Thesis (MEd)--University of South Australia, 1995

This research project investigates the implementation of a learning community approach in two rural Australian communities with a particular focus on the initiatives of a primary school in each community. Case study research describes and analyses the developments in each community and a cross case analysis examines similarities and differences in approach and outcomes.

In 1983 a programme was initiated by the School of Education, Canberra College of Advanced Education (CCAE) and the Australian Schools Commission to enable parents to assist their own children in literacy. The children had previously been identified as experiencing difficulties in acquiring the skills of literacy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of the parents' intervention on the children's achievements in literacy, and to assess the quality of the programme by examining particular subskills taught in the course. The methods of assessment were also evaluated for their appropriateness for the circumstances. The thirty nine children in the study were the sample of fifty two children for whom there was complete information. Parents of these children began the programme in July 1985 or in March 1986. They attended a course of ten sessions over thirteen weeks in a semester. The following semester they were allocated to a teacher who was a post graduate or fourth year degree student in education, and given individual assistance from six to ten sessions, and longer if necessary. Aspects of oral reading, comprehension, writing and spelling were tested at the beginning of the programme and again in November 1986, and the results compared. Observational records were also kept and changes evaluated. In addition, oral reading was measured at the end of the parents' course, and before individual assistance commenced. Case studies were built up for every child, and the findings grouped to observe the effect of the intervention on the population. The results showed that the programme achieved its aim of giving parents the skills to assist; their own children in the acquisition of literacy. The content of the course and the subskills taught were also justified by the outcomes. Furthermore, the method of evaluation revealed specific and succinct information on which to base the intervention and to monitor progress. The research took place over 18 months, during which time teaching and progress were continual. A longitudinal study over several years would confirm the results of the research.

The publication of the Curriculum Development Centre's discussion paper 'Core Curriculum for Australian Schools' in June 1980 stimulated discussion of the concept of core curriculum in Australia. The driving force came from the Foundation Director of the CDC, Dr Malcolm Skilbeck. This study discusses the themes and directions to which Skilbeck was committed through a study of his work prior to his return to Australia in 1975 and his subsequent writings. The study considers Skilbeck's work against general thinking on educational matters in Australia and overseas. The initial discussion centres on Skilbeck's work in the United Kingdom prior to 1975. This concludes that his views were moulded by his own research on the American progressive educator John Dewey and that Dewey's ideals of a democratic society moulded and sustained by a democratic core curriculum have been dominant in all Skilbeck's subsequent thinking. The study reviews the establishment, working and conclusions of the CDC Core Curriculum and Values Education Working Party. In two subsequent chapters, the study looks at Skilbeck's approach to cultural mapping and school-based curriculum development as the two fundamental Planks of his approach to the development and implementation of a core curriculum for Australian schools. The study shows that Skilbeck's concept of cultural mapping is helpful but does not succeed in providing an effective basis for the articulation of national guidelines. In consequence, the CDC did not succeed in providing a framework sufficient to hold together the infinite range of possibilities opened UP by school-based action. The study considers the limited published reactions to the CDC Paper. It notes that the termination of the CDC by the Committee for Review of Commonwealth Functions in early 1931 prevented the fuller dissemination and debate of the topic during 19S1 and subsequently. The study notes that responses were disaapointingly few and in many cases failed to address the central questions raised by the CDC paper, in particular the idea of national curriculum guidelines and their application through school-based curriculum development. The major responses came in the State of Victoria where local circumstances encouraged discussion of the issues raised by the CDC. The study concludes that the CDC discussion paper was a valuable stimulus to discussion of curricular foundations at the time it was released but represented a point of view that was not fully understood or appreciated at the time. It laid the foundation for the renaissance of the general concept as 'democratic curriculum' in 1986 and provides important indications of the potential for the development of the Participation and Equity Program.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the concerns of secondary school teacher-librarians, that the subject headings set down by the Australian Schools Catalogue Information Service (ASCIS) do not cover topics in senior sourses of study. NSW HSC Economics was chosen to test this perception. Terms were extracted from three textual sources (syllabus, textbook and examination papers) and checked against the subject headings in the ASCIS Subject Headings List. A comparison was made between terms which matched exactly, those which were only partially matched and those which had no match. The linguistic complexity of the term (single-word or multi-word) and the number of textual sources using the term were also taken into account. The results showed a varying degree of match between textual terms and subject headings. Single-word terms found in more than one textual source were much more likely to be found in the subject headings than those from only one textual source. Multi-word terms were found less frequently than single-word terms, but were also more likely to be found when they came from more than one textual source. There was a large number of partial matches in this group, and these were found to be more general in concept than the textual terms. Most of the terms were found, but the general nature of the partial matches and the lack of adequate cross references may cause problems in subject analysis and retrieval.