This qualitative research study aimed to identify, through classroom observation and conversation, some characteristics of children’s spirituality in Australian Catholic primary schools. In the context of this study, spirituality was described as an essential human trait. While much of the recent literature in the field describes spirituality in terms of connectedness and relationality, in this study spirituality was described as a movement towards Ultimate Unity (de Souza, 2004a, 2004b), whereby at the deepest and widest levels of connectedness, an individual’s true Self may experience unity with Other. Spirituality was also described as the outward expression of such unity in terms of how one acts towards Other. Located within the constructionist epistemology, and in taking its philosophical stance from interpretivism, this qualitative study took its theoretical impetus from that stream of human science known as hermeneutic phenomenology. The videotaped life expressions of two groups of approximately six children in Year three (8-years-olds) and Year five (10-years-olds) in each of three Australian Catholic primary schools formed the texts that were reflected upon in order to gain insight into the spirituality of these children. The researcher met with each group on three occasions. Each group meeting, consisting of a semi-structured interview (conversation) and an activity (observation) was structured around the three categories of spiritual sensitivity – awareness sensing, mystery sensing and value sensing – as proposed by Hay and Nye (1998). van Manen’s (1990) lifeworld existentials were drawn upon as guides to reflection upon the life expressions of these children. Hermeneutic phenomenological reflection upon the texts of this present study identified four characteristics of these children’s spirituality – the felt sense, integrating awareness, weaving the threads of meaning, and spiritual questing. As well, two factors which appeared to inhibit these children’s expression of their spirituality were also identified – material pursuit and trivialising. Each of the four characteristics identified reflected the descriptions of spirituality drawn upon throughout this study, particularly the notion of spirituality as a movement towards Ultimate Unity (de Souza, 2004a, 2004b). In some instances, these characteristics also revealed the emergence of the Collective Self, in which the individual Self of each child became unified with every other Self among the group of children. It was argued then, that a movement towards Ultimate Unity may entail the emergence of a Collective Self, in which, at the deepest and widest levels of connectedness, Self and Other become one and the same. The two inhibiting factors indicated that such a movement was thwarted in that these factors prevented the children from moving beyond their superficial self towards deeper levels of connectedness. As the result of this investigation, this present study proposed some recommendations for learning and teaching in the primary religious education classroom which may nurture spirituality. These include the creation of appropriate spaces for nurturing spirituality, allowing children time to engage in the present moment of their experience, the use of tactile experiences in religious education, and the need to begin with the children’s personally created frameworks of meaning. A learning model for addressing the spiritual, affective and cognitive dimensions of the curriculum has also been offered as a means by which to realise these recommendations for learning and teaching. As well, recommendations for the personal and professional learning of teachers and leaders in Catholic primary schools who seek to nurture the spirituality of their students have also been proposed in light of the characteristics of children’s spirituality that were identified. These include the formation and professional learning for teachers of religious education, and the possibility of revisioning the curriculum to explore where spiritual development might be addressed across the curriculum.

The research intention is to identify the characteristics of an ecologically sustainable contemporary Catholic primary school and the conditions that support the development of such a school community. The literature review showed there is a clear mandate from the Catholic Church to consider ecological conversion as integral to its evangelising mission, a mission that is at the heart of Catholic education, including the school. An extensive body of educational literature, including philosophy of education and curriculum frameworks, identified environmental awareness and responsibility as mandatory outcomes for all students. The literature study defined and described ecological conversion, sustainable education, environmental education and related conceptual understandings. The literature study also provided examples of strategies to guide the strategic implementation of these understandings within the total learning program of a school. From examples found in the literature, a framework, Steps in Becoming an Environmentally Active Catholic Primary School, incorporating the specifically Catholic religious dimension, was developed by the researcher to provide benchmarks and indicators against which a school’s progress in journeying towards ecological sustainability could be evaluated. This qualitative, constructionist study incorporated some elements of Grounded Theory in gathering and analysing data from within two Australian Catholic primary case study schools recognised for their commitment and good practice in sustainable education. From the analysis of the data gathered through interviews, focus groups and participant observation, the distinctive characteristics of the two schools were identified and their stage of development evaluated against the framework Steps in Becoming an Environmentally Active Catholic Primary School. In addition, the factors that had supported school development and the factors that were barriers to that development were named. From the study, conclusions about the nature of an ecologically sustainable Catholic primary school were drawn and recommendations made about how best to support the development of such a school.

The aim of this research was to examine the perceptions of principals, literacy co-ordinators and teachers on the implementation of Children’s Literacy Success Strategy (CLaSS) as a literacy and professional development strategy and their insights for future literacy innovation. CLaSS is a whole-school and sector approach to literacy for the early years of schooling. Introduced in 1998 to Catholic primary schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, schools implementing CLaSS were supported by a professional development model throughout the implementation. CLaSS introduced to many schools a two-hour daily literacy block, data-driven instruction and the incorporation of professional learning teams within the professional development model. Eleven participants from two Catholic primary schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne formed a case study for this research. The participants’ perceptions were captured qualitatively and viewed interpretively based on a phenomenological approach. The research had significant findings. Participants endorsed the literacy strategy and the professional development model as an effective approach. In particular, the findings identified that the professional learning teams played a key role in developing and maintaining a culture of learning within the literacy team. This culture of learning assisted in improving learning outcomes for their students. While there was an endorsement of CLaSS, the findings also showed that there were some significant issues raised by participants. This included issues in professional development and student achievement in the areas of comprehension and writing. The findings indicated that professional understanding and student improvement in these areas were not as developed as those for decoding words in reading. Participants also indicated that assessment of student writing was limited by the absence of sector-wide assessment of different genres and, therefore, they were not confident in measuring student improvement in writing. The findings also identified some areas of difficulty within the professional development model, such as catering for individual learning styles and the addition of new team members to the literacy team. The findings indicated that for future literacy innovation, participants would prefer an approach that encompassed literacy and teacher development across the whole school. Based on the participants’ responses, the research also provided recommendations and suggestions for further research in literacy. The recommendations included examining ways in which oral language and new literacies could have more prominence in the literacy block and providing a sector approach to assessment and specific professional development on comprehension and writing. The recommendations also suggested further research could be conducted as to ascertain the extent to which teachers require further professional development in comprehension and writing, how oral language is developed in other schools, and whether leadership has been the significant factor in sustaining the success of the literacy strategy.

Occupational stress among teachers is a painful, prevalent and costly phenomenon, one which impacts on individuals, families, schools and wider society. A growing body of evidence suggests that individuals' susceptibility to occupational stress is not determined exclusively by environmental or personality factors, but by the cognitive and behavioural transactions between the individual and potentially stressful events. Two major factors which contribute to individual stress are a person's appraisal of events as threatening or demanding, and the strategies they use in coping with those events. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between experience, stress levels and coping patterns in a group of primary school teachers. Two groups of teachers were surveyed, 'Starters' who were in their first year of teaching and 'Stayers' who had at least 10 years of teaching experience. Stayers were divided, on the basis of their responses, into Low-stress, Moderate-stress and High-stress groups. The aspects of coping which were explored are: 1. The range of coping strategies used by teachers in each group, 2. The frequency of use of those coping strategies for each group, and 3. The coping styles preferred by teachers in each group. The results of this study show no direct connexion between stress level and any of the demographic variables (sex, age, religion, piety, teaching experience, full-time teaching, part-time teaching and time away from teaching). Nor are significant differences found between the coping patterns of more or less experienced and more or less stress teachers. A pattern is suggested by correlational analysis, wherein inexperienced teachers (Starters) and highly-stressed experienced teachers (High-stress Stayers) show the same preference for coping styles. It is hypothesized that this similarity of preference relates to role of control in reducing stress, and that these groups are examples of different stages of adaptation to teaching. Implications for the use of these preferences in detecting teacher stress, and for the inclusion of coping strategies in teacher training are discussed.

The study's primary purpose was, through the recorded observations of a Regional Education Officer (REO) working in Catholic primary schools over eighteen months, to draw out implications for local and central administrators for the maintenance and improvement of the schools' quality. Of particular interest was the question that since the schools were Catholic schools, would or should this make any significant difference to these implications. A secondary purpose of the study was the clarification and articulation for myself of what the main elements of the REO role might best be in practice. Analysis of diary entries and relevant Catholic Education Office documents was based on the writer's fundamental assumption that the merits of educational administrative decisions and actions should be judged in relation to the benefit these are to teachers and their students. The main conclusions of the study were: i) that the recognition by administrators of the special qualities of the personal and interpersonal relationships existing in schools would assist administrators in maintaining and developing the schools' quality; ii) that the religious faith aspect of the ideals of a Catholic school adds a deeper dimension to the special qualities of the personal and interpersonal relationships which are common to schools; iii) that such are the demands by staffs of schools for support and assistance, that the only ones who can realistically meet the bulk of such demands are staffs themselves, supporting and assisting each other through some form of regular collegial system; iv) that schools are more non-rational than rational organizations, and hence an emphasis on bureaucratic administrative processes will be detrimental to schools' effectiveness.

Within Brisbane Catholic Education (BCE) the 1999 HPE syllabus was implemented between 1999 and 2001. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the implementation of the 1999 Queensland HPE syllabus in three BCE primary schools of varying enrolment numbers. The research problem is:.How developed is the implementation of the new HPE syllabus in BCE schools?. The data collection was guided by the following research questions:- How are teachers in these BCE schools implementing the HPE curriculum documents? What readily accessible resources do schools have to assist with the implementation of Health and Physical Education?. What are teachers. perceptions with regard to the HPE Key Learning Area? What are the children.s perceptions of the HPE Key Learning Area? What implementation strategies are required to optimize HPE practices in BCE schools? This study is significant for the feedback it may provide to BCE of the HPE syllabus implementation process and in informing BCE of the current status of the HPE key learning area within a sample of systemic Catholic primary schools. The findings have the potential to contribute to the BCE Strategic Renewal Framework currently occurring within BCE schools for all curriculum areas and planned for completion by the end of 2006. This research has been designed within a constructionist paradigm. An interpretivist study was conducted employing symbolic interactionism. This qualitative, interpretive study is most appropriate as meanings were constructed. The case study methodology was chosen to construct meaning through capturing the context of each school. The sites for the three case studies involved: one small sized BCE primary school (less than 200 students); one medium sized BCE primary school (200 - 400 students); and one large sized BCE primary school (over 400 students). The participants included teachers and students from the respective schools. The data gathering strategies used were; semi-structured and focus group interviews, reflective journal note taking, observations, questionnaire and document analysis. The research concluded that factors which led to the decline in Australian HPE during the 1980s and early 1990s may have contributed to impeding the implementation challenges formulated by BCE. This was evidenced within the three BCE primary schools by unequal allocation of teaching resources, equipment, facilities, HPE teachers and HPE teacher release time for sports coordination. It appears that the implementation process ceased prematurely before all schools had had sufficient time and preparation to design whole school HPE programs. Teachers lacked understandings of practical ways to implement the social justice underpinnings of the syllabus and some school principals were unaware of the necessity of employing qualified HPE specialist teachers. The research revealed that school principals play a significant role in the implementation of the 1999 HPE syllabus, a role made more imperative by the absence of BCE HPE Curriculum Officers and systemic HPE professional development. Therefore, the HPE key learning area requires further system level support and attention so that the 1999 HPE syllabus can be implemented successfully in all BCE primary schools, enabling curriculum change to occur.

This study examines the articulated vision of a new Catholic primary school in order to describe and assess its developing organisational culture. The following questions provide the major focus of the study: I How and to what extent does the Vision Statement describe the developing Catholic school culture at St Clare of Assisi Primary School? 2. What are the common beliefs and values underlying the Vision Statement at St Clare of Assisi Primary School? A review of the literature reveals that many educational researchers stress the importance of schools developing a strong, coordinated, cohesive and positive culture. The need for this culture to be based on a clearly articulated vision, embodying shared values and beliefs is also indicated and this provides the rationale for the study. A number of frameworks for school culture are examined and adapted to develop a conceptual framework for the study. The resulting Model for Developing Catholic School Culture provides a structure which enables collected data to be sorted and analysed, so that the research questions can be addressed. This study utilises the methodology of ethnographic research. Data collection strategies include participant observation, interviews, surveys, and other sources including school records and documents, photographs, artefacts and memorabilia. The findings are organised under five headings, each of which represents a belief articulated in the school's Vision Statement. These beliefs are examined to see how they are enacted verbally, visually and behaviourally by the school community Conclusions are drawn as to the relevance of the Vision Statement to the school community Other significant values and beliefs evident from an examination of the data are also identified The study concludes that the Vision Statement effectively describes the developing culture of the school for there is congruence between its beliefs and actions. What emerges of particular significance from this study is the importance of a school community articulating a shared vision. A school's Vision Statement serves a dual purpose It is the filter which allows the shared beliefs and values of the school community to be articulated, while at the same time serving as a scaffold for checking if these shared beliefs and values are being enacted by the community.

This study is, in effect, the compilation and the telling of the story of the establishment of the school of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception at Sunshine, it seeks to add to the quantum of knowledge available in regard to: First - the story of that particular school's establishment, Second - its derivation from and contribution to the \vider context of the development of Catholic education in Victoria, and Third - its place in the story of the growth of a suburban community as a reflection of some of the social forces which were operating in Victoria at that time. This thesis is the result of an invitation by the writer to a number of people to collaborate in constructing the storf. These people ranged from those who, as children, attended the new school, and those whose experience of its establishment was a generation removed but who, nevertheless. claim an affinity ,with the school and its society, to those archivists, professional and otherwise, whose task or desire is to keep alive the historical foundations of our culture. It this thesis is attached to any particular school of historiography it would be closest to the Annales school as outlined in The Living Past: Western Historiographical Traditions (1975). As Andrea and Schmokel describe it, The labors of love of a group of historians associated with the journal Les Annales have produced a wealth of informative detail studies about the life styles, living standards, social values and assumptions about various social groups in all periods of French and European history. (This school) simply seeks to recover knowledge about the past as it was lived. (p.266) In the light of postmodern criticism developed since 1975, this thesis acknowledges directly the ideological base from which the author is coming. Nevertheless, it remains within the orbit of Annales historiography in that it seeks to

Thesis (DEd)--University of Melbourne, Graduate School of Education, 2010. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (p. 337-353)