Aims of the Study :
This report aims to describe the central issues confronting
education systems today, with reference to contemporary
developments in the Australian Capital Territory, drawing
attention, specifically, to the problems of Special
Education sub-systems and tracing the development of this
sub-system in the A.C.T.
Background to the Report :
Bureaucratic practices and role perceptions persist in
systems which are attempting to solve problems emerging
from increasingly demanding environments which are growing
rapidly in complexity and turbulence.
Where these practices are related to the servicing aspect
of the organization they may increase efficiency in those
functions which can be subjected to mechanistic control.
Dysfunction can be avoided if safeguards are built into the
organizational framework to allow adequate communication,
co-ordination and co-operation in servicing the needs of
those in primary roles.
Special Education, Guidance and Counselling Services were
established at a time when bureaucratic administrative
practices prevailed in educational systems. Closed system
structures were deemed then to be appropriate organizations
for mechanistic approaches to human problems.
This approach was apparent in the categorization of educational
needs on aetiological and psychometric data. The
growth of Special Education classes, aimed at securing homogeneous
target populations for specialised programmes,
characterises this period.
The persistence of the bureaucratic model in an inappropriate
environment has resulted in the fixing of certain aspects
of the primary task and role. Further, it has placed
some important aspects of decision making, namely, needs
assessment and the determination of criteria for child
placement as well as the actual placement of children, outside
the scope of the school in the centrally administered
sub-systems of Guidance and Special Education. This has
resulted in instances of teachers in mainstream classes in
the A.C.T. exhibiting reluctance to propose children for
special placement at a time when the beneficial effects
of specialized interventions could be maximised. It has also helped to institutionalise prevalent views of
lock-step educational programming. This creates dilemmas for teachers as they attempt to integrate children who are
developmentally or educationally retarded as judged by this
criterion, and it presents barriers to the availability
of specialized technical assistance to children with
learning disabilities placed in mainstream classes.
The climate of education in the A.C.T. is one of increasing
openness. In mainstream education parents, teachers,
principals and personnel within the Schools Office are
beginning to assume new roles' as a result of confrontations
and compromises. This process is also evidenced in the
Schools Authority's Council and Standing Committees. This
level of openness is not yet discernible in Special Education
which in many ways appears to be operating in a closed
system.
Outline of the Study :
The ensuing chapters expand these main points in the following
manner:
Chapter 2 describes major issues faced by education systems
today as they attempt to develop organizational structures
to maximise technological developments and pursue goals
congruent with modern educational philosophies. It draws
attention to contemporary developments in the A.C.T. with
preference to problems faced by Special Education sub-systems.
Chapter 3 traces the development of Special Education
services in the A.C.T. It refers to the initial impetus
and growth shared by all elements within the larger system.
(i) up to the establishment of the Interim A.C.T.
Schools Authority;
(ii) Special Education since the establishment of the
Interim Authority.
Chapter if enumerates the main factors which have led to the
dissipation of this impetus and describes some new
initiatives and trends which have emerged.
Chapter 5 overviews theoretical, organizational and technical
solutions which have been proposed to overcome the problems
identified in Chapter 2 and shared by all systems as they
become increasingly open to rapidly changing environments,
and indicates some principles on which a sound policy for
Special Education in the A.C.T. might be based.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219033 |
| Date | January 1978 |
| Creators | Hoyle, M. S., n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Teacher Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright M. S. Hoyle |
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