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Full-Text Articles in Education

Grouping & Regrouping Using Mixintools: An Exploratory Study, Richard G. Berlach, Keith Mcnaught May 2016

Grouping & Regrouping Using Mixintools: An Exploratory Study, Richard G. Berlach, Keith Mcnaught

Richard Berlach

On a regular basis, teachers find it necessary to place children into groups for instruction. Random assignment is typically the norm when group composition is immaterial to the task. When member-sensitive groups need to be created, teachers might associate specific assignment with colours, numbers or other coding systems. Mixintools offers the teacher a strategy for creating groups in an enjoyable, expedient and variable fashion. Or does it? The purpose of this research was to determine whether the resource had any value from the perspective of both the teacher and the student. Data were sourced from three primary schools and one …


Outcomes Based Education? Rethinking The Provision Of Compulsory Education In Western Australia, Richard G. Berlach, Keith Mcnaught May 2016

Outcomes Based Education? Rethinking The Provision Of Compulsory Education In Western Australia, Richard G. Berlach, Keith Mcnaught

Richard Berlach

Outcomes based education (OBE), which emphasises a radical reinterpretation of the enterprise of education, is a phenomenon enveloping the Australian compulsory education sector. This paper examines the theoretical tenets of OBE as articulated by its chief exponent, William Spady. It then explores the effects that OBE implementation is having on the Western Australian educational fraternity, touching upon current tensions and emerging consequences. Implementation exigencies in one area of the WA curriculum (Mathematics) are then considered; and finally, possible future ‘outcomes’ are suggested should the identified concerns fail to receive due attention.


Outcomes-Based Education And The Death Of Knowledge, Richard G. Berlach May 2016

Outcomes-Based Education And The Death Of Knowledge, Richard G. Berlach

Richard Berlach

In a far off time, in the confederacy of Oz, teaching and learning coexisted in an artistically symbiotic relationship. Then the experts came along. No, not experts in educational theory, but experts in the art of Isms – scientific rationalism, reductionism, Fordism, Taylorism, sophism, postmodernism and above all, obscurantism. They took their Isms and applied them to the art of education, and lo and behold, outcomes-based education was born. The Ismistic parents cooed and gloated over their cleverly conceived offspring. In fact, the Ismites within one state of the confederacy hailed this birth as a watershed in education, a paradigm …


Investigating Declining Enrolments In Secondary Mathematics, G Hine Jan 2016

Investigating Declining Enrolments In Secondary Mathematics, G Hine

Education Conference Papers

This research paper examines the perspective of the Heads of Learning Area: Mathematics (HOLAMs) within all Western Australian secondary schools as to why they felt capable students were not enrolling in the two higher-level mathematics courses of study. All HOLAMs were invited to participate in a single, anonymous online survey comprising predominantly qualitative items. Key findings indicate perceptions of student awareness that two mathematics courses are not needed for university entrance, there are other viable and less rigorous courses of study available, and students can maximise their Australian Tertiary Admissions Ranking (ATAR) score without completing these mathematics courses.


A Teacher's Journey Through Multiplicative Thinking With Early Secondary Students, J O'Neill, L Day Jan 2016

A Teacher's Journey Through Multiplicative Thinking With Early Secondary Students, J O'Neill, L Day

Education Conference Papers

As part of the Reframing Mathematical Futures national project four WA secondary schools embarked on a journey to help students to become more able multiplicative thinkers, so that many areas of secondary mathematics would become more accessible to them. This involved targeted teaching within the regular mathematics classes. This paper is about the journey of one of these teachers.


An Exploratory Investigation Into The Impact Of Downsizing On Occupational Stress And Organisational Commitment, Bridget Girak Jan 2016

An Exploratory Investigation Into The Impact Of Downsizing On Occupational Stress And Organisational Commitment, Bridget Girak

Theses : Honours

Downsizing has become an increasingly widespread organisational strategy to reduce costs in order to improve performance and remain globally competitive. However, the negative effects associated with survivor syndrome, a term used to describe a set of attitudes, feelings and perceptions that occur in employees who remain within an organisation following involuntary dismissal, continue to plague many organisations post-downsizing. Despite this prevalence of downsizing, little attention has been paid to explore the interrelationships between downsizing, occupational stress and organisational commitment of those who remain. Thus, the purpose of this research is to understand the effects of downsizing on survivors’ occupational stress …