Inclusive Education in Australia
Introduction
Inclusive education (IE) implies that all students join and be received by their schools in regular classes and are all supported to learn. This entails all the involved aspects in the running, operating, and participating in the activities of a school. In Australia, IE is operated on a countrywide basis where all students irrespective of their condition are al enrolled in the schools (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). According to the article, the burden of supporting this education system has increased as a diversified population of students is supported by this system. As such, the eight jurisdictions within the country have been held responsible for developing the policies of these schools. This is followed by the increased funding of the IE to ensure that the program runs smoothly.
The article recognizes the fact there are no standards for measuring the effectiveness of IE within the education system of Australia. As such, the article aims at measuring the success of IE in this educational system through the provision of the report cards. To achieve this, Anderson, and Boyle (2015) carries out an extensive review of the existing literature as well as the associated educational policies. In this case, the article provides the three major guides of measuring the intensive education within the country. These are the student achievement, participation, and post-school options that can be effectively used to assess the performance of this educational system (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). The outcomes of the article on this area of interest are that despite the fact that IE is being operated under the eight educational jurisdictions. The resultant effect is that the management and enacting of IE are different across the country constituting to the varied results on the educational outcomes and inconsistent levels of access by students. Likewise, the article claims that the segregation and exclusion are on increase where students from the minority group have not been effectively represented in this educational system. As a result, the article expresses that there is a long way to go in the efficient adoption of IE in Australia and; therefore, the paper aims at discussing the national approach that should be adopted in approaching the IE as a way of enabling the sustained development of active teaching of all students across Australia.
Summary
The article starts with an in-depth introduction where it starts with the history of the Australian education system. The history is essential in providing the need for intensive education as most of the children were being excluded from the accessing better education in 1990. However, in 1994, Salamanca Statement promoted the idea that students should be provided with quality education in regular classrooms within the local schools (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). This was the basis for the development and growing of the inclusive education in the country. Accordingly, the article continuous to provide why there was a need for adopting this program in Australia by providing a list of the benefits associated with this system. In this instance, the article claims that IE assists both teachers and students improve their tolerance and understanding while valuing their differences as they all support the development while enhancing IE in the school culture. Likewise, IE according to the article is crucial in supporting the student’s social outcome and academic development (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015).
The article later provides the history of Australia in the adoption of this educational system. This follows the fact that the founding of IE was primarily meant to provide education for the disabled students. Nevertheless, the attempt of assisting these students to lead to the adoption of this education system for all students leading to the increased growth of this system all over the country (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). The article also claims that IE has a different meaning for various nations. It is with this fact that Australia has formed its definition under three basic modules that are used to define IE. As such, IE according to the Australia refers to all students irrespective of their circumstances must successfully participate in achieving a valued education in a regular classroom within the local school.
Later, Anderson and Boyle (2015) looks into the inclusive education system in Australia. This follows the claims that there is some disadvantaged students across the country who are turning out constituting to an alarming number. Following a longitudinal study, it was found that approximately 12.3% of Australian students have an additional educational need apart from the learning needs (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). As such, IE focuses on the education of such students together with the minority group at risk in ensuring that they all get a quality education. Importantly, there are no explicit laws supporting the rights of IE leading to the establishment of essential legislation and policies that ensure IE has become a comprehensive society that is composed of inclusive systems and schools.
The article discusses the essence of national reform in the education system in Australia. In this instance, the article claims that the education system in Australia has undergone a series of changes with the most significant one on the development of a state syllabus. The curriculum was established on the principle that most students are eligible to significant, demanding, and appealing learning programs (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). Afterwards, the article discusses the increasing rates of educational exclusion within Australia. This follows the evidence that the number of the isolated students has increased over with time. This becomes another concern of the IE of countering this increased population since most of the students in Australia have been excluded and separated from schools for myriad reasons at a higher rate.
The measures of success are also discussed in the article using the IE even though there is no standard way of measuring against. These measures are to be accomplished through the use of three results; student achievement and participation as well as post-school products (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). With this fact, the article claims that the government has injected more money than ever as a way of resourcing the programmes of supporting the student participation and achievement in schools. The importance of using report cards as a way of measuring the success has constituted to the labeling and grouping of students with similar needs together (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). Despite the effectiveness of this method, the delivery of IE has been affected as revealed in the article. As such, the article provides the negative impacts of labeling such as stigmatization and the delivery of support to students.
Significantly, Anderson and Boyle (2015) discusses the barriers to the inclusive education where the practice of IE on the disabled students as highlighted by a released report from Commonwealth government in 2007. The article lists the most common barriers within Australia that are associated with the IE. The fact there is no defined path to achieving the desired outcomes, there is a need for addressing these barriers as the article emphasizes. The way forward for effective implementation of IE in the Australian education system is also discussed in the article. This includes the major recommendations that need to be taken of as a way of improving the performance of IE (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). In this section, the article addresses the barriers of IE and attempts to provide the solution to some of them. Finally, the article ends up with a conclusion with the claims that the involved party in IE must effectively understand its working as well as the direction it needs to take and the goals to be achieved. This follows the recommendations for making this change in the education system.
The article is effective in various aspects in discussing the topic in interest. The provision of the exclusive summary is one of the strengths that the article exploits in the sense that it covers all the details of the paper in a brief and a concise manner. Similarly, Anderson and Boyle, (2015) provides a brief introduction where it provides the historical background of Australia followed by the need for the introduction of inclusive education. The diversified population of the Australian people as presented in the article needs to be managed in an effective way. The schooling community needs to be conducted in the most effective way where the article claims that the adoption of IE is the most effective approach as it reduces the risks while supporting the levels of accountability and standardization within schools.
Besides, the article’s effectiveness lies in the way it integrates the ideas from various bodies in Australia that shows the need for IE (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). This is followed by efficient in text citation that provides proof for the borrowed ideas and information from these organizations. The article also discusses the ways through which the implementation of IE is different in various parts of the country thus showing the ineffectiveness of this system. Likewise, the article provides a detailed literature review of IE that assists in the provision of new ideas and perspectives of other researchers. This is in reinforcing the author’s ideas as well as expanding them thus making it easier for the reader to understand the topic under discussion.
The article also presents the crucial need for measuring success within the educational system in Australia. The use of report cards is the most effective strategy as shown in the article as the associated advantages are discussed. However, the article discusses the drawbacks of this system thus presenting the real state and operation of this system. Consequentially, the article discusses the barriers facing the implementation of IE in Australian education system. These barriers have been identified following an extensive research that shows the reasons for the reduced efficiency of IE. Later, the article provides the recommendations of solving some of these barriers. This is done in an attempt of enhancing the performance of IE. These recommendations range from the government perspective, societal, and school management system that needs to addresses barriers affecting their field of interest.
Nonetheless, the article has various shortcomings in the discussion of the inclusive education in Australia. Firstly, the article fails to provide a definite definition of the term inclusive education. Failure to define this term is yet counted as a barrier facing the implementation of IE in the Australian education system (Anderson, & Boyle, 2015). Furthermore, the article lists a few benefits associated with this system thus becoming less convincing onto why it is important to adopt such an educational system. Importantly, the essence of the integration of this system in the learning is barely discussed in the article as its major concern is how IE came to be in the Australian educational system.
Correspondingly, the article does not discuss the various ways through which a normal school can be made more inclusive. Another major weakness in the article is the fact that it fails to state the shortcomings of the IE system within Australia. The article only discusses the benefits and barriers of using this system. These weaknesses are important for those willing to adopt such a system to take care of them. Another notable drawback of the article is the discussion of the few solutions of the identified barriers. The report only recommends for the major obstacles and concerns of IE rather than addressing all of these barriers that count in the overall performance of the IE.
Conclusion
Indeed, IE is the effective approach to solving most of the problems faced by the current educational system across the globe. The need of taking this route is overcoming the commonly associated problems of a diversified population. Understanding of the IE is crucial as it determines the direction to be taken as well as the expected outcome of the entire system. In this case, therefore, a detailed research should be done to ensure that the weaknesses, strengths, and barriers to the effective performance of this system are all identified. This research should reveal the areas to be improved and others to be incorporated in the current system. From the article, it is crystal clear that Australia has experienced gradual changes in their educational system following the adoption of IE. Even though the ultimate goal of IE within the country has not been achieved, a positive progress has been made so far that has constituted to the improved performance of its education system.
Reference
Anderson, J., & Boyle, C. (2015). Inclusive education in Australia: rhetoric, reality and the road ahead. Support For Learning, 30(1), 4-22. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-9604.12074
