The aim of the Field Study described in this Report was to examine the nature of primary-secondary transition as perceived by students themselves. Twelve students from four A.C.T. primary schools were interviewed prior to their entry to one or other of two high schools, and subsequent interviews were conducted at intervals during the students' first six months in high school. Further information was obtained from interviews with their parents and from formal and informal assessments made by their primary and secondary teachers. To place the trends revealed in the interviews in a wider context, surveys were administered at the beginning and end of the six months' period to all Year 7 students in both high schools. A major emphasis of the Study was an investigation of how students cope with new tasks, social and academic, at a time when there is a potentially stressful conjunction of early adolescence and major educational transition. Such coping is conceptualised as the individual matching his resources against the demands made by a new situation. The initial appraisal by students of the new situation was a general perception of high school as either benign or threatening. The more differentiated, or secondary, appraisal was influenced by further information and experiences; and re-appraisal was characterised, after a further lapse of time, by either a reinforcement or reversal of original perceptions. It was found that upon moving to the more complex institutional setting of high school some students had difficulty in adjusting to a more formal organisation and a more demanding curriculum. The students' response to high school included such coping strategies as hostility, withdrawal or active striving to meet the challenge of a new school. Some students who showed a marked inability to cope with one or more of the tasks, social or academic, of high school were deemed to have experienced adaptive failure. A key factor in adjustment to high school, and one that was at least as important as academic achievement, was that of interpersonal relationships. Success in relating to both teachers and peers was found to be a crucial factor for students, whether bright or less bright, and it was found that students of limited academic achievement could find compensation if they perceived their "person environment" as benign.

The main purpose of this study was to examine the efficacy of a human relations programme for high school students in Years 7, 8 and 9. The programme, based on the course devised by Varenhorst (1976; Appendix B), was run as a non-assessable option for one semester in an A.C.T. high school by the author, who was the counsellor at the school, and a volunteer teacher. Humanistic, behavioural and cognitive methods of implementation were used. As well as trying to achieve more effective interpersonal relations between students, so that they could more successfully relate and resolve differences, a secondary aim was to try to make the counsellor's role a more preventative rather than a largely remedial and crisis-laden one. Twenty-eight students enrolled for the course. Fourteen were assigned to the experimental group and experienced the human relations programme; the fourteen in the control group undertook a variety of other options they had chosen. Both groups completed pre- and postquestionnaires from which quantitative data was gathered. As a check on these quantitative results, post-study qualitative data were also gathered from the experimental group. The course taught verbal and non-verbal communication skills, decision-making and problem-solving skills, particularly in relation to such areas as the peer group, the family and the school. The ethics of helping others experiencing problems in any of these areas was an integral part of the course. iv The study showed that human relations skills can be taught, although the findings were interpreted cautiously because of design and methodological difficulties. The lack of randomisation and reported, rather than behavioural, change per se are two areas which restrict the generalisability of the results. It is suggested that, to achieve more widespread gains, such a course could be incorporated into the existing pastoral care programme of the school in which all teachers and students took part. It is further suggested that, for optimal effectiveness, parents and teachers, as well as students, would need to be aware of, and know how to put into practice, the skills taught in this programme and relate them to interaction generally. A first step was made by the experimenter towards widening the role of the school counsellor away from crisis cases towards prevention of problems. Ideally, the programme could be expanded to include teachers and parents who could, in turn, become human relations educators, thus serving the whole student population. The teaching, learning and practising of skill became the main focus of the programme. Although some peer counselling was involved in assignments, time precluded an experimental study of effectiveness in this applied area. All students but one wanted to proceed with this practical work.

The study described in this report attempted to investigate the area of classroom discipline in the primary school. In particular the objectives were to ascertain the factors which influences teachers' knowledge of discipline procedures and the factors which influence teachers' implementation of discipline procedures. The study first examined discipline policies and practices in Australian schools generally and in Australian Capital Territory government schools in particular. A review of the literature indicated that the area of discipline in the classroom is one which seems to be increasingly important in the range of presage variables under investigation by researchers. Information was obtained from sixty completed questionnaires from primary teachers in eight primary schools. Respondents indicated that they taught over the full range of primary school years/grades. Results suggested that senior management in the schools appeared to have a relatively unimportant role in influencing classroom teachers' discipline programmes. The results indicated that the in-school influences which were perceived as the most influential on both teachers' knowledge of discipline procedures and on teachers' current discipline procedures were a) those connected with pupils and b) factors about the personal preference of teachers. The out-of-school influences which were perceived as the most influential on both teachers' knowledge of discipline and on teachers' current discipline procedures were a) those connected with professional development and b) factors about the intuitions and reactions of teachers. Results in general suggested that some primary teachers may be depending or) outdated information regarding school and classroom discipline programmes. These findings could have important ramifications for teacher training agencies regarding the allocation of resources to the area of school discipline programmes.

This field study is an examination, by a partisan participant observer, of the Neighbourhood Community Centre and its first year of operation as the Co-operative Peoples School, in the ACT government school system. The Neighbourhood Community Centre was a small, alternative, independent school for children from three to eight years of age. The school's philosophy was progressive and its management policies and structures co-operative and non-hierarchical. For two years, parents campaigned to become part of the ACT government school system. In February 1978, the school opened as a government school, with funding and staffing arrangements similar to other schools in the ACT. Soon after incorporation, the distinctive attributes of the Neighbourhood Community Centre began to disappear. Conflict became the dominant characteristic of the new school: the degree, extent and duration were extreme for a group that had asserted a commitment to consensus and co-operation. Two identifiable and, ultimately, irreconciliable parent factions emerged. Three factors were linked in the events of 1978: conflict, ideology and power struggles in a situation of change. These factors do not easily fit into the dominant sociological paradigm, functionalism, as an explanation of the events of 1978, for the concept of power has been, at best, slow to be incorporated into that sociological tradition. Yet the events, to this observer, were linked to a political struggle between competing groups for the domination of the school: power was a major dimension. Only at a superficial level was the conflict ideological. Parent factions concealed a third group, the teachers, who were striving to dominate the school, a domination that was not accepted unequivocally in the new school. Their ultimate success depended not on their coalition with a parent faction, the support of the Schools Office, strategies for isolating criticism and critics and their professional ideology; their success depended on their structural power within the school system which provided resources, support and justification for their position. This analysis endorses sociological theorists who maintain that power, and structural power in particular, is a central concern in organisational life. The failure of the Co-operative Peoples School was linked to the unequal distribution of power within the co-operative.

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This study examines some aspects of the transition of students from high schools to a particular college in the A.C.T. The stimulus for the study arose from the writer's perception of problems being experienced by beginning college students and a concern that these were in part due to the recent restructuring of secondary education in the A.C.T. The study investigated a number of areas affecting the transition experiences of students moving from high schools to Hawker College. A comparative study was undertaken of the various curricula of the feeder high schools and of the College. Instruments were devised to measure student's perceptions of their transition experiences and of their orientation to the College. Interviews were conducted with College and high school teachers, a random selection of parents and some ex-students. The modified American CUES questionnaire used by Whitta in Queensland formed the basis of a study of environmental press in the high schools and College. An analysis was also undertaken of the nature and extent of communication between the high schools and College. Results indicated that for most students the transition to the College was short and relatively smooth, although not without problems. However 10 to 15 per cent of students, particularly those of lower ability and low motivation, were observed to have experienced a difficult and often prolonged transition. Problems for students arose from a sudden increase in the amount of freedom given them, a significant rise in teachers' expectations of their written language skills and their lack of self-organisational skills. On the basis of the findings certain recommendations are made aimed at increasing the communication between teachers in high schools and the College and at improving the orientation of students to the College. Other recommendations are concerned with easing the transition of students, particularly those most likely to experience transition problems.

This study addresses the criticism leveled at A.C.T. Mathematics teachers with regard to their failure to use any other method of teaching than chalk-and-talk. By considering the changed needs of society for mathematics and the changed perceptions by society of education, the criticism is placed in context. The importance of spatial ability for mathematics is examined in the context of theories of cognitive abilities and its current under utilization within the classroom. On the basis of the increased need to utilize more talent the study was designed to operationalise in the classroom the constructs of simultaneous and successive synthesis, derived from Luria's model of brain functioning. The question of gender differences in mathematics achievment and spatial ability is addressed. The possible role of the maturation of language in determining differences in the acquistion of ability to form simultaneous synthesis is briefly discussed. The study was designed to utilize and enhance simultaneous synthesis. By demonstrating an Aptitude-Treatment Interaction it was intended to confirm that students, who function at a high level in simultaneous synthesis but at a low level in successive synthesis, would achieve more with experience with spatial activates than in a more traditional chalk-and-talk classroom. Gender differences in achievement were not found. Gender differences in successive/simultaneous profiles were found in accordance with theory predictions. The need for the duration of longer treatment periods is briefly discussed in the context of funding and the appearance of greater efficiency of traditional teaching methods when the students are functioning at the highest level of symbolic thought.

The aim of this study was to identify the significant influences that effect the way beginning teachers in the A.C.T. incorporate music into their primary classrooms. Twenty-eight teachers from 23 different schools were interviewed in this study. These teachers were chosen on the basis that they were beginning teachers (teachers who were in their first, second or third year of teaching) and had graduated from the University of Canberra from 1988 to 1990. The teachers were interviewed over a 7 week period in Term 4 of 1990. The interview schedule incorporated aspects of a questionnaire and an interview employing both closed and open-ended questions. The study found that although 71% of the teachers taught some music in their classrooms, no teacher actually taught the whole music curriculum (as defined by the A.C.T. Curriculum Guidelines, 1990). Singing, listening and moving were taught by most teachers but areas of the music curriculum such as playing, reading and writing, improvisation and composition were rarely included. These results were influenced by factors such as the musical background of the teachers, preservice courses, the school music curriculum, whether or not teacher's colleagues taught music and the school's utilisation of the music specialist. For example, teachers who taught music were more likely to come from a school that had a music curriculum rather than from a school that did not. This study has implications for the development and implementation of primary school music curricula, the reassessment of future preservice and inservice programs, the utilisation of human resources within primary schools and the development of more positive attitudes towards music in schools and society in general.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the level of communication-satisfaction within and between institutions that are responsible for the administration of AMEP in the ACT. These institutions are: The TAFE Colleges Office of ACT Further Education and The Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. Data were collected from the educators and administrators. Two questions were addressed and four hypotheses were tested, which addressed themselves to the following aspects of communication: corporate perspective personal feedback organizational integration relation with supervisor communication climate horizontal communication media quality relation with subordinates. The general conclusion drawn from the study was that the institutions that are responsible for the administration of AMEP in the ACT operate at different levels (i.e. policy, implementation and operations) and experience difficulty with communication between institutional boundaries. However, there is little relation between the level of individual perception within and between institutions.

Since the launch of the first earth resources monitoring satellite, remote sensing imagery has been used to provide information on the progress of urbanization, and land cover and land use change. The launch of the first SPOT satellite marked a significant improvement in spatial and spectral resolution for discriminating individual targets and increased the potential to acquire more information regarding land cover and land use. This study aims to investigate the capability of using SPOT digital imagery for monitoring land use change in the urbanised catchment of Tuggeranong Creek in the Australia Capital Territory, and assess its effects on catchment hydrology. SPOT multispectral and panchromatic imagery was acquired over the study area for January 1987 and September 1990. This imagery was digitally processed and analysed using microBRIAN (MB) V3.01 software to derive information on land cover and land use within the catchment. Multi-temporal imagery was co-registered to a base map with sub-output pixel accuracy. In order to improve spatial resolution, the multispectral imagery was merged with panchromatic imagery acquired on the same day using HIS and HPF techniques. The HPF technique retained more integrity of the original multispectral data than did the HIS technique. Both HPF merged and unmerged (original) image sets were used to assess the possibility of using higher spatial resolution imagery in subsequent classification and change detection analysis. On the basis of statistical calculation, non-vegetation classification results were found to be consistent between merged and un-merged imagery, but not consistent for vegetation classes. The inconsistency was found to be the result of seasonal differences in phenology and sun angle. However more small sub-pixel sized features such as houses and lawns were identified using merged imagery. Regression differencing and post classification comparisons were performed on both merged and unmerged image sets to detect temporal changes which had occurred between both image dates. As expected, merged imagery led to more sub-pixel sized examples of change being highlighted using both the HPF and HIS techniques. However, errors associated with multi-temporal image registration, compounded by classification errors arising viI from seasonal differences, meant that the reliability of all identified incidences of change could not be validated. Nevertheless, post classification change detection was found to be the most useful approach for identifying the nature of change from one type of land use to another. The results of classification and change detection techniques were used to diagnose likely changes in catchment hydrology attributable to changes in land use. Preliminary hydrologic analyses found that catchment yield is more sensitive to changes in land use than runoff volume or peak flood discharge. This study confirms that SPOT imagery can be used for mapping and monitoring land use change in urban areas. SPOT imagery was found to be suitable for providing information on land use and land cover changes and assessing the likely hydrologic consequences of such change. The use of imagery from anniversary dates would further improve the reliability of hydrologic assessments based on remote sensing of land use change.