Kivunja, C

2006

New South Wales DET and Ministerial literature suggests that the reframing of several years 7 - 12 comprehensive high schools and integrating them into a multi-campus college, comprising years 7 – 9/10 middle schools and a senior campus with years 10/11 – 12 cohorts, creates increased opportunities for students to improve their academic outcomes. To date, research literature on this debate is not readily available. Highlighting the application of a Dynamics Paradigm to enhance an understanding of educational change, this paper reports the results of a four years' study which provides empirical evidence of the impact of the establishment of a multi-campus college on students, teachers, principals and parents in the relevant community.Using the Dynamics Paradigm as a cognitive lens, quantitative and qualitative data from four case studies was analysed with the assistance of the Likert-Scale analytical tool and QSRNVivo software respectively. The analysis revealed that given contextual contingencies, the structural-cultural dynamics consequent upon the establishment of a multi-campus college are associated with a synergesis of positive multiplier effects which offer students greater opportunity for improved outcomes than the orthodox comprehensive high school.The paper concludes that the Dynamics Paradigm offers a theoretical framework for extending an understanding of change in an educational setting and that the structural-cultural dynamics of a multi-campus college represent a new way of delivering secondary education in New South Wales DET schools and deserve much more consideration from the DET, greater focus from educational researchers and renewed public debate.

Proceedings of the CAESS (College of Arts, Education and Social Sciences) Conference: Scholarship and Community 2005, p. 1-13

1741081270

https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/1018

en

University of Western Sydney

Multiplier effects of the structural and cultural dynamics of a multi-campus college on the learning community in which it is established: From theoretical perspectives to empirical evidence

Conference Publication

Publication