Opening Radford House
The annual ACER Council meeting was held this year on 13-14 September.
At the end of the first day's meeting, members of Council were hosts to several hundred people at a ceremony to mark the opening of Radford House. This past year has seen the completion of an extension to the original ACER building, and the Council decided to name the premises Radford House in honour of Dr William Radford, Director of the ACER from 1955 to 1976. Guests at the opening included members of the Radford family, present and past members of the ACER staff, and other people who have had a continuing con- tact with the ACER. At 5 p.m., the assembled guests were welcomed by Dr S.A. Rayner, President of Council. A tribute to Dr Radford was made by Professor W .F. Connell, who outlined Dr Radford's career in education and the progress of the ACER under his direction. In particular, he mentioned that several special things that Dr Rad- ford did for the ACER were characteristic of his own mind and per- sonality.
Dr Radford made the Australian Council for Educational Research sensitive to the needs of Australian education to an extent that it had not previously achieved, he encouraged it to develop a wider range of research and ser- vice, he consolidated its reputation in Australia, and he gave it an international dimension . . .
He was a person of great integrity who gave his loyalty not only to the institution which he directed but to the whole cause of education in Australia.
The address was given by the Honourable P.V. Jones MLA, chair- man of the Australian Education Council and Minister for Education in Western Australia. He spoke of the historical and current role of the ACER in the promotion and produc-
Commemorative Plaque outside Radford House. Hon P. V. Jones MLA and Dr S.A. Rayner, retiring President of ACER officiating.
tion of work in educational research in Australia, and the need for the ACER to continue to encourage co-operation between the State research bodies while acknowledging the differing educa- tional needs of individual States. He referred to the qualities of leadership and scholarship displayed by Dr Rad- ford.
It is indeed fitting that his name will be perpetuated in this building which will be the centre of the work to which he devoted so much of his life and energies. But, to fully honour such a man, we will need to do much more than just remember it through the name of this building. We will have to strive to maintain and improve the standards of ex- cellence in educational research which were Dr Radford's personal goal.
The vote of thanks to the Minister was proposed by Dr J.P. Keeves. This was followed by the proclamation of the official opening of Radford House by the Hon P. V. Jones. After the ceremony, the guests were offered refreshments and the opportunity to talk with old and new ACER friends.
The ACER Newsletter is published by The Australian Council for Educa- tional Research Limited, Radford House, 9 Frederick Street, Hawthorn, Victoria 3122. Communications should be addressed to the Editor, Peter Jeffery at this address. The Newsletter is published three times a year. Each issue is serially dated ac- cording to its month of publication.
Curriculum Style and Social Learning
Kevin Pioer
The Social Learning Project set out to investigate current school practices and attitudes in relation to social educa- tion, with special reference to learning for social competence. An important subsidiary aim of the study has been the attempt to develop a typology of curriculum style, to identify the characteristics of a number of different styles,and to explain their consequences for the kind of social education that students receive. The investigation was carried out by means of case studies of 20 schools, 10 in Victoria and 10 in New South Wales, selected to cover a wide spectrum of approaches to the curriculum in social education.
The concept of style itself derives from criticism in literature and the arts, where it occupies a key position roughly analogous to that occupied by a model in the sciences. In adopting the concept from criticism in literature and the arts, the study also adopts the prin- ciple of defining a style, not by its boundaries or the range of its con- cerns, but by its focus. Three basic cur- riculum styles are identified and described: a Type I, or expository style, with its focus on content; a Type II, or functional style, with its focus on process; and a Type III, or situational style, with its focus on the context in which the learning takes place. A number of general observations are made, at least insofar as the 20 case study schools are concerned, on the nature of the curriculum in social education and on the relationship bet- ween curriculum style and the kind of social education that students receive.
Three aspects of the curriculum in social education - the ideal, the plan- ned, and the operative - are explored from three different perspectives: those of the teacher, the student, and the outside observer (the researcher).
There is a reasonably high level of agreement between teachers and students, between style types, and bet- ween schools on the ideal curriculum in social learning. The ideal curriculum as perceived by both teachers and students gives a high priority to rele- vant knowledge, enquiry and decision- making skills, personal development, social skills, and social values. It gives a relatively low priority to knowledge and methodology in the traditional subjects, and to the newer social sciences. The planned curriculum displays similar emphases, but they are somewhat less marked.
In contrast to the reasonably high level of agreement between teachers and students on the ideal curriculum in social learning, there are marked dif- ferences in their perceptions of the operative curriculum. Students see the major emphasis of the operative cur- riculum in social learning as being
squarely on knowledge in the tr_adi- tional subjects, while teachers see 1t as being on skills, personal development, and social values. They are somewhat more in agreement on the relatively high emphasis placed on social skills, and the relatively low emphasis given to the newer social sciences and to methodology in the traditional sub- jects.
Style-type differences are more marked in the perceptions of teachers than in the perceptions of students, but there is reasonable agreement that the major emphases of the operative cur- riculum in social learning in Type I schools are on knowledge, especially factual knowledge in the traditional subjects, while the major emphases in Type III schools are on personal development, social skills, and social values, although students in Type III schools perceive a greater emphasis on knowledge than their teachers do.
Teachers and students in Type II schools, however, are in disagreement about where the major emphasis of the operative curriculum in social learning lies; teachers see it as being on enquiry and decision-making skills, students on knowledge in the traditional subjects.
Students in Type III schools perceive their school as placing more emphasis on social education in general than do their peers in Type I and Type II schools.
An interesting aspect of these data is the insight they give into the relation- ship between curriculum style and goal satisfaction through a comparison of perceptions of the ideal curriculum and the operative curriculum in social learning.
Somewhat surprisingly the study failed to reveal any strong relationship between curriculum style and other elements of the teaching-learning situa- tion. While there does appear to be a positive relationship between cur- riculum style and preferred teaching methods and between curriculum style
and educational goals, these relation- ships are certainly not definitive. A number of factors which appear to be influential in determining curriculum style were identified, among them school characteristics and organiza- tion, teacher characteristics, staffing and resources, student characteristics, perceived parent and community ex- pectations, career structure, survival, the bureaucracy, and leadership.
Underlying all of these factors are pro- blems of communication which are particularly crucial to the implementa- tion of curriculum change.
On the basis of programs operating in the case-study schools, the typology of curriculum style has been extended to include three specific style types within each of the three basic styles already identified: a Type A, definitive style, with its focus on the subject or the discipline; a Type B, interactive style, with its focus on the society. or the environment; a Type C, responsive style with its focus 0n the learner. The extended typology thus identifies nine specific style types classified according to both their formal, or structural, focus and their generic, or deriva- tional, focus. These specific style types, together with typical program emphases, are summarized in the table.
In addition to the specific style types, provision has also been made for the classification of mixed and com- posite styles. In its expanded form, the typology thus provides a flexible means of conceptualizing and classifying the curriculum in social education, which is grounded in actual practice. It should therefore prove of interest to schools developing their own curricula, as well as to researchers and cur- riculum specialists.
This study was funded by a grant from the Education Research and Development Committee. A report of the study is available from the Australian Council for, Educational Research, price $10.
Summary of Specific Style Types and Typical Program Emphases
Formal Focus
Style
Type I Expository
Type II Functional
Focus
Content
Process
Type 111 Context Situational
Style;
Focus:
Type A Definitive
Subject/
Discipline
• content relevant to the subject or discipline
• methodology
• skills relevant to the subject or discipline
• local history/
local geography
• ideological determinism
Generic Focus TypeB Interactive
Society/
Environment
• socially relevant content
• environmental studies
• generalized intellectual skills
• enquiry skills
• social and group membership skills
TypeC Responsive
Learner
• content relevant to the needs and/
or interests of the learner
• survival skills
• competence
• personal growth and development
• citizenship • identity
• community studies • creativity
• multicultural • self-realization studies • self-actualization
• international or global imperatives
ACER Newsletter No. 37 October 1979
The Study of Unemployed
Effects of Unemployment The SUY project is being undertakenY-uuth- -
- - - -....;.i~e-kmg4erm-soe+al.an<:kpsychol@gic-a1 in_c · · · h Stu<!y ofJ
effects of unemployment on youth are School Leavers. This invest~ ation isYOUTH UNEMPL
,r.l)J u ~ .iA t.!i,ilf . · 1A
~~ ffl,t0llow-4£ of ne rly 6000 eff Clancy concern. Both local ancf overseas ~'ttaha eenagefr.s thro gh thes
d fHl ·
vo,1..nMLIANr~e:R~li tl'.Uti<S ~ i;t©,wnh~ L tA
ouRt~%W n~tmrn school to wa k, or ~o ( UeY) ~u y to f th u he rate of unemployment is .. airectly fhlUref 'stud'y. The adoles ents m1s par o e researc program . . 1· th 1 l l
·th· h . · l d · £ related to rates of smc1de drug abuse ques ion are e -year-o .§flmp e
, 1 m 0G1a un atlcm _ • ' , ' f,um-th '9~-Arf 1i
s
,n8'i'es of~ducation Division of the ACER. It is cnme, mental 1llne~s, and !amuy
one of_ a number of inv tfi§~ ,,.
R a
YMqa · ~ fs ~ · .
S?ff~
GE tlm tre;~~~1It?~~~1 :~:
oompnse the Study of School Leav ILIAIJl~ Ollr~l\1
~ln
A ~ -)iY1~A each State of Austr ia which is following the progress of some associate wit p?'c o og1ca an . . 0000 Australian teenagers as they leave physical breakdown . These . studies, . Both studies_ ha . th_ree p~~hool to enter the workforce. The however, h~ve _focused mamly on ~Irst twcx2f which mc1de an
s m
IS parhcularly concerned witti ffie adttt ' a11d-l1ct>t.ltHS-r.eaUy,.k.11@wn-ab@ut Jirfects of youth unemployment. the effects. of unemployment o_n adolescents m the early part of their• occupational career. is in
T e Youth Unemployment Problem ended
igh levels of youth unemployment urrent
h'~ve become common in many OECD (i.e.
~If untnes but the situation m Austra ia nemp oymen an ccupa 10na ents,
i particularly serious. By August 1979, Career ell as
o_ver 17 per cent of the teenage labour The transition from school to work is·a · onal fl>rce was out of work (males 14.7 per critical time in occupational erience,
nt, females 20.4 per cent) and the development. For many people, it is a se of the
:werage duration of unemployment time to take the first steps in embers
ad-,r-isen ~ neady,.six-ment~sl . e~- develeping,-an-eeeupat+enai ·ctent4t as4..,_-""ll~~l-ilolita;W'-ii.i..,..~.:...~.::.lri..lr.Q~et,~nced some ev1~ence that the s1~uat10n 1s well as a chi e v in g e C@ n O mi c loyment ore acute m_ non-metropolitan _a~eas independence from the fa 'ly. Th terviews
d that migrant. and A~ongmal potential impact of unempl ent o yment
enagers are particularly d1sadvan- career beginnings is twofold · stly i work t ged. For many, yout~ u1:employme1:t is a break in occupational ve @P n ional as become a fact of hfe m the trans1- that ma have re ercussio s o f ur ill be
o wor . JO prospect
eem particularly long period
erable to unemployment. During disqualification for -78, people at this age group Secondly, high levels of ccounted for more than 40 per cent of reflect changes in the o
total unemployed in OECD range of employmen t-£ies2 nd pi:-0.sen t - t ~th- yelffl'§-l')e ~ @r-eoxa
ployment rate here is about four in employment in s the adult rate3 . The relative industry probably ence of youth unemployment in teena ers into jobs i tralia - that is, the ratio o ERS11iH,~R e
e to adult unemployment - has . There is c creasing for several d eople are n uggests a ong-term tr
arket adverse to yout is no clear explanatio enon. It is possib
gical developments
·ques have
mrtt<f'- TY ,v-- ,...--t-he-juvi here bu
nemplo · ' ment nforma ion.
a:
w 10 0.was u11dertaken rough e sent in all lightly s and ned as
dr ss unk of the
a is pro lin ng the t o each ail d,.anaJy
t y ar.
s
~ ~.M...r,F-1~~--:-j'ri!=~~_,;,,;;':.-"F---1---..-. ... - - - - . . _ _ _ _ _ .... _....:,l_,.,;.;;;;;;i:.:;:.:;;:: Bur~ ~ f f l ; -;;;;;..;.;;.-1abo r Force, 2 . , Youth U employment in 'industrialised Ma ket Econoi y Countries: Youth
loymen are face Une ployment: Ro ts and Rem ies. (World
bl Em loyment Prog amme Resear h Working
ro ems. :t is difficul Pap r). Geneva: Inte. ational Labou Office, 1977.
to each t nemploye ; and Aus ralian Bureau of tatistics, op.cit
res archers this area have ehan, Eco¼omic aspect of youth yment. In .F. Henderson EdJ., Youth
f o ~- amples ment -(S a.GB• Gade Sy.;diposium
th e wh reg~.stered ngs). Canbe ra: Academv f the Social
1 in Australia, 1977, Hl-H22.
un ploym efi ts a d/ or t tion for conomic Co-o eration and
wh frequ loyme t agen ent, Youth Unemploymen · A Report of
Ho e · • Level Con erence 15-16 D ember /977.
is: 1978.
Ioyment: Social and E o ic Crisis in
"'?,'.,_...,._...,...Pokfl 1979.
ts in i':ong-term 3). (Canberra):
Dep nd Industrial
ques 10n IS, w a e ec WI IS ave? co-operat10n IS cons1 ere . Relations. Applied Psychology Section, n.d.
The Evaluation of Adult Migrant Language Learning
John Mills
An evaluation project, commissioned by the Education Branch of the Com- monwealth Department of Immigra- tion and Ethnic Affairs, was completed recently. The project focused on student-oriented evaluation suitable for use by classroom teachers in the Adult Migrant Education Program (AMEP). A handbook on evaluation was prepared, its theme being evalua- tion as constant feedback for the im- provement of teaching and learning;
samples of tests appropriate for testing the English language proficiency of students were presented in the hand- book. This printed material was sup- plemented by two video cassettes for the pre-service and in-service education of teachers and an audio cassette, as a reference for teachers, 1. The theme of the taped programs is the use of the oral interview as an instrument for measuring listening and speaking proficiency in , English. All the recommendations resulting from the project refer to evaluation at the 'on arrival' stage of the AMEP, but it is clear that the principles involved apply to the general ongoing program.
The Restructured AMEP
The Galbally Report (1978) made wide-ranging recommendations for the initial settlement of migrants and refugees, including the provision of courses in English for those from a non-English-speaking background and information about the Australian lifestyle and social institutions. As a result, a joint Commonwealth/States Committee is currently reviewing course specifications and teaching methodology. In effect, the Commit- tee's work has systematized the innova- tions put into practice in recent years by teachers who were dissatisfied with the traditional structural approach to teaching English as a second language.
The Committee's decisions have led to the formation of numerous working parties for the development of resource mateirials and each State is now engag- ed in a program of teacher education.
In particular, a functional/notional approach to English teaching has been accepted, emphasizing language in use rather than passive language knowledge. In addition, priority themes for teaching at the 'on arrival' stage have been established and a thorough analysis of the language con- tent of these themes has been made.
With regard to evaluation, the most significant decision taken by the Com- mittee has been the acceptance of a graded scale of English language profi- ciency, the Australian Language Profi- ciency Ratings scale (ALPR)2 ,
developed by a consultant linguist, Dr David Ingram. The scale takes its point of departure from the proficiency levels that have been successfully used
for many years by the Foreign Service Institute of the United States Depart- ment of State. The ALPR scale is per- formance based: it describes a con- tinuum of language development rang- ing from inability to communicate to native-like ability in English. The scale has a double function: it enables a teacher to set objectives for courses and it also serves as a criterion against which to measure a student's proficien- cy for purposes of placement at the beginning of a course, and review of progress at the end of a course. The ALPR scale has undergone preliminary trial testing in several States and an ex- tensive research project is in prepara- tion to validate the scale in the context of English teaching in Asia as well as Australia.
Evaluation Strategies
In broad terms, all the recommended evaluation strategies are criterion referenced, the criterion being the ALPR scale. Norm-referenced measurement is considered imprac- ticable for the AMEP in view of the ex- treme diversity and instability of the adult migrant population.
Evaluation strategies have been designed to reflect changes in teaching methodology; that is, an emphasis has been placed on communicative com- petence in the four basic language ac- tivities or macro skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. For ex- ample, the proposed tests may be described as 'integrative' in that they do not test items of language in isola- tion, but require the learner to apply several skills within a real life context.
The macro skills of listening and speaking comprise oracy, which is of prime importance for the newcomer t·o Australia as he/she seeks to 'survive' economically and socially. Hence the recommendations for evaluation have strongly emphasized an instrument us- ed extensively in the USA to establish listening and speaking proficiency in languages, namely the oral interview.
This is a structured conversation, which is meant to lead a student to a point where he/she is able to demonstrate· his/her highest level of proficiency; a ratiJ'l.g can then be assigned according to the ALPR.
Stimulus material, in the form of ex- cerpts from actual interviews, have been provided in the video and audio programs to' help practising teachers determine their own apP.roach to relax- ing the st-udr,nt, controlling the flow of questioning, and co-operating with an observer in analysing a student's language performance.
Recommendations for evaluating literacy have necessarily been more ten- tative. There are two reasons for this:
firstly the need to read and write in English is less urgent for most newcomers; and secondly it is more difficult to agree on priorities in teaching these macro skills. ·Never- theless guidelines have been provided
Teacher Preparation in Austrlllia: A History of its Development from 18!() to 1950 by B.K. Hyams (ACER Research Series No. 104) pp 161 $12.00 Educational Research for Policy Making in Australia edited by John S. Shellard
pp 118 $10.00
Curriculum Style and Social Learning by Kevin Piper (ACER Research Monograph
No. 4) pp 169 $10.00
Occasional Paper
Learning Time and Teaching for Mastery by Graham Ward (Occasional Paper No.
14) pp 62 $S.00
Tests
Test of Enquiry Skills by Barry J. Fraser.
Set of masters and Handbook $12.S0 ACER and University of Mdbour~
Music Evaluation Kit. Reprinted witli revised handbook
Complete Kit
Handbook and report only
for feachers by means of a range of sam pie tests ( or tasks) in reading and writing, in an increasing order of dif- ficulty. It is intended that a student should be guided by the teacher through several tasks in succession un- til the student reaches his/her highest level of performance and, in effect, is eliminated from the ALPR scale on that occasion.
The Adult Learner
The ACER project has stressed the known characteristics of the adult learner: the critical importance of the adult's self-concept; the depth of ex- perience an adult brings to class; the adult's readiness for learning; and his/her eagerness to solve immediate problems through that learning.
Recommended evaluation strategies have attempted to reconcile these basic assumptions with traits peculiar to non-English-speaking migrants and refugees, including, frequently, exag- gerated feelings of personal inade- quacy and even active resistance to student-centred learning.
In conclusion., while it is recognized that the AMEP teacher needs to teach some adults how to learn in a formal environment, it is recommended that all adult learners should be encouraged to enter into contract learning ar- rangements, setting their own objec- tives and monitoring their own pro- gress in terms of the ALPR scale.
Above all, it is recommended that the evaluation of adult migrant language learning can be achieved only through a patient and sometimes costly ap- proach to each learner as an individual.
I. These materials were submitted to the Education Branch of the Commonwealth Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs.
2. This scale was included in the Teachers Manual for the Adult Migrant Education Pro- gram.
ACER Newsletter No. 37 October 1979
TOES
Test of Enquiry Skills Barry J. Fraser
Enquiry skills are of vital importance for two reasons. First, students low in proficiency at certain enquiry skills could function ineffectively and achieve poorly in enquiry-based or individualised
classrooms. Second, the promotion of efficiency at varfous enquiry skills is widely held as
an important educational aim. Furthermore, because different students in the same individualised classroom can cover quite different content, content-free enquiry skill tests provide a useful way of monitoring the progress of students covering different content.
The nine scales in toes are:
Part A: Using Reference Materials Sk-ill 1: Library usage
Skill 2: Index and table of contents
Part B: Interpreting and Processing Information Skill 3: Scales
Skill 4: Averages, pe,rcentages and proportions Skill 5: Charts and tables
Ski'II 6: Graphs
Part C: Critical Thinking in Science Skill 7: Comprehension of Science read•ing Skill 8: Design of experimental procedures Skill 9: Conclusions and generalizations
TOES has been carefully developed through several tria I stages, extensively field tested with over 2000 junior high school students, and shown to be reliable,. Also TOES has proved to be both useful and convenient in extensive use by school teachers, curriculum evaluators and educational researchers.
Set of Test Masters and Handbook $12.50 Handbook only $2.50
Australian Council for Educational Research P.O. Box 210
SYSTEMATIC TRAINING FOR EFFECTIVE
p ARENTIN G
(STEP)9 steps you can begin in your area.
STEP 1. Understanding your child's behavior and misbehavior.
STEP 2. Understanding more about your child's emotions and yourself as a parent; recognizing the differences between "good"
parents and responsible parents. STEP 3. Learning to use encouragement,
instead of praise, to build your child's confidence and feelings of self-worth.
STEP 4. Improving communication by becoming an effective listener.
STEP 5. Communicating your ideas and feelings to children; helping your children to explore alternative ways of behaving.
STEP 6. Replacing reward-and-punishment with learning-from-consequences.
STEP 7. Applying natural and logical consequences to the challenges of child-training; acting positively, rather than reacting negatively.
STEP 8. Establishing family meetings that encourage democratic family relationships.
STEP 9. Developing confidence and growing as a person, as well as becoming a more effective parent.
Complete STEP Kit $102.00*
includes the Leader's Manual, one, Parent's Handbook, 6 Discussion Guide Cards, 10 ·Charts, 9 Posters in Easel, 5 Cassettes and 50 Invitational Brochures-all
contained in a vinyl carrying case.
Parent's Handbook $5.85*
*Effective till 31 December, 1979.
Australian Council for Educational Research P.O. Box 210
Hawthorn, Victoria 3122
0