Developing
Social policy
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Background discussion and integration theory 3
Critical assessment of the policy 5
Suggestions and recommendations 6
Introduction
In the modern era, the role of social policies developed and implemented by government of the states and countries has become vital in so many ways (Dean, 2019). Social policies are developed with objectives such as management and administration of social service program, improving housing, public health etc. In the present essay, an assessment of Australia’s education policy has been done. In addition to this, different suggestions for success of the policy are also provided in this essay.
Main Body
Background discussion and integration theory
In the present scenario, the development and implementation of social policies have become very important for the growth of the local communities and people living within the same. The role of social policy is also considered as very important as the policy form the basis of redistribution in the communities and societies (Alcock et al. 2016). The primary aim of such policy is to carry out welfare of individuals through the legislative regulations. The issues and challenges faced by people in a country, state or local community are well taken into account by the government and regulatory bodies at the time of developing a social policy. On the contrary to this, it can be argued that factors such as social developments have a direct and considerable impact on the social policy and the government should emphasize on carrying out changes in the policy on the basis of the changing needs and requirement of the individuals (Thane, 2018).
In case of country such as Australia, it is The Treasury which provides different types of support and advice in context of developing a social policy. The role of social policy is also directed towards ensuring the fact that people in society’s lives peacefully, in harmony and away from different conflicts. According to the classical social theory, the use of scientific method needs to be carried out with an objective to study a particular society (Beresford, 2016). The selected theory also reflects the fact that the present world where people are living is the outcome of the transition from the traditional to modern communities.
Moreover, the theory also outlines that proper and most appropriate redistribution of the wealth and resources should be carried out in societies and communities in order to ensure growth and progress in the long-run. The degree or overall extent of government interventions should be reduced and social forces should be provided opportunity to regulate the market economy. The theory of socialization developed by Marx emphasized on carrying out the use of historical materialism so that proper and detailed understanding in terms of society can be developed. The theory also reflected that material conditions are necessary for the purpose of carrying out social reproduction.
The education policy of Australia includes different set of policies and principles which are required for governing and maintaining the entire system of education. It has been evaluated that in the last one decade, considerable amount of efforts and resources have been invested by the government of Australia for development of the education (Lingard, 2016). The efforts have resulted in making Australia a leading education service provider in the entire world. The system of education developed within the country is highly effective and innovative and Australia’s education policy has played very important role in this development.
The education policy of Australia objective is to promote high degree of excellence and equity in the secondary and primary schools. In addition to this, the selected policy also aims at ensuring the fact that the youngsters in Australia are easily able to become successful learners and creative individuals (Hong, 2020). The education policy of Australia is also inclined towards the fact that learning to people is provided in such a manner that they become very active and informed citizens.
The use of funding based model is now carried out by the Australia government with an objective to provide financial aid and support to the education policy. The government has also decided that to raise the overall standards of education and schooling in the country, an additional investment of AUD 79.3 Billion will be carried out between the years 2018-2029 (Smith, Trinidad & Larkin, 2017). The educational policy developed by the government is also playing a vital role in terms of carrying out or facilitating the growth and development of societies and communities within Australia. For example, the policy is directed toward the development of sound national curriculum which will further result in making the students more knowledgeable, effective and competent.
Education is considered as a key in the social development and therefore, the role of Australia’s educational policy becomes critical here. The policy of education formulated by government and other regulatory authorities is also considered as useful in social development because it is directed towards improving the quality of teaching (Barnes & Cross, 2018).
The issues and loopholes associated with the existing teaching system have been well taken into account at the time of framing the education policy in the country. On the other hand, the policy is also inclined towards improving and expanding the overall autonomy of the principles in schools and educational institutes.
Apart from this, the feature associated with the selected policy is that it focuses a lot on improving the overall degree to which wide communities and parents in Australia are engaged in running of the schools and educational institutes (Wong & Whitburn, 2018). Different types of plans and strategies such as conducting meeting with parents and people in wider communities at regular intervals have been developed and implemented in the policy so that better degree of social developments can be easily promoted.
Critical assessment of the policy
As per the views of Hardy, (2018) one of the most important features associated with Australia’s educational policy is that it has resulted in increasing the performance of the Australia students to a great extent. The curriculum and other areas related with the policy have been developed in such a way that now the performance of Australian students is very high in comparison with the international standards (PWC, 2014). The high performance in comparison with the international standard also reflects the overall effectiveness and efficiencies of Australia’s educational policy.
On the contrary to this, Zajda, (2020) have argued that budget cuts is an key issue faced in context of Australian education system and the policy has not been effective in terms of addressing or dealing with this issue. It was back in the year 2017 when the education minister of Australia announced a cut or reduction of $2.2 Billion in university funding and the entire system has been affected a lot because of the same (McGowan, 2017).
The policy has not been appropriate in terms of providing the required financial aid and support to the educational institutes and schools in the country. The cut has also resulted in creating immense pressure on universities as well as the teaching faculties because of the universities failed to access the additional commonwealth grants. The Australia’s educational policy is also directed towards carrying out appropriate promotion of social development but such announcements by the educational minister resulted in freezing the overall rate of participation and enrolment o students coming from low social and economic backgrounds.
According to Ledger, (2018), Australia’s educational policy is very effective and appropriate because it has initiated and encouraged student focused education in the entire country and this has further supported in social developments. For example, in situations where the teachers came across the fact that the students in classroom or universities are not able to learn properly, the teachers changes their method of teaching on immediate basis.
The educational policy in the country has been developed in such a manner that it provides complete freedom to the teachers in context of changing their methods and style of teaching (Debroy, 2018).
Furthermore, the policy is also inclined towards providing education to students in such a manner that they become well rounded in different aspects and areas. It means that instead of focusing only on academics, the policy is also directed towards encouraging ample extracurricular and sports related activities. However, Jungblut & Woelert, (2018) have argued that irrespective of the existing effectiveness, there are certain aspects of the educational policy in Australia which are not consistent with the optimum performance. For example, the policy has been able to develop an education system which can operate as a cohesive whole.
At present, the entire system is relying heavily on the concept of dual funding where it is getting financial resources from state governments and commonwealth. The policy has also failed to address the issue of schools and universities findings getting affected from different layers of influences. As per the views of Torii, Fox & Cloney, (2017) the policy developed by government of Australia in context of education can be termed as highly effective as it is promoting equitable and personalized education.
The policy has encouraged the teachers to make students a well integrated and important part of university or school and this has further resulted in encouraging the students to foster their skills in the best possible manner. The teachers are also encouraged to provided the required level of support and assistance to the students so that their all round development can be done.
On contrary to this, Yasukawa & Osmond, (2019) have argued that the education policy in Australia needs lot of improvements as it has been failed to close the gap in context of providing equal education to all. For example, the overall performance of students in the country is strongly tied with their social and economic status and this has further resulted in reflecting the incompetence of the policy. The Aboriginal students in Australia are the most disadvantaged group and these students are way behind their peers in context of subjects such as science and maths.
Suggestions and recommendations
Some suggestions for implementing the policy in a better ways are provided below as:
- It has been suggested that some improvements in Australia’s educational policy are required to be carried out so that the policy can be made more effective. For example, the issues with funding needs to be eliminated so that better and quality educations can be easily promoted in the country. The dual funding system should be eliminated from the policy of education so that the layers of funding getting affected or influenced by different layers can be removed.
- It is also recommended that a significant change in context of the national attitude towards education is also needed. It means a collaborative approach for the improving the entire education system can be integrated in the policy. The policy should emphasize more and more on encouraging the parents and community members to take active participation.
- It has been identified that students from the aboriginal community are struggling with the issue of poor performance and thus, it is suggested that the policy should focus more areas such improving the overall quality of education. Here, efforts should be placed for enhancing the effectiveness of the teachers within schools and universities. The rationale behind providing this suggestion is that it will be playing a very important role in context of carrying out economic and social reforms in Australia. Through this suggestion, Australia will also be able to acquire the leading place in context of the top education systems in the world.
- The policy of education within Australia should also be inclined towards promotion of early investments in Child education. The reason behind providing this suggestion is that it will support the students in deliver better and more effective academic performance in the future.
Conclusion
It can be inferred that the Australia’s educational policy is effective because it focuses on areas such as student focused education and promotion of personalized and equitable education to the children. However, it can be argued that there are certain loopholes associated with the policy which needs to be addressed on priority basis.
For example, the dual layer funding is creating different types of issues for the schools and universities in terms of providing better learning and improving the overall quality of education. It can be also concluded that the improvements in policy will facilitate economic as well as social growth in the entire nation.
References
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