12 The committee has interpreted the quality of education as depending on the nature of the set of elements that make up the education system. The principle of equality of group outcomes assumes that the distribution of potential for individual members of defined social groups is the same.
THE CHANGING CONTEXT
Until 1992, Category 12 schools will receive grants of 45 percent of the community standard. On average, therefore, the Commonwealth covered about 60 percent of the cost of each project.
DESIRABLE OUTCOMES
There are no ready-made agreements on the content of the curriculum, the way in which schools should carry out their tasks and the ways in which they should measure their success. The focus should be on developing students' ability to apply mathematical knowledge and skills in practical situations, not on acquiring mathematical knowledge per se. In the entire school curriculum, there is a noticeable absence of the study of work as the main human activity.
This may involve recognizing the need for a particular mathematical formula and applying it. The tendency of some members of the community to express concern about any involvement by schools of controversial topics is an obstacle to classroom examination of the ideologies of contemporary political movements. 5 AD At the same time as their roles as members of the workforce, lifelong learners and effective members of the community, individuals must be able to lead fulfilling personal lives.
Research commissioned by the Commonwealth Government through the Department of the Special Minister of State.
CURRICULUM
13 The Commission does not seek to describe the details of the curriculum or, in any more precise way than is implied by Chapter 5, to state what may be contained in a core of compulsory studies in the years of compulsory schooling. However, he is of the opinion that a structure should be imposed on the choices that students exercise. The vagaries of the job market are likely to make specialized training irrelevant even in the short term.
Acquiring the literacy and numeracy skills that support these competencies is more complex than that. Bringing about changes in these areas will require the continuation of efforts being made by some school systems and the commitment of other schools and school systems to the same goal. The desirable result is roughly equal representation of the sexes in the main subjects offered in schools.
The Commonwealth can play a direct role in this through its support of the Curriculum Development Center within the Schools Commission and through other work in the field of non-sexist education.
CREDENTIALLING
One has been to apply for the transfer of some of the new subjects to the category that can count for admission to higher education. Another response has been to argue for the removal of any distinction between subjects and to allow them all to count for admission to higher education. A third response has been to encourage higher education institutions to consider performance in some subjects from the new cohort.
The number of subjects in the category that can count towards higher education admission has been reduced to encourage all students to seriously consider subjects in both sets. 19 As a general rule, external assessments are used for subjects that can count directly for admission to higher education, while the other forms of moderation are used for the newer subjects. A degree of comparability of assessments across higher education institutions will have to be achieved for the selection to be fair.
A leaving certificate has the potential to gain employer support and to reduce the misuse of the parts of current high school diplomas that are intended as credentials for admission to higher education.
MEASURING OUTCOMES
External examinations at the end of Year 12 attempt to provide assessments of the levels students have achieved in the subjects they have studied. A serious technical problem is that they cannot separately identify the causes of perceived variations in performance levels from year to year. Some teachers provide parents with assessments of the degree to which their child is reaching capacity.
Judgments of standards and the establishment of criteria by which judgments will be made are inextricably linked. That survey reported the proportions of students able to perform satisfactorily on each of the tasks used in the tests. This result went largely unnoticed in the press, as an evaluation of the survey revealed (7).
It should also be ensured that evaluations of literacy programs in public discussions are not assumed to be evaluations of the entire educational enterprise.
ORGANISATION AND STRUCTURE OF SCHOOLING
The aim of the proposal was to encourage students to process topics at an optimal pace and with an appropriate degree of difficulty. In South Australia, where primary education had never been zoned, entry restrictions on secondary school entry were lifted at the start of the 1980 school year. Zoning schools is seen as a way of improving the functioning of the education market, enabling government schools to develop their own special features as non-government schools can, and encouraging students and their parents to put their feet up. vote for the good performance.
The gap between good and not-so-good schools may actually widen to the detriment of staff and students in second-rate schools; this would be contrary to the original intention and could lead to greater inequalities between students. Some fear that a structural break in year 10 might encourage students to leave at this point, but the experience of the Australian Capital Territory college system does not support this view. Any major restructuring of the school system, for example with the nationwide adoption of the Australian Capital Territory arrangements, would be extremely costly, especially in 114.
Parliament of New South Wales, Report from the Legislative Assembly Select Committee on the School Certificate, 1981.
TEACHERS AND TEACHING
10 .18 The progressive development of general competences depends on the recognition by all teachers of the role they have to play in it. For example, the review estimated that expenditure from Professional Development Program funds on continuing education for teaching English as a second language amounted to less than 1 per cent of the value of the Commonwealth's expenditure on its English as a Second Language programme. . IOA8 The review strongly favored the notion of Commonwealth support for professional development linked to Commonwealth priorities, but drew attention to difficulties in the operation of the Programme.
Course contracts have the advantage that the provision of the courses is sensitive to the requirements of schools and teachers. Victoria: Committee of the Victorian Inquiry into Teacher Education, Teacher Education in Victoria: Interim Report, Government Printer, Melbourne, February 1980. Committee of the Victorian Inquiry into Teacher Education, Teacher Education in Victoria, Interim and Final Reports, op.
F Coulter and L Ingvarson, Review of the Commonwealth Professional Development Programme, Professional Development and School Improvement: Roles and Responsibilities, Report to the Commonwealth Schools Commission, November 1984.
NEEDS OF SPECIAL GROUPS
The commission required schools, once declared, to remain in the program for at least three years as a time recognition. The Commonwealth funded the establishment and initial operating costs of Indigenous Education Consultative Groups in the States and Territories. The review was critical of many aspects of the operation of the special education program.
It is administered by joint Commonwealth-State committees, one for each of the government and non-government sectors. D Cahill et al., Review of the Commonwealth Multicultural Education Program, Commonwealth Schools Commission, Canberra, November 1984. Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Senate Standing Committee on Education and the Arts, op.
D G Tomlinson and P D Tannock, Review of the Assistance for Isolated Children Scheme, University of Western Australia, 1981.
PERSPECTIVES ON SPECIAL PROVISIONS
12.5. Targeting effort at individuals who already demonstrate low levels of education ignores the fact that it is desirable to provide help before harm is done. A follow-up study, up to the stage where the groups reached the age of 19, was published late in 1984 (6). For these reasons, several years may pass before the full effects of the Disadvantaged Schools Program become apparent.
The committee is inclined to support a reduction in the number of specific purpose programs and believes that greater recognition by education authorities of the mainstream school's responsibility for the wide range of student abilities and backgrounds that is now normal in Australia is needed. There is also direct criticism of the Commission for not allocating sufficient staff to run a number of the programmes. Of the former kind are those that deal with important principles such as equal opportunities or the development of a multicultural society.
A Ruby, J Reddin, J Sobski and E Wilmot, Report of the Disadvantaged Schools Program Review Panel, Commonwealth Schools Commission, Canberra, January 1985.
STRATEGIES AND PRIORITIES
The discussion of capital financing in paragraphs 13.18 to 13.24 indicated that such expenditure should be directed to specific purposes. In line with the priority of maintaining strongly rising participation rates, there is a possibility that a similar arrangement could be funded under the participation and equity programme, a proposal which could be considered during the review provided for in paragraph 13.54.
CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Organisations with which the Committee held Consultations
Organisations and Individuals Making Written Submissions or Presenting
