The Graduate Diploma of Advanced Studies in Education Is a course which consists of one year full-time study or the equivalent part- time study, which must be completed within the maximum of five years.
The course is also available on an external basis.
Intending applicants who are members of the Victorian Education Department should note that the Board of Studies (Primary) has approved of this course as a further year of study.
Admission Requirements
Applicants must have successfully completed an approved course of teacher training leading to the award of the Diploma of Teaching (Early Childhood) or its equivalent and have taught In a recognised educational institution for a period of not less than two years.
Alms of the Course
The course aims to extend the student's understanding of the bases of educational theory and practice. Though many of the components offered have an early childhood emphasis, this emphasis extends up into the education of children in the lower primary school.
Course Structure
The course comprises thirty 10-hour units of which twenty-four units are prescribed. A range of electives will be offered to cater for students' background knowledge and experiences, present Interests and future plans. Students are required to undertake six units of elective studies.
Content of the Course
Prescribed components: Child Development
Social Contexts of Education
Philosophical Foundations of Education Historical Foundations of Education Research Evaluation
Innovations in Early Childhood Education Elective components: Alienation and Modern Society
Biological Aspects of Development
Current Issues and Controversies in Education Guidance of the A-Typical Child In Kindergarten Music and Young Children
Writing for Children Elements of Poetry Effective English
Which of the above components will be offered will be determined by student demand and staff availability.
Course Details
Brief outlines for the prescribed and elective components are:
CHILD DEVELOPMENT (prescribed) (6 units — 60 contact hours)
Organisation — Lecture/seminars, films, student class papers, student observations of and Interviews with young children and their families. There will be ten sessions each of two hours in each term.
Outline — Modes of scientific enquiry In psychology, theory con- struction, the role of research, major theoretical models (cognitive developmental, learning based, psychoanalytically based, cultural anthro- pological).
An Integrated study of infancy (birth to 18 months): temperament, sensory motor development, the object concept, pre-speech, infant- ,aretaker Interactions, reciprocity, coping devices, attachment am.
separation.
Theories of language development, the growth of vocabulary, acquisition of grammar, language codes, effects of different language environments, language as communication, language and thought, classi- fication of language disorders.
Studies in children's thinking: conversation, classification, egocen- tricity, concepts of causality and life, moral development.
Influences on personality: peer relationships, family structure and dynamics, non-genetic transmission of personality traits, defences and coping styles, socialisation, childhood psychopathology.
Representative reference: Stone, J. et al (eds.), The Competent Infant. Basic Books, N.Y., 1973.
SOCIAL CONTEXTS IN EDUCATION (prescribed) (6 units — 60 contact hours.
Organisation — There will be ten sessions each of two hours In each term. Material Is Illustrated whenever possible. Thus lectures, seminars and discussions are accompanied by a wide range of film and video material.
Outline — This subject aims to extend the teacher's awareness and understanding of the social network within which the individual person develops. It explores the individual's social experience within institu- tions such as the family and the school, and within groups such as the peer group and the neighbourhood. It analyses the socialising Impact of the wider society on the individual and it looks at the Interplay between the society, its institutions and the individual.
The course Is basically sociological insofar as it draws Its source material from the work of sociologists.
The course structure has been designed on the principle of a gradually widening focus. The contexts which are explored begin with the Individual in his primary groups and early In his socialisation process. They widen in scope to explore the relationship betwee,.
the Individual and the school and then a further widening to look at the nature of the relationships between the Individual and his society and the school as an Institution of society.
In Term I focus Is on the Individual's socialisation in his primary groups. In Term II the school, Its social structure, Its culture and its patterns of social Interaction are explored. In Term Ill the nature of Australian society, its major institutions and the Interaction between society, school and person are the areas of study.
Representative reference: Hunt, F. J. (ed.), Socialisation in Aus- tralia. McGraw-Hill, 1977.
PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION (prescribed) (4 units
— 40 contact hours).
Organisation
The course will consist of 20 two-hour lectures/discussions held over two terms of the academic year.
Outline
In the early part of the course students will be introduced to the distinctions between different kinds of education statements and will examine the evidence appropriate to such statements. There will also be a discussion of the justification of value statements and a discussion of subjectivism.
Against this background the following topics will be discussed:
The views and influence of B. F. Skinner.
Analysis of the notion of freedom in education.
"Free" schools and teachers' authority.
The bases for children's rights. Arguments for and against changes in current laws governing children's rights.
The concepts of equality in education. The justification of positive discrimination in educational selection.
Heritability of IQ and Inequality.
Self actualisation and Intrinsic goodness.
Representative reference: Cave, E. (ed.). Problems in Education:
A Philosophical Approach. Cassell, Australia, 1976.
HISTORICAL FOUNDATIONS OF EDUCATION (prescribed) (4 units - 40 contact hours).
Organisation
There will be 20 sessions, each of two hours and held over two terms of the academic year. The sessions will take the form of seminars and discussions. Films will be used where appropriate to highlight features of the periods under review.
Outline
What is history: Differing approaches to the study of history.
Two views of man: The Greek and the Judaeo-Christian tradition snow these are reflected in educational Ideals at various stages througt, out history).
A general study will be made of the following periods:
Ancient Greece — contributions of Socrates and Plato.
Medieval Europe — domination of the Church and educational practice.
The Renaissance — the educational Ideal of the integration of body, mind and spirit.
The Reformation and Counter-Reformation — education for Christian survival.
Towards a new view of children: the contributions of Rousseau, Pestalozzi and Froebel.
Arguments for compulsory education In England and Australia.
A brief overview of the kindergarten movement and the ways In which its development differed from that of compulsory education.
Representative reference: Boyd, W. and King, E., The History of Western Education. London: Adam and Charles Black, 1972.
RESEARCH EVALUATION (prescribed) (2 units — 20 contact hours) Organisation
There will be ten lecture/discussions offered In the first term, If possible In the first year of the course, if undertaken on a part-time bash.
Outline
The main aim of this component is to help students to develop skills necessary for them to evaluate research, thus it will not be neces- sary for students to be able to design their own research or undertake statistical calculations. However, they will be required to understand
the assumptions underlying both the use of certain research designs and the use of selected statistics.
Topics to be Introduced and discussed include:
Research Ideology, role of theory In research, types and scope of research.
Levels or forms of research.
Historical research.
Survey research — descriptive, comparative, evaluative.
Case study/observational research.
Experimental research — research design, methods of measure- ment, sampling techniques, data collection.
Descriptive statistics — measures of central tendency, vari- ability — measures of dispersion, normal distribution, correla- tion.
Inferential statistics — probability, sign test, chi square, t test, analysis of variance, analysis of covariance.
Evaluation of research to be considered under the following headings — the problem being researched, review of the litera- ture, methods of measurement, sampling techniques, data col- lection, statistical analysis of data, interpretation of findings.
Representative reference: Ary, D., Jacobs, L. C. and Razavich, A., Introduction to Research in Education. Holt, Rinhart and Winston, N.Y., 1972.
INNOVATIONS IN EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (prescribed) (2 units
— 20 contact hours).
Organisation
Ten two-hour lecture/discussions to be offered In the second term of the academic year following the component entitled Research Methods and Evaluation.
Outline •
The course will examine recent significant changes in the area of early childhood education. Early childhood education professionals have come increasingly to support a definition of such education as group settings, which are deliberately intended to affect developmental changes in the age range from birth to eight years of age. Some topics to be discussed are:
The scope of early childhood education.
The analysis of early childhood programmes such as Montes- sori Method, Rudolph Steiner Pre-School, Queensland Pre- School, Bi-lingual Pre-Schools In Northern Territory, Open Education, Parent-run groups/Neighbourhood house, Home- based programmes/Self-help programmes, Day Care, Piagetian Models.
Programme planning around the assessed needs of children and community.
Representative reference: Evans, E., Contemporary Influences in Early Education. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, N.Y., 1971.
ALIENATION AND MODERN SOCIETY (elective) (2 units — 20 contact hours).
Organisation
A series of ten two-hour lecture/discussions.
Outline
Alienation and the social system, with reference to the writings of Hegel, Marx, Durkheim and Seeman.
Alienation and work satisfaction.
Alienation and discrimination against minority groups.
Alienation from the self.
Representative reference: Schacht, R., Alienation. George Allen and Unwin, 1972.
BIOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF DEVELOPMENT (elective) (2 units 20 contact hours).
Organisation
There will be ten sessions of two hours duration In the series.
Outline
Physical basis and principles of Mendelian inheritance and polygenic Inheritance.
Sex determination in man: genetic and physiological factors.
Gene action in relation to particular Inherited conditions.
Main principles of brain structure and function.
Representative reference: Emery, A. E. H., Elements of Medical Genetics. Churchill Livingstone, 1975.
CURRENT ISSUES AND CONTROVERSIES IN EDUCATION (elective) (2 units — 20 contact hours).
Organisation
There will be ten lecture/discussion sessions, each of two hours duration. Wide use will be made of visual aids, especially films.
Outline
Topics which may be tackled In this course are set out below:
Current educational reports, e.g., Report of the Schools Com- mission.
Education and Politics, e.g., the role of pressure groups.
Education and ethnic minorities.
New Ideas In education, e.g., Berg's 'The Great Training Rob- bery'.
Representative reference: Berg, I., Education and Jobs: The Great Training Robbery. Penguin. 1973.
GUIDING THE A-TYPICAL CHILD IN KINDERGARTEN (elective) (6 units 60 contact hours).
Organisation
There will be ten sessions of two hours In each term. The sessions will take the form of seminars and discussions. Films will be used where appropriate to highlight certain sections of work under review.
Outline
The development of language and techniques for observing the development of language, In order to differentially diagnose disorders of language.
Methods of observation in kindergarten and the application of these methods to planning and working with an a-typical child.
The aetiology and management of children with reactive emotional problems.
The theory and planning of programmes for kindergarten children with specific learning difficulties.
The role of painting, drawing and creative work in the development of pre-school children.
The retarded child In the kindergarten programme.
The autistic child.
The child with visual and auditory problems.
Representative reference: Bowley, A. and Gardner, L., The Handi- capped Child (3rd ed.). Churchill Livingstone, 1972.
MUSIC AND YOUNG CHILDREN (elective) (1 unit — 10 contact hours).
Organisation
There will be ten sessions of one hour's duration In the series.
The sessions will take the form of lectures, and workshops, and will include the use of videotapes.
Outline
The nature of musical experience.
The musical development of the child in the context of general development.
Overview of the approaches of Kodaly, Orff, Suzuki and Yamaha.
Planning musical experiences.
Representative reference: Moog, H., The Musical Experience of the Pre-School Child. Hans Clarke, C., Chott and Co. Ltd., 1976.
WRITING FOR CHILDREN (elective) (1 unit — 10 contact hours).
Organisation
There will be five sessions of two hours duration in the series.
Outline
An examination of the various modes and styles of writing for children, e.g., poetry, story books, fantasy, etc.
Practice in writing in these modes.
Discussion of the work produced.
Representative reference: Haviland, V., Children and Literature.
Scott Foresman, 1973.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY (elective) (1 unit — 10 contact hours).
Organisation
There will be five sessions of two hours duration In the series.
Outline
Through a study of poetry, students will consider Imagery, rhythm, rhyme alliteration, assonance, form.
Students will also write and discuss their own poetry.
Work of some modern poets will be studied.
Representative reference: Powell, B., Making Poetry. Collier-Mc- Millan, 1973.
EFFECTIVE ENGLISH (elective) (1 unit — 10 contact hours).
Organisation
There will be five sessions of two hours duration plus individual follow-up sessions in the series.
Outline
The study of written material to recognise the structure of para- graphs, the logical presentation of an article. The writing of paragraphs, essays, summaries.