Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'History Study and teaching (Secondary) New South Wales'

This thesis studies the politicised and contested nature of history within New South Wales’ Schools. History emerged into New South Wales schools in the 18805, amidst extensive criticism that the course would inflame sectarian division between Protestants and Catholics. The type of history that was eventually instated in the Public Instruction Act of 1880 was a triumphant appraisal of British and Australian colonial achievements and has been described as the ‘drum and trumpet’ approach. In the first decade of the twentieth century there was an extensive reform movement in education that was termed at the time the ‘new education’. Central to these reforms was the first Director of Education in New South Wales, Peter Board. Board published the first Syllabus of Instruction in 1904, which placed history at the centre of the curriculum and titled the primary school history course ‘civics and morals’. The purpose of history in schools at this time was to disseminate a loyalty to Empire and nation and to inculcate Protestant moral values for the benefit of society in general.

This study examines teachers’ perspectives and experiences with civics and citizenship education (CCE) in secondary school classrooms in NSW. It investigates the pedagogical approaches of teachers of History and Geography in CCE and the ways in which technology is used in teaching practice. It is a study based on qualitative research methods and design. The research methodology adopts a multiple case study approach that incorporates an action research orientation. Sixteen teachers participated in the study in five NSW secondary schools. The research findings revealed that teachers approached CCE with reference to the NSW syllabus in a diverse range of ways. These approaches were categorised as follows: empathetic, rights and responsibilities based, values based, community based, and critically inquiring. While teachers tended to adopt a mix of these approaches in classroom teaching practice, the above approaches were discemable. Teaching approaches to CCE depended on several factors including school context, levels of student literacy and language skills, access to technology, and length of teaching experience. The research revealed the complex nature of the challenges facing CCE teachers in response to changing contemporary local, national and international events. The findings identify a continuing need for pre-service training, inservice training and professional development in CCE for secondary school teachers. Data gathered on teachers’ use of technology in classroom teaching showed differences in the pedagogical approaches adopted by CCE teachers in different schools. Differences in teaching approaches were shaped by teachers’ access to equipment and facilities, communication networks, and maintenance and support of technology for classroom teaching. The ‘digital divide’ revealed by the data influenced the ways in which participating teachers approached the use of technology for classroom teaching. The wider opportunities that existed in some schools to engage technology appeared to extend teacher’s ability to build knowledge of content and teaching (KCT) and knowledge of students and content (KSC) with respect to the use of technology. Limited and unequal access to technology for classroom teaching practice holds implications for the development of teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). A technological ‘digital divide’ has the potential to be mirrored in a ‘pedagogical divide’ in approaches to teaching with varied possibilities and outcomes for teachers and students in different schools. In addition to investigating existing teaching practice, in secondary schools this study explored different pedagogical approaches to CCE in the classroom. The action research orientation adopted relied on the earlier investigation of classroom practice with participating teachers. The methods that were applied combined authoritative expert content (AEC), instructional strategies, and video technology. The study explored the perceived impact of these methods on teacher knowledge and student knowledge in classroom settings. The research design facilitated the use of AEC in classrooms with participating teachers and over 800 secondary school students from 2002- 2005. Participating teachers perceived student involvement with AEC in the classroom as beneficial to student motivation and knowledge building in civics and citizenship within the NSW syllabus. The impact of AEC on teacher knowledge suggested an enhancement of teacher content knowledge with particular emphasis on specialised content knowledge (SCK) in CCE. Teacher’s participation in the study was perceived to have enhanced pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) in CCE to some extent. The pedagogical methods based on AEC and the use of video technology demonstrated a capacity to stimulate learning and build knowledge through collaborative teaching partnerships in CCE.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the implementation of the new History curriculum at Grade 10 level of Further Education and Training band in the Qumbu district of the Eastern Cape Province. The focus of the study was on evaluating: (a) the extent to which the new History curriculum was implemented as intended; (b) concerns harboured by History educators in relation to the new History curriculum; and the (c) degree of support undertaken by principals in the implementation of the new History curriculum. A review of literature related to the implementation, evaluation and support in curriculum implementation was done. It was the basis for establishing a theoretical framework. The approach used in the study was the survey method. Data was gathered by means of a Stages of Concern (SoC) questionnaire and principal intervention questionnaire. The sample was made up of 15 educators from 15 high schools. The findings indicate that History educators have intense concerns about the new History curriculum. Also, the data shows that principals provide support during the implementation of the new History curriculum. However, the data indicates an occurrence of a disjuncture. It seems that there is no correlation between the intensity of educator concerns and the degree of support undertaken by the principals. It is acknowledged that due to the limitations of this study, further studies on curriculum implementation should be done. It should encapsulate the use of an interview schedule and observation method of data gathering. It is recommended that principals should be trained by the Eastern Cape Department of Education by using stages of concern as the diagnostic tool of evaluating the degree of curriculum implementation. Principals should undertake to provide relevant and effective support to educators during curriculum implementation. Support should be provided according to the findings of the study.

This study investigates and suggests a coherent method/curriculum of teaching the basic principals of ‘chord-scale theory’ to elective music students in high schools with a view of increasing and enhancing their skill and understanding of modern jazz harmony and improvisation. The teaching was delivered as a series of eight lessons to a group of Year 10 elective music students in a school in NSW, Australia. In doing so, the purpose of the study was not only to provide information to the students on the harmonic implications of this theory (chords), but also to suggest improvisational possibilities (scales), and to record their personal or group responses to these lessons. The conclusions reached are the results of questionnaires, class recordings, class and individual participation, the students’ general enthusiasm for the subject, and the relevance of the lessons to statements about improvisation in the Music syllabuses of the NSW Board of Studies.

Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Australian Centre for Educational Studies, School of Education, 2008.
Bibliography: p. 159-177.
This thesis examines student identity construction and teacher identity construction in the context of secondary English Years 7-10 classrooms in a comprehensive high school in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The research journey chronicles the teaching and learning experiences of a small group of students and teachers at Heartbreak High. The narrative provides insights into the factors responsible for creating teacher identity(s) and the identities of both engaged and disengaged students. -- Previous studies have tended to focus on the construction of disaffected student identities. In contrast, this case study tells the stories of both engaged and disengaged students and of their teachers utilising a unique framework that adapts and combines a range of theoretical perspectives. These include ethnography as a narrative journey (Atkinson, 1990), Fourth Generation Evaluation (Guba & Lincoln, 1990; Lincoln & Guba, 1989), reflexivity (Jordan & Yeomans, 1995), Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990; Sugrue, 1974) and multiple realities (Stake, 1984). -- The classical notion of the student-teacher dynamic is questioned in this inquiry. Students did not present powerless, passive, able-to-be motivated identities; they displayed significant agency in (re) creating 'self(s)' at Heartbreak High based largely on 'desires'. Engaged student identities reflected a teacher's culture and generally exhibited a "desire to know." In contrast, disaffected students exhibited a "desire for ignorance," rejecting the teacher's culture in order to fulfil their desire to belong to peer subculture(s). The capacity for critical reflection and empathy were also key factors in the process of their identity constructions. Disengaged students displayed limited capacity to empathise with, or to critically reflect about, those whom they perceived as "different". In contrast, engaged students exhibited a significant capacity to empathise with others and a desire to critically reflect on their own behaviour, abilities and learning. -- This ethnographic narrative offers an alternate lens with which to view pedagogy from the perspectives that currently dominate educational debate. The findings of this study support a multifaceted model of teacher identity construction that integrates the personal 'self(s)' and the professional 'self(s)' that are underpinned by 'desires'. Current tensions inherent in the composition of teacher identities are portrayed in this thesis and it reveals the teacher self(s) as possessing concepts that are desirous of being efficacious, autonomous and valued but are diminished by disempowerment and fear.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
266 p. ill

The object of this study was to answer four major research questions dealing with the intention of teachers to use information technologies: what are the teacher characteristics and dispositions that impact upon teacher intentions to use computers in teaching and learning; how do these characteristics and dThis study aimed to answer four research questions dealing with the intentions of teachers to use ispositions impact upon teacher intentions to use computers in teaching and learning; how do these characteristics and dispositions relate to each other; can the pattern of relationship between these characteristics and dispositions explain conceptually the processes by which teachers' uptake computers into teaching and learning situations. Teachers were sampled from seven secondary schools located in Western Sydney. Subjects were provided with a questionnaire pertaining to educational, professional and computing backgrounds, and attitudes toward computers. Results show teachers' use of computers to be influenced by attitudes toward computers as well as factors such as teachers' computer skill, their involvement in formal training, and their access to computers outside of school. Gender issues were examined and while some effect was found, the effect was not consistent across all variables. The results of the inferential analysis were used to formulate a causal model, the purpose of which was to explain further the relationship between teachers' attitudes toward computers and computer use

In order to evaluate the effects of an integrated curriculum on the learning of popular music, the Sting Curriculum was designed for senior secondary students of mixed ability. This nine week program was presented to a sample of 124 students aged between 16 and 18 years in urban Sydney (Australia).The results of tests conducted indicate that students in the sample achieved high scores when a greater emphasis was placed on performance than on the listening and composition activities. The principal findings of the study suggest that the Sting Curriculum was successful as a vehicle for learning popular music, providing students with an integrated and sequential program that motivated participants to become immersed in the music. Furthermore, in the context of an integrated curriculum, popular music learning was enhanced when teachers utilised a pedgogical approach which emphasised the performance activity.

This study compares ICT policy and curriculum and assessment practices between Australian and Vietnamese secondary schools, and investigates differences between these two school systems. Document analyses and case studies were used to examine the key differences in ICT curriculum and policy and assessment practices between Australian and Vietnamese secondary schools. The document analyses focused on the intended ICT policy and curriculum and assessment, as presented in official documents in both countries. Using a case study approach for in-depth examination, two secondary schools were selected (one from Yenbai province, Vietnam and one from Sydney, New South Wales, Australia). Two principals and three teachers were interviewed. Classroom teaching and assessment practices were observed, and principals and teachers‟ views were obtained through semi-structured interviews and extensive discussions. Findings from the two case studies were compared with the findings from the document analysis. This study explored and analysed differences in ICT teaching, learning, assessment, and achievement between Vietnamese and Australian secondary students. It was found that that Australian ICT school curricula and assessment differed markedly from the Vietnamese system. Student ICT achievement in these Australian and Vietnamese schools could not only be attributed to higher standards of intended ICT curricula and assessment, or teacher knowledge or classroom practices. These differences are better explained by economic and cultural factors, ICT policies and their degrees of implementation, and extra ICT curricula. In order to bridge the gap and implement adequate ICT curricula and policies, rigorous professional training in teaching and assessment is essential for both Australian and Vietnamese teachers. In order to improve Australian students‟ ICT achievement, achievement motivation must be addressed. Many challenging aspects were found in ICT policies and classrooms in the Vietnamese educational system that calls for immediate change and improvement. In order to implement reforms in Vietnamese education, the impact of cultural influence must be considered more seriously. In particular, this study highlights the need to integrate case study with large-scale study in international comparative studies.

In order to evaluate the effects of an integrated curriculum on the learning of popular music, the Sting Curriculum was designed for senior secondary students of mixed ability. This nine week program was presented to a sample of 124 students aged between 16 and 18 years in urban Sydney (Australia).The results of tests conducted indicate that students in the sample achieved high scores when a greater emphasis was placed on performance than on the listening and composition activities. The principal findings of the study suggest that the Sting Curriculum was successful as a vehicle for learning popular music, providing students with an integrated and sequential program that motivated participants to become immersed in the music. Furthermore, in the context of an integrated curriculum, popular music learning was enhanced when teachers utilised a pedgogical approach which emphasised the performance activity.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The research I present in this portfolio is broadly concerned with the programming, politics and ethics of secondary English and its teaching in New South Wales, my home state, and Australia in the years 2003 to 2013. It was undertaken in a time of significant curriculum change. These developments took place in a media and political context that was generating a good deal of comment and controversy, including strident criticism from some commentators and politicians of the quality of contemporary English teaching. The research specifically relates to the conditions of being for the secondary English subjects in a time of curriculum change and contestation. Following Green and Beavis (1996), English subjects is used here to signify that, in the field of English studies, subject identity necessarily entails consideration of both the subject that is taught, in its different historical configurations or ‘models’, and the discursive ‘writing’ of the teacher subject that each ‘model’ anticipates. I argue that a notable element of the contestation currently surrounding the teaching subject English in Australia is that it has exceeded various moves to delimit the secondary English curriculum. The English teacher subject has also become a site of contestation upon which the future prospects of English depend. The struggle for the English subjects is about setting the boundaries of possibility for English teachers’ pedagogy and defining their role as agents of a preferred ‘model’ of English. The preface (Chapter 2) and four papers that comprise Chapter 3 of the portfolio accordingly explore how English teachers can reconceptualise their subject and their practice through ‘rewriting’ their professional identity in their classroom programming. It has a conceptual-theoretical basis in the development of what I call ‘a transformative model for programming secondary English’. The act of writing a programme is understood here as (professional) writing in a poststructuralist sense, through which English teachers write themselves into being. The ‘transformative model’ is a recursive curriculum model integrating significant models of English teaching into a coherent, developmental teaching and learning cycle that I have come to recognise as enacting an ethic of hospitality to difference. The four papers presented in Chapter 4 extend on my exploration of the significance and affordances of this ethic to secondary English teachers by recontextualising it within consideration of professional responsibility and advocacy, primarily through the lens of dialogical ethics (Kostogriz and Doecke, 2007 and 2013) and its theoretical underpinnings. The movement from programming to advocacy, I argue, was a necessary extension of the critical-theoretical basis of the ‘transformative model’ given it was developed and disseminated in a time of subject contestation. In such conditions, advocacy is integral to, even indivisible from, the dissemination of the sort of research for praxis I have undertaken (cf. Mullen and Kealy, 2005; Parr, 2010). The research enhances understanding of key aspects of the professional identity work English teachers can undertake in the context of subject renewal through their programming and in publicly representing their work through other forms of advocacy, which is now widely considered to be a defining element of teacher professionalism (e.g. AATE and ALEA, 2002). It demonstrates possibilities for challenge and resistance available to secondary English teachers in “speaking back to standards-based reforms” (Parr, 2010), and contributes in an original way to the “increasingly researched area of English teachers’ professional identities” (Sawyer, 2006b, p.30; cf. Doecke, Homer and Nixon, 2003).

During recent decades in Australia and internationally, academics and policy makers have expressed concern about decreasing levels of engagement with mathematics, with many students choosing not to pursue the study of mathematics at higher levels. With fewer students taking up tertiary studies that require high-level mathematics the result is a shortage of mathematics teachers in Australian schools. This thesis is the culmination of a thirty-year teaching career in which I developed the Five Question Approach (FQA) to teaching mathematics. It reports on the influence of the FQA on student engagement and academic performance in secondary mathematics classes (Years 7 to 12) in Australia. Student engagement is influenced by the degree of success that is experienced in the mathematics classroom. In turn, success is often determined by the depth of understanding that students gain during predetermined time frames. The FQA removes the predetermined time frames using the yesterday, today and tomorrow approach where questions are provided on previously learnt material for revision and fluency, current material for consolidation, and future material for preparation allows greater flexibility in content delivery, pacing and consolidation of content. This mixed-methods case study draws on data collected in three Australian secondary classrooms. The findings indicated that the FQA increased student engagement with mathematics in the classroom, with students feeling that they were better at mathematics and more able to answer questions and solve problems. There was a change from a fixed to a growth mindset and significant improvement in academic performance. The findings further indicated that the FQA led to increased student engagement, academic improvement and a significant decrease in examination anxiety.

Leaners in the 21st century acquire as much knowledge about the past from films, novels, comic books and other popular forms of entertainment as they do from the classroom. Ongoing debate surrounding the use of alternate media to record and depict the past, coupled with the 2017 introduction of the New South Wales Education Standards Authority Syllabus presents an opportunity for an examination of popular media depictions of history to engage students. Approaching the syllabus through the familiar and entertaining medium of comic books potentially bridges students’ experiences of history in the classroom and representations encountered in everyday life, and can be used to develop analytical skills in historical enquiry, theories of history, as well as skills in communication and critical thinking.