated that the nature of learning during DVC could be constructed as an emergent theory, based on the teaching philosophies of the teachers and their goals for their students. Technical support, relational mentors and motivational tasks created supportive environments for DVC. Perseverance, enthusiasm and resilience enhanced the uniqueness of mentoring program. Several recommendations are also posited for further research.