In this thesis I propose to address what are, in my
view, significant educational problems: how to tease out
and analyse those principles, concerning equity and social
justice, which underlie a particular program of teacher education. I want to discuss the kinds of principles,
issues and considerations which have to be faced when
designing such a program as the Diploma of Teaching (Early
Childhood Education) for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander students at James Cook University. The issues I
will address are these:
(a) The extent to which the notion of equality of
educational opportunity is being addressed in the
provision of teacher-education programs in
Queensland in general, and James Cook University in
particular; (chapter 1).
(b) Ways in which the Diploma of Teaching (Early
Childhood Education) p r o g r am aims to produce
teachers able to act as agents of bi-cultural
transmission; (chapters 2 and 3).
(c) The value, usefulness and desirability of James
Cook University setting up a teacher-education
program specifically for Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander students from geographically remote
communities, thus increasing the participation
rates of Aborigines and Islanders in teacher-education programs; (chapters 4 and 5).
This process of analysis has led me to structure the
thesis around three dimensions:
(i) The historical context of the program;
(ii) The program as one response to the problems
faced by educational institutions in meeting
the educational needs of Aboriginal people;
(iii) A basis for the next phase in the development
of new programs of teacher - education for
indigenous students living in remote
communities.
This is a qualitative research project, based on my
interpretation of available documentation, my use of
relevant literature, and my own involvement as planner of,
and teacher in the program. It is not a quantitative
research project. The structure of the thesis has, as its
introduction, an analysis of the extremely complex situation
which exists at James Cook University. This analysis leads
to a search for a set of principles to provide the
theoretical underpinning of the program, which in turn leads
through a combination of theory and practice to the "praxis"
of the program as a model of equity and educational practice
in teacher-education. The thesis is concluded by the
presentation of the current stage in the development of a
program for teacher-education students in remote
communi ties.
The conceptual framework for my thesis has been
developed through my determination to increase my
understanding of the complexities of developing teacher-education
programs for indigenous students at James Cook
University. The thesis is developed through case study
techniques including: personal observation and recording of
my work as Program Planner; a situational analysis of the
historical background, leading up to the development of the
Diploma of Teaching (Early Childhood Education) ; a
discussion of the stages through which the development team
proceeded with intentionality and empathy towards its task
of constructing a specific program of teacher-education; and
my use of existing literature to comprehend the educational
and social problems which the program attemted to
alleviate.
Throughout my thesis the specificity of the "case", and
the eclectic position I have adopted, have acted as
boundaries of my conceptual framework. My thesis attempts
to show that the "case" of the development of teacher-education
programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
students at James Cook University, although an idiosyncratic
instance , is valuable as illumination , if not for
generalisation, and thus has a credibility and usefulness.
The characteristics of the case-study method are
frequently more appropriate to expansion is than
reductionist activities, and I have tried to show how the
different perspectives of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
people, together with the beliefs, attitudes and values of
such different interest-groups as university academics,
Commonwealth and State Education Department bureaucrats, and
teachers and parents in schools, have emphasised both the
importance of questioning assumptions and the importance of
critical, experiential understanding.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219435 |
| Date | January 1988 |
| Creators | Miller, Gregory P., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Gregory P. Miller |
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