The Impact of Educational Change and its Implications to Teaching Practice - Essay Example

Please just send me a message if you need anything. Thanks! The Impact of Educational Change and its Implications to Teaching Practice Option 1 1. Contextualisation of educational change – School-based apprenticeship In Australia, school-based apprenticeship is generally viewed as a vocational pathway enabling young people to obtain credit towards a nationally recognised vocational qualification. In other words, it is an approach in country’s educational system that allows vocational and technical training to be incorporated with academic study at school (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2008, p.384). There are several reasons why vocational and technical education and training have been given so much emphasis in recent years. Since skills and competences of a country’s workforce generally determine their productivity level and competitiveness in terms of employment, any changes in economic and social conditions can impact the unemployment rates. For instance, globalisation and technology increased the demand for highly-skilled workers while decreasing opportunities for ordinary members of the workforce. The deterioration of opportunities for low-skilled workers in the labour market resulted to government policies aiming to improve workers’ skills through education and training. Although the primary focus of these policies is development of work-based vocational education or training or VET that can serve as pathways from school to work, apprenticeship was introduced to cover occupations beyond those covered with work-based VET. This is the reasons why students in the final two years of secondary school are taking vocational courses with work placements in mind (OECD 1997, p. 106). According to OECD’s 2005 Report, Australians with upper-secondary and tertiary education have higher labour force participation than those that who do not have the qualification such as early school leavers. Assessment made of the Australia labour market during that time suggest that these people left school to find job or enter an apprenticeship. Other reasons include school performance and motivation, socio-economic and personal characteristics, and school system policies. Only some of them made it to the labour market while many of those who realised the importance of skills and competencies returned to education and training. These graduates contributed to the strong economic growth in Australia in recent years while vocational education and training continue to improve employment prospect for young people. In particular, the increasing demand for skills in Australia and other developed countries have made school-based apprenticeship or qualifications provided at the upper secondary level of education far more relevant in terms of employment for young people (OECD 2005, p.207). Moreover, the further broadening of curriculum in final two years of secondary education make it attractive for young people particularly those that do not plan to take tertiary education. Two important initiatives in this respect is the introduction of VET in Schools allowing senior secondary students to take VET programmes and complete senior certificate studies simultaneously and full or part-time School-based New Apprenticeships providing training opportunities to new and existing workers, young and mature to qualify with nationally consistent standards under the Australian Qualification Framework (OECD 2005, p.207; Smith & Keating 2003, p.148). Globalisation and the changing nature of work greatly decreased the economic prospects for those who do not have the necessary skills and competencies. Globalisation increases competition while the workplace is evolving into technology oriented production centres that demands non-routine jobs with workers having multiple skills (Halpern 2009, p.194). 2. Key change impact on education and teaching practices – (The Changing Nature of Work) A study examining the demands on worker in three manufacturing plants suggest that the common skills required include diagnostic, trouble-shooting, and team problem solving. However, this does not necessarily mean that discipline-specific knowledge and skills are gradually becoming irrelevant since there still significant demand for them. The point is that knowledge and procedures are evolving rapidly and many of those works that usually demand a specific skill are now demanding both technological and hand work skills. For instance, traditional animation designers were usually hired for their unique talent and hand work skills but changes in the nature work now demands computer literacy and skills. Similarly, knowledge required for electrical work now include understanding of electronics and computer systems. Moreover, work requiring lower skills is now characterised by accountability and monitoring inspired by business organisations quest for total quality control (Halpern 2009, p.194). There seems a general consensus that differences in the characterisation of work have great implications to education as well as the institution responsible for them. For instance, since the nature of work has changed, education for the youth should focus on new set of generic skills such as flexibility, adaptability, self-initiative, capacity to improvise, entrepreneurial orientation, ability to find and manage information, ability to work in teams, and effective communication (Halpern 2009, p.196). The continually changing nature of work are influenced by different forces such rapid technological developments, global economy, and growing diversified workforce thus education and teaching practices must be revised to meet the skills and competency requirements of current and future workers (Clauss-Ehlers 2009, p.180). The subsequent government and institutional policies are also focusing their attention to the value of learning at work and this includes making educational institutions as a site for work-related learning. For instance, the changing nature of work and competency were important drivers in the reforms administered in the Australian national training and work which is generally centred on establishing adult and vocational teacher education in universities. Similarly, attempts to develop competency standards and competency-based training demands different type of vocational curriculum for VET sector as well as different kinds of knowledge and skills from teachers. Moreover, the changing work practices that are usually highly demanding require higher communication skills and workplace language literacy. In other words, teachers’ knowledge and skills became increasingly connected to work and the workplace (Malloch 2010, p.213). The changing nature of work and the subsequent changes in government policies towards education evidently impacted school courses and teaching strategies. This is because teachers have to cope with and be able to effectively handle a highly diverse student population. The result is significant change in teacher education and classroom practices. For instance, educational policies and practices, employment prospects, and economic factors increases the amount of school experience for trainees, inclusion of business or industry experience in qualifications, and other structural changes made in response to the changing external circumstances rather than innovation or re-conceptualisation of teachers role in the rapid changing educational environment (Wideen & Grimmett 1995, p.45). According to Gewirtz (2009) neo-liberalism transformed how we think and act as teachers and learners while the changing nature of teachers’ work and practices is influenced by socially situated notions of learning and education that is oriented towards personal and social goals, and strong emphasis on efficiency and economic productivity. Consequently, teaching is now seems driven by the notion that what matters most are things that can be measured easily like skills that can be directly applied to the workplace (p.68). This makes it difficult for teachers to keep up with the changes in structures, terminology, rules and programmes, and pressures at work. VET institutions has to meet the need of wider variety of student thus resulting diversity of programs and services requires further effort from teachers (Keating 1998, p.9; Morgan-Klein & Osborne 2007, p.14). For instance, the inclusion of ICT in the curriculum impelled teachers not only to learn ICT but to use it for inquiry, communication, and creative teaching (Williams & Remenyi 2008, p.87). The changes in the nature of work evidently require elevation of skill levels with issues ranging from quality standards, new and emerging occupations, and continuous education due to changing technologies (Aspin 2001, p.576) thus teachers have more work to do in school-based apprenticeship approach. 3. Key change impact on teaching practice – (The kind of knowledge included) Understanding work and how it is changing is important in determining the impact of key changes on teaching practice. For instance, advance in technology being use in the workplace demand new or different knowledge and skills while the ability of individual to learn such knowledge and skills is another problem (Ployhart et al. 2006, p.2). This is because the changing nature of work not only requires workers build but to think, plan, and make decisions whenever necessary thus require both tacit and explicit knowledge. Moreover, it is evident that work requirements continue to change and seemingly unpredictable in terms of knowledge to succeed and the type of knowledge they need in the future. Therefore, teaching will always have to take into account the students’ ability to learn continuously and their ability to adapt to the changing working environment (Jackson et al 2003, p.10). Poor teaching can mean lost opportunities and less life chances for students. This may also lead to people giving up their quest for learning and can be damaging to both individual and economy. For this reason, teaching in today’s complex educational environment has to be sensitive to all sort of diversity and accommodate new technology and innovative teaching strategies. Similarly, educational systems that still offer basic skills and factual knowledge cannot develop capacities essential for work (Cheng 2001, p.89). The demand for innovative and effective teaching practice is undoubtedly endless and strategies associated with the changing nature of work and policies requiring school-based apprenticeship must be established accordingly. For instance, ICT requires information technology skills which most teachers are inadequately experienced. Aware of the prevailing circumstance in life, most young people will pursue multiple vocations requiring lifelong learning. Some that will be affected by disappearing jobs will find ways to re-educate themselves in order to find opportunities in the job market. Similarly, some will aim for specific jobs and figure out which skills and qualifications are required. Consequently, this same group of people will soon visit VET schools to seek education and training they required and since employability includes flexibility, creativity, and self management, teaching strategy must change in order to prepare these future workers (Hargreaves 1999, p.12). The key change in adult and vocational education such as inclusion of school-based apprenticeship to support VET undoubtedly will impact teaching practices in many ways. For instance, aside from those mentioned earlier teachers teaching practices are guided by several pedagogies, attitudes, values, beliefs, and theories of education that teachers hold that significantly affect their teaching behaviour and effectiveness (Saha & Dworkin 2009, p.8). According to Edwards et al. (2004), the need to adapt motivates teachers to enhance their technical expertise, competence, and reflective practice. This is because of the desire to enhance students’ learning experiences, the need to reconceptualised learning and teaching in the context of increasing diversity and demand for work-related knowledge and skills, the need to cope with changing nature of work and globalising practices that are currently based on information and communication technologies, and awareness of the importance of flexibility in enhancing efficiency and effectiveness (p.52). In other words, there is always a drive for quality and excellence in the teaching profession that is consequential to changing teacher behaviour and teaching practices 4. Shaping adult and vocational education teachers practice within the policy context (Control of teaching strategies and focus on learners). It is important to note that the concept and policy associated with school-based apprenticeship is not only intended for the youth but for anyone wishes to upgrade or acquire knowledge and skills they can use in their chosen vocation. For this reason, it is also important to consider that teaching strategies must be relevant for different types of students. Similarly, since what is important in today’s education is acquisition of specific knowledge and skills relevant to work, the focus should be not collective but on individual learners. Moreover, changes in educational policies in ACE and VET in particular which is mostly influenced by federalism, territorial and economic imperatives require educational institutions to contribute in enhancing Australia’s competitiveness in the world economy through effective training systems (Wheelahan 2011, p.88). There is therefore an urgent need to have effective control of teaching strategies intended for such purpose in order to ensure workplace relevance and effectiveness. In similar manner, teaching should be more focus on learners and their work requirements as dictated by the current workplace demand and priorities. The extent by which teachers in adult and vocational education can shape their own practice within the broad policy context is only limited by their commitment. For instance, globalisation entails expanding and endless business competition thus upgrading of knowledge and skills is dependent on the frequency of emerging innovations. The resulting change in the nature of work will evidently demand new knowledge and skills that has to be met in the soonest possible time. Eventually, the educational institutions that are responsible for developing the required knowledge and skills will respond and create a curriculum relevant to workplace current needs. This curriculum on the other hand will require new or upgraded teaching strategies that will affect existing teaching practices. The teacher at this point will have to innovate and change their teaching practices for the better. The last of stage of this endless cycle is the hardest part since teaching practices as mentioned earlier are motivated by pedagogies, values, and beliefs by which some teachers may be too attached to consider or commit to new practices. The reality that not all teachers in ACE or VET is adequately motivated and committed to the idea of school-based apprenticeship, lifelong learning, and others makes alteration of teaching practices selective or voluntary rather than communal. Although pressures there may seem general compliance due to pressures coming from institutions, the level of commitment sooner or later will likely impact the quality of teaching. However, teaching practice of those that were adequately motivated will be significantly affected by key changes in the educational system and from the broad policy context, their teaching practices will be in line with government’s economic and political imperatives. 5. Reflections The theories and concepts in this course undoubtedly helped me think positively about my profession as a teacher responsible for the future of adult and vocational education students. The industry specific skills that have to be learned from school contribute to my awareness of the importance of relevant and effective teaching. The usefulness of the new set of generic skills in coping with the changing nature of work increased my confidence on teaching strategies promoting flexibility, adaptability, self-initiative, teamwork, and so on. The idea behind innovative educational approaches like VET in schools and School-based apprenticeship help me realised my role not only as a teacher but facilitator of knowledge and skills contributing to the well-being of each worker and their family. The theories and concept in this course helped me realised that traditional teaching practices is no longer relevant and as a teacher, I am now aware that I need to upgrade my own skill in order to be relevant with the changing educational requirements. Moreover, the concept of continuous education or lifelong learning help me realised that education should never stop after graduation. I was always thinking that such concept is only for those who need to work in the late stages of life or people with inadequate education who later decided to continue. It never occurred to me that even a teacher need lifelong learning until I took this course and presented with the reality that world is changing rapidly. 6. 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