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Member of the Legislative Assembly for Kew (1971-1981) Contents
Premier of Victoria
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The development and implementation of the Special Assistance Program in Victorian Primary Schools during the period 1979 - 1982 constituted the most significant innovation in the provision of special education services to children experiencing learning difficulties and in addressing declining literacy and numeracy standards. Up until the political directive to initiate this program was given, there had been no policy within the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development directing Principals of Primary Schools to develop special programs for pupils at risk of illiteracy and innumeracy. [1]
From the early 1960s, the Education Department of Victoria (Australia), had developed an extensive range of programs in primary schools that sought to develop the individual ability of each pupil. Also, the ratio of pupils to teachers in schools had been significantly reduced over time and schools had become much more independent in the development of school based remedial programs.
In spite of this, there existed large numbers of children in Victorian primary and secondary schools urgently in need of special assistance in the essential skills of literacy and numeracy. This situation was reflected in the Australian Parliament's House of Representatives Select Committee on Specific Learning Difficulties in 1976. The committee had commissioned research by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) that found that 15% to 20% of children completing their primary education had not achieved a functional level of literacy. [2]
In late May 1979, within a month of being reelected, the Hamer Liberal Government announced Victoria's first major review of its educational policies for more than 50 years.
Anticipating the new direction, in July 1979, the Assistant Minister of Education, Norman Lacy established a Ministerial Committee on Special Assistance Programs. [3] The committee consisted of people drawn from school staffs, special education facilities, teacher training institutions and the Education Department administration. The committee's report was the basis upon which the Special Assistance Program was established.
The process for the establishment of the Special Assistance Program in Victorian Primary Schools [4] was outlined in a speech Mr Lacy delivered to Special Assistance Resource Teachers (SARTs) at a seminar held at Hawthorn State College (Victoria, Australia) on 15 December 1980. In it he announced the most significant development in remedial education in Victoria with a strategic plan for addressing falling literacy and numeracy standards. The totally new component of the Special Assistance Program was the provision of 1000 SARTs for "the delivery of services to children with special needs." These designated teachers were given "a major on-site school responsibility for facilitating a productive relationship between parents and pupils and teachers." [5] The program involved the training of these primary teachers as SARTs and their placement in schools. Their role was the early detection and remediation of children at risk of illiteracy and innumeracy. [6] [7] [8]
The core element of this substantial change in the delivery of special educational services to children was the new role of the school based Special Assistance Resource Teacher (SART) which was the focus of this world-first breakthrough in class room integration of pupils experiencing learning difficulties. The role incorporated all the elements of the service previously performed by external consultants visiting schools.
As a result, from the beginning of the 1981 school year SARTs were designated by their schools and appointed to the 575 primary schools with enrolments of greater than 300 pupils. They were mandated to establish the Special Assistance Program in their schools. The Education Department's Special Services Division and the Primary Division monitored the progress of the implementation and produced a number of evaluative reports that were presented to the Minister. [6]
From the beginning of the 1982 school year, schools with an enrolment of between 150 and 300 pupils designated and appointed a SART to carry out the role on a half-time basis. This resulted in and additional 302 primary schools in Victoria having a school based resource teacher, bringing the total to 877 schools. It was not planned to designate a SART at schools with less than 150 pupils. At such schools it was planned that the Principal or an appointed staff member would access services from the Special Assistance Resource Centres for children at these schools in need of such services. [6]
A major component of stage one was the in-service education component for the SARTs designated by their schools for the new role. A survey of the qualifications and experience of the 575 designated SARTs was undertaken to assess their training requirements. The responses indicated that 200 of the designated teachers had already completed special education training courses. Of these 102 were also experienced in special education teaching. As well 28 of the 375 remaining designated teachers were experienced special education teachers. [9] AREA shared a concern that teachers undertaking SART duties were not qualified in special education, but their proposals to the course committee were rejected. [10]
The Report of the Victorian Ministerial Committee on Special Assistance Programs (1980), in one of its major recommendations, identified the need to reorganise and integrate the range of specialist professional services available (external to the school) into a single co-ordinated service. To implement this recommendation, Norman Lacy established a Working Party within the Victorian Education Department to examine and report on the means to achieve this objective. [11]
Early in 1981, work began on planning for the reorganisation all the relevant special education services provided by the Education Department into a single co-ordinated service delivery system under the Special Assistance Program. [12]
As a result, a reorganised multi-disciplinary service was created on a "one stop" referral basis through 50 statewide Special Assistance Resource Centres allocated one to each Primary Education Inspectoral District throughout Victoria. the professional disciplines offered at each centre included: educational psychology, social work, speech therapy and special education. The availability of these services to primary schools was accessed and co-ordinated by the designated SART within each school and in schools with less than 150 pupils by the Principal. [13]
In April 1982, the Cain Labor Government was elected with commitments to the VTU including the reduction of class sizes in primary schools by redeploying SARTs back to class teaching roles. [14]
AREA reported that "the SART concept would eventually give way to new policies under the Department of Education integration program. By 1982 SAR teachers were no longer being appointed to primary schools, leaving individual schools to decide whether to appoint a SAR teacher from their staffing allocation. There was no indication of what curriculum and in-service support would be provided for schools conducting a special assistance program..." [15]
Phonics is a method for teaching people how to read and write an alphabetic language. It is done by demonstrating the relationship between the sounds of the spoken language (phonemes), and the letters or groups of letters (graphemes) or syllables of the written language. In English, this is also known as the alphabetic principle or the alphabetic code.
Education in Australia encompasses the sectors of early childhood education (preschool) and primary education, followed by secondary education, and finally tertiary education, which includes higher education and vocational education. Regulation and funding of education is primarily the responsibility of the States and territories; however, the Australian Government also plays a funding role.
Special education is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual differences, disabilities, and special needs. This involves the individually planned and systematically monitored arrangement of teaching procedures, adapted equipment and materials, and accessible settings. These interventions are designed to help individuals with special needs achieve a higher level of personal self-sufficiency and success in school and in their community, which may not be available if the student were only given access to a typical classroom education.
The history of education in Africa can be roughly divided into pre- and post- colonial periods. Since the introduction of formal education to Africa by European colonists, African education, particularly in West and Central Africa, is characterised by both traditional African teachings and European-style schooling systems. The state of education reflects not only the effects of colonialism, but instability resulting from and exacerbated by armed conflicts in many regions of Africa as well as fallout from humanitarian crises such as famine, lack of drinking water, and outbreaks of diseases such as malaria and Ebola, among others. Although the quality of education and the quantity of well-equipped schools and teachers has steadily increased since the onset of the colonial period, there are still evident numerous inequalities in the existing educational systems based on region, economic status, and gender.
The Royal Australian Army Educational Corps (RAAEC) is a specialist corps within the Australian Army. Formed in 1949, the corps had its genesis in other services that existed within the Australian forces during World War I and World War II. It is currently made up entirely of commissioned officers and is responsible for the provision of education-related services within the Army. Its various roles include instruction, designing computer-based learning materials, instructional systems, language training, literacy, and numeracy.
The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), established in 1930, is an independent educational research organisation based in Camberwell, Victoria (Melbourne) and with offices in Adelaide, Brisbane, Dubai, Jakarta, London, New Delhi, Perth and Sydney. ACER develops and manages a range of testing and assessment services and conducts research and analysis in the education sector.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) is a statutory authority of the Victoria State Government responsible for the provision of curriculum and assessment programs for students in Victoria, Australia. The VCAA is primarily accountable to the Victorian Minister for Education. It is also responsible to the Minister for Training and Skills and the Minister for Families and Children in relation to sections of Part 2.5 of the Education and Training Reform Act 2006.
The Australian National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Policy (AEP) is a national policy adopted by the Government of Australia by each State and Territory government. The policy was first introduced in 1989 and is the foundation of education programs for all Indigenous Australians.
Direct instruction (DI) is the explicit teaching of a skill-set using lectures or demonstrations of the material to students. A particular subset, denoted by capitalization as Direct Instruction, refers to the approach developed by Siegfried Engelmann and Wesley C. Becker that was first implemented in the 1960s. DI teaches by explicit instruction, in contrast to exploratory models such as inquiry-based learning. DI includes tutorials, participatory laboratory classes, discussion, recitation, seminars, workshops, observation, active learning, practicum, or internships. Model includes "I do" (instructor), "We do", "You do".
Alan John Hunt was an Australian politician, having been a member of the Victorian Legislative Council from 1961 until 1992.
Education in Victoria, Australia is supervised by the Department of Education and Training (DET), which is part of the State Government and whose role is to "provide policy and planning advice for the delivery of education". It acts as advisor to two state ministers, that for Education and for Children and Early Childhood Development.
Norman Henry Lacy is an Australian former politician, who was a Victorian Government Minister from May 1979 to April 1982.
A resource room is a separate, remedial classroom in a school where students with educational disabilities, such as specific learning disabilities, are given direct, specialized instruction and academic remediation and assistance with homework, and related assignments as individuals or in groups.
QuickSmart is a basic academic skills program aimed at middle years students in Australia. Two programs using the same approach encourage fast and accurate basic skills in literacy or numeracy.
The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is a series of tests focused on basic skills that are administered to Australian students in year 3, 5, 7 and 9. These standardised tests assess students' reading, writing, language and numeracy and are administered by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). The National Assessment Program is overseen by the Education Ministers Meeting.
Homeland Learning Centres (HLC) are primary and secondary educational facilities in remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory of Australia, sometimes referred to as homelands or outstations. HLCs are operated by the Northern Territory Department of Education instead of schools. They do not have full-time qualified teachers for their students. As of 2019 there were 29 HLCs in the Northern Territory.
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Relationship and Sex Education (RSE), previously called Sex and Relationships Education (SRE), is a form of sex education taught in UK schools. SRE focuses on exploring the emotional, social and physical aspects of growing up, having relationships, engaging in sex, and learning about human sexuality and sexual health.
The establishment of the Special Assistance Program in Victorian Primary Schools was the most significant development in remedial education in Australia. It was a Hamer Liberal Government initiated strategic plan designed to address falling literacy and numeracy standards. The totally new component of the Special Assistance Program was the provision of 1000 Special Assistance Resource Teachers (SARTs) for the delivery of services to children with learning needs. These designated teachers were also given an on-site school responsibility for facilitating a productive relationship between parents and pupils and teachers. The program involved the training of these primary teachers as SARTs and their placement in schools. Their role was the early detection and remediation of children at risk of illiteracy and innumeracy. The position was the focus of this substantial change in the delivery of special educational services to children at risk of illiteracy and innumeracy. The role incorporated all the elements of services previously performed by external consultants visiting schools.
Charles La Trobe P–12 College is a public, co-educational high school in Macleod, Victoria, Australia. It opened in 2011, the result of a merger between Banksia La Trobe Secondary College, Bellfield Primary School, Haig Street Primary School and Olympic Village Primary School.