Response

Answer

Evaluating the Impact of State’s Initiative in Curriculum

Introduction

The growth and development of a country are determined by a number of factors among them the social institutions and technological innovation. Considering the social institutions such as healthcare and learning organizations, states are prompted to make vast and regular reforms that are aimed at achieving the associated central goals. For instance, in learning institutions, reforms entails developing new and improved guidelines for teachers and students while implementing technological innovations such as online courses. In the last one decade, innovation and technology have been central to modernization and globalization thus learning institutions among other organizations have to implement improved technological approaches to enhance quality student outcome (Savage & O’Connor, 2015). One of the major factors driving the reforms in the education sector is the increase in learning population as a result of demographic change. With an outburst of generation Y and Z, countries have been forced to increase the number of schools while developing effective learning strategies. This is centered on ensuring all children access education at the basic level which addresses other challenges such as low literacy levels among adults. It is therefore imperative to understand some of the reforms that characterize the learning institutions before evaluating the impacts of associated initiatives

For the last three decades, one of the major disparities has been on the educational controversy on what young individuals should do while at school and also what they should know. In Australia, the last 30 years has seen a wrestle over the issue of what a student should learn about as described in the curriculum framework (Lingard & McGregor, 2014). Various interpretations have been made in this regard where issues such as technological advancement of learning institutions and the role of teachers have been considered a major factor in educational curriculum reforms. Prior to passing the 2008 Australian curriculum, several challenges existed in the education sector where most of the developments regarding educational systems were being done unilaterally at the territory or state level (Porter, Fusarelli, & Fusarelli, 2015). The coming to play of Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) has been a major achievement in achieving educational reforms. The implementation of this curriculum has been strategic where it commenced with Mathematics, Science, English, and History subjects. In all the stages of the curriculum, it has been characterized by criticism and applause thus the importance of evaluating the impact of the state initiative in the curriculum, the implication for educational leaders and the consequences for the both the present and future which are the foundation of this paper. Also included in this discussion are some of the recommendations for enhancing the initiative and mitigation of the arising disparities. This analysis is centered on literature evaluation on the above mentioned aspects.

Understanding Educational Curriculum

As mentioned above, the move to review and advance the educational curriculum is driven by a number of factors such as proposals from the stakeholders, population change, dynamism in the global population and learning sector such as the need for integrating technology and the importance of understanding what to implement and what children should know. In Australian Curriculum, the government initiative was responsible for the evaluation, development and implementing the Australian education system reforms. Some of the tests used to evaluate the Australian performance in the international context included the program for international student assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and Progress International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) (Donnelly & Wiltshire, 2014). Based on these reviews, the specific aspects of advancement were developed in the context of constitutional responsibilities and Australia federal system of the territories and states in relation to school education. Based on the issues included in the education systems review, the need for all jurisdictions to adopt the developed curriculum upon agreeing on the implementation of the curriculum was fostered by an inclusive process in establishing the curriculum. Inclusiveness in this regard entailed parents, teachers, educational experts and the wider community.

The curriculum based on the recommendation and reviewers’ conclusion is centered on various aspects whose central goal is to achieve quality learning in the learning institutions. To begin with is the need for competent teachers across all realms from the primary to colleges. Based on the Australian Primary Principles Associations (APPA), this concern is articulated and echoed throughout the development process (Donnelly & Wiltshire, 2014). Another concern is the content to be taught in schools. Based on the recommendations, not only is discipline aspect being targeted by the teachers but also the issue of developing a child’s talents and capabilities. This brings to fore the issue of cross-curriculum priorities where besides the educational aspect, learning institutions are tasked with ensuring weight on the extra curriculum activities (Koehn & Uitto, 2014). Another factor is that of overcrowding at schools. As a result, the curriculum argues that in the long term solution, there is need to develop more schools to mitigate the issue of overcrowding. This introduces the issue of quality and the number of teachers where the teaching workforce should be increased. Also included in the curriculum are the learning areas and subjects of concerns where more focus has been placed on the Sciences and Mathematics subjects. Regular review of the learning approach is also critical according to the curriculum where education institutions are monitored and evaluated based on the implementation of the developed strategies and guidelines.

Impacts of Initiative

Various studies have been conducted to evaluate the impact of state’s initiative in the curriculum. Notably, most of these studies have focused on the impact on the financial and policy aspects. Based on the curriculum review and advancement approaches, some of the major aspects in consideration include the increase in the number of teachers and learning institutions. This implies more resources being channeled to the education sector to meet these needs. Also included in the impacts of this development in the curriculum are training needs of the teachers to focus on the child’s cognitive, physical and talent capabilities as the cross-curriculum approach (Donnelly & Wiltshire, 2014). The central goal of this initiative is to develop a learning population that is diversified in regards to their skills and abilities. In the curriculum, inclusivity in the child’s development has also been considered which reflects the holistic approach where the teacher and the parent are all involved in developing the child learning needs. This section therefore comprehensively evaluates the relevant literature in the government’s initiative in the curriculum.

As outlined in the curriculum overview above, one of the major aspects is the need to have policies that will enhance the educational sector. The government is therefore committed to revising the existing guidelines while developing new ones. This introduces the challenge of policy demands and pressures to ensure the development of a standardized literacy and Australian numeracy tests (Treagust et al., 2015). Hardy & Lewis (2014) argue that the National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), as well as the related policies, have a challenge in ensuring the development of effective educational notions of subjectivity and disciplinary power. While considering the field of schooling, policies that are central to ensuring uniformity in Australia are imperative which presents other challenges such as equity in the distribution of resources (Hardy, 2014). One of the major aspects of the curriculum is regular reporting upon monitoring and evaluation of how well the curriculum is being implemented. Hardy & Lewis (2014) posit that ensuring uniformity across the whole country is a major challenge based on the difference in urbanization. In addition, access to quality care by the entire learning population has been considered a major factor. In this regard, the state initiative is challenged to develop policies that ensure all students access quality education across all sectors from the rural to the urban areas. This eliminates the challenge of differences in the skills and knowledge at the workplace later after completing higher education. In the lower level education sectors such as primary schools, policy pressure is on ensuring all students are well prepared for advanced education in colleges and universities

Lingard & McGregor (2014) offer another foundation of the policy disparities concerning the educational reforms and the effective implementation of the curriculum. It is apparent that globalization is on the rise across all nations thus the primary factor that should be considered is the content that students should be learning at school. Notably, the specifications of the education requirements particularly in the preschools remain in dispute. In Queensland, the curriculum being implemented focuses on English, Mathematics, Science, and History subjects (Lingard & McGregor, 2014). However, the main tension is on the question; what counts? This question has mainly been based on the complex, globalized world where technical skills are imperative. In the current policy disputes, Lingard & McGregor (2014) argue that there is need to adopt a new approach in educational systems where the conventional strategies are dropped such as the traditional school subjects. In replacement, learning institutions should focus on the real world approach. According to the Australian curriculum, the new approach effectiveness entails both the need to ensure the international tests are implemented and the conventional approach of the outcome-based learning process are adopted. On the other hand, this curriculum is centered on the need to shape an individual with dispositions and skills that are required by the millennial worker which is the foundation of the cross-curriculum priorities and capabilities. Still, clarity is required over what to focus on between the proposed subjects and the cross-curriculum capabilities.

The learning institutions pedagogy is another foundational aspect of the impacts of the state initiative in the curriculum. Lingard, Martino & Rezai-Rashti (2013) suggest that based on the curriculum and other development approaches in the educational sector, the issue of accountability is introduced. While contextualizing the increase in the complementary national approaches of test-based and accountability in schooling systems, there is a major effect on accountability of a number of elements such as infrastructure, pedagogical work of the teachers, the curriculum width and the schooling goals. Lingard, Martino & Rezai-Rashti (2013) note that this challenge of accountability is on rescaling the policy aspect globally. The need to reconstitute a single space and approach to measure school system performance is also another move which should be considered according to Lingard, Martino & Rezai-Rashti (2013). As a result of the new school systems, global panopticism is being witnessed where the need for more policies is increasing both nationally and globally. Such include the positioning of the national school systems globally which has a major relationship with policymaking. The standardization of the school systems rests on the major policies on the steering systems where recognized testing approaches that are also equitable are central towards achieving a high success rate of the curriculum.

Teachers are among the main stakeholders in the educational reforms in not only Australia but globally. As a result, it is important to understand the learning needs associated with this workforce to achieve the objectives of the reforms and state’s imitative in the curriculum. Darling-Hammond (2017) notes that countries need to have proper policies in place that foster having competent teachers who understand the needs of a child and integrate effectively with the newly developed schooling systems. In this regard, effective teacher education policies are required to ensure competence and advanced skills among these individuals. Similarly to the healthcare sector where the patient needs are the drivers of the management approach, the learner needs are the drivers of the educational curriculum adopted in a school. Teachers are therefore prompted to understand the art of effectively relating with the child and developing their capabilities. Darling-Hammond (2017) further notes that countries implementing the educational curriculum and reforms should set aside resources for developing teachers’ needs. As suggested by Darling-Hammond (2017), countries such as Canada, particularly in Ontario and Alberta, Singapore, Finland and Australia with a focus on New South Wales and Victoria have directed their focus in ensuring profound teacher education practices and guidelines while paying attention to the contexts of recruitment, induction, preparation, professional development and practice collective improvement. To mitigate possible disparities in the educational reforms and teaching approaches, Darling-Hammond (2017) suggests observation of other countries such as the US and the approaches they have taken to transform their teacher's enhancement systems.

In a state that has successfully implemented advanced curriculum, the issues of financial ability and time are primary in ensuring the success of the initiatives. Harris et al. (2015) argue that the procedure required in ensuring the successful implementation of this curriculum among other processes is centered on the government commitment and the aliasing of the various agencies and bodies in the realm. Dyment, Hill & Emery (2015) argue that for the existing schools, their effectiveness should be evaluated and improvement approaches developed based on the findings. This improvement should focus on gaining recognition at the national and international level as well as achieving prominence. Considering both the empirical and theoretical sense, the maturity of the proposed interventions for traditional schools and the standards of the new institutions is based on arriving at innovations and interventions that are widely used across an array of countries from the US to the UK (Koehn & Uitto, 2014). Efforts on how these schools should arrive at having effective learning environments to acquire full potential of their students should be stipulated by the state for enumeration by all the involved institutions. This presents the need for reforms through the articulation of five main phases. Harris et al. (2015) suggest that although these stages are imperative for a given country, the implications of time and resources are challenging to any state thus focus should be on how to acquire sufficient resources. Harris et al. (2015) suggests that these phases include understanding the organizational culture of an institution, employing research actions, managing change at the organizational level, building the capacity of students to learn while focusing on the leadership aspect and systemic improvement in the future.

The implication of these phases is challenging to a country since they imply more taxpayers money and time. For instance, the increase in new schools to address overcrowding reflect the requirement of more training of teachers and integrating them in the employment sector. Also, the need to advance teachers’ skills have financial implications based on advancing their skills at the expense of the government’s resources (Santiago et al., 2011). In addition, with the increase in the special education institutions, the need to have special teachers reflect on more resources for training these individuals. The government initiative is to develop the child cross-curriculum abilities besides theoretical based knowledge. This reflects the need to have sufficient equipment and not only understand the child’s abilities but also develop them. As a holistic approach to ensuring child development, teachers and parents have to work together thus parents are required to enhance their skills in child management and development while at home (Klein & Rice, 2014). With technology being a major aspect, the need for online learning approaches require advanced facilities thus more resources are required. In the advanced approaches of the traditional institutions, following the entire process reflects on more time in ensuring effective development of the schools. Essentially, all these developments are made at the expense of the public’s contribution through taxes and high educational fees (Cole, Paulson & Shastry (2016). The implication is that parents have to pay more as the government directs more resources in enhancing the education sector.

The national overview of implementing the state initiative in curriculum should put into consideration the value added and growth models. Collins & Amrein-Beardsley (2014) argues that over the last few decades, educational accountability has transformed from the students being responsible for their performance to the teachers being required to conduct this role. This reflects on the student-teacher relationship whose main aim is to understand the deficit in the student’s learning needs and therein developing effective advancement and mitigation strategies for the identified challenges. To achieve teacher’s competence, besides developing skills approach, one of the major approaches is the government initiative to include initiatives to enhance the teacher’s morale of conducting their roles. Majority of states now depend on data from student to identify flaws in the curriculum and therein develop effective strategies to address the challenges. States have also continued to identify the importance of the value added and growth models movements to enhance the education systems. Collins & Amrein-Beardsley (2014) further suggest that every state is obliged to develop education system advancement approaches through regarding the value-added model as a major initiative. The growth and value-added models entail the continuous evaluation of the teacher’s skills and development of effective improvement approaches. With the central goals being the identification of setbacks in the teachers’ skills towards executing the required interventions of the curriculum, this model has been widely used in various states to achieve the primary objectives of educational reforms where the focus is on the learner educational quality.

Impact of the Initiative on the Educational Leaders

Curriculum development as mentioned above has been identified to have a major impact on various stakeholders from the teachers and parents to the state officials and the public in general. The impact of the initiative on the educational leaders is on ensuring its success across all states. The requirements of the initiative are structured such that the interrelationship of various organs in the education sector is all aimed at achieving the central goal of enhancing student quality outcome (Timperley, 2015). One of the major impacts on the educational leaders is the need to develop effective policies that will foster for a high success rate factor of the initiative. In this regard, these leaders are tasked with understanding the metrics involved in achieving the objectives of the curriculum. For instance, in reducing overcrowding at the schools, the central approach is building more institutions that will accommodate the rising learning population (Savage & O’Connor, 2015). These leaders are therefore tasked with ensuring effective policies in place for the development of infrastructure. Another policy concern is the identification of the exact aspect to be learned in the schools while considering the science, mathematics and English languages and at the same time focusing on the real world aspect. As a result, these leaders are obliged to understanding the requirements of the society and therein develop effective policies and guidelines for achieving the objectives of the curriculum.

Effective achievement of the curriculum is centered on sufficient resources that support the developed strategies. As mentioned above, the curriculum is based on developing infrastructure and strategies that will achieve profound educational reforms (Glatthorn, Jailall, & Jailall, 2016). For instance, learning institutions are imperative to increase in number and specific requirements such as advanced technological systems. Another requirement is ensuring that there are sufficient teachers to address the identified challenges of overcrowding and to suffice the increased educational facilities. In addition, effective training and skill development of the existing teachers, as well as the upcoming ones, is essential (Stromguist & Monkman, 2014). Based on these requirements, educational leaders are tasked with understanding how the resources to achieve this growth are to be acquired. In addition, it is the role of the educational leaders to push the government to improve resources allocation in the education sector. In this case, making a budget for all the financial year requirements is critical to source for the necessary funding and resources. While still considering the role of the educational leaders in achieving the curriculum objectives, it is important to note that this initiative calls for accountability among these individuals as well as expressing effective leadership attributes such as critical thinking. Essentially, achieving this initiative has been met with several challenges such as disparities in the policies and requirements. As a result, effective leadership is required particularly in understanding the challenges facing the achievement of the initiative objectives. In this regard, besides effective leadership, critical thinking, monitoring and evaluation and problem-solving attributes are imperative which aid in mitigation of the identified challenges.

The initiative on the curriculum is centered on an established relationship among all stakeholders from teachers and parents to the wider community and the business. As a result, the need for fostering these relationships is critical for the educational leaders. While they continue to develop the curriculum and the related assessment, credentialing and accreditation systems that enhance quality and those that are recognized both nationally and internationally, it also their role to enhance the public confidence regarding the initiative (Cole, Paulson & Shastry, 2016). This is approached through defensible and explicit standards that direct the improvement of the educational achievement at the student’s levels as well as the achievement of the efficiency, effectiveness, and equity in the learning institutions. In the monitoring and evaluation preamble, the importance of developing educational standards also fall in these leaders were meeting the students’ needs is the main foundation. Among the approaches through which the setting of these standards is done through understanding what other countries such as the US have done and implemented them in the nation (Wallender, 2014). With the developed nations having developed systems where student’s skill sari enhanced in cross-curriculum approach, educational leaders should learn from such initiatives and the achievement thus far. It is also the role of these leaders to direct the state on what to do to achieve educational reforms effectively. Such include the implementation of the national competency framework that ensures all teachers meet the set standards. In addition, the National Quality Management Frameworks are developed by these leaders who understand the importance of standardized and equal institutions.

Consequences for Present and Future

The consequences for both the present and future and centered on the objectives of the initiative, the process towards integrating with the curriculum and continuous development of approaches to enhance the educational reforms. Presently, the central objective of the initiative is to develop policies while improving the current systems. In addition, the present approach is based on developing new infrastructure that conforms to the developed initiatives. As a result, the current consequences are to ensure effective integration with the system while understanding the developed approaches (Klein & Rice, 2014). It is first imperative to comprehend the developed reforms and policies associated with these advancements. This aids in identifying the requirements in the present context as well as how to implement these reforms. Understanding the required skills is another present major consequence. According to the initiative, it is important for all stakeholders to possess skills that are according to the national management framework (Donnelly & Wiltshire, 2014). The future consequences of the initiative are the need to constantly enhance the skills and attributes as proposed by the regularly proposed reforms. In the future context, the need to constantly update the knowledge of the requirements calls for using resources and time to master the reforms and dynamic requirements. In addition, there is need to contribute to the initiative through providing suggestions and proposals on how the curriculum can be improved. As a major stakeholder in the initiative, the primary role is not only abiding by the process but also offering suggestions on how it can be enhanced while considering possible challenges.

Recommendations

Achieving the initiative objectives is centered on the state’s commitment towards fostering the success of these goals while considering other suggestions on how the process can be improved. As suggested by Collins & Amrein-Beardsley (2014), the achievement of this initiative is a process that entails stakeholders, resources and time. Growth and development models and strategies are important in achieving the set aims. However, there are some recommendations that need to be put into consideration to enhance the initiative further and the success factor. The first recommendation revolves around the topography in the initiative’s policies. Among the major debates has been that of accountability which has amplified in the last decade based on the stratagem to prompt states to flight from student to teacher accountability (Lingard, Martino & Rezai-Rashti, 2013). This flight is based on the actions by the teachers to add value to the student. As a result, there has been a remarkable growth in the state’s commitment towards developing initiatives and penalties over the teacher’s performance in ensuring the students’ achievement. These policies centered on accountability have resulted in an increase in effectiveness. However, little is known regarding the gains of the teacher. In addition, this mounts pressure on the teacher to ensure competence which may also affect their moral considering the education sector is characterized by dynamism among the student’s abilities and skills Collins & Amrein-Beardsley (2014). In this regard, it is important to approach the accountability aspect with caution which in this case refers ensuring other aspects are maintained and are constant. Teachers should be provided a chance to present their issues and aspects they believe can be used to enhance the initiative’s objectives. In addition, the government should be committed to further enhancing the teacher’s skills while addressing the challenges they face.

Another recommendation is based on the access to equitable care across all regions. Based on the initiative, there is need to ensure that all student’s access quality education which is characterized by adequate facilities and competent teachers (Stromquist & Monkman, 2014). Achieving equitable education is not the major disparity but rather the accessibility by students particularly in the rural areas. Apparently, there exists a major difference between the rural and urban areas towards the access to quality education. Poverty is also another factor to consider which will avert the challenge of few individuals accessing the learning institutions. The recommendation in this regard entails more emphasis being placed in ensuring accessibility of the facilities and the government being committed to addressing poverty in the rural sector (Sugarman et al., 2014). It is challenging for a student to attend school when the transport cost among other requirements exceed the family’s financial stability. The initiative should factor in free education for all through the adoption of policies such as No Child Left behind (NCLB) in the US (Klein & Rice, 2014). However, such a policy should be integrated with the development of more learning institutions and ensuring competent teachers in all facilities regardless of the location. Also recommended is ensuring that the teacher-parent relationship is enhanced through educating parents on how they can be involved in their children’s development. This will offload the weight on the teacher as the sole factor in the child’s educational development.

In conclusion, education reforms have been central to the growth and development of a nation. States have therefore focused on developing initiatives that are centered towards achieving equitable, sustainable and progressive educational reforms. In Australia, the government has been committed to implementing the education curriculum which besides ensuring equitable education accessibility is the aspect of teacher’s accountability. Various studies as reflected in the above discussion have focused on analyzing the major aspects of this curriculum with the major conclusion being policy reforms as the foundation of the reforms. The implication of this initiative as depicted in the above discussion is on the policies, role of the government and approaches to achieve the objectives of the initiative. Educational leaders have therefore been prompted to develop strategies that address the disparities in the policies such as the specific aspects to learn at school and national management frameworks. The present and future aspects for all stakeholders are to abide by the reforms while offering suggestions on the improvement approaches. The recommendations for further enhancing this initiative is ensuring not only equitable education but also accessibility regardless of the student’s financial background and ensuring teachers as the major stakeholders on the initiative as a result of the accountability based policies. While focusing on teachers’ accountability, incentives and motivation should be enhanced besides the penalties for lack of effectiveness.