Date of Award
2024
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (College of Education)
Schools and Centres
Education
First Supervisor
Dr. Kevin Watson
Second Supervisor
Dr Linda Bellen
Abstract
This study explores the relationship between an Australian Catholic university’s talk about its ethos and the walk of pedagogic practice. In particular, this study focuses on the talk of Catholic ethos at the macro level of the University as an organisational entity and the walk of teaching first year undergraduate students at the micro level of teachers as individual entities.
The ecological systems theory of Bronfenbrenner (1979) and the bioecological Process Person Context Time Model of Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2006) were utilised to interrogate this relationship. Along with a Bronfenbrennerian lens, the method of analysis adopted in this study was that of Braun and Clarke’s (2006, 2022b) reflexive thematic analysis.
Findings revealed that while the talk of ethos was evident, it was variously understood and implemented both at the macro level of the University and at the micro level of individual teachers. Findings also revealed that teachers of first year undergraduate students would benefit from having more knowledge and support for implementing pedagogical practices for the teaching of first year undergraduate students, along with having greater inclusion in the talk of the University.
hese findings led to the important insight that complementarity between talk and walk, while clearly evident, is challenged owing to the complexity of the identity matrix which combines individual entities at the micro level of teachers and the collective entities of individuals and the institution at the macro level of the University. Furthermore, if Bronfenbrenner’s (1979; Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006) developmental synergy as meaning more than the sum of parts is a desired outcome for development, then this study found that the Bronfenbrennerian models lacked the capacity to accommodate this concept. Thus, an evolved model has been posited, that of the Dispositional Model of Development, which takes the earlier models and builds in a new capacity, that of the megadisposition. The megadisposition addresses and accommodates synergy.
This study contributes to, and builds on, knowledge about Catholic tertiary ethos, transition pedagogy for the teaching of first year undergraduate students, implementing reflexive thematic analysis, and Bronfenbrenner’s theories of human development. As Bronfenbrenner and Morris (2006) said, what counts is what one learns along the way and passes on to future explorers.
Publication Details
Gietz, C. A. (2024). Talking the Talk and Walking the Walk: A Bronfenbrennerian Interrogation of the Complementarity between Tertiary Catholic Ethos and Teaching as Perceived by Teachers of First Year Undergraduate Students [Doctor of Philosophy (College of Education)]. The University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/477