Policy Changes in School-Age Education - Essay Example

How have recent policy changes in school age education affected room practice and achievement in Australia? Focus on one or more s and Territories. Introduction Australian education has seen policy changes in school age education. The new National Quality Framework has been introduced for maintaining new quality standard and rating system. Policy changes pertain to long day care, family day care, outside school hour care and preschools to be implemented by January 2012. New staff-to-child ratios and workplace criteria would be implemented with the changes in the education policy. Background The policy decision was taken in 2009 by all Australian governments via Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to form an alliance between all state, territory governments, and the Commonwealth to formulate policy-wide changes affecting early childhood education and attention. This is in pursuant with the COAG agenda to implement reforms in the education field, particularly related to gaining skills and growth in early childhood so that Australia as a nation could be enriched with human capital (DEEWR, 2011). The government identifies its role of paying attention to the early years of school children for their lifelong welfare and role in the country’s development. There is sufficient evidence that the early years play a dominant role in the overall growth of school age students (CAG, 2009). The Australian government has created a blue print of the strategy by working collaboratively on the shared vision for the growth of young children by 2020 to provide all resources to the school age students for their bright future as well as for the future of Australia. The government plans to arrange school age welfare services under the new framework through three segments: Focused regulatory arrangements A National Quality Standard including the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) and quality rating system. Organization of a new national body collectively managed between the Commonwealth and the states and territories (CAG, 2009). Overview The first five years of a child’s life lay out the path on which the child grows into a fuller personality. The policy initiative of the Australian government to be jointly run by the territory and state governments would provide that required platform to the Australian children. Application of the National Quality Framework has been in progress since July 2010. Quality parameters would get heightened with the implementation of the framework on quality and regularity over the early childhood education and attention to their growth throughout Australia. The new changes are expected to better the services in the domains that impress on a child’s growth and enable families to take right decisions for their children (DEEWR, 2011). Policy changes have impressed upon the need of adhering to higher parameters of attending to children in the matter of learning skills, good health and their safety Parents are now better equipped with required knowledge about their children to select the services that are more pertinent to make the future of their children promising (DEEWR, 2011). Earlier, information regarding quality standards for early age children was not universal across all regions in Australia. With the new policy framework, there is no dearth of relevant information to assist parents in selecting the desired services for their kids (DEEWR, 2011). All services providers have increased their quality benchmarks related to child growth. Quality parameters have been raised for early childhood education for the better via: • introduced better teacher to child ratios so that individual attention could be provided to all children • added to the qualification level of teachers so that they possess the desired expertise to guide children in imbibing and developing • initiated a novel quality rating system so that the Australian parents could view the information relating to their child’s progress pertaining to the standard of early education and tending services • the formulation of a new national mechanism to guarantee that early childhood education and care fulfils the quality parameters. The new framework has included long day care, family day care, outside school hours care and preschools. It has included the responses of the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement from child care service providers, parents and the early childhood division (DEEWR, 2011). In March 2011, all state and territory governments organized public suggestion conferences to prepare a draft of nation wide controls to structure out the new national law. Such conferences were held in all capitals of the states and the regional locations for partnering with crucial stakeholders of school age education, the parents. There has been overwhelming response and participation from parents, as around 3375 people came to participate in the forums held in 57 sessions in Australia overall. The audiences visiting the forums were given an overview of the drafted national besides a questionnaire to be answered by the attendee respondents (DEEWR, 2011). Assessment and Rating The rating system has been restructured to facilitate transparency in providing exact and correct perspective on the child’s performance to the families and services. It includes the seven quality benchmarks given a rating scale from 1 to 5 stating the standard of early childhood education and tending and OSHC that all stakeholders think is important for the child in varied caring and education platforms throughout Australia (CAG, 2009). .Services has been rated from 1 to 5 on the rating scale in the seven quality benchmarks stipulated besides an aggregate rating. The ratings categorise the performance of a service fulfilling, not fulfilling or crossing the meeting criteria fixed in the NQS besides an overall rating. Parents get a wholesome view of the standard or service. Quality parameters also point out specific fields where children have excelled in output although in any particular segment they may not have achieved satisfactory outcomes (CAG, 2009). The five ratings include: Unsatisfactory: it shows that a service is not fulfilling the National Quality Standard and the regulator is in close contact with the service to bring positive changes in the quality of the service. If positive outcomes are not perceived the possibility of shutting down the centre increases. Operating Level: it shows that a service is approaching towards the right direction of fulfilling the National Quality Standard. All new services start function with an Operating Level rating. National Quality Standard: it shows that a service is fulfilling the National Quality Standard. High Quality: it shows that a service is crossing the National Quality Standard. Excellent: it shows that a service performs very good and gets the appreciation for leading the services in performance. Parameters for getting a National Quality Standard (or above) rating for a specific quality segment, a service must fulfil: all inputs within a standard (to fulfil that standard); and all benchmarks within the quality area. It has become compulsory for getting a rating of High Quality in the Educational Program and Practice quality field, a service other than an OSHC service which has children admitted and taking classes in the year prior to school a mandatory a preschool program for 15 hours a week for 40 weeks each year by a degree-qualified early childhood teacher (CAG, 2009). This relates to the National Quality Standard with the dedication for Universal Access to Early Childhood Education under the National Quality Agenda. The following parameters have been evolved to decide a service’s aggregate rating: If a service gets any rating for a quality segment of Unsatisfactory or Operating Level, it would get the lowest rating, the overall rating. If a service gets all quality segments ratings at the National Quality Standard parameter, the overall rating would be National Quality Standard. If a service gets all seven quality area ratings at either the National Quality Standard or High Quality level, the overall rating would be National Quality Standard if only three or lesser ratings are at the High Quality level. If a service gets all seven quality field ratings at either the National Quality Standard or High Quality parameter, the overall rating would be High Quality if four or more ratings are at the High Quality level, and two of these are from the following four quality areas: Educational program and practice; Relationships with children; Collaborative partnerships with families and communities; Leadership and service management. Any Services with a High Quality rating wanting to get a rating of Excellent needs to submit an application for appraisal. For enhancing transparency in awarding ratings to different services, their ratings could be accessed through the internet. Quality Area 1: Educational program and practice The purpose of the new education policy is to provide such a program and practice that: Stimulates, involves and increases the level of children’s experiences in learning and growth. In school age care services the aim of the program is to nurture the attaining of life skills and adds to and enriches children’s experiences, opportunities and interactions at school, at home and in the community Standards and Elements are essential for submitting an application by a service operator for permission to function. Adherence to Standards is appraised 3-6 months after the start of a service and becomes a part of the overall appraisals of that service. A distinct program is created individually for all children for the overall growth of every child. Curriculum for the early years of education is guided to inculcate five learning outcomes in children such as: • Children start relating themselves with the surrounding environment • Children feel attached with and add to enrich their world • Children gain confidence that they are being looked after well • Children participate and get involved in learning initiatives • Communication skills of children become strong Decisions on curriculum are taken thoughtfully by the context, environment and cultural variety of the families and the community. Student achievement is measured by taking into account their strengths, capabilities, culture, hobbies and experiences by initiating new classroom practices such as: Founding the program on individual child’s latest knowledge, views, expressions, culture and hobbies. Student participation is ensured to be optimum in each program. Appraisal of each child’s learning and development is done as part of an incessant cycle of planning, recording and testing children’s learning. The learning and growth capacities of children are assessed through critical reflection and measurement individually as well as in groups as a leading factor of information for planning and increasing the performance level of the program and teaching designs. Controls and schedules consider: • The program planning, recording and testing. • Each program and participation of children in the programs is communicated to their parents. Impact of Policy Changes in the Victoria State The impact of policy change in the Northern Metropolitan Region was seen in the issuing of the Regional School Improvement Strategy called ‘Powerful Learning’. The aim was to enroll each child literate, numerate and curious. The strategy was to find the missing element in the area’s improvement model that needed urgent action, to find the best solution and implement it. It also included the target of taking discreet action to help schools (AIZ, 2010). According to the Regional Director, Wayne Craig, “powerful learning relies on great teaching”. The Achievement Improvement Zones have been formulated to back change practice in schools; to strengthen schools’ capabilities to function in collaboration with all stakeholders and face challenges with the support to incessantly better their practice to provide robust learning (AIZ, 2010).. The Department of Education and Early Childhood Development through the Achievement Improvement Zones (AIZ) has embarked upon to raise teaching standards and make the learning experience robust by bringing changes in classroom practices and student achievement by: • Stipulating increased aspirations and showing dedication to learners success by raising their desires and, where suitable, get parents’ backing. • Acknowledging the learning achieved and structure on past knowledge by fixing achievable learning aims, state them and structure stable foundations for further learning. • The learning experience has been constructed to accept challenges through entertaining by employing a range of teaching methods and developing learning possibilities in and outside the classroom. • Creating passion for the topic of learning by relating to wider meanings and other subjects and linking the topic with the learners aims and causes. • Developing and strengthening bonding of respect between learners and their teachers and using appraisal for learning to realise further planning and practice. • Inculcating learning skills and individual qualities, specially the trait to think systematically, arrange information, learn from others and help others learn from each other with confidence and self-control. Role of Data in Student Achievement Data has been a crucial factor in AIZ programs. Data has been effectively used, as is evident from the work of Patrick Griffin, within the AIZ for bettering teaching practices and students’ performance levels. The focus has been on gaining a total level of learning and growth of the child (AIZ, 2010). The Australian population is segmented on such elements as gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic ranking, language check, and learning abilities, which provides variance in the learning capacity of students. Role of teachers needs a change in perception; they are supposed to concentrate on what students are willing to learn rather than what is required to be learnt. Teachers also need to change their perception on the needed resources of learning to help students advance in learning abilities even if it is a small contribution of a resource (AIZ, 2010). Rate of learning is not equal for all students. Ethnicity and gender affect the students’ performance level but these reasons do not explain why students do not learn. Teacher is the biggest factor that speeds up the learning rate in students. Griffin has stressed on the relationship between appraisal and teaching, suggesting hat working together is the key to increase the rate of learning (AIZ, 2010). Development Management Out of a number of programs run by AIZ, the management of development includes the classroom management tactics propounded by Prof. Ramon Lewis by gaining insight from his 25 years experience in the line developing behaviour management tactics. He has stated the problems of teachers in controlling spoilt children. There are four categories of such students who can be taught to behave rationally. By segregating such students on their behaviour patterns, tactics have been developed for singular categories without worrying about their extent of misbehaviour. A long term dedicated planning framework can help teachers to indulge in fruitful discussions with such students to help them mend their ways (AIZ, 2010). The program includes: • A comprehension of the various types of Power in the classroom to find out the best and the most dependable one • The management of a range of irrational student behaviours • The collaborative making of classroom rules and regulations, and • Means to promote personal and shared responsibility of students, which include signs, appreciations and rewards, assertive demands, individual discussions and attending to the needs of the very ambitious students. The program is based on Professor Lewis’s study, his vast insight of research literature, his experience as a teacher trainer, and his concurrent dedication to the cause of teaching; all managed lightly, with fellow-feeling and understanding for both teachers and students (AIZ, 2010). Literacy Literacy is a leading tool for educating peoples and making them civilised. It is the primary instrument of appreciating various cultures. The purpose of the AIZ is to help students in enhancing their literacy knowledge and expertise. A number of literacy teaching programs have been employed in the past decades, including phonics, whole language and language experience. Nonetheless, nearly 20% of students regularly face problems while reading and writing (AIZ, 2010). There have been visible changes introduced in literacy teaching but no change has occurred while doing reading and writing by the students. Dr. Munro has structured a new program that guides students to learn at the same time comprehension skills while reading and writing. Teachers help students by employing particular teaching processes. These are the basic tools for performing two jobs at a time of reading and learning comprehending skills from the given content. These teaching processes have been named the High Reliability Literacy Teaching Procedures or HRLTPs. It is an agreed fact that HRLTPs are dependable processes, as is evident from vast study that confirms their use (AIZ, 2010). The students are imparted skills to - 1. Get their knowledge ready’ for reading. This includes making use of related experiential insight. Students’ visualisation skills get enhanced. They text down their related imagery insight into sentences and narrow down the gap in their concurrent knowledge of the words they read. 2. Students read loudly so that the words get registered in their thought processes. 3. Select the lesson and mood of the content they are reading. 4. Grasp the words in the text and identify and use the letter groups constituted by the written words to remember the meanings of familiar words and to revise the meaning of unfamiliar words, recommend synonyms for them and revise them for using in the spoken form. 5. Do reword and view the meanings in sentences. 6. Recommend the major questions answered in sentences and stanzas in the text. 7. Summarise stanzas. 8. Bring together and re-read the read text. Numeracy Another major program is structured to increase the Numeracy Learning skills started by Learning Leaders in early 2008. The overall aims of Enhancing Numeracy Learning are to: • Better students’ experience of learning mathematics • Better numeracy results, as checked by widely gathered assessment data • Structure a durable and recommended school-based trend of teacher learning. The designed program fulfils the purpose of: • providing instructions and illustrative instances of methods of increasing mathematics learning • offer directions for individual classroom inquiries • offer possibilities of sharing experiences of the teachers The following module topics were part of the program: 1. Program background and mathematics teaching precepts 2. Data leveraging for planning and teaching, including the data from AIM 3. Widening the student experience through inferring 4. Models for mathematics teaching by creating understanding 5. Bettering the student experience by getting their attention through many alternatives 6. Models for mathematics teaching by involving students via increased offerings 7. Pedagogies – creating classroom culture, means of promoting shared work, and offering distinct tasks to sustaining the process (AIZ, 2010). Leadership Professional Learning Team Leader Training is provided in becoming a leader of the team of teachers to offer recommendations on student learning. Such training includes major change in teacher practice; creation of interactive teams, leading challenging discussions about student learning and teacher practice, the use of appraisal data to guide student learning and the use of growth continuums (AIZ, 2010). Online Leadership for Learning Questionnaire The online questionnaire provides response to school leadership teams about the teachers’ views of the guided leadership and the efficiency of the school in managing advanced learning and teaching. The leadership team and all teachers take the online Leadership for Learning Questionnaire. The outcomes guide the school leadership team about sectors for improvement around guided leadership. Participating schools are backed by Regional Network Leaders and in some cases significant friends to enforce their betterment strategies (AIZ, 2010). References AIZ, 2010. NMR powerful learning. State Government Victoria: Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. Available from: http://www.aiz.vic.edu.au/Resources/?cid=45 2010 [Accessed 21 September 2011]. CAG, 2009. National quality standard for early childhood education and care and school age care. Council of Australian Governments. Available from: http://www.eduweb.vic.gov.au/edulibrary/public/earlychildhood/nqf/nationalqualitystandard.pdf [Accessed 21 September 2011]. DEEWR, 2011. National quality framework for early childhood education & care. Australian Government: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Available from: http://www.deewr.gov.au/earlychildhood/policy_agenda/quality/pages/home.aspx#overview [Accessed 21 September 2011]. Read More