MASTER OF TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Contact 30 Contact 30 hours for internal mode students. External mode students can expect a workload of approximately
240 hours per semester.
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• understand ways in which managers operate in organisations adopting a learning orientation;
• appreciate the need for well articulated programs (and policies) and be able to develop them;
• demonstrate an understanding of how evaluation can assist with the development and design of a new program, or monitoring and consolidation of an existing program; and
• review the impact of a given program in terms of its effects on the organisation as a whole.
Content: The subject is based on an assumption that leaders and managers need timely, systematic information for use in decision-making about programs (and policies) for which they are responsible. The focus is on internal evaluations within organisations (for example schools, government agencies and businesses) which have adopted a learning organisation focus. Students will be exposed to program planning techniques such as Logical Framework Analysis, program logic, and evaluability assessment.
Other topics include evaluative techniques to develop and improve programs. These include: needs assessment;
translation of policy into local action; development of policy from innovative practice; and various approaches to implementation including action research. Students will be exposed to a range of data management approaches and reporting, via case studies used during class sessions.
Assessment: Development of a systematic program design (2000 words) and development of an evaluation plan (4000 words).
481-812 QUALITATIVE METHODS IN EVALUATION Offered: Either Parkville campus or external (on-line) mode, Semester 2
Special requirements: External mode students must have access to the required computing and Internet facilities, as detailed on the site address
www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/courses/postgraduatecourses Credit points: 25
Staff: Rosalind Hurworth
Contact 30 hours for internal mode students. External mode students can expect a workload of approximately 240 hours per semester.
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• understand how evaluation questions and appropriate data management techniques are linked;
• select and apply a range of key qualitative data collection techniques; and
• undertake simple qualitative management and analysis of small-scale data sets.
Content: Approaches to the collection, display and analysis of qualitative data in education and social program evaluation will be examined using current evaluations as models. Topics will include: orientations to, and criticisms of, qualitative approaches; planning qualitative data collection using particular strategies and methods of data collection (such as interviews, focus groups, participant observation, case study, literature and document analysis, and the use of visual media); the use of systematic methods of data reduction, display and content analysis (using both hand methods and appropriate computer packages); and issues of the reliability and validity of conclusions drawn from qualitative analysis. Methods by which qualitative evaluation findings can be reported to various audiences will also be considered.
Assessment: Two assignments equivalent to 3000 words (50 per cent each).
481-813 QUANTITATIVE METHODS IN EVALUATION Offered: Either Parkville campus or external (on-line) mode, Semester 1
Special requirements: External mode students must have access to the required computing and Internet 108 Postgraduate & Masters Level Courses
facilities, as detailed on the site address
www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/courses/postgraduatecourses Credit points: 25
Staff: Neil Day and Gerald Elsworth
Contact: 30 hours for internal mode students. External mode students can expect a workload of approximately 240 hours per semester.
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• demonstrate an understanding of the role played by quantitative data in program evaluations;
• demonstrate an understanding of the concepts which inform the collection and analysis of quantitative data in evaluation;
• demonstrate skills in the construction of data collection instruments;
demonstrate skills in the use of standard computer packages to perform descriptive and inferential data analysis; and
• prepare displays and reports of quantitative analysis for evaluation purposes.
Content: The course is based upon an examination of various methods of collection, display and analysis of quantitative data. Topics will include: design of
quantitative research strategies consistent with evaluation objectives; sampling; development and testing of data collection instruments; issues of reliability and validity;
data processing; some descriptive and inferential methods of statistical analysis including multi-variate techniques;
the use of standard micro computer packages for data management and analysis; the complementary use of qualitative and quantitative data in evaluation; and methods by which uni- and multi-variate quantitative data can be displayed and reported to various audiences.
Assessment Three exercises of 1000 words (10 per cent each) and an exercise of approximately 3000 words (70 per cent).
Prescribed Text: Bryman. A and Cramer D. Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS for Windows. Routledge Kegan Paul, London, 1997. Pedhazer, E. J and Pedhazer S.L Measurement, Design and Analysis: An Integrated Approach. Lawrence Earlbaum, Hillsome NJ, 1991.
481-814 EVALUATION PROJECT
Offered: Either Parkville campus or external (on-line) mode, Semester 1 or 2
Special requirements: External mode students must have access to the required computing and Internet facilities, as detailed on the site address
www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/courses/postgraduatecourses Credit points: 25
Staff: Rosalind Hurworth Contact: Individual supervision
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to undertake, under supervision, an evaluation study from planning to completion.
Content Designed to enable students in the Postgraduate Diploma in Evaluation to apply knowledge acquired in previous subjects in the Diploma to a social or educational problem. It is likely that students will apply this knowledge to a Project of relevance to them in the workplace. The
substantive content will vary depending on the nature of the project. All students will be expected to use process skills such as: negotiating the evaluation, managing information, using appropriate communication skills, and being aware of political agendas amongst clients.
Assessment: An evaluation report of approximately 12,000 words (100 per cent).
481-815 SURVEY DESIGN AND ANALYSIS
Offered: Either Parkville Campus Semester 2, or external (on-site by negotiation) mode, Semester 1 or 2
Prerequisite: 481-813 Quantitative Methods in Evaluation Credit points: 25
Staff: Gerry Ellsworth, Neil Day Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject, students shoudl be able to:
• demonstrate an understanding of the salient theoretical, statistical and practical issues In sample survey design, administration and analysis as they relate to policy research in education contexts;
• demonstrate competence in the analysis of data from complex surveys, using statistical software such as SPSS, SUDAAN and MLn;
• design a policy-related educational survey appropriate to the needs and decision-making context of their own country or local region;
• draw appropriate inferences and policy
recommendations from the results of sample surveys and prepare reports of survey studies for various audiences.
Content: The focus of this subject is on current theory of sample survey design and analysis and its practical application to national and local-level education surveys conducted in a policy context. Topics to be covered will encompass the range of concepts and skills necessary to complete successfully a large-scale survey. They include:
the appropriateness of surveys In various decision-making contexts; sampling frames; simple and complex sample designs and the design effect; consideration of sample size from statistical and field operations points of view;
questionnaires as structured communications; field-work strategies; data analysis for complex surveys Including the use of specialised computer packages; reporting the results of survey research to maximise understanding and Impact; • policy implications of poor survey design and inappropriate data analysis.
Assessment: Four brief practical exercises of 750 words (12.5 per cent each); an exercise of 3,000 words (50 per cent) concerning aspects of the design and analysis of a policy-related survey in the student's local context.
482-603 SOCIAL DIVISION AND THE CURRICULUM This subject Is not offered in 1999
Offered: Parkville campus Credit points: 25
Staff: Peter Dwyer, Johanna Wyn Contact: 30 hours
Postgraduate & Masters Level Courses 109
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• describe and analyse the relationship between the patterns of wealth, power, status and influence in society and inequalities in schooling; and
• describe and explain the main educational responses to perceived social and educational disadvantage.
Content: A study of the educational disadvantage in historical context issue, using literature from the US, UK and Australia to identify factors leading to the emergence of educational inequalities, and to discuss the main responses to such inequality. Contemporary theories on the maintenance of educational inequality and their policy implications will be examined.
Assessment: Two reaction papers of 600 words each on two of the readings (20 per cent); and a paper of 4800 words (80 per cent).
482-604 ETHICS AND CRITICAL INQUIRY IN EDUCATION
This subject is not offered in 1999 Offered: Parkville campus Credit points: 25 Staff: Sue Wilks Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• display an understanding of contemporary theory and practice around the areas of critical thinking,
philosophical inquiry and professional ethics;
• analyse contemporary critiques of educational practice concerning measuring the development of thinking skills and managing ethical issues; and
• identify a range of approaches which qualitatively evaluate critical thinking.
Content: An examination of the links between
contemporary educational practice in the area of the formal and informal teaching of critical thinking, and the
development of social competencies. Projects and activities which have a direct application for teachers and their classes will be an important focus.
Assessment: Prepare and present a minor essay or a seminar paper equivalent to 2000 words (40 per cent); and prepare a major assignment of approximately 4000 words related to the stated objectives of the course (60 per cent).
482-610 HISTORY OF WOMEN'S EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
Offered: Parkville campus, Semester 1 Credit points: 25
Staff: Marjorie Theobald Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• demonstrate a deeper understanding of education issues in the present;
• understand the historical relationship between the role of women, ideological notions about women, and educational provision for women;
• demonstrate an understanding of the way in which historians conceptualise, research and write about the past, with particular emphasis on the history of women; and
• locate, retrieve and interpret historical records which will enable them to implement programs in Australian history, Australian studies, women's studies, and family and local history projects in the classroom.
Content: Topics include: the historical origins of the single-sex/co-education debate; the evolution of the gendered curriculum; the history of women teachers, including the Catholic teaching orders, and the experiences of women in the nineteenth Century state school systems.
Assessment: A research project of 6000 words, or an essay of equivalent length. (100 per cent)
482-61S AUSTRALIAN SCHOOLS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
This subject is not offered in 1999
This subject may not be undertaken by students who have already completed 495-615 Australian Culture and Higher Education.
Offered: Parkville campus Credit points: 25 Staff: Marjorie Theobald Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• understand in historical perspective issues in public policy in education in colonial and twentieth century Australia;
• understand how historians conceptualise, research and write about the past.
Content: An exploration of major issues in the history of public policy in education: church and state relationships;
the evolution of the teaching profession and the changing nature of teachers' work; historical models of authority and leadership; and the rise of education bureaucracies; the emergence of universal secondary education; and equity and gender issues in historical perspective.
Assessment: An essay of 6000 words (100 per cent).
482-620 EVALUATION THEORY Offered: Parkville campus, Semester 2 Credit points: 25
Staff: Gerald Elsworth Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• demonstrate an understanding of the various purposes and characteristics of educational and social programs;
• demonstrate skills in the analysis of program rationales to ascertain underlying theoretical and practical assumptions;
• demonstrate an understanding of the theories of knowledge that underpin various evaluation approaches
• understand and apply the various conceptions of validity (plausibility, credibility etc.) as they apply to different evaluation approaches;
• critically appraise competing evaluation approaches and models; and
• develop their own theory of evaluation practice through a systematic discussion of emerging theoretical issues in the field.
110 Postgraduate & Masters Level Courses
Content: Deriving from a conception of evaluation as explanatory social inquiry, this subject encourages the systematic analysis and application to evaluation practice of three facets of evaluation theory; knowledge
construction in evaluation; program theory; and theories of valuing (including ethical issues in evaluation). From the analysis, it is anticipated that students will develop a coherent theory of evaluation practice relevant to their own professional context. Extensive use will be made of a range of writing from the major evaluation theorists as well as original evaluation reports from the fields of education, health and social welfare.
Assessment Two papers of 1500 words (25 per cent each);
and an evaluation proposal of 3000 words (50 per cent).
Prescribed texts: Shadish WR, Cook TD and Leviton LC Foundations of Program Evaluation: Theories of Practice, Sage, Newbury Park CA 1990. Pawson R. and Tilley N.
Realistic Evaluation. Sage, London, 1990
482ó21 INFORMATION USE IN CHANGE MANAGEMENT Offered: Either Parkville campus or external (on-line) mode, Semester 2
Special requirements: External mode students must have access to the required computing and Internet facilities, as detailed on the site address
www.edfac.unimelb.edu.au/courses/postgraduatecourses Credit points: 25
Staff: John Owen
Contact: 30 hours for internal mode students. External mode students can expect a workload of approximately 240 hours per semester.
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should have acquired:
• an understanding of the fundamentals of dissemination theory;
• an awareness of various meanings of knowledge utilisation;
• skills necessary to analyse dissemination and utilisation patterns in organisations and systems; and
• skills necessary to devise effective dissemination and utilisation strategies in organisations and systems.
Content: Ways in which Information Is accessed and used in organisations such as schools, government departments and local agencies. Meanings of policy and program implementation and factors affecting Implementation are reviewed. Evaluation utilization is examined within the broader context of information sources in decision making.
Topics include: types of knowledge including working, craft, local, research and evaluation knowledge, and their use by individuals and organisations; meanings of knowledge utilisation such as conceptual and instrumental use; key concepts in change theory such as adoption,
implementation, dissemination and diffusion; internal and external dissemination; factors affecting the spread and use of new knowledge particularly research and evaluation based knowledge; roles and limitations of research and evaluation in promoting change; case studies of effective dissemination and use of new knowledge in Australian settings.
Assessment: An investigation 6,000 words (100 per cent) or develop a dissemination and/or utilisation plan 6,000 words (100 per cent).
482-628 PUBLIC, PRIVATE AND CATHOLIC SCHOOLING IN POSTWAR VICTORIA Offered: Parkville campus, Semester 2 Credit points: 25
Staff: Richard Teese Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject, students should be able to:
• demonstrate an understanding of the major dimensions of educational change affecting government and non- government systems in Australia;
• be able to critically apply an understanding of
explanations of educational change to Australian school systems; and
• show an understanding of methodological and
theoretical Issues in studying the performance of school systems over time.
Content: A review of key issues in the history of
secondary education in Victoria in the post-war years. The aim is to examine major changes in the three principal sectors - the transformation of Catholic secondary education, the modernization of private non-catholic schooling, and the creation of a mass system of public secondary education. School histories, case studies, system monographs, policy documents, and research papers provide the materials to study changes in how government and non-government systems have operated, how well they have operated, and for which client groups.
Students will be encouraged to draw on their professional experience as appropirate and to focus on Issues In one sector, while developing a wider theoretical perspective on educational changes affecting the whole system.
Assessment: One 4,000 word paper and one 2,000 word paper to be written up from a seminar presentation.
482-629 EDUCATION, GENDER AND SOCIAL THEORY Offered: Parkville campus, Semester 1
Credit points: 25 Staff: Johanna Wyn Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• demonstrate an understanding of major changes In the conceptualisation of equal opportunity issues since 1975;
• demonstrate an understanding of a number of major positions within feminist theory; and
• demonstrate a capacity to apply theoretical Insights from feminist and social theory to think critically about contemporary policy and practice in the field of equal opportunity in education for women and girls.
Content: An examination of the major shifts which have occurred In feminist theory from the early 1970's until the present day. It also draws on the broader field of recent social theory to examine critically some of these dilemmas in contemporary feminist theory.
Assessment: An essay of 6000 words (100 per cent).
Postgraduate & Masters Level Courses 111
482-630 CITIZENSHIP AND EDUCATION POLICY This subject is not offered in 1999
Offered: Parkville campus Credit points: 25 Staff: Bob Semmens Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• relate the concept of citizenship to structures of power, authority and social justice in pluralist democratic societies;
• make comparative analyses of education policies and their capacity to prepare of students for responsible citizenship in a democratic society;
• relate eduction policy to school management and teaching practice;
• relate student responsibility in school decision-making to citizenship in the wider community;
• develop a school discipline policy within the framework of school goals;
• identify the school processes which include some students and exclude others from membership of the school community;
• propose strategies that will enable all students to manage their own affairs responsibly.
Content: This subject begins with a review of the global context for understanding responsibilities of citizenship.
The meaning of citizenship in a democratic society is then discussed, especially the role of the school in preparing students for citizenship. This is followed by an analysis of sample school charters, to identify educational goals and the consistency between educational goals; curriculum content, school organisation, and code of conduct.
Comparisons are made between primary, secondary and special schools in the public and private sectors. Common barriers to student autonomy are discussed in the process of proposing a school management style that will facilitate students taking increasing responsibility for their studies, decisions and relationships within the school community.
Assessment: A paper of 6000 words (100 per cent).
Prescribed Texts: Ahier, J. & Ross, A. (Eds) (1995) The Social Subjects within the Curriculum: Children's Social Learning in the National Curriculum, Falmer, London, 1995. McIntyre, S. (Chair) Civics and Citizenship, Report of the Civics Expert Group, Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1994.
482-631 POLICY AND MANAGEMENT FOR ALIENATED STUDENTS
Offered: Parkville campus, Semester 1 Credit points: 25
Staff: Bob Semmens Contact: 30 hours
Objectives: On completing this subject students will be able to:
• identify alienating processes in school and community;
• analyse the role of the school in selected models of youth alienation;
• evaluate the potential of education and training programs for alienated students to re-join mainstream school and community life.
Content: Processes of alienation will be studied for their particular effects on individual, family, cultural, economic or other aspects of participation in the life of the community.
Case studies of homeless youth, Aboriginal youth, students with disabilities, young offenders, ethnic minorities and low-achieving students will be studied for their respective emphasis on schooling factors such as teacher-student relationships, peer relationships, curriculum design, assessment procedures and outcomes. These case studies will also be analysed for their capacity to give direction to policy and management for alienated students. Then current programs for 'at risk' strudents will be studied in the light of policy and management direction proposed by the class. Finally, special education and training programs for particular groups of alienated students will be studied for their capacity to re-integrate into mainstream schooling, employment or further education. This exercise will conclude with development of education policy and management proposals for removing barriers to participation in the mainstream community.
Assessment: A paper of 6000 words (100 per cent).
Prescribed Texts: White, R. (Ed) Youth Subcultures:
Theory, History and the Australian Experince, Hobart, National Clearinghouse for Youth Studies, Hobart, 1993 482-632 STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT This subject is only available to students in the Master of Educational Management
Offered: Parkville Campus Semester 1 or 2 or external (on-line) mode of delivery
Credit Points: 12.5 points Staff: Brian Caldwell Contact: 18 hours
Objectives: On completion of this subject students should be able to:
• identify and analyse forces shaping developments in the education and training environment,
• locally, nationally and internationally, and discern their impact in the fields and settings of professional interest;
• describe and critically appraise structures and processes adopted by organisations in education and training to set directions, establish priorities and formulate policies in response to such forces; and
• plan the design and utilisation of related techniques in the exercise of strategic leadership and management in fields and settings of professional interest.
Content: Forces shaping developments in education and training in national and international settings;
globalisation; strategic leadership; models for strategic management including strategic planning,
entrepreneurship, strategic thinking and marketing;
workplace change.
Assessment: Papers totalling 5,000 words that demonstrate achievement of objectives in settings of professional interest.
Prescribed Texts: Green, A. Education, Globalization anf the Nation State, Macmillan, 1997. Van der Heijden, K.
Scerj ios: The Art of Strategi
rÿ
onversation. Wiley, 1997.112 Postgraduate & Masters Level Courses