Describe How Federal Government Affects Education Sector in Australia (Research Paper Sample)

Impact of the Australian federal model of government on education
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Background information
The federal government of Australia also called Australian government was established in the year 1901, through the help of the Commonwealth governance when the six British colonies (south Australia, Tasmania, new south wales, Victoria, western Australia, and Queensland) came together to form the states of the Commonwealth. Five of these states are from the mainland leaving only a single one as an island. The governance was henceforth based on the parliament also referred to as the parliamentary form of governance whereby each federal state has a functional bicameral parliament that helps in the execution of duties at that level except for the Queensland, having only the legislative lower assembly after the abolition of the upper house in the 1920s.
However, these states are each regulated by the constitution of the Commonwealth government of Australia –the central government. The head of state being governor general, each of the federal states is ruled by a governor appointed by the queen and a Supreme Court system. There are also ministries responsible for the execution of duties at each sector in the economy amongst which is the ministry of education. This paper is aimed at discussing how the federal governance impacts on the economy of education. Education one of the key sectors of the economy needs a very critical view and response to its challenges due its sensitive nature. The paper is, therefore, going to highlight some of the challenges affecting the education sector, the ways in which the Commonwealth governance has handled some of the challenges, growth, and development at different levels as well as the sections that need to be reformed.
In most cases, each federal state has the responsibility to finance and look into the status of education curricular and quality. In Australia, the education in Australia has three levels; primary level (offered in the primary schools) secondary level (offered in secondary schools and high schools) and finally the tertiary level (offered either in the vocational education and training centers, colleges and universities). In the university research and innovation, Australia was ranked position six in the Program for International Students Assessment (PISA) due to the reforms that were put in place by the NIRA. In management, the education sector is stratified into different federal departments charged with different roles. For instance, in employment, there is the DET (Department of Education and Training) which was constituted in 2014 after several evolutionary names since 1987.
Impacts of division of sectors between state and federal governments under the current federal government model on education
The Commonwealth has faced a number of challenges since its formation back in the 1900s amongst which were in the education sector. These include the funding of schools as well as the results obtained by the learners and other stakeholders from the education programs. This called for the formation of the National Plans for Schools Improvement(NPSI). This, however, had to be made effective through the assistance of other programs and agreements hence in the year 2013, the Commonwealth signed the National Education Reforms Agreement(NERA), to implement the National Plans for Schools Improvement(NPSI). This has at least promoted education, however, still there is some area in the education sector that have to wait for the annual finance from the commonwealth budgetary allocations as per the Australian Education Act 2013.
The division of the sectors in terms of governance between the Commonwealth government and the states has actually improved the quality and the access to education in Australia in many ways; to start with, the introduction of the per-student funding which has highly been credited to the NERA. This has seen into t that each and every student in a school that meets the standards outlined by the NERA 2013, would be sponsored as follows $9,271 per primary school student while for the secondary school students it was to be $12,193 per, the amount of money that was to be indexed by 3.6 % p.a. (Harrington, 2013). From these, it can be summarized that the federal governance system in Australia has actually achieved to a greater extent especially in as far as the world’s vision 2030.
Secondly, the introduction of the government fully-funded schools including the special schools (for children with disabilities), special assistance schools (for children with social, emotional and behavioral difficulties) as well as sole-provider schools among others. These have actually improved the economy as well as the output in the education sector, creating the nation in which the levels of literacy are relatively high compared to other countries. In fact, several people are educated and many are employed either formally or in private businesses bringing more resources to the Australian economy. It is, however, worth noting that change does not come in a day as some people would think that success is achieved overnight, as time goes by, we expect a greater change and advantages associated with the federal government system.
Thirdly, the federal government system has actually made education to be accessible to many families. This is due to the fact that the government is close to its subjects than when it formerly was based in the central governing body. This has as well created more opportunities as jobs and access to different educational facilities leading to ease in the coordination between the stakeholders of the education sector as well as making the funds available in running of the institutions and their projects. In the long run, Australia will experience a great shift in its economy and maybe it would turn out to be the world’s super-economy.
Advantages and disadvantages of the growth and development in the education sector
Currently, in Australia, investing in education is actually one of the safest businesses to venture into. This is due to a number of changes and developments that are all commendable. Generally, no one would dare risk life when it is more dangerous but when it is quite favorable. To start with, the growth and development in the curricular activities in Australian education have really changed lives at different social levels. To start with, the reforms in the university education has seen into it that the students enjoy the government subsidiary creating a competitive society in which a higher population of the youths struggle to meet the required grade and skills in order to enjoy such benefits. This is regardless of the possibility that students (when given opportunity without telling them to account for the resources), tend to misuse such chances by carrying out activities that would risk their future lives. For instance, the world over, university students tend to abuse drugs at the expense of reading. This affects the quality of skills they have upon completion of their studies.
The introduction of foreigner’s education program in the country has also played a great role in the development of the educational as well as the overall national economy. This results from the creation of employment to people working in such institutions who spend their wages in the purchase of products and services. Similarly, such students also live in Australia for the whole academic period thereby raising money to the economy through their expenditure on the goods and services in the country. Australia is also at risk of poverty in case the foreigner will continue coming into the nation in the name of improvement in education policies and systems because, these students, upon completion of their studies tend to be attracted to the nation too much. This leads to most of them securing sensitive kinds of jobs which otherwise would benefit the natives and raise their income. If the trend continues then most offices would have all people in Australia being foreigners. Moreover, it is also not assumed that when more foreigners come to a country they tend to bring along their practices which in turn interferes with the economy as well. For instance, they can come with their good that if they could buy in Australia, it could bring some changes in the economy. On the same note, the foreigners can as well exploit the Australian economic resources due to illegal trade fairs. This calls for scrutiny of the items that such students carry into and out of the country.
Thirdly, everyone is usually driven by the desire to improve in his lifestyle as well as that of his/her family members. This is assured to us by the current federal-state system. This is due to several opportunities of getting the education as well as moving up the social ladder, this is due to the fact that the kind of knowledge that the students get in Australian basic schools, institutions of vocational training as well as the universities are highly suited to the competitive modern economy. In addition, the rate at which the graduates from the Australian universities are ready to serve the society is encouraging making the future be quite promising. From the economic point of view, one would say that, if the workers have the relevant and quality skills then such a society has the best boosters of the overall growth of its economic status.
Whereas there are many advantages of federal governance in the education sector, there has been an outcry by the citizens concerning the private and the public schools especially in relation to funds they receive from the government. This has been so because, regardless of the fact that the rich bourgeois who own schools accumulating more money, the government keeps pumping more money into the private schools. This is the issue that promotes inequality. These ...