The phrase “middle schooling” refers to the school setting for adolescent students generally between the ages of 11 and 15 years of age (Lawton, 1999). This period of time has been recognized on a national level as being particularly significant in education. A call for reform in upper primary and lower secondary to address the understanding of adolescents in a complex and changing society has been recognized publicly at a federal and state level (Lawton, 1999). This research evaluates the redesign of one middle school’s structure through the implementation of a vertical curriculum in a catholic secondary college in a country town. The program has been in place for three years in the college and the need to evaluate it takes on significance for the college itself, and the wider educational community who have been discussing and researching middle school curriculum design for a number of years. Research methodology takes the form of attitudinal questionnaires administered to parents, students and staff in the college. Quantitative analysis using descriptive statistics is used for closed questions to look for significant differences between the parent, student and teacher attitude towards the philosophy and delivery of the vertical structure. One-way ANOVA and MANOVA analysis revealed that parents, students and staff were all supportive of the new structure and its driving philosophies, although parents scored significantly higher on the scales examined than staff or students. Correlations and Chi Square analysis were applied to selected scales, revealing overall that the outcomes of the vertical curriculum are being met. A number of areas were also identified as needing improvement, with areas of emphasis differing for the parent, staff and student groups in the community.

For the first time in the ACT, Social Psychology was introduced as a discrete course of study at Hawker College in 1976. Its implementation represented some eight months of research. This field study reports part of the course and its evaluation, and it comes in two distinct segments: the detailed content of the first third of the course (i.e. the first two units of a six-unit course) and its part-evaluation. The term, 'part-evaluation' was chosen with care. It serves two meanings: firstly, it refers to an evaluation of part of the social psychology course, and secondly, it indicates that the evaluation was completed by a novice, who is not qualified to investigate and operationalise either a comprehensive, or a thorough and controlled, evaluation of the units. The field study is produced in six chapters. The first provides a backcloth, as it were, to the emergence of social psychology as a discipline of study at Hawker College. The second chapter continues the theme, and it presents social psychology in a historical perspective, and it outlines the mechanism which eventually effected the implementation of the course at Hawker College. The third chapter analyses social psychology as a body of knowledge in the light of recent curriculum philosophy. The detailed content of Units 1 and 2 form the fourth chapter. Chapter 5 is lengthy, and it addresses itself to the part-evaluation process, and in so doing, makes use of Robert Stake's 'countenance model', and in particular, to his three major components: antecedents, transactions, and actual outcomes. The first part of the chapter, however, introduces the concept of evaluation and the particular stance taken towards it by the author. The last two chapters, in turn, report the major findings of the partevaluation, and relate them to the literature. This field study serves the major purpose of providing the initial research for a full and comprehensive evaluation of the social psychology course which will be conducted in the third term of 1978. (See 6.3 and 6.4).

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.