This thesis reports an evaluation of the Jordanian Education Reform Program (JERP) initiated in 1987. The thesis includes a review of the international literature on education reform culminating in a conclusion that the most widely accepted approach currently is a mixed-model one that is partly top-down and partly bottom-up. Both quantitative and qualitative types of data were gathered and analysed. The findings of the study were that some seven teacher roles, particularly those of technologist and social change agent, were being performed at comparatively low levels, while others, particularly those of developer of student’s cognitive growth and health educator, were being performed at comparatively high levels. Many problems in the implementation of the education reforms were revealed in the interviews, especially the failure to involve teachers in the process of planning the reforms. Implications for policy, practice and further research were suggested. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This research investigates the relationship between principalship and policy in small New Zealand primary schools. A distinctive feature of small primary schools is that their principals typically have to teach as well as manage. Overseas research indicates that in times of educational reform, teaching principals face particular difficulty and may need special support. Following the watershed educational reforms of 1989 and a decade of ‘hands-off’ policy in education (1989-1999), central policy towards school support in New Zealand is now more ‘hands-on’. The impact of this policy change on small schools has not been researched hi New Zealand, where such schools make up over fifty percent of all primary schools. The aims of this study are to analyse the impact of current support policy in New Zealand on small primary school principalship, and to evaluate the extent to which policy adjustment might be needed in the future. Using multiple methods and a case study approach to gather data, the study focuses on small school principalship in one New Zealand region - the Central Districts region. It also considers the recent policy initiatives, their rationale and the extent to which they appear to be meeting the support needs reported by the principals whose work has been researched in the study. Broadly, the study has found that within small schools, the role-balance within a teaching principal’s work is a critical factor, as the ratio within the principal’s role-balance between the teaching role and the management role creates variation in work-demands, work-strategies and types of support needed. Teaching principals in New Zealand generally feel better supported now than they did in the 1990s and the study identifies factors associated with this change. However the analysis in this study suggests that the current policy aim to both rationalise and strengthen the small school network as a whole is rather problematic. Without better targeted support policy in this area, old style parochial and competitive attitudes between schools are unlikely to change in the future.

Over the past decade, the lament that 'we need more male primary school teachers' has flourished in media and populist discourse, within education systems and in government inquiries in both Australia and the rest of the Western world. Whilst this discourse commonly assumes that more male primary teachers will benefit both boys in schools and society in general, other important considerations are silenced and overlooked and attention is seldom paid to the experience of male primary school teachers. This study explores the experience of male primary school teachers and the prevailing societal discourses about them. It focuses on their experience of crossing over into a career that is commonly regarded by society as 'women's work', and charts the advantages and disadvantages they face as a result of their maleness. The understandings that are found within this study are informed by relevant literature and by data emanating from media discourse analysis, statistical analysis and life history interviews. As a result of examining the relevant literature and data, this study has found that the experience of male primary teachers is likely to be complex, contradictory and problematic. Whilst some of their experiences are similar to those of female primary teachers, this study only focuses on the part of their experience that differs from female teachers and is the direct result of their maleness. Their choice to cross-over into women's work such as primary teaching appears to yield a unique and complex mixture of experiences that are poorly understood by both themselves and others. In particular, it is apparent that they experience a vexing combination of advantages and disadvantages as a result of being a male in women's work. This study has identified eight categories of disadvantage and four categories of advantage that the males experience. The various sources of literature and data have differing constructions as to whether the males are advantaged and / or disadvantaged. Most commonly, the sources privilege either the disadvantages or the advantages and silence the other. More rarely, they acknowledge and accommodate both. On the whole, the disadvantages are better articulated, understood and documented than the advantages, which are often silenced and ignored. In order to fully explore the experience of male primary teachers, this study has also sought to identify the prevailing societal discourses and debates about them and to examine whether they are affecting the experience of the males. Information about societal discourses was found in the literature, media and life history interviews, with media discourse providing the most significant and comprehensive data. After examining these prevailing discourses about male primary teachers, this study has found that they have an enormous impact on the experience of male primary school teachers. However, in contrast, the study has shown that the experience of male primary school teachers is not contributing to, informing or shaping either societal or media discourses. As a result, these discourses can be seen to be largely inaccurate, unreflective and unproductive because they do not reflect the experience of male primary teachers. This examination into the experience of male primary teachers makes an important contribution to knowledge because there are so few Australian studies of males who cross over into women's work or on the sexual division of labour in contemporary Australian society. Whilst the study produces many more questions than it supplies answers, it nevertheless results in extremely important understandings about the experience of male primary school teachers and crossing-over into non-traditional work. In particular, the study reveals the problematic nature of their experience and the complex experiences, advantages and disadvantages that they face as a result of their maleness. It also charts the unhelpful ways that prevailing societal debates and discourses about them have been constructed. It points to the need for new and more sophisticated societal debates and discourses about male primary teachers that will accommodate the complexity of their experience. It is therefore anticipated that these findings will make an important contribution to understandings about the experience of male primary teachers and to the development of more informed societal discourses about them. Most importantly, the study will provide a language and framework to enable the issues that have been identified about the experience of male primary teachers to be adequately addressed within education policy, teaching practice and teacher education strategies.

There were four aims identified for the study. Firstly, to become familiar with current research concerning children with learning difficulties in mainstream classes in primary schools. Secondly, to ascertain teachers' attitudes towards, and experience of, these children. Thirdly, to interview a sample of children identified by their teachers as performing in all academic areas at least 18 months behind the rest of the class. The purpose of the interview was to examine how they perceived their performance in reading and mathematics compared with the rest of the class, and to investigate their self-concepts. The final aim was to gain an understanding of the nature of the interaction between teachers and children with learning difficulties by observing a small sample of them, and a Control group, in class. Field work was conducted in three A.C.T. primary schools in 1984-85. The field work was divided into three stages. In Stage 1 a sample of 30 teachers volunteered to complete a questionnaire. In Stage 2 a sample of 30 children identified by their teachers as having learning difficulties was interviewed. In Stage 3, 6 of the previously identified children and 6 Control children were observed in class. Whilst the findings of these 3 stages of field work can only be presented tentatively due to the small sample sizes involved, there were some findings worthy of comment. For example, many teachers indicated a lack of pre-service training, or even in-service course attendance which could have provided a background to teaching children with learning difficulties. The childrens' responses indicated that their perception of their performance in reading compared with their peers was that they were &quotenot as good as the rest of the class.&quote However, for mathematics their perception was that their performance was more in the middle of the class. As a group their self-concept was low, as measured on the Coopersmith Self Esteem Inventory. From the observation it appeared that children with learning difficulties were on-task as much as the Control children. The teacher was twice as likely to interact with a child with learning difficulties than with a Control child, and the majority of these interactions were to impart instructions.

The research outlined in this thesis explores the issue of the effective principal through the perceptions of a sample of senior primary aged school students. The study originated due to a concern that too much of the current literature concerning effective schools and effective principals relies on the views of significant adults. Given that students are the focus of the school's and principal's energy it is difficult to understand why their views have not been sought more frequently. This study was initiated and conducted in an effort to determine what is was that students expected of the effective principal. The research is based on content analysis of the written responses from a sample of one hundred and ninety five senior primary aged school students aged between ten and twelve years from an education district in an education region of the New South Wales Public School System and in addition one to one interviews with a group of thirty students. The analysis resulted in the development of two sets of descriptors. One set of descriptors outline the fourteen most significant Behaviour Descriptors of the effective principal as perceived by the senior primary aged students surveyed while the other set outlines the eleven most significant Quality Descriptors of the effective principal. These two sets of descriptors of the effective principal have much support in the effective schools research. One area notably different however is the emphasis given by the students to the need for the principal to develop positive, warm and caring relationships with each student in the school. Although students were realistic in their understanding of what this implied they were adamant and consistent in their desire for such a relationship in order that the principal be deemed effective. The results of the study provide specific, clear, unambiguous descriptions of behaviours and qualities expected of the effective principal by the students surveyed. The descriptors are presented in a manner useful to practitioners.

The study examines the use of automatic data processing in educational organisations for the purpose of determining the feasibility of using some ADP applications in the administration of a large urban ACT primary school. Educational managers working in primary schools are required to make decisions which draw upon information concerning the student population, school curriculum, school personnel and general school administration. An analysis of the decision making areas of Charnwood Primary School is undertaken and the information required for making each decision is identified. The concept of using a database to provide some of this information is explored and suggested as being an effective means of managing student data. Some equipment options which would enable a primary school to implement a database and provide word processing facilities are examined within a context of limited resources. The capacities and advantages of using computer equipment which is presently accessible to schools are outlined, along with the feasibility of employing the services of a data processing agency. The conclusion is reached that there are a number of ADP applications applicable for use at Charnwood Primary School, as well as a number of other computer based facilities, such as word processing and plant management, The downward price spiral of computer equipment will enable most primary schools to use computer facilities for school administration within the next five years.

Using a reversal design with two primary school aged children, the effectiveness in producing on-task behaviour was compared for a token system and a cognitive behaviour system. In the token system, points were earned for on-task behaviour at school which could be exchanged for rewards chosen by the pupil and parents at home. The cognitive program was conducted on an individual withdrawal basis during which time the child was taught to "stop, look, listen and think." With one child the token system preceded the cognitive and with the other child the order of the conditions was reversed. In both studies the token programs proved to be more effective than the cognitive programs in bringing about rapid and dramatic increase in on-task behaviour. When introduced first, the cognitive program appeared to produce better maintenance than when it followed the token program. Additionally, the programs helped to shift two of the teachers' attitudes towards the students from being fairly negative to more positive, as recorded on a Teachers Checklist.

The need for an increase in the learning of foreign languages in primary schools in Australia was noted by the Senate Standing Committee on Education and the Arts (Report on a National Language Policy, 1984, Recommendation 78, p230). The introduction of the Japanese language program at Macquarie Primary School, ACT, in 1984, was a response to this need, combined with the expressed wish of the local community. Within this program it was decided that an unpublished curriculum developed and used in the ACT by a native speaker of Japanese, would be trialled. The purpose of this study, within a Master of Education degree, was to evaluate Book 1 of this curriculum, and the process by which it was implemented at the school, during the first year of operation of the program. The framework around which the evaluation was organised was Sanders and Cunningham's (1973) Structure for Formative Evaluation in Product Development. The evaluation sought to answer five questions which focussed on the validity, appropriateness and consistency of the broad goals of the program, and the extent of achievement of those goals by the students; the effect of the implementation of the program on school organisation; unexpected outcomes of the program; and revisions and modifications which were necessary to the program as the curriculum was trialled. A number of data gathering techniques was used to obtain the information required to answer these questions. The results of this study suggest that the curriculum being trialled was based on an eclectic approach to the teaching of a foreign language (Prator, 1980; Bell, 1981), selecting from various theories and methodologies, components deemed appropriate for primary age students in their first year of Japanese. The study also provided evidence that, after one year's participation in the Japanese program all children were, to an extent, achieving both broad goals of the program. There was some evidence however, that achievement of the goals was mediated by several learner characteristics, the most influential of these falling into the broad category of 'attitude'. It was discovered also, that the introduction of such a program into an already crowded school curriculum affected aspects of organisation within the school, and that all the outcomes of the program were not necessarily planned, or expected. Finally, certain changes, both organisational and to the curriculum, were made and implemented during the 'formative interim evaluation' stage. The conclusions of this thesis are offered at two levels: conclusions concerning the evaluation process itself, and those arising from the teaching of Japanese to primary age students.

When children arc emotionally distressed, their capacity for learning is diminished and their self esteem is lowered. Not only is their behaviour often disruptive, reflecting their inner feelings and frustrations, but their health and wellbeing, physical, psychological, and spiritual is affected. Art is a natural medium of expression for children and provides an emotionally distressed child with a means of self expression, enabling an emotional release, an opportunity for self-exploration, and a means of communication which may not be possible through the normal channel of language. An art intervention program was implemented with a small group of emotionally distressed or withdrawn children at an A.C.T. primary school which holds a humanistic/holistic attitude to health and education. The study was undertaken between May and November 1992 in a first grade integrated classroom, where mainstream children are together with special needs children. The object of the study was to examine if art activities in small groups can provide a combination of personal and group experiences that result in a therapeutic change to the emotional health and wellbeing of the participating children.

This study investigated the effects of a cross-age tutoring programme on the tutors' self-esteem. The study also examined the effects of the programme on the tutors' attitudes to computers. A case study approach was used to answer the following questions: 1. Does the self-esteem of tutors increase when they tutor in a nonacademic subject area e.g. teaching others to use computer games? 2. Do the changes in self-esteem generalise to other areas or are the changes specific to the subject area of the tutoring? 3. Do the tutors' attitudes to computers change when they teach younger children how to use computer games? Twelve tutors, from three A.C.T. primary schools, were trained as tutors. Girls from Years 5 and 6, with low self-esteem (measured using the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory), were selected to teach girls from Years 1 and 2 how to use computer programmes. Self-esteem was assessed pre- and post- tutoring using the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory, concept maps and teacher's ratings. Computer attitudes were assessed pre- and post- tutoring using the Bath County Computer Attitudes Survey and concept maps. A post-tutoring questionnaire provided information, from the tutors, about the tutoring programme. The case study approach allowed analysis of each student's experience in the programme. The criteria used to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme were the differences in the pre- and post- tutoring measures of self-esteem and computer attitudes and the tutors' responses in interviews. Self-esteem increased for eleven of the tutors. Making a contribution, feelings of increased competence, a sense of belonging and positive feedback were the factors that appeared to enhance the tutors' self-esteem. All tutors were more confident with the computer at the end of the programme, and in six cases there were increases in the computer attitude survey scores.