Aussie Early Childhood Education Policies

Australia being a country of diverse cultures, it has a high degree of school choice, which if not well-targeted, can result in the segregation of students. The education system, however, offers fair and inclusive policies that also contribute to an equitable education system. With fair and inclusive policies, Australia is regarded as one of the several high performing countries. The nation does not carry out student tracking until the age of 16 the high degree of school choice that can lead to segregation of students based on their socio-economic background: hence, may undermine equity in the education system Various strategies have been put in place to ensure equity in the Australian education system.

The government, through the ministry of education, has built a more effective and better coordinated education system that ensures equity for all students. The Australian education system supports greater equity by giving students an early start in education.

Through its National Early Childhood Development Strategy, the Australian government has built an effective and coordinated national childhood development system that provides support to the Australian children and their families.

The early childhood system also ensures the improvement of the health, safety, early learning, and well being of the children, The initiative by the Australian government has mostly targeted students who are from socio- economically disadvantaged families in the country. The Australian early childhood education system strives to maintain fair and inclusive policies that would strengthen universal maternal, child and family health services. Alongside the provision of support to vulnerable children, the system also engages parents and the entire in understanding the significance of early childhood development.

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The improved early childhood infrastructure in the country has ensured that there is a strengthened workforce across early childhood development and family support services. Moreover, the system has continually built better information and solid evidence base. In Australia, there is also the policy of school improvement; a policy that gives room to positive environments that fosters leadership and teaching. Teachers are well prepared to take the students through their learning in a professional way. The teachers’ professional development has been vital in helping them improve the disciplinary climate in the classroom. Modern Australia is composed of teachers who have acquired university degrees to improve their level of professionalism. The level of professionalism enables teachers to undertake the heavy workload during the longer teaching time. Research carried out in the education systems of nations indicates that Australia is the only country where the number of days that teachers spent on professional development has a direct link with the improvements in the disciplinary climate in the classroom setting.

There is a policy in Australia that requires school leaders to raise their profile on leadership. School principles are required to be well prepared through respective training institutes that would ensure quality provision in school leadership. The preparatory training is however optional and varies across states and territories. Various research activities carried out indicate that most school principals do not feel comfortable with their leadership post without the further training, which has now been implemented in the Australian education system. Parent information has become a policy in the Australian education system whereby parents and families can get information from the government of Australia on parent engagement in learning, the initiatives of the government and other programmes that may be beneficial to parents.

Parents also get informed on schools and early childhood services that affect their children directly. Sociological Theories around Fair and Inclusive Policies In the understanding of the fair and inclusive policies, the sociological theory of functionalism identifies the characteristics of the society from a functionalist point of View, According to the theory, every part of the body works in harmony with all other parts. Each part of the body has a specific function to perform while the brain is in control of the manner in which the body works. Any malfunction of the body can lead to malfunctioning of the entire body. In relation to the education system in Australia, the Australian society is a representation of the human body. The system is connected as each part of the society works in harmony with all the other part. In Australia, teachers, parents, and the students all work together with the requirements of the government that strives to ensure equity in the society.

It is the government that prepares the teachers and school leaders through the various institutions The various components of the society sticks to their role in ensuring equity in the Australian education system, The teachers receive instructions from the ministry of education, a sector that also pays the teachers for training the students. Parents also have a role of working in harmony with the teachers by taking seriously the information that their children are given from school. It is the role of the parents to ensure that their children do not play truancy. Parents also agree among themselves on how to ensure equity in the distribution of resources among their children at school. Children who are from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds are taken into consideration while making the policies

The functionalism theory asserts that education is the site of selection and socialization of potential workers. In the human body, it is the brain that controls the body parts and how they work. Without education, the Australian society is paralyzed as every sector of the society requires knowledge on how to operate. The government itself is comprised of people who have gone through the same education system that attempts to ensure equity and fairness to all students. The social theory of functionalism also requires that there is a balance and consensus to ensure smooth running of systems Any malfunctioning of a component can lead to the malfunctioning of the entire system. For example, if the heart malfunctions, the whole body malfunctions; thus, leading to death. In the education system of Australia, equity among students is promoted right from the early childhood education.

Policies that aid the government in building a more effective and better coordinated national early childhood development system have been put in place to support the needs of the diverse Australian children. The strategy to build up the early childhood education system is also vital in strengthening other components of the education sector such as higher education institutions, which have also adopted the policies that ensure equity among the diverse students. The development of early childhood education in Australia has been vital as the entire community understands the importance of early learning; hence, the improvement of education infrastructure that would be beneficial to the students when they make progress on their education. Although parents play a vital role in engaging children with their learning, they occasionally impact the fair and inclusive policies; thus, influencing the teachers‘ practices.

Research carried out across the world indicates that when parents and care takers are involved in the learning of their children, they tend to impact positively on the education outcomes. However, other research also indicates the negative impact of the involvement of parents in the learning of their children. While the Australian government is trying to ensure equity in the education system, some parents do not promote equity in the early childhood education as they subscribe extra classes for their children. Children who have gone through remedial lessons often experience difficulty in mastering concepts that they are taught in normal classes as they do not have the time required to understand the concepts. Learning new concepts before they understand the concepts that are being taught in class could be harmful to the children’s progress in learning since they may end up missing all the important concepts.

The same parents have blamed the teachers for the poor performance of their children in class yet they are the reason beyond the poor performance Bullying has been experienced in the schools across Australia and the whole globe. In Australia, the action of bullying is highly demonized by school administrators. There are groups that manage the school, having representatives from all the states and from all territories. Religious groups such as the Catholic Church have also come in to discourage all the stakeholders from bullying. However, a few cases have been reported in schools as students take part in bullying other students who are less privileged or are of lower level. Some teachers have also been on the spot for practicing bullying by harassing of specific students in favor of others. The issue of fair and inclusive policies has also been impacted by the system of evaluations that use clear and standard frameworks for reporting key performance measures.

The systems evaluations also impact the performance of teachers in Australia and across the world. The evaluation of the education system through regular audits ensures that equity is maintained among all the students despite their socio—economic background. The systems evaluation procedure strives to strengthen information systems that are significant in providing data on the students’ socio-economic and indigenous status. Self evaluations and some form of external review mechanism are recommended in schools across the globe. The evaluation is done through literacy and numeracy test results that are mostly used to inform the results. Teachers are, therefore, obliged to carry out their practice as expected of them to ensure pleasing results when the system evaluation is carried out.

The practice of teachers is also influenced when some sort of professional feedback is allowed. During the process, the quality of teacher performance appraisal varies widely. The Education sector in Australia has noted that aligning teaching standards based on competency on career structure can be of benefit. Teachers are held responsible and accountable for their practices. Teacher appraisal currently involves the establishment of career pathways that could help to define the manner in which careers can progress and identify professional development needs. How Departmental Policies might Impact on Fair and Inclusive Policies Departmental policies in schools are procedures that have been voted into place by the school boards, alongside ways of enacting the policies. The departmental policies may be longer and detailed rules of the administration that provide uniform guidance to the school administrators and other people who work under various departments, about the goals set by the school board.

Departmental administrators or other teams that form part of the school’s leadership develop procedures that are a reflection of district policies and provide instructions to the school personnel on the daily practices that revolve around equity to the students. Departmental policies are also noted on school handbooks that communicate information about the procedures to students, parents, and staff members on how to ensure equity to all the stakeholders within the schoolr Departmental policies strive to minimize inequitable practices and practices that have been set forth for ongoing assessment and continuous improvement with accountability for the actions and the results.

Departmental policies have been effective in ensuring equity through clear priorities that the school personnel work to achieve The clear objectives create awareness and communicate that the administration team ought to work while pressing on a specific direction. Departmental policies also reduce the effects of explicit bias The departmental heads could play a vital role in ensuring that nobody is discriminated based on their socio-economic background. In a nutshell, departmental policies can be useful in enabling the implementation of specific interventions through the structures that have been created to implement specific practices that allow equity in the school environment. Zero tolerance policies are only ensured through departmental policies that also work to ensure no discrimination. Policy makers, therefore, may make outcomes more equitable.