Colin

__**Week 1**__ This week was when I commenced Stage 2 Research Project.

We had a rocky start to the week, with the scorching hot weather and and constant changing of classrooms. We didn't actually do much in terms of work, and the first week was mostly dedicated to taking down notes and deciding upon a suitable research project. After much deliberation, I finally decided to do  Private vs Public school education I'm somewhat apprehensive about doing this topic, as many of my friends have told me that it's a difficult and broad topic to do, and equally difficult to actually prove. I am going to push on anyway, since this is a topic that I am passionate about. I will start refining my topic this week and generate questions. I will also start gathering information.

Overall, it's been a fairly disturbed start but hopefully, this week will be better.

Note: That's a great topic.. your next mission is to narrow that down to a clear question or statement which you will be able to manage. Simply asking "What is better, Public or Private education" is not only too broad but impossible to answer. Everyone has their own opinion on that one. You might want to look at specific aspects of public and private schools such as funding, or students who move on to further education, the job prospects of graduates, bullying, cultural diversity.. the list goes on. Great topic though, many aspects which you could focus on.

This is my research proposal ( I'm aware that I haven't been updating my journals as of late, they will be coming up soon)

**__ Research Topic: What are the job prospects for graduates of Private Schools versus Public Schools? __** When it comes to comparing a public school education to a private school education, I find that I become high agitated and annoyed, because 95% of the time, people will express the view that private schools are somehow superior to public schools, and that only private school graduates will go on to pursue and succeed in a number of highly prestigious professions ( such as medicine, accounting etc): not only is this completely untrue, but these people blatantly ignore the fact that I’m standing right next to them and that I have been public school educated for my entire life. After enduring all these views firsthand, I have finally decided, after almost 13 years, to do something about it- in the form of this research project. This topic has been a highly controversial one, particularly amongst people of my age. From the people I have asked about this topic recently, there seems to be a fairly divided view. Some parents think that private schools actually do offer a better education and learning environment for their children, whilst deeming public schools untrustworthy and uncivilized. Then there is the opposite view; that there is no significant difference between the two branches and that no matter what school the student may attend, they will succeed if they have the drive and motivation. I first thought of basing my research around the thesis ‘’A public school education can just be as rich and rewarding as a private school education.’’ I soon found out however-through feedback from my teacher Mr Tengdahl and through my own observations- that the topic question itself was far too broad and vague and that if I was to continue with it, I would surely go over the 1500 word limit for the final product and to this end, I further refined the question, focusing on a particular aspect rather than the general topic, so that I ended up with this; What are the job prospects for graduates from public schools versus private schools? The way I am going to conduct my research would be to of course, employ both secondary and primary sources. I have decided that my primary source would either be the principal of a private school or a teacher at my school who has taught at a private school previously. I have many friends and relatives who attend a variety of private schools and I can utilise those connections in order to secure an interview with a private school principal. The internet will also be a great asset to my project. The topic I am currently doing is not exactly new, which means that there is plenty of material on the internet for me to use. I have done a bit of research already on the internet and there have been many, many articles and pages on this topic. I’ve also recently learned how to create an online survey, so that might be a useful tool for me to gather lots of information from a variety of people. The downside, however, is that this topic has not received much coverage on the news or newspapers (recently, anyway.) So that might be a slight limitation; difficulty in finding up to date information about the topic. As for the ethics of the research, I think that there is not much that I need to consider, except perhaps that I will need to seek formal permission from the person I am planning to interview e.g a letter, email etc. I will also need them to approve of me recording the actual interview. Of course, in all these areas, courtesy is a must. For the sake of this research topic, I think that I will choose Communication as my capability. This is because my research topic requires me to actively engage in conversation and discussion with my fellow students, as well as communicate with unfamiliar people via interviews. According to the sheet ‘’Unpacking the Capabilities’’ The research processes that I am planning to use seem to fit within this capability fairly well. I will be developing questions, communicating with a wide range of people, using appropriate language for different contexts and cultures etc. My main strength is within my writing, which means that the final product of my research will be a 1500 word report. I am capable of presenting a balanced point of view, since all the information that I have gathered will surely be biased in one way or another; everyone has their own opinions on this topic. It’s going to be a hard topic to cover properly but I know that at the end, I will have hopefully changed the views of many people and the many generations of teenagers and adults alike to come.

Very well done with your proposal!

A couple of things to think about..

Professions such as medicine or accounting certainly aren't for everyone, no matter the type of schooling they recieve. Make sure when looking at "job prospects" you look at the whole range or employment which is out there. Look at things like entries into trades and appreticeships, entries into TAFE and University (which obviously follows through to employment) and things like drop-out rates for those too.

I went onto EBSCO host and saved a few reports done by various people. Judging from the number of reports that came up, there has been quite a bit of research done in this area, but not of the scientific, cold hard facts type: in fact, the research is almost purely based on opinions of people. Also got a few more handouts. Not much else was achieved this week, except for laughing at demotivational posters with Lani O_O
 * __ Week 2 __**

Started and completed my research project this week (which can be found on top) and I better get a good mark on it, since I worked my butt off. A lot of the information was carefully considered and I will definitely be sticking to using the methodologies that I mentioned in the proposal. Also, got a few handouts this week, which were mainly examples of a pass or fail for the final product. I admit, I was fairly horrified when I saw the D standard work, since it was a fairly decent piece of work...and it recieved a failing grade.
 * __ Week 3 __**

We got to watch a video on the four principals of ethics in research this week. The speaker was beyond annoying and irritating ( trying too hard to make ethics sound fun) but she did yield some valuable information on ethics, which I will definitely be in the back of my mind, always.
 * __ Week 4 __**

I started doing a survey this week in order to collate some responses from my fellow classmates and students. Online surveys have always been very useful to me in research, a way for me to collect a multitude of responses without having to print out 1234214515515 individual copies. It's also interesting to see the different opinions as well. I think I'll be focusing on finishing the survey this week.
 * __ Week 5 __**

Discussions are apparently scheduled for this week, a 10 minute recorded conversation with my teacher which requires me to answer various in depth questions about my topic. I'm nervous as hell to be honest, and I haven't made any notes either. Hopefully, I'll be able to carry myself well and get a high grade.
 * __ Week 6 __**

Wait, scratch that. Discussions have been postponed to week 7. I still don't know if that's enough time to collect my notes......

Here is my outcome, there are a few things you should read......