Year 12 has been identified as a critical decision point in the career decision making process for students. Students have been found to make decisions in different ways some having already defined goals for the future others are doubtful and make tentative goals. At the end of Year 12 students are faced with the task of career decision. During the final two weeks of year 12 these students will have to make choices about their imminent future that is whether to do tertiary studies/seek apprenticeships look for immediate employment or defer studies for a time and seek employment. A review of major theories relating to career determination was undertaken. Decision-making theories have identified twelfth grade/age range 16 - 18 years, as being one of the critical decision periods for an adolescent. 355 A.C.T. Year 12 students from Catholic Colleges were given a questionnaire designed to probe students' self awareness in relation to study habits coping abilities, as well as a description of some of their personal qualities relating to school life, subject interest, and career benefits derived from the future career considered. The information gained from the Questionnaire was reduced to a number of sets of relationships by factor analysis. The personal factors of subject interest, career benefits and further study interests were examined by canonical correlation techniques with Career Types. Students with an interest in scientific careers exhibited an interest in the physical science subjects. Those with an expressed interest in a blend of science and expressive arts career were a group of students with creative ideas / leadership aspirations,an interest in cultural and physical science subject, and a desire for further- studies. Another group of year 12 students involving more girls than boys showed an interest in a cluster of careers with a social involvement component but a rejection of routine activities. Students with an interest in environmental subjects with a possession of management and living skills looked towards careers that provided out of doors activities involving social work and selling. There was a positive correlation between these personal factors and the students' choice of a career.

This decade has seen an increasing awareness by the Commonwealth Schools Commission, the ACT Schools Authority, educators and members of the community of students who are gifted in a diversity of areas. A number of programs designed to meet the special needs of gifted students have been developed in some primary schools in the A.C.T. and it is timely that the attitudes of principals, teachers and parents were assessed. To assess the attitudes of the three populations (principals, teachers and parents) toward general attitudes about gifted students, key aspects of planning and organisation of gifted programs, classroom teachers and their knowledge and need of assistance in gifted education; and to explore whether the three populations held different attitudes toward gifted students and the provision of specific programs to meet their special needs, the Field Study candidate developed and administered a questionnaire to members of the A.C.T. Association for Gifted and Talented Children, together with principals, teachers and parents in nineprimary schools in the A.C.T. The results of the questionnaire indicated that all three groups agreed with the proposition that every child was entitled to an educational program that would assist the child to develop to his / her fullest potential. Appropriate extension programs should be run for gifted students in the local primary school, with the involvement of the resource teacher and the assistance of personnel and locations outside of the local school when it was appropriate. Some reservations were expressed toward the level of parent participation in the identification procedure, program planning and program evaluation, and classroom teachers were seen to require assistance in the areas of identification, program planning and the evaluation of programs designed to meet the special needs of gifted students. The Field Study concludes that local A.C.T. primary schools could meet the special needs of gifted students. This could be achieved by principals, teachers and members of the School Board developing and implementing special educational programs by utilising Special Project funding, additional staff and professional development opportunities which are currently available in limited amounts through the ACT Schools Authority and the Commonwealth Schools Commission.

The purpose of the study was to establish that a relationship existed between teacher Pupil Control Ideology (PCI) and membership of a practical subject faculty or of a humanities subject faculty in ACT government high schools. It was hypothesized that teachers in practical subject faculties and teachers of practical subjects would be custodial in their PCI. Teachers in humanities subject faculties and teachers of humanities subjects would be humanistic in their PCI. A subsidiary purpose was to replicate earlier research findings of a relationship between PCI and years of teaching, sex, position in the school administration, and type of school. The PCI Form was administered to a population sample of 116 teachers from five high schools in the Belconnen area of Canberra. The results were subjected to t-test and one-way analysis of variance. Statistically significant relationships were observed between PCI and teacher variables of subject faculty, subject taught, and sex of teacher. Earlier findings for other variables were not replicated. The direction of findings was surprising. Teachers in practical subject faculties and of practical subjects were more humanistic than humanities faculty and subject teachers. Female teachers were more custodial than male teachers. An analysis of variance showed no interaction effect between variables sex and faculty, and sex and subject taught. More research on possible causes of the relationships, such as student attitude to subject, and teacher sense of achievement, is needed before the findings can have practical application.

This study is concerned with school-based staff development. It looks briefly at the reasons for this development, emanating from changes in society and schools. First it traces the growth of school-based staff development overseas and in Australia. A variety of approaches to school-based staff development activities is demonstrated by a selection of case studies in the United Kingdom, United States and Australia. The study then examines staff development provisions in the ACT education system, a system based on the philosophy of participatory decision making. It then looks closely, by means of description and questionnaire, at staff development in a particular school in this system, Duffy Primary School. The study concludes with recommendations and a model for staff development in schools. The writer implemented a school-based model of staff development at Duffy Primary School independent of other current theories and practices on school-based staff development. His most recent reading and research outlined in this study have confirmed the basic soundness of the school-based model of staff development.

This study focuses on the writing of senior students in the subject English at an ACT secondary college. Several features of the ACT education system are relevant. There is a high retention rate, so the sample is a broad one. The curriculum is school based, as is assessment. There are separate courses for those seeking tertiary entrance (TE) and those seeking to complete their education at Year 12 (Accredited). The theoretical basis of the study is provided by the work of a number of linguists with an interest in school language, in particular Graham Little. 255 samples of writing have been analysed, taking account of the function and forms of language. The function, or meaning, has been analysed in terms of content, abstraction, purpose and audience. The writing in the Accredited course is evenly distributed between the human and material worlds, three quarters is informational and one quarter Imaginative. The level of abstraction shows a predominance of reporting and generalising. Writing in the TE course is 60% concerned with the human world and reaches higher levels of abstraction such as speculation and hypothesising. The audience is academic. Compared with earlier findings, this study shows more human content and higher levels of abstraction. Language functions through selective use of forms. The aspects of form analysed are vocabulary, abstraction of noun phrase, sentence length and sentence sequencing. Figures produced were largely consistent with earlier studies; however the TE group shows higher syllable counts, greater abstraction of noun phrase and longer sentences than the Accredited group. Creative writing brings the groups closest together. Handwriting, spelling and punctuation are examined. Handwriting is always legible, spelling close to 98% correct and 84% of full stops are correctly used. A small number of scripts produce most of the errors in both spelling and punctuation. The achievement of students as revealed by this study of writing is consistent with earlier studies although the students represented here demonstrate higher levels of abstraction. The curriculum contains more human content and is commendably comprehensive, although there is less poetic and expressive writing than might be expected. This form of language analysis is recommended for its concentration on the language actually produced in class, the insights it provides for teachers and the information it provides for meaningful public discussion of education.

This study arose out of an experience with an amalgamation of two high schools in the ACT in the early 1990s. The amalgamation process took two and a half years from the time the decision was made to close one of the schools until the new school was consolidated on one site. The change processes impacted on many areas of teachers' work and this, combined with the emotional aspects of being in a school which was closing, flagged teacher morale as an issue requiring attention. The study involved seeking responses to a questionnaire and interviewing teachers involved in the amalgamation. The interview data was then grouped by issue and the responses from teachers analysed and compared with related research literature. Research indicated that leadership style and effectiveness impacts most heavily on the morale of teachers undergoing major change such as school closure/amalgamation. This was substantiated by this study. The decision, by the principal, to close both schools and create a new school, retaining aspects of the culture of the original schools was clearly favoured over the alternative suggestion, by the ACT Government, of the swift closure method and the absorption of students into an existing school. The outward signs of a new school; name; logo; uniform; the involvement of the community, the degree of shared decision-making, the refurbishment of the buildings, the new curriculum and associated policies and the management of resources were found to contribute positively to teacher morale. A lack of consultation prior to announcing the closure decision, a failure to acknowledge the need of some teachers to grieve for the loss of their school and a lack of activities to mark the final days of the schools involved have been identified as having the greatest negative effect on teacher morale in this study. Maintenance and effective use of the buildings vacated by a closing school has also been raised as an issue affecting the morale of the teachers from that school. This study has implications for future school closures or amalgamations from the points of view of maintaining of the morale of teachers, and also that of students

Questionnaires were administered to 118 Secondary College students in the A.C.T. to obtain quantitative data about the students' self perception, about their friendship groups, their relationships with the other members of their family, their attitudes to their education and their employment experiences and expectations. The data also identified away from home students and at home students. The data obtained from these two student groups was analysed. The away from home group of students were then interviewed individually and qualitative data analysed for recurring themes and a profile of the away from home Year 12 student emerged. The away from home students in this A.C.T. study had been through periods of unstable accommodation, poverty, family distress, leaving school or changing schools and had made a conscious decision to complete their Year 12 Certificate to improve their employment opportunities. As a result of this study predictive indicators for an away from home student were generated. Following these findings an understanding of the specific issues and needs of away from home students can be encouraged among student welfare groups, parents and other educational/ welfare bodies. This in turn should assist the student achieve his or her educational outcomes and academic success.

This survey study examines the type and frequency of books borrowed by students according to age, sex and reading ability. It seeks to redress the sparsity of information available on the types and style of books borrowed by children. This survey study is based on data gathered over 14 weeks at Wanniassa Hills Primary School. Weekly library borrowings were recorded for Years 2. 3/4 and 5/6. A sample of 90 children, 30 from each year level was selected and individual borrowings were coded for analysis according to the type of book borrowed. The SAS System was used to tabulate the data and conclusions were drawn from the results thus obtained. The survey study revealed that females borrow more books generally than males. A general pattern of book borrowing is evident. Females tend to progress more quickly man males through this pattern of borrowing. Males tend to prefer Non- Fiction books, progressing to Choose Your Own Adventure books and Fantasy Game books. Recommendations are based on these findings and other outcomes of the survey study. This survey study has implications for classroom practice, libraries, basic readers and further study.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in Australia in structures which allow community participation in the governance of schools. The introduction of a new Education Authority in the Australian Capital Territory, beginning in 1974, brought with it a substantial commitment to such structures as school boards, a relatively new phenomenon in Australian school systems. However, there has been substantial experience of lay or community participation in governing bodies of post-secondary institutions in Australia. This study examines both the general experience of lay participation in such governing bodies and the specific experience of lay members of the governing bodies of three institutions in the Australian Capital Territory, the Australian National University, the Canberra College of Advanced Education and the Canberra College of Technical and Further Education. The principal collection of data was from structured interviews with lay or community members of the councils of these three institutions, designed to produce a picture of their attitudes towards participation in governance. It was found that lay members are most commonly "middleaged, middle-class, males", although women are more frequently found in college councils. Lay members believe that they are chosen because of their successful backgrounds, their administrative skills, and their ability to reflect general community values. They do not believe they are constrained in their participation by specific community interests. They act as independent critical, individuals. Some areas of difficulty were identified, particularly the problem of finding sufficient time to learn thoroughly the nature of complex institutions, and to participate on an equal footing with staff members of councils. It is asserted that the assumptions underlying lay participation remain broadly unquestioned, even at a time of significant change in the wide process of planning and control of post-secondary education. The relevance of this to the innovations in the A.C.T. school system is suggested.

This study set out to document and compare differences in career paths and career aspirations between women and men primary school teachers in the ACT. The study wished to confirm in the ACT, the kinds of differences between career patterns well documented elsewhere and to go beyond this to an exploration of why these differences persist and the implications of them. A questionnaire with factual items on teachers' career backgrounds and open-ended questions on teachers' attitudes was sent to a random sample of teachers in ACT government primary schools within the four cells made by the two dichotomous criteria of women and men, promoted and non-promoted. Data was tallied, categorized, and despite the small sample, statistically significant differences were found: Women take more and different kinds of leave; women teach the younger children but have greater teaching experience across the grades; in terms of intending to stay in their career, women have a greater commitment to teaching than men. Women are more negative towards promotion and express career ambition in professionally oriented terms, i.e. in terms of children and teaching. Men, particularly those promoted, express career ambitions in extrinsic, promotional terms. Women have high career satisfaction; promoted men are the most dissatisfied. In contrast with promoted men, non-promoted men come from metropolitan areas and have less extrinsic and more child-centred career aspirations. Teachers' attitudes to grades were studied: grades 5/6 were the most sought after for promotional purposes, had the highest status yet were considered to be relatively easy to teach. The early years had least value in promotional terms, lower status and were the most difficult to teach. The system needs to re-appraise definitions and assumptions about teachers' careers in general and women's role as a commited group of professional teachers. Teachers disinterested in conventional career ambitions, most of whom are women, are undervalued while decision-making is in the hands of non-practicioners in male-dominated heirarchical structures.