Educational Reforms in Australia

Question: Discuss about the Educational Reforms in Australia. Answer: Introduction In the past decade the production of greater national consistency in Australian schools has exhibited some historically unmatched attempts (Sevage, 2016). These include; development of a national curriculum, setting national standards for teachers, literacy and numeracy standardized national assessments and revising of the national model of funding school. The world and economy has undergone continuous changes from the globalization of world economies and this is the major concern driving the need for these reforms (Sevage, 2014). Australian system of education offers primary, secondary and tertiary education. Both the primary and the secondary level are compulsory. The tertiary level of education which includes higher education and vocational education and training has proved to be important. The government has shown its effort to ensure that when students are done with senior school, they join universities and colleges. This paper will attempt to discuss the reforms of education in Australia. The meaning of the word reforms in this paper is; the action or process of reforming or putting a change into an institution. Five major challenges evidence in the Australian education system will be discussed. The reforms taken to overcome these challenges will also be discussed. This paper will basically point out the education reforms by introducing or talking about the challenges first. This paper will be important for the school management and most importantly for the government in an attempt to put under control these challenges in order to improve the Australian quality of education (Masters, 2016). The Analysis The first challenge in primary, secondary and the tertiary levels of study is inadequacy of funds. According to Connors and McMorrow (2015), the distribution of resources between and within school sectors have been affected by recurring themes and political forces, and the policy issues and tensions. The schools lack enough money to run and attain the set goals and objectives. Australia has the government and non-government schools in its different states and territories. The government schools which are also known as public schools are free to attend. This however applies to Australian citizens and permanent residents. According to Dow (2015), the government only caters for fees and this does not cover for other charges such as textbooks and uniforms. Therefore students who cannot cater for the other charges are disadvantaged. This affects individual students and the school generally. Research shows that most of the low performers are from a poor socioeconomic background. A conclusi on can therefore be drawn that inadequate funding does affect performance negatively. This is a challenge in the education sector of Australia. The government of Australia has however taken steps towards this challenge. The liberal paper wrote of the Turnbull government having set aside an addition of 1.2 billion dollars for education funding and reforms in the schools (Masters, 2016). A promise of school funding that will grow every year is something that the government voiced to the people. All this has been done with an aim of lifting the students performance and results. The second challenge in the education system is that of unqualified teachers. Field Rickards observed in his report the main challenges facing teacher education in Australia, that the country has too many teachers yet there is an undersupply of specialist teachers. This has resulted to teachers working out of their expertise. The government has looked in to this problem and reforms have been made. The federal government has issued a new requirement. Teachers are expected to be in the top 30% for literacy and numeracy (Rickards, 2016).The Turn bull government also put into place reforms such as: having minimum proportions of trainee teachers specialize in literacy and numeracy, ensure that principals are certified before their appointment, incentivize high performing teachers to work in disadvantaged schools etc. The Australian school curriculum is also a challenge. Many features in the curriculum have been unchanged for decades and so they are not at per with the 21st century needs and interest. At this era there has been a change in technology, communication and social networking. Harris-Hart (2010) noted that a new curriculum was introduced in 2010. There is an increase in globalization and most of the challenges and innovations needed now are different from those of the past. The curriculum therefore needs a change so as to prepare the students with knowledge and skills that will help them meet the now demands (Rickards, 2016). The government has therefore resulted to a change in the content of curriculum and approaches to learning and teaching. A national curriculum is being developed where age will be something that will be considered in schools. Gifted students may be beginning school earlier then the set minimum age. Flexible learning arrangements focused on growth will be set. Teachi ng will be personalized so that terms such as success and failure can be redefined. Another challenge in the system is that of identifying the needs of the students who may be termed as low achievers. Students have varying levels of cognitive, physical, social and emotional abilities. Students who do not meet the minimum standards of achievement end up lagging behind in every school year. Andy (2016) noted that the government therefore has made reforms which will enable the teachers to get hold of them and study them early enough and work towards helping them. Recommendations I would recommend that the problem of political forces and policy issues be solved so as to ensure the distribution of resources in the Australian schools is efficient. There also should be a teachers board that would monitor the teaching practices to ensure that the teachers are qualified in advancing education to the students. The curriculum should be changed regularly to accommodate the necessary changes that may improve the acquisition of education in Australian schools. Conclusion Most of the challenges in the education sector have been noted and the government has shown interest in solving them by coming up with reforms. Some reforms such as the new curriculum which has been put in to practice by a few schools have proved efficient. It can be deducted that the education reforms in Australia has greatly contributed to the improved performance in the Australian schools. The government therefore has a role of ensuring that students get quality education by solving every challenge that may be an obstruct to the way students obtain their education References Andy, C. (2016). The quality reforms needed to get all Australian students ahead. [Online] malcolmturnbull.com.au. Available at: https://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/media/the-quality-reforms-needed-to-get-all-australian-students-ahead [Accessed 6 Apr. 2017]. Connors, L. and McMorrow, J. (2015). "Imperatives in Schools Funding: Equity, sustainability and achievement" by Lyndsay Connors and Jim McMorrow. [Online] Research.acer.edu.au. Available at: https://research.acer.edu.au/aer/14/?lid=14 [Accessed 6 Apr. 2017]. Dow, C. (2015). Reform of the higher education demand driven system (revised) Parliament of Australia. [Online] Aph.gov.au. 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