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Mature Aged Students In Teacher Education, Roger B. King, Bruce T. Haynes

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Mature age students in Teacher Education (21 and over on first enrollment) differ notably in what they look for in their course from the younger students. Analysis of a survey of third year Diploma of Teaching students’ ratings of the relevance of units for teaching showed that students over 25 years of age rated the Education and Educational Psychology units significantly more relevant to teaching than did the younger students. The older students also rated Language Arts units and a Remedial and Special Education Unit as significantly more relevant and Art Education units , Physical Education units and Science Education …

Qualitative Evaluation Concepts And Cases In Curriculum Criticism / Willis, G., Ed., Mccutchan, Berkely, 1978, I. Kerr

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In the introduction to the book Qualitative Evaluation the editor, George Willis, provides a careful analysis of the nature, potential and limitations of qualitative evaluation. The format of the book is such that the initial readings elaborate on aspects of his analysis. Then follows the case studies which chronicle a large variety of educational situations, the reports of which further elucidate one's understanding of qualitative techniques. The final chapters of the book are designed to synthesize the facets of qualitative evaluation presented in the case studies and to give some perspective to the functions of criticism in the field of …

Evaluation Of Balga Special School: First Report: Pupil Progress In Selected Programs, Mount Lawley College

Research outputs pre 2011

In February, 1978, Mount Lawley College agreed to undertake an evaluation of the Balga Special School for the Education Department of Western Australia. Preliminary discussions were held with the Superintendent of the Research Branch and the Principal of Balga Special School. The purpose was to determine the parameters of the evaluation.

It was agreed that the College was to be responsible for the conceptual framework of the program. It was also agreed that this framework was to be approved by the Superintendent of the Research Branch and the Principal of the Balga Special School.

A second consideration was the length …

Success And Failure In Tertiary Education, With Reference To School Attended : A Re-Examination, E. P. Otto

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The first part of this paper reviews the research evidence accumulated to date which bears on the question, "How useful is information about a student's secondary school for an assessment of his likelihood of succeeding in tertiary studies?" Knowledge of whether a student entering university or college comes from a State, Catholic or other Private school appears to be useful to personnel making admissions decisions. The differing academic performance of students from these three types of schools is largely, unrelated to faculty choice, tertiary entrance qualifications, aptitude and intelligence. The way a student approaches his University or college work seems …

Mathematics Education, English Technological Universities And Variety Of Entry Into The Teaching Profession, A. G. Shannon

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The purpose of this paper is to raise the issue of genuine variety of entry into the teaching profession in Australia. The author's interest in mathematics and technological institutions has been used to focus the discussion on specific features, but his experience as a member of the Course Assessment Committee of the NSW Board of Teacher Education has made him aware of wider implications beyond the features peculiar to mathematics. Mathematics education itself is a term which can include the teaching of mathematics, studies about the learning of mathematics, and the preparation of mathematics teachers. The various aspects of mathematics …

Student Teacher Performance Related To Cognitive Style, Brian Noad

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Research conducted in the field of cognitive style suggests there are certain learning styles which can be identified, defined and measured. However, the literature points out that a neglected aspect of research is an exploration of relationships between students' cognitive styles and performance. The goal of this study was to explore whether the cognitive style manner of reasoning scales were jointly and differentially, related to student teachers' academic performance. The sample consisted of 40 primary school student teachers enrolled in the second year of the Diploma in Teaching course at the Townsville College of Advanced Education, Townsville, Queensland. Data was …

Epistemic Authority, Rationality And The Fallacy Of Educational Democracy, John H. Chambers

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In any rational authority system, authority must be closely connected to point, purpose and function. The situation of authority in colleges and universities provides a special case of such point, purpose and function. The present paper tries to show the quite special features of the epistemic (knowledge) authority of academics that provide rational justification for their being in many positions of social authority in their institutions. To do this, (1) the particular aspects of the point, purpose and function of such epistemic authorities will be demonstrated, (2) the logical necessity of academic disciplines for rational endeavour will be pointed out, …

The Mass Media And Language Development, Michael Willie

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The mass media have penetrated so deeply in our Society that it is important to examine the types and nature of the influence the mass media exert on individuals in society. This essay will involve discussionn of the linguistic type in relation to education.

Physical Attractiveness - A Source Of Teacher Bias?, M. W. Boyce

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

A person's physical appearance is his personal characteristic most obvious and most accessible to others in social interaction. Despite some social psychologists apparent disinterest in investigating physical attractiveness as an antecedent of liking, there has been a developing body of research which suggests that physical attractiveness is an important social cue used by others as a basis for social evaluation. If, as there appears, there is a physical attractiveness stereotype, it seems plausible to suggest that a child's personal characteristics may influence the way in which an adult evaluates his behaviour. There have been several studies that have looked at …

A Survey On Children's Ability To Distinguish Television Commercials From Programme Material, Churchlands College Of Advanced Education

Research outputs pre 2011

It is clear from the available evidence that television advertising does have an influence on children.Numerous research studies have demonstrated that children seem to learn from commercials, and that advertising is at least moderately successful in creating positive attitudes towards and the desire for products advertised. A strong determinant of children's perception of television advertising is the child's age. Research studies clearly establish that children become more skilled in evaluating television advertising as they grow older, and that to treat all children from 2 - 12 as one group makes important, perhaps crucial differences...

The Work-Study Innovative Teaching Programme : Report Of An Innovative Teacher Education Project, John Hammond (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

This report concerns the Work-Study Innovative Teaching Programme (hereafter referred to as WSITP), which was developed during 1975-1977 at Churchlands College, Western Australia. WSITP proposes a developmental approach to continuous long-term practice teaching and concurrent related lecture experiences as a means of assisting student teachers in their search for personal meanings about teaching and about themselves, and poses an alternative to the traditional teacher education model (such as the one at Churchlands) which tends to consist of compartmentalised college courses in prescribed areas of personal and professional development on the one hand, and distinctly separate periods of practice teaching on …

Study Behaviour And Tertiary Academic Achievement, E. P. Otto

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Sufficient time and effort expended in study have been shown to be essential pre-requisites to satisfactory examination performance at tertiary level. This paper presents the results of an investigation into the relationship between academic achievement and the variables of student attitudes toward study, effort expended in studying, the availability of a study room and scholarship status. All these variables were significantly related to examination performance during various years of the courses studied. The effects of the study variables operated differentially for males and females in the sample.

A Survey Of Reinforcement Preferences: Research Bulletin Number 3, L. J. Thompson

Research outputs pre 2011

Anyone who visits the primary school classroom in 1977 will observe that many teachers are implementing planned programmes of reinforcement. Behaviour modification programmes, contingency contracting, 'token-economies 1 are increasingly becoming features of a normal classroom programme. However, one would also observe that although more primary teachers are implementing planned programmes of reinforcement, the actual reinforcers being used are much the same as they always have been. Ticks, stamps, stars, prevalent in most classroom programmes of reinforcement today have been used as reinforcers from almost the very first days of formalized classroom teaching, Teachers continue to rely heavily on; written and …

Cohesion And Purpose : A Consideration Of The Structure Of Pre-Service Teacher Education, Douglas C. Courts

Research outputs pre 2011

Any consideration of the structure of pre-service teacher education must take account of the long-standing and still-continuing debate on the relative merits of consecutive and concurrent patterns of training. The co-existence of both approaches - the universities with degree courses followed by one-year professional training and the majority of colleges of advanced education with concurrent course structures - shows that not only are both systems viable but that neither can claim significant superiority. It is often argued that the concurrent pattern is more suited to the training of primary school teachers while the consecutive pattern, particularly in the university context, …

The Development Of English As A Second Language In Aboriginal And Migrant Children : A Pilot Study, A. L. Mcgregor

Research outputs pre 2011

Research programs developed in Queensland under the Van Leer Foundation Project and the Mount Gravatt Teachers College Language Research Project have yielded practicable approaches for the gathering and analysis of speech data from children of various age groups. On the basis of this research it has been possible to study patterns of language development in first language and to develop appropriate literacy materials for children at various levels of primary education. To date comparatively little is known about patterns of second language development. The question as to whether structures develop in the same sequence and at the same rates as …

Barriers And Resistance To Innovation, R. I. Nisbet, J. M. Collins

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The paper examines some of the theoretical and empirical literature on the acceptance or rejection of innovation in school settings. A number of innovations models are examined and comment made upon their application. A comment is made on a case study of the diffusion of a particular innovation in social science teaching in Queensland schools.

Psychodrama As A Personal Growth Experience : A Programme For Teacher Trainees, John Carroll, Noel Howieson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Churchlands College was established in 1972 and was drawing up its first course submission when legislation separating teacher training institutions from the State Government Education Department was passed. With autonomy from the outset, staff were able to plan courses consistent with their own values and expertise. The College as a whole adopted a three-pronged approach to teacher preparation with programmes in curriculum and instruction methods, education and educational psychology and in personal and professional growth and development. Each department considered its possible contribution to these streams. I n considering its contribution to the personal growth programme for trainees the Psychology …

School Phobia: A Review Of Some Issues, M. W. Boyce

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

It is now quite well established that children, usually said to be suffering from school phobia (Johnson et al, 1941). or school refusal (Morgan, 1959). have great difficulty in attending school as a result of a neurotic disturbance, and that this is quite distinct from truancy, which is more often part of an anti-social or conduct disorder (Warren, 1948; Hersov, 1960a). School phobia is a condition which involves more than a simple fear of school. Johnson et al (1941) claimed that the essential problem lay in an unresolved mutual dependency relationship between mother and child, with arousal of intense separation …

Open Areas And Open Education Re-Examined : A Research Study, William A. Gray

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In March of 1975, we sent a 192 item, ten-Dimension self-report questIonnaire to 550 educators in British Columbia, Canada, who had attended at least one of two conferences on implementing Open Education. The purpose was to determine via mUltiple discriminant analysis what variables affect the type of program (Open vs. Traditional) being implemented in two type's of facilities (Open Area vs. Self-Contained Classrooms) in a 2 x 2 design. A statistically significant discriminant function was found for certain variables on eight Dimensions: Adequacy of Facility, Adequecy of Support, Teaming, Job Satisfaction, Teacher Attitudes, Adequacy of Pre-Service Training, Types and Adequacy …

Diploma In Education? Rethinking The Curriculum., A. J. Fielding, D. M. Cavanagh, R. E. Widdowson

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

For well over half a century the traditional end-on diploma year has been under fire from university departments, students, and the teaching profession. How is it possible in one year for students to reach adequate levels of knowledge and understanding in a large number of subjects, epistemologicalIy diverse and frequently outside their undergraduate experience? The answer of course, is that it is not possible to believe otherwise is to labour under gross delusion. A university department of education, acting with the best of intentions, cannot give more than cursory attention to even the most essential elements of a preservice programme …

Marxists, Mormons And Indoctrination In Schools, John H. Chambers

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

It is argued that when we call a set of activities, 'indoctrination: we are talking about something that is a matter of degree and that the degree of the indoctrination will be determined by a complex interrelationship between the teachers intentions, the content of what he teaches and the methods he uses. The content of indoctrination has to do with doctrines, doctrines being complex set of interrelated beliefs such as Mormonism and Marxism, that cannot be demonstrated to be unquestionably true (or unquestionably false). So teachers should make clear the equivocal status of doctrines. It is suggested that although full-blown …

Our Multicultural Future And The School, John Sherwood (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

It is only in the last four or five years that an observable effort has been made to extend the growing awareness within the community that Australia's population is clearly multicultural in composition. Despite this, most of the political, economic and social structures and organisations in the community do not adequately reflect or cater for the variety of people of different ethnic origins and identities.

While this increasing awareness in individuals is encouraging, it has been evident that the focus of discussions, conferences and gatherings to date, in Western Australia at least, has been rather narrow. Some have concentrated on …

Talking With Children, Brian Lever

Research outputs pre 2011

This book is a collection of interviews with children. It is intended to give the reader a glimpse of some of the ways in which children think about things. Some of the interviews are almost whimsical. Others are quite serious.

The interviews were conducted by a group of twenty student teachers during their last term of teacher training. This group of student teachers were but a small part of a much larger group of students all of whom had been given the task of interviewing a child. The purpose of the task was partly to give the students an opportunity …

Language Problems And Aboriginal Education, Ed Brumby (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

Effective communication must be an essential feature of any teaching/ .learning situation and it follows that considerable difficulties arise when teacher and learner speak different and mutually unintelligible languages or dialects. This, unfortunately, is the situation in which many, if not most, Aboriginal children and their teachers throughout Australia find themselves. This classroom situation reflects, of course, the difficulties and frustrations experienced on a wider scale by many Aboriginal parents and Aboriginal communities, and those outsiders who work with them. The problem is compounded further by the fact that few teachers or others who work in Aboriginal areas are given …

Preparing Teachers For Aboriginal Education : Report On The National Conference, Ed Brumby (Ed.)

Research outputs pre 2011

The first National Conference of Teachers of Aboriginal Children was held in Adelaide between 29th August and 1st September, 1976. The conference delegates expressed their concern about the ineffectiveness of teachers in Aboriginal schools and while recognizing that the task was often a demanding one, they were generally critical of the lack of expertize of recent graduates and the high staff turn over in Aboriginal schools...

Value Systems Of Prospective Teachers, M. W. Boyce

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The teacher in the primary school classroom provides for the children in her care a variety of experiences in number, in the language arts, and in all the other concomitants of the formal curriculum of the school. But she also provides other experiences: a set of socializing experiences arising from her behaviour in the classroom. This includes the types of interpersonal relationships she has with the children, the demands she makes, the expectations she has of individuals and groups and the priorities she sets. In this context an examination of factors lying behind the behaviours the teacher exhibits in the …

Expectation Of Gifted Children In The Primary-Secondary Transition., M. E. Poole, A. J. Williams

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

Despite the comprehensiveness of the creativity literature, there are few studies that deal directly with the perceptions of creative children in their everyday concerns. Increasingly, however, educators are turning to ethnomethodology as providing wider and more appropriate knowledge for their purposes.

Is Curriculum Integration Like Miscegenation?, John H. Chambers

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

In this article I want to ask and to try to answer the question, 'In the organization of the school curriculum, what do the words 'integration' and 'inter-disciplinary' mean?' and to examine certain fundamental epistemological issues in doing so.

Two Studies On The Effect Of Audio-Tape Structure On The Immediate Recall Of Factual Information, A. J. Palumbo, N. Bozzer

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

The last decade of educational research has witnessed an expansion of interest in the technology of education (Gage, 1963; Travers, 1973). This proliferation of research, however, was bothered by a continued confusion between the mechanics of the technology and the design rules for the process of education. The needed distinction between the instruments of instruction and the application of instructional processes was made clear recently by Armsey and Dahl (1974). Nevertheless, the confusion continues, particularly in the kind of research that is being conducted.

Education For A Multi-Cultural Society, Millicent E. Poole

Australian Journal of Teacher Education

I explore three avenues in this paper. The fIrst relates to Australian society generally. Is Australia a multi-cultural society and do Australians subscribe to education for a multi-cultural society as a priority goal in education? Secondly, if this goal is accepted, what are the educational Implications for a multi-cultural society? Thirdly, what strategies might educators use to bring about this goal?