Confirmation of Candidature seminars

  

2012
Confirmation is a critically important moment for every research higher degree candidate. This milestone is to be completed 9-15 months Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) after commencement.  In 2012, the School of Education will aim to hold seminars on the last Friday of each month for all confirmation milestones due around that time.  This arrangement is to allow as much notice as possible for everyone - presenters, panel and audience - to attend the sessions.
These group sessions will also provide another opportunity for our school community to gather, with other presentations also being scheduled on that date when required.  There will generally be a maximum of three presentations per session, and an additional date will be arranged if necessary.
  
Time:  2 - 5pm
Venue:  Room s328 in building 24 (Social Sciences building)

Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation

Catherine Morris
 
Sustainable Family Resilience: Risk and Protective Factors
 
Research evidence shows that 1 in 5 young people will suffer from a debilitating mental illness, with anxiety disorders being one of the most prevalent and damaging if left untreated. Clinical research also shows that a preventative approach to dealing with anxiety and depression may be the most effective way of improving youth mental health. In addition, evaluation of treatment programs for childhood anxiety in recent years has shown that it is possible to produce significant reductions in anxiety symptoms (Barrett, 1998; Barrett, Dadds & Rapee, 1996; Kendall, 1994). Research also points to the importance of the inclusion of parents in these preventative approaches as parental interactions with children have been implicated in the development and maintenance of childhood anxiety.  The above findings point to the importance of research that attempts to understand why so many young people are still affected by anxiety disorders if it is preventable and treatable.
Current research will evaluate The FRIENDS program – a 10-week resilience-building course, which has showed promising results in the significant reduction in anxiety symptoms in universal deliveries. Further evaluation of the program will increase our understanding of the specific mechanisms through which the program is having an effect; we will specifically look at developmental differences across age groups as well as social and emotional factors that may influence outcomes of the program. This will lead to our ability to further streamline the program in terms of its efficacy and delivery. In addition, this research is focused on extending the FRIENDS programs’ evaluations to a community clinic, which will incorporate children and their parents, who may have complex presentations. The results of this study will therefore be more generalizable than one conducted in a standard clinic setting.
The research is important and relevant; it will build on previous research that highlights the importance of early childhood intervention in preventing the development of anxiety disorders. It will focus on the attainment of social-emotional skills in early school years in order to build a strong foundation for competence throughout life. This research will also further our knowledge about how anxiety impacts on family dynamics and our knowledge of the relationship between specific risk and protective factors and treatment outcome.
 
When:                     Friday, 1 June 2012 at 2pm
Where:                    Room s328, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:                    Dr Tony Wright (Chair) and Dr Mary McMahon
 
Principal Advisor:               Prof. Paula Barrett
Associate Advisor:             Prof. Robyn Gillies
Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
 
Jaime Garcia Salinas
 
Pre-service Chilean teachers’ perceptions of cooperative culture teaching in a face-to-face and 3D virtual environment: an exploratory study
 
Virtual worlds and their use in education is being discussed extensively (Duncan, Miller, & Jiang, 2012; Mathews, Andrews, & Luck, 2012; O'Connell & Groom, 2010; Campbell, 2009; Warburton, 2009). They constitute a growing space for collaborative play, learning and work which is having an impact on education in significant ways (O'Connell & Groom, 2010). It is becoming a necessity for teachers to incorporate them into educational programs in pedagogically sound ways (Hutchinson, 2007). Virtual worlds such as Second Life allow participants to experience social presence which supports cooperative work and makes group members feel connected to their collaborators as part of a community (Robertson & Cargill-Kipar, 2010). The proposed study will explore the learning that takes place in a traditional face-to-face cooperative learning environment and an online 3D virtual learning environment (Second Life) for teaching Australian culture to pre-service teachers of English in Chile. The study will employ an embedded qualitative case study design as it allows more than one unit of analysis in the same single-case study as well as quantitative evidence (Yin, 2009). The two units of analysis will be composed of sixteen students selected by means of purposeful sampling. The teacher tutor and the teacher-trainee students’ cooperative interactions in a face-to-face context and the teacher tutor and the teacher-trainee students’ cooperative interactions in the 3D virtual environment will be investigated. Interviews, focus groups, classroom observations, and using an already validated questionnaire (Gillies & Ashman, 1996) will be adapted to measure cooperative work in virtual environments. The data gathered through interviews, focus groups and classroom observations will be transcribed and organized to allow for coding and thematic grouping to obtain the interviewees’ multiple perspectives. The information from the questionnaire and the achievement test will be analysed by means of inferential statistics which is used to compare two or more groups (Creswell, 2012). It is expected that the study outcomes will help create a holistic picture of the benefits that virtual worlds have for teaching and learning in Chilean pre-service teaching programs as it may set guidelines for more massive implementation at private and public universities.
 
When:                    Friday, 25 May 2012 at 2pm
Where:                  Room s302, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:                    Dr David Geelan (Chair) and Dr Caroline Steel
 
Principal Advisor:              Prof. Robyn Gillies
Associate Advisor:            Dr Chris Campbell
 
Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
 
Christine McKeown
 
The contribution of practicum feedback to the development of pre-service teachers’ professional identity
 
In today’s challenging school and teacher education contexts, pre-service teachers work at learning teaching in settings dominated by reform agendas, and discourses of accountability and performativity. All of these impact on their development of a professional identity as a teacher. Professional identity has been widely explored in literature on teacher education and preparation. What is missing from the research is the voice of pre-service teachers describing their lived experiences of their professional identity formation specifically through discourses of feedback. The practicum provides a context in which feedback on practice influences the formation of identity.   The ability of pre-service teachers to transform this feedback into improved teaching practice plays a pivotal role in their success and identity formation as teachers. Many types and contexts of feedback exchanges and a wide variety of stakeholders contribute to the entire feedback experience. Not only is feedback overlooked in the literature as a significant factor in the process of becoming a teacher, but there is little research around professional identity formation through the analysis of feedback.
A theoretical framework using a phenomenology of practice (van Manen, 2007) will be employed to study the professional practices of pre-service teachers in transforming their feedback to form their professional identities as teachers. The study is based on interviews and on-line discussions, before, during and after the practicum. The aim is to contribute to the body of knowledge concerning the professional identity of pre-service teachers with a specific focus on the use of feedback in this professional growth.
 
When:    Monday, 30 April 2012 at 11.00am
Where: Room s302, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:    Assoc. Prof. Shelley Dole (Chair) and Dr Mia O’Brien
 
Principal Advisor:              Prof. Martin Mills
Associate Advisor:          Dr Kerryn McCluskey  
 
Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
 
Cristina Iizuka
 
Reaching out for people in need: Promotion of emotional resilience in the 21st Century
 
The literature reports that approximately 1 in 5 children and adolescents will experience a seriously debilitating mental health problem at some point in their lives. Among the mental health problems they experience, anxiety disorders are frequently described as one of the most commonly diagnosed psychiatric conditions among school aged children and adolescents. Epidemiological data indicates that schools are a key entry point to mental health services for children and adolescents. Providing mental health services in schools is a powerful strategy for improving children’s well-being and for reaching out children and adolescents who would not receive help otherwise. This project will present an innovative way of promoting emotional resilience and preventing anxiety in rural and remote schools in Queensland. It will do so by providing online training for teachers, school counsellors, guidance officers, special education staff and chaplains to become group facilitators in delivering the FRIENDS program in their schools in a sustainable manner. In a second stage, an Adult Resilience Program will be offered to the group facilitators aiming to increase the program’s impact on student’s psychological outcomes.
 
When:    Tuesday, 24 April 2012 at 2.00pm
Where:   Room s328, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:    Assoc. Prof. Annemaree Carroll (Chair) and Dr. Kim Nichols
 
Principal Advisor:                Adjunct Prof. Paula Barrett
Associate Advisors:           Prof. Robyn Gillies and Assistant Prof. Clayton R. Cook
 
 
Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
 
Prabha Jayawardena
 
Teachers’ Knowledge about Self-Regulated Learning and Practices to Foster Senior Secondary Students’ Achievement in Sri Lanka
 
The influence of self-regulated learning (SRL) on student achievement has been investigated in a number of studies (e.g., Brown, 2011; Deed, 2010; Labuhn, Zimmerman, & Hasselhorn, 2010). The role of the teacher in fostering students’ SRL, however, has been investigated less often (Kistner et al., 2010; Perry & Rahim, 2011; Randi & Corno, 2000). The proposed study will investigate teachers’ knowledge about SRL and the practices they employ to promote senior secondary students’ achievement in science in Sri Lanka. Senior secondary teachers who teach Grades 10 and 11 science in the Sri Lankan national schools in the Kalutara district will be invited to participate in the study. The study will employ a mixed-method research design and will be conducted in two phases. In Phase One, two surveys will be administered to approximately 120 Grades 10 and 11 science teachers to investigate the senior secondary school teachers’ knowledge about SRL. In Phase Two, six senior secondary school science teachers (two teachers each from the largest national school in each of the three educational divisions in the Kalutara district) will be involved. Interviews, classroom observations, field notes, and document collection (e.g., science text books, lesson plans) will be used to obtain information about the teachers’ practices employed to promote students’ achievement in science. Descriptive and inferential statistics will be reported for the survey findings in Phase One of the study. Data collected in Phase Two will be analysed thematically. The findings of this study aim to provide information to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education, university education faculties, and departments to create professional development programmes on the promotion of students’ SRL.
 
When:    Tuesday, 17 April 2012 at 2.00pm
Where:  Room s328, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:    Assoc. Prof Monica Cuskelly (Chair) and Dr David Geelan
 
Principal Advisor:              Assoc. Prof. Christa van Kraayenoord
Associate Advisor:            Assoc. Prof. Annemaree Carroll
 
Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
 
Rashed Zannan Eadhah Alzuhairi Alghamdy
 
The effects of cooperative learning in comparison to traditional instruction on secondary students’ achievements, attitudes, experiences and behavior in Saudi Arabia
 
 
Research shows that cooperative learning enhances students’ cognitive ability, social, communication and interpersonal skills, academic achievements and, most importantly, their self-confidence (Johnson & Johnson, 2002). The present study purposes to investigate the impact of cooperative learning when employed in teaching English grammar with a special focus on the achievement of secondary students learning English as Foreign Language (EFL) in Saudi Arabia. Cooperative learning has become a popular teaching approach in contemporary times and it is especially popular in teaching English grammar. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of cooperative learning in comparison to traditional instruction in enhancing EFL students’ grammatical competence in Saudi Arabia and the impact of a CL intervention on their attitudes, behaviors and classroom learning experiences.
The locale of the study is Albaha, a city in Saudi Arabia, where all English learners are essentially EFL learners. The participants in the study are approximately 80 students from 10th grade; their ages range from 14-15 years. They will be divided into four classes where two classes are designated as experimental groups and other two classes will act as control groups, A quasi-experimental design will be implemented with a pre-test and post-test administered to each group to determine their level of English language competence. The experimental groups and the traditional groups will be taught the same EFL lessons for a period of ten weeks. Data will be collected via achievement test, questionnaire survey, classroom observations and student interviews.
 
When:             Friday, 24 February 2012 at 2pm
Where:           Room s328, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:            Prof. Richard Baldauf (Chair) and Prof. Peter Renshaw
 
Principal Advisor:              Prof. Robyn Gillies
Associate Advisor:            Dr Obaid Hamid
 
Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
 
Boon-Hin Timothy Ang
 
The defining moments in entrepreneur development
 
The Singapore government has adopted entrepreneurship as a strategic driver of economic development and has expended great efforts to promote and develop entrepreneurship as a career. Recent statistics show that while interest in entrepreneurship has been aroused, it has not led to significant increases in the number of people becoming entrepreneurs. Compared with information about other career options and their development, little is known about entrepreneurial careers.
The aim of this study is to explore defining moments of Singaporean entrepreneurs from a career perspective. More specifically, it will identify career- defining moments in the lives of Singaporean entrepreneurs, explore the nature of these defining experiences, and seek to understand how the entrepreneurs leveraged on their defining experience in their career development.
As this study entails an in-depth, idiosyncratic examination of defining experiences of Singaporean entrepreneurs, a qualitative research method, interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) will be employed. IPA is particularly suited to studies of life or lived experiences because it provides access to meaningful insights of subjective experiences.
Data for this study will be collected from semi-structured interviews with 12 Singaporean entrepreneurs. Each participant will be interviewed at least two times. In accordance with IPA methodology, the interviews will be recorded digitally and transcribed verbatim. The cases will be analyzed for themes, patterns, similarities, and differences on a case-by-case basis before analyzing them as a group.
The present study will provide insights to defining moments in the development of Singaporean entrepreneurs. Such insights may be useful for policy makers, educators, career counselors, and entrepreneurs. It will also contribute to the emerging research on entrepreneurial career development by providing a lens to better understand the nexus between career development and entrepreneurship.  
 
 
When:                    Wednesday, 15 February 2012 at 10am
Where:                  Room s328, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:                    Professor Martin Mills (Chair) and Dr. Martie-Louise Verrynne
 
Principal Advisor:               Dr Mary McMahon
Associate Advisor:             Associate Professor Polly Parker
 
Confirmation of Candidature – MPhil – Oral Presentation
 
Jack Tsao
 
English Language and the Imagined Futures of Hong Kong Secondary School Students
 
 
The influence of the English language to induce certain identities and empowerment for non-native speakers, tempered by specific educational, social, historical, cultural and economic contexts, has been suggested in past research. Within the literature, the link between the learning of English to individual or shared student future imaginations and aspirations, although briefly mentioned, has not been clearly elaborated or explored. The focus of this study is therefore to come to a sense of how a relationship to the English language shapes the future imaginations of senior secondary school students in Hong Kong public schools as they are transitioning out of secondary schooling into the next phase of their lives. It seeks to understand the extent to which the English language acts as a vehicle in assisting these students within a unique and specific context to broaden their future horizons. The study is interested in the in-depth descriptions and the spatio-temporal aspects of their future career, education, lifestyle and their sense of place in the world, and the specific role that the English language plays in relation to these. A multifaceted-theoretical framework will be employed to help make sense of the research project, including Bourdieu’s theory of practice, Taylor’s notion of the social imaginary and Appadurai’s conception of the capacity to aspire. Each of these concepts will also inform the data collection process consisting of interviews, focus groups and document analysis, in order to gain an in-depth appreciation of the narratives of practice and understandings expressed by these students’ social imaginaries. It is hoped such an examination will contribute to the framing of local educational policy within Hong Kong and also other countries struggling with a sense of ambivalence towards English language education in a global context where English has become the global language of business and cosmopolitan elites.
 
 
When:                    Friday, 10 February 2012 at 3pm
Where:                  Room s328, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:                    Dr Sam Sellar (Chair), Dr Carmen Mills and Dr Richard Niesche
 
 
Principal Advisor:              Dr Ian Hardy
Associate Advisor:           Professor Bob Lingard
 
Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
 
Suzanne Macqueen
 
IMPLICATIONS OF WIDENING PARTICIPATION FOR TEACHER EDUCATION
Factors affecting the success of non-traditional students in teacher education
 
Recommendations arising from the Review of Australian Higher Education (Bradley, Noonan, Nugent & Scales, 2008) will see universities aiming to increase enrolments of school leavers generally and those from low socioeconomic status backgrounds particularly, in the coming years.  Similar trends have already been seen in other countries such as the United Kingdom, with mixed success.  Enrolments of students from less advantaged groups have remained largely static in recent decades, both in Australia and elsewhere.  Research suggests that students attracted to university study due to these ‘widening participation’ initiatives are more likely to attend some institutions than others, based on location and admission requirements. Likewise, they are more likely to enrol in some courses than others; for example teaching and nursing rather than law and medicine.  Students from less advantaged groups experience higher education differently from their more advantaged peers, and face additional challenges.  Using Bourdieu’s theoretical concepts of habitus, field and capital, this study will examine the experiences of non-traditional students enrolled in a teacher education program. By doing so, it is hoped to contribute to an understanding of the factors contributing to and impeding the success of non-traditional students in teacher education specifically and university generally.
 
When:                     Monday, 23 January 2012 at 11am
Where:                  Room s328, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:                    Dr Ravinder Sidhu (Chair) and Dr Sam Sellar
 
Principal Advisor:              Prof Martin Mills
Associate Advisor:            Prof Peter Renshaw
 
Confirmation of Candidature – PhD – Oral Presentation
 
Suzanne Henden
 
Investigating the relationship between grades awarded and evidence in student work – towards new models for school-based standards referenced assessment
 
This study is based on my interest in an often unspoken assumption of assessment that the texts, artefacts and performances produced by students in response to assessment requirements provide evidence of learning. Although a focus on evidence in the form of student work is shared across all assessment regimes it is not overtly emphasised. The ways in which evidence is understood has implications for the range of assessment regimes and purposes but it has not been the central concern of much research to date.
A complementary motivating factor for the study is my interest in school-based and teachers’ assessments.  Testing and examinations are most often used for high stakes purposes such as accountability, reporting, selection and certification as they are held to be the most reliable forms of assessment. Teachers’ assessments are most often discussed in terms of contribution to learning as in the case of the Assessment for Learning (AfL) movement. There is increasing interest in the potential for teachers’ assessments to contribute to the full range of assessment purposes but there is a perception that teachers’ judgments are subject to bias to the extent that they are not suitable for higher stakes purposes such as system reporting, selection and certification.
The aim of this study is to explore an aspect teachers’ assessment by foregrounding the role and nature of evidence and analysing the relationship between teachers’ assessment judgments and evidence in student work. The proposed study will contribute to the broader development of models that can be used to better understand and improve consistency of teacher judgment in school-based standards-referenced-assessment systems.
The proposed study uses a case study approach incorporating a mixed methods design. A correlational method will provide quantitative data about the nature and extent of the relationship between grades awarded and evidence in student work. A qualitative component will include two elements; a questionnaire focused on background information about participants and semi-structured interviews with a smaller group of participants focused on their responses to the evidence selection requirements and their understandings about the role of evidence in their judgment decisions.
 
When:      Friday, 13 January 2012 at 4pm
Where:   Room s328, Social Sciences Building, Level 3
 
Panel:    Associate Professor Christa van Kraayenoord (Chair) and Associate Professor Gordon Joughin
 
Principal Advisor:               Associate Professor Karen Moni
Associate Advisor:            Adjunct Professor John A Pitman
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