Academic literature on the topic 'ACT non-government secondary schools'

The Australian Catholic University (ACU National at www.acu.edu.au) is a public university funded by the Australian Government. There are six campuses across the country, located in Brisbane, Queensland; North Sydney, New South Wales; Strathfield, New South Wales; Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT); Ballarat, Victoria; and Melbourne, Victoria. The university serves a total of approximately 27,000 students, including both full- and part-time students, and those enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate studies. Through fostering and advancing knowledge in education, health, commerce, the humanities, science and technology, and the creative arts, ACU National seeks to make specific and targeted contributions to its local, national, and international communities. The university explicitly engages the social, ethical, and religious dimensions of the questions it faces in teaching, research, and service. In its endeavors, it is guided by a fundamental concern for social justice, equity, and inclusivity. The university is open to all, irrespective of religious belief or background. ACU National opened its doors in 1991 following the amalgamation of four Catholic tertiary institutions in eastern Australia. The institutions that merged to form the university had their origins in the mid-17th century when religious orders and institutes became involved in the preparation of teachers for Catholic schools and, later, nurses for Catholic hospitals. As a result of a series of amalgamations, relocations, transfers of responsibilities, and diocesan initiatives, more than twenty historical entities have contributed to the creation of ACU National. Today, ACU National operates within a rapidly changing educational and industrial context. Student numbers are increasing, areas of teaching and learning have changed and expanded, e-learning plays an important role, and there is greater emphasis on research. In its 2005–2009 Strategic Plan, the university commits to the adoption of quality teaching, an internationalized curriculum, as well as the cultivation of generic skills in students, to meet the challenges of the dynamic university and information environment (ACU National, 2008). The Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) Program at ACU Canberra Situated in Australia’s capital city, the Canberra campus is one of the smallest campuses of ACU National, where there are approximately 800 undergraduate and 200 postgraduate students studying to be primary or secondary school teachers through the School of Education (ACT). Other programs offered at this campus include nursing, theology, social work, arts, and religious education. A new model of pre-service secondary teacher education commenced with the introduction of the Graduate Diploma of Education (Secondary) program at this campus in 2005. It marked an innovative collaboration between the university and a cohort of experienced secondary school teachers in the ACT and its surrounding region. This partnership was forged to allow student teachers undertaking the program to be inducted into the teaching profession with the cooperation of leading practitioners from schools in and around the ACT. In the preparation of novices for the teaching profession, an enduring challenge is to create learning experiences capable of transforming practice, and to instill in the novices an array of professional skills, attributes, and competencies (Putnam & Borko, 2000). Another dimension of the beginning teacher experience is the need to bridge theory and practice, and to apply pedagogical content knowledge in real-life classroom practice. During the one-year Graduate Diploma program, the student teachers undertake two four-week block practicum placements, during which they have the opportunity to observe exemplary lessons, as well as to commence teaching. The goals of the practicum include improving participants’ access to innovative pedagogy and educational theory, helping them situate their own prior knowledge regarding pedagogy, and assisting them in reflecting on and evaluating their own practice. Each student teacher is paired with a more experienced teacher based at the school where he/she is placed, who serves as a supervisor and mentor. In 2007, a new dimension to the teaching practicum was added to facilitate online peer mentoring among the pre-service teachers at the Canberra campus of ACU National, and provide them with opportunities to reflect on teaching prior to entering full-time employment at a school. The creation of an online community to facilitate this mentorship and professional development process forms the context for the present case study. While on their practicum, students used social software in the form of collaborative web logging (blogging) and threaded voice discussion tools that were integrated into the university’s course management system (CMS), to share and reflect on their experiences, identify critical incidents, and invite comment on their responses and reactions from peers.

Recently, there has been an increase of enrollment rate in government schools, as a result of fee free and expansion of compulsory basic education to form four in Tanzania. However, the completion rate of students is highly affected by extreme dropout rate. Researchers in previous studies have explored the causes of school dropout, and they came with general recommendation based on treatment measures. This study, however, deals with predictive measures in which classification algorithm is used in developing dropout predictive system. The targeted population of this study was obtained by employing purposive and non-probability sampling techniques. The study was guided by system theory and conducted in four councils of Tabora region in Tanzania because of high rate school dropout reported in the previous studies. After the analysis, it has been observed that social factors and academic factors have strong impact on the targeted variable dropout time. The study recommends the use of dropout predictive system in secondary schools so as to predict future outcomes of students earlier.

This chapter focused on the issues of social exclusion in the education sector in Zimbabwe. The primary focus was on the primary and secondary school education systems in the country. Using the lenses of the social exclusion concepts, the chapter looked at how the inequalities are informed by a chain of historical developments including colonialism, the effects of the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the 1990s, and the effects of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme, as well as the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment acts. The chapter submits that the children in urban high-density areas, farming, and rural areas are victims of structural inequalities that have led to social exclusion in the education sector. There is the need for the Government of Zimbabwe to address these inequalities as a matter of urgency.

This chapter focused on the issues of social exclusion in the education sector in Zimbabwe. The primary focus was on the primary and secondary school education systems in the country. Using the lenses of the social exclusion concepts, the chapter looked at how the inequalities are informed by a chain of historical developments including colonialism, the effects of the Structural Adjustment Programmes of the 1990s, and the effects of the Fast Track Land Reform Programme, as well as the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment acts. The chapter submits that the children in urban high-density areas, farming, and rural areas are victims of structural inequalities that have led to social exclusion in the education sector. There is the need for the Government of Zimbabwe to address these inequalities as a matter of urgency.

Spurred by the social and legal struggles surrounding Brown, parents and advocates during the twentieth century and into the present have pursued equal schooling along other dimensions of exclusion and inequality by working through court challenges, legislation, and other initiatives. Brown enshrined equality as the entitlement for all students, even as the work leading to and following Brown identified avenues for advocates concerned for students learning English, immigrants, girls, boys, and others left out or mistreated by public schooling. American public schools have grown preoccupied with the aspiration of equality and the language of inclusion. Yet no less pervasive is the struggle over whether equality is to be realized through integrated or separate settings. The debates involve politics, prejudices, and social science studies. Shifting political tides and cultural attitudes, as well as legal debates, reflect and also aggravate uncertainties about what kinds of instruction actually promote equal opportunities for all children. Often called “a nation of immigrants” (with the elision, then, of Native Americans and slaves), the United States has offered opportunities but also presided over mistreatment of newcomers on the basis of language, accent, derogatory ideas about their country of origin, or general negative attitudes toward foreigners. Such attitudes include the conflation of “foreign” with “illegal,” the confusion of immigrant with noncitizen, and the equation of being a speaker of Spanish (and other native tongues) with being “non-American.” The tradition of forced assimilation starts first not with immigrants but with the Native Americans, beginning with the Civilization Act of 1819, under which the government removed Indian children from their family cultures and placed them in federally funded missionary schools, not to further integrate them with other students but to “civilize” them. In addition, as the United States displaced Mexico in parts of the Southwest, families who never moved gradually found themselves dealing with a contest over language, race, and culture.

The degree of enforcement of political accountability at all levels of government affects the level of corruption. Active civil society shaping public opinion puts pressure on politicians to act responsibly and thus reduces the risk of corrupt practices. Increasing political responsibility at the municipal level is possible through the operation of non-governmental organizations as subjects / actors of municipal policy. The aim of the study is to point out the possibilities of solving the problem of corruption at the local level through the activities of anti-anticorruption NGOs as subjects of