Smarter Schools National Partnership: An Education Policy For Improving Schools In Australia, Essay.

Critique of an educational policy, which has implications for improving schools, of your choosing in a country (or state-level such as ACT and NSW) you select. The essay should include the following

1. A brief description of the educational policy
2. A presentation of contextual factors leading up to and influencing the implementation of the policy
3. A critique of the policy in terms of some theoretical framework or tool
4. An incorporation of insights gained from the readings and discussions (i.e., “reflections”)

Reforms under the Smarter Schools National Partnership

The Australian education system has undergone through the major changes in the last few decades through the education policies. These policies put implication on the school for the improvement. The Australian government is also offering significant funds to improve schools and for implementing systematic and sustainable education reform. The schools are adopting new policies for the improvement issues of the schools. The smarter school national partnerships (SSNP) provide significant funding in order to implement systematic and sustainable education reform. This education policy aims to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes along with strengthening the capacity and driving quality and improvement in teaching. The partnership is achieving significant reform at the national, state and local school community levels (Ahmmed & Mullick, 2014). This education policy deals with the school improvement issues at K-12 settings. “The schools in Australia faces the problem of the professional standards for teachers and principals”. Additionally, there is a lack of school curriculum and standardized national assessments in the literacy and numeracy. The SSNP provides funding to implement systematic and sustainable education reform to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes and drives quality and constant improvement in teaching. The national partnerships are achieving significant reforms at the community levels. The professional development of the principals, leaders, teachers, other staff and the on-going professional learning outcomes influences the implementation of the education policy. The policy aims to improve the performance of the school by enhancing the performance of the staff. It focuses on fostering and supporting the on-going professional learning communities (Chodkiewicz & Boyle, 2017).  The education policy induces into working in partnerships with schools and trains to students on a student mentoring role. The national and numeracy national partnership is adopted with the aim of literacy or numeracy improvement. It strengthened the leadership in principals and improved learning cultures in schools. The major stakeholders involved in the education policy are teachers, students, and parents.

There are three reforms of the smarter schools national partnership such as for literacy and numeracy, for low-socioeconomic status school communities and for improving teacher quality. The national partnership for literacy and numeracy supports teachers and schools to focus on the approaches which are effective in improving literacy and numeracy outcomes of the students. It causes to improved outcome of the students and boosted the capacity of the students. This policy helps school leaders to make well-versed decisions about the best strategies for the school and students. The policy funds a range of approaches which leads to improvement in literacy and numeracy outcomes of the targeted students and school. The state and the non-government education authorities concentrate on the key areas of the quality teaching, school leadership and on the student’s performance in delivering constant improvements so that sustained improvements in literacy and numeracy can be delivered (Chao, Forlin & Ho, 2016).

Factors Influencing Implementation

The smarter schools national partnership for the low socio-economic school communities helps students in the most disadvantaged communities to perform better at school. The reforms undertaken under this policy are helpful in improving the quality of the teachers. It allows students to be flexible enough in operating and encouraging various modes of learning so that the need of the students can be met (Allami, Fauzee & Sin, 2017). Fostering wellbeing of the students and inspiring better connections with the families and local communities are the features of this partnership.

The national partnership for improving teacher quality identifies that teachers have the greatest influence on student’s engagement and achievement. The improvement in the quality of the teachers necessitates principals’ strong school leadership and innovative approaches to teacher recruitment, retention, and reward. The local government of Australia is instigating a range of significant reforms to target precarious points in the teachers’ lifestyle to appeal, train, develop and retain quality teachers in the schools and reforms. These measures are supported by other reform which supports the development of the workforce planning, improvement of the teacher’s remuneration structure and professional development. This policy offers a platform to enhance the student’s performance and support other reforms focusing on low economic status (Cooper & Yan, 2015).  

The smarter schools national partnership is seeking to develop and improve performance across schooling to reinforce the student learning achievement specifically for the students who may be falling behind. This education policy uplifts the performance of the students in literacy and numeracy for the students who are falling behind and require extra support. It is a whole school approach for the quality teaching (Eacott, 2017). It inspires leadership towards a culture of constant improvement. The policy also makes use of data and evidence in order to recognize and identify the most effective resources. It builds capacity with the help of professional learning. It also believes in collaborating and sharing responsibility (Lee & Wu, 2017).  

The factors which lead and influence the implementation of the smarter schools national partnership education policy are governance and funding. The education system in Australia directed nationally through agreements and is focused on the education priorities and funding. The school funding lacks transparency which influences the implementation of the education policy. Various studies have shown that it is difficult to determine how individual schools are funded. The schools in Australia have a positive learning environment and comprise well-prepared teachers. There is a requirement for an effective education policy in order to maintain the evaluation and assessment framework (Dowden, 2014). The rural and indigenous population in Australia have lower academic performance and less access to the education which leads to the implementation of the education policy. The policy aims to prepare well for the students and enhance their performance. The effective secondary and tertiary pathways in the country aim to prepare well for the students for the social and labor market integration. It can be possible with the help of an effective education policy. Australia has maintained positive learning environments comprising strong academic leadership and well-prepared teachers. It is possible with the implementation of the education policy which aims to make improvement in the classroom with the clearer information on the areas to improve (Hopkins, Stringfield, Harris, Stoll & Mackay, 2014).

The Impact of TSNP on Australian Schools

The smarter schools national partnerships have considerably implemented activities which progressively incorporated national developments with the help of national professional standard for teachers and principals. The policy also worked on the Australian curriculum. This policy ensured to maximize the benefits from all the investments in the education system of the country. the smarter schools national partnership is capitalizing for the three national partnerships such as providing high quality, appropriate professional development, and opportunities for the principals to strengthen school leadership (Mulryan-Kyne, 2014). As per the report of 2011, 289 schools participated with a total enrolment of more than 83,500 students under the education policy. Many other schools were also involved across the state through a specific target which provided support to more than 7,000 students. The targeted students provided support to over 6500 children and youngsters through ICAN local community grants. It funded to schools and community-based programs and youth development programs. The education policy undertook professional development and school capability building activities by evaluating the performance of the principals, teachers and other school staff (Lim, Xia, Skitmore, Gray & Bridge, 2015).

From the above discussion, I realized that the smarter schools national partnerships helped around 750 teachers and school leaders in the Catholic sector assumed professional learning workshops. It concerns the execution of the Australian curriculum in the specific learning centers. It is considered that the introduction of new performance and development policy announced by the minister for education and child development supported performance counts training workshops. The attendance of over 500 teachers at professional conversations workshops associated with the national professional standards for the teachers. The adoption of the policy offered the greater reliability of practice in the literacy and numeracy improvement. The implementation of the education policy created opportunities for the principals to strengthen the educational leadership (Tekola, et. al. 2016).

The SSNP informs schools of national developments concerning the national professional standard for the students. Various models of the performance management and the appraisal are presented to the schools linking potential applications of the professional standards for the teachers. The policy also guides for the implementation of the national professional standard for the teachers. The policy induces models for early career teachers and provides a framework for the communities regarding professional learning. Introductory workshops in the rural, regional and metropolitans locations provide a foundation to the national professional standard for the teachers. It offers opportunities for the teachers to acquire a strong sense of ownership of the standards. It helps in building professional capacity by supporting professional conversations regarding teacher practices and professional development planning (Rudman, 2014).

Conclusion

The framework analyzing SSNP comprises four frames and considers analyzing characteristics of the education policy. The first frame analyses the background and underlying principles which are required to be focused on analyzing the characteristic of the SSNP. The principles of the education policy enhance the art of principalship which is the essential knowledge. The principal also includes school improvement along with improving teaching and learning at every level. It comprises mentoring successful leaders. The principals aim to build leadership capacity for the middle managers and women in leadership. The second frame observes the policy formulation process. The Australian government provides significant funding for systematic and sustainable education aims to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes. The SSNP has achieved substantial reform at the local, state and national community levels. The progress of the SSNP can be evaluated from the innovative strategies implemented. The states and territories are contributing through fresh funding and redirection of the existing resources (Urbanovi?, Wilkins & Huisman, 2016). The territory and state facilitation funding improved teacher quality in total $94 m. The funding in state and territory reward projected to improve teacher quality by $350 m in 2008-2013. The literacy and numeracy comprise reward funding which is subjected to the attainment of the agreed performance targets. The third framework examines the execution process and the gaps between the implementation and the planning. The framework conducted a workshop for the stakeholders to share information and discuss the resources needed in order to strengthen the parental engagement. The teachers were advocated for the greater orientation to the role of the teacher in in relating parents and families in schooling (Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, 2016). The SSPN supported to promote parental engagement and new resources as developed by the project. Many efforts have been made to enhance the quality of the teachers by creating a specialised institution. The last one concentrates on the effects of the policies. The government in Australia reviewed SSNP and examined challenges and the funding approaches. It enhanced the relationship between student performance and the teacher’s standard of teaching (Yikici, Altinay, Altinay & Dagli, 2016).

After analyzing the SSNP, it is recommended to create provision of opportunities and support teachers in the development and enhancement of the professional practice. The policy should seek to be influential at all levels of policy making. It is recommended to protect and enhance teacher’s right to define how to teach within the context. The teachers should be supported in setting the direction of development and contributed to the learning. The teachers should be guided to build collaborative relationships with parents or guardians. The policy is recommended to enable teachers in participating activities which lead to the formation and transfer of professional knowledge.

References

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Chao, C. N. G., Forlin, C., & Ho, F. C. (2016). Improving teaching self-efficacy for teachers in inclusive classrooms in Hong Kong. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 20(11), 1142-1154.

Chodkiewicz, A. R., & Boyle, C. (2017). Positive psychology school?based interventions: A reflection on current success and future directions. Review of Education, 5(1), 60-86.

Cooper, P., & Yan, Z. (2015). Some possible effects of behaviour management training on teacher confidence and competence: evidence from a study of primary school teachers in Hong Kong. Educational Studies, 41(1-2), 156-170.

Dowden, T. (2014). Challenging, integrated, negotiated and exploratory curriculum in the middle years of schooling: Designing and implementing high quality curriculum integration. Australian Journal of Middle Schooling, 14(1), 16-27.

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Lim, Y. S., Xia, B., Skitmore, M., Gray, J., & Bridge, A. (2015). Education for sustainability in construction management curricula. International Journal of Construction Management, 15(4), 321-331.

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