Caution
Copyright © Monash University 1996
ISBN 1037-0919
Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Historically, continuing education activities have covered a variety of fields based on a broad interpretation of education.
The activities of the centre fall into a number of distinct areas: short courses, seminars, conferences, publications, home study programs, sponsorship of community education projects and research activities. All are offered at many locations throughout the metropolitan area as well as country Victoria.
The centre also runs a conference secretariat whereby it makes its services and staff available to any suitable organisation planning a conference or seminar anywhere in Australia. The conference secretariat is available to organise all aspects of conferences on a fee-for-service basis.
A brochure on the centre and its activities is available from the centre and inquires may be made by telephoning (03) 9904 4240.
The centre provides support for selected projects within the faculty; develops early childhood projects for submission to AIDAB, ARC and other funding organisations; tenders for research and publication projects within the field of early childhood education and care, and other activities as approved by its committee of management. The director is Associate Professor Elizabeth Mellor.
The centre formalises links between researchers in different departments at Monash and at the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER). To encourage collaboration across the institutions involved, the centre is managed by four co-directors: Associate Professor Gerald Burke, executive director, School of Graduate Studies, Faculty of Education; Dr Phillip McKenzie, principal research fellow, ACER; Dr Leo Maglen, senior lecturer, Department of Economics; Professor Chris Selby Smith, Graduate School of Management.
The collection is housed in the main reading room, where both print and non-print materials are located. The main reading room also provides seating for thirty-five people, as well as an area for displays of curriculum materials. A room is provided for training students on audiovisual equipment operation, with videotape replay, synchronised filmstrip and slide-tape viewing, microfiche readers and cassette recorders.
A microcomputer area in the ESC provides an opportunity for students to experience several of the more common computers available in the schools today. This location is used for both independent study and research on microcomputers as well as for formal instruction and workshops.
Further rooms in the centre are provided for instruction in the use of media in teaching and learning, and in media production. The media workshop provides facilities for the production of overhead transparencies and other graphic materials. Viewers, projectors, cassette recorders and other equipment are available for student use within the centre.
The Educational Services Centre is normally open from 8.50 am to 8 pm Monday to Thursday during semesters, and from 8.50 am to 5 pm on all Fridays and during the faculty vacation and semester break. Any changes in these hours will be posted in advance on the door of the centre.
Borrowing is restricted to staff and students currently enrolled in the School of Graduate Studies. Items in great demand may be placed on reserve by staff and are kept in the office area. Items for which demand is particularly heavy may be restricted to one or two-hour periods of use; they may be reserved in advance. Others may be used for indefinite periods in the centre.
There are coin-operated photocopiers in the centre.
The book stock of the centre consists primarily of books on individual subject methods, and secondary texts. GradDipEd and BEdSt texts and reference material are generally held in the main library. There is also a reference collection for use in the centre only.
Materials in the centre are classified by the Dewey classification system and are accessible on the Ocelot data base. CD-ROM facilities including ERIC, SAGE and AUSTROM are also available.
The centre provides programs for both normal children and those with significant developmental delay. Assistance with children with special needs is provided by faculty staff and students and where necessary funds are sought for additional specialist staff including a speech pathologist.
In addition, the centre carries out diagnostic assessments of preschool children who are referred to it and sets up individual programs for them in collaboration with other agencies, government departments and the centres which they attend. Clinical educational consulting services to children's services centres, in Southern Region, are also provided. The centre is particularly well equipped for audiometric assessments and these can normally be arranged for students involved in clinic practica. Research facilities are available for students wishing to pursue postgraduate studies of the characteristics and education of preschool children. Facilities are also available for supervised clinical training of psychologists wishing to gain experience with young children.
The centre is staffed by two teachers with two assistants together with consultant support from faculty staff.
The facilities for systematic direct observation of children in the kindergarten and in one-to-one teaching situations, are readily available and provide ample opportunity for students wishing to carry out practical projects within the faculty. Students who would like to work with kindergarten-aged children are encouraged to discuss their ideas with the members of staff with special interests in the pre-school area (Dr Laurie Bartak and Dr Gil Best). A number of members of faculty staff are available and happy to provide academic and professional supervision in this field.
The centre has been supported by both Federal and State Government departments of Education, the Catholic Education Office, the Association of Independent Schools and Health and Community Services, as well as by a number of philanthropic trusts and foundations.
Facilities are available for students and staff to carry out research in educational psychology, special education, other relevant areas of education and other disciplines (eg paediatrics and child psychiatry). Supervision and consultative advice can be arranged with staff members. The centre also provides facilities for students to conduct practicum activities as components of coursework degrees.
The centre maintains close links with the Elwyn Morey Child Study Centre, the Monash Medical Centre, Clayton and Government and non-Government regional educational and community services.
The centre is staffed by a small group of psychologists and special education teachers. Other professionals, such as speech therapists, occupational therapists and educational consultants, are appointed on a sessional basis according to demand. The director, Associate Professor Stewart Sykes, is an educational and clinical psychologist and a qualified special education teacher.
The centre is located in the Faculty of Education and has links with other faculties within the university, networking with the Centre of Malaysian Studies, the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies and the Development Studies Centre, and enjoying a fruitful association with Monash Asia Institute.
The centre sets out to be responsive, to learn as well as to teach, to foster collaboration, to take and to share educational initiatives. Programs of the centre include intensive in-country courses in language, language teaching methodology, fine arts and cultural studies courses. Recent ventures of the centre have included the creation of guidelines for Indonesian language programs, production of texts for four levels of Indonesian language study (undertaken in conjunction with staff of host institutions in Yogyakarta), a manual for teaching Indonesian as a foreign language, readings in Chinese fine arts, and a handbook for Chinese cultural studies.
The focus on Australia's relationship with Asia is sustained in a number of ways: by ongoing communication with host institutions in Indonesia and China, by work on joint writing ventures, and by formal and informal dissemination of ideas and research. Staff of the centre also teach Asia-related courses within the Faculty of Education. Dr Alan Rice is director of the centre; Dr Margaret Woodward is research fellow.
The aim of the Institute is to promote and coordinate activities in the two centres, which include direct service and support to children and adolescents, their parents and teachers; professional development of teachers and psychologists and research projects.
Two committees service MICAS: a steering committee, chaired by the Head of the School of Graduate Studies, and a management committee chaired by the Director of the Krongold Centre.
The Director of MICAS is Associate Professor Stewart Sykes.
+ to encourage and support research and curriculum development related to learning;
+ to contribute to the preservice education of teachers and to the professional development of teachers and other educators;
+ to foster a collegial climate of interest;
+ to promote their public image;
+ to stimulate public debate about the issues surrounding them.
A number of major projects are at present being undertaken by members of the centre.
Contact person: Associate Professor R F Gunstone
The centre holds a large library of community education and community development resources for student study and research and has been involved in a number of projects in the Pacific and in other parts of the world.
The centre has conducted regional and international conferences (including the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, held at the World Congress Centre in January 1994), and has been funded for research projects on community education and the environment, community education and effective schools, and community education and school charters.
Conference papers have been presented in the US and Canada, the UK and Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and publications related to school effectiveness and community education have been published locally and internationally.
Centre activities have supported community development activities in Fiji, Tonga, Western Samoa, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea, as well as in Central Australia.
Since its inception, the centre has attracted funds from the International Community Education Association, the Australian International Development and Assistance Bureau, UNESCO and other national and international sources.
Further information about the South Pacific Centre for School and Community Development may be obtained from the director, Dr Tony Townsend, telephone (03) 9904 4230 or fax (03) 9904 2337.
+ train graduate-level students in counselling psychology in the clinical procedures of assessment and intervention for management of stress;
+ conduct research on issues related to stress and its management;
+ develop a public education program which would bring stress management to the attention of the community.
To achieve some of these ends, the Stress Management and Counselling Clinic was opened in March 1992. Construction of the clinic was funded entirely by outside sources and major grants were received from several philanthropic agencies.
The clinic offers a psychological service to the general public on a means-tested, fee-for-service basis. The clinic is staffed by two full-time and three part-time psychologists under the supervision of the director, Associate Professor C F Sharpley. Students from the Master of Psychology (Counselling) also perform supervised casework in the clinic and students from other faculties within Monash (eg Medicine) and other universities have also spent valuable time in the clinic.
The clinic's services include computerised stress assessment and individual counselling for stress management and related psychological concerns. The clinic also offers physical fitness assessment and advice with the aim of helping clients to develop more effective lifestyles for coping with stress.
The centre engages actively in outreach programs - developing community-based education for stress management. Publicity campaigns for workshops are aimed at groups which would not otherwise have access to such services (eg migrants, low income earners, the unemployed). It is a primary aim of the centre to develop this aspect of its work.
The central focus of the centre is on research. A three-year project into the self-control of heart rate reactivity to stressful events was funded by the NHMRC in 1990-92, with major equipment grants in 1991 and 1992. Additionally, the ARC has funded a project concerning microanalysis of counselling interviews, with the long term aim of developing more effective counsellor-education programs. Two research laboratories were constructed from a generous grant from the Helen M Schutte Foundation. About twelve higher degree students are currently carrying out programs in these laboratories.
Further information about the centre or the Stress Management and Counselling Clinic may be obtained from the director, Associate Professor Chris Sharpley, phone (03) 9905 2868, or from the clinic directly on (03) 9905 5469.