Education Commons^™

Makitab System Of Small Group Learning Interaction Analysis : A Manual For Researchers And Coders, Leonard King, Kevin Barry, Carmel Maloney, Collette Tayler

Research outputs pre 2011

The MAKITAB system of small-group learning interaction analysis has been developed over a 4 year period. When data were gathered late in 1989 on the verbal interaction of Grade 5 students participating in small-group cooperative learning, we were faced with the problem of having to develop an appropriate analysis system. An initial system was created using inductive approaches. Following further data gathering across other grade levels and subject areas, the system has undergone successive refinements. The final instrument, as presented in this manual, has reached a state of consistency that enables coding of most verbal eventualities as they occur in …

Evaluation Of The Provision For A University Health Service As Part Of The Quality Assurance Process, Rob Chandler, Barry Sheridan

Research outputs pre 2011

Universities within Australia are facing increasing demands to demonstrate quality in both product and process by ensuing that their aims are met efficiently and effectively. As part of the quality assurance process for Edith Cowan University, a multi-campus institution, an evaluation was undertaken to monitor the effectiveness of the University health service and its significance within the University community. Responses from both staff and students to a survey conducted during August 1993 on behalf of the Department of Medical and Health Services indicate a high level of support for this service. This Report provides an overview of the evaluation study …

Expert And Novice Teachers Compared : A Comparison Of Their Roles And Functions With Implications For Teacher Education, Peter Cole

Research outputs pre 2011

What is the nature of expertise and what characterizes expert performance? What features of cognition and problem solving are typically associated with a highly proficient performance? At one level the answers to these questions are obvious. By definition, expert performers are highly knowledgeable of their subject disciplines and capable of very competent performances in their particular fields of endeavour. The expert in the present context refers to those with knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge. This definition excludes the ivory tower stereotype: that is, the person with theoretical knowledge without practical or applied knowledge. But the definitional parameters …

Towards The Measurement Of The Perception Of The Responsibilities Of The Primary School Deputy Principal, Michael James Harvey, Barry Sheridan

Research outputs pre 2011

The deputy principalship remains one of the least understood roles in the schools of contemporary education systems. Research which contributes to theory building about the deputy principalship has been hampered by the lack of survey instruments with known psychometric properties. This paper reports an exploratory study which uses latent trait theory to construct a variable which describes and conceptualises practitioner perspectives of the deputy principalship in the self managing school. The logic of constructing the variable is explained in terms of the requirements of the measurement model employed. A sample of 403 deputy principals, 179 principals and 138 teachers in …

Developing A Measure Of Student Literacy Competencies At A Tertiary Level Using Rasch Measurement, Barry Sheridan, Les Puhl

Research outputs pre 2011

This paper reports an Australian investigation into concerns about student writing at University level and the construction of an objective measure of literacy. The English Skills Assessment (ESA) test, involving multiple choice items, and an essay, marked according to specified criteria, was administered to newly enrolled students (N = 495) in a University's Education programme. Analyses reveal inconsistencies between subtests of the ESA test, but the written test shows more promise. While some association is observed between the two measures, comparable subtests (such as spelling, punctuation, sentence structure) do not appear to be measuring the same thing.

A Report Of An Evaluation Of The Women In Leadership Program Edith Cowan University, Sandra Milligan, Lyn Genoni

Research outputs pre 2011

In the early 1950s Australia had only a handful of universities in Australia serving a student body of less than 50 000. Of every 100 who went to school fewer than five went on to university. Now Australia's 40 or more universities make up a mass system which takes in more than a fifth of the age group. There are more than half a million university students.

This remarkable growth has been accompanied by considerable turbulence within the universities. Along with massive expansion, universities have experienced staff shortages, criticisms of teaching quality and research priorities, demands for greater public accountability, …

Let's Decode: Inservice Manual, P. J. Formentin

Research outputs pre 2011

This manual contains inservice material that was prepared for a research project that came to be known as Let's Decode. My motive for publishing the material in this form is to make it available to other teachers who may wish to apply the same principles and procedures in their own classrooms. Typically, they will be teachers who are concerned about children experiencing difficulty learning to read, and teachers responsible for students with special education needs. I am confident that regular classroom teachers will also find the material valuable for all children in the early stages of learning to read. My …

Pastoral Care : The First Ten Years Of Chaplaincy In Western Australian Government Secondary Schools, Richard G. Berlach, Brian E.R. Thornber

Research outputs pre 2011

No abstract provided.

School Systems In Transition: The Future Of Government School Education In Australia, Max Angus

Research outputs pre 2011

Since the mid-eighties state governments have initiated the restructuring of the public school systems in order to improve their effectiveness and efficiency. However, after controversial beginnings, the commitment to the principles underpinning the reforms has weakened. The reality lags far behind the loosely-applied rhetoric of devolution, accountability and productivity. While in this disabling transitional state, schools are now subjected to a new wave of change propelled by the economic restructuring agenda of the Commonwealth Government. Extraordinary expectations are being set for schools as a consequence of policies designed to connect the outcomes of education more closely to the requirements of …

Regulating School Discipline Problems: An Evaluation Of The Carnarvon Primary School Discipline Policy: Final Research Report, Paul Omaji

Research outputs pre 2011

Schools in Australia and their surrounding communities have become gravely concerned about student behaviour problems. It is now commonly perceived that the violent component of this behaviour is on the increase. In one study, Omaji (1992a) showed that it is unwise for governments not to pay constructive attention to such perception and, also, that research and schools themselves have a critical role to play in dealing with student violence. In another study Omaji (1993) showed that options that schools have for managing or preventing the discipline problems or violence range from discipline policy, through pastoral counselling to the development of …