Education System in Australia

Running head: EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA 1
EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA
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EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA 2
EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA
Introduction
Education improves the quality of people's lives and leads to an inclusive society and
personal benefits. Australia's education system has been vital in the economic growth and social
advancement of the country for a long time. The system runs from early childhood learning to
lifelong learning. A sound education system leads to innovation, increased productivity, and has
a direct influence on people's welfare, wellbeing, and success. Australia has eight amongst the
top one hundred universities in the world. The system of education in Australia is modern and
has contributed to significant discoveries after conduction of scientific researches.
Framework
The framework for the contemporary school system of Australia began in the middle of
the nineteenth century. The primary schools were established under the sponsorship of religious
groups. The Church of England, The Catholic Church, and Presbyterian left a mark in the
schools' establishment. Then, early in the twentieth century, comprehensive secondary schooling
began. In 1901, the Federation of Australia was formed, and full-scale education infrastructure
was established and developed (Croucher & Woelert, 2016). The secondary education became
consolidated in mid twentieth century. However, the emergence of private agencies, religious
groups, and with the intervention of the state government, Australian education has significantly
changed.
The Australian structure of the schooling system consists of one or two years of optional
preschool and six to seven years of primary education. Secondary education takes a duration of
five to six years of full studies (Slemp, et al., 2017). Apart from the regular education offered by

EDUCATION SYSTEM IN AUSTRALIA 3
the Australian government, there is also a special education system involving people with special
needs or disabilities. Policies such as the Australian Special Education Policies govern the
operation of special education in the country. Australian and International legislation provisions
together with policies formulated by various Australian State Governments concerning social
justice and anti-discrimination has been so active to improve and influence the education of the
disabled and special people like the Aboriginals (Webb, et al., 2017). A plethora of state reports
have been issued to have inclusion and integration of the special persons into the standard
education.
Some challenges have been seen in the Australian system of education. To start with,
there were discrepancies on the religious group to sponsor the schools. Many groups like The
Catholic Church, The Anglican Church, and Presbyterian were in disputes over the latter issue.
Issues like who should teach the pupils and under what religion widened the rift between the
religious groups (Deppeler, Hughes & DeBruin, 2018). The British supported that the Church of
England was the first to be established, but the Catholics and Presbyterian churches opposed
with might and therefore the Anglican lost hope in the governance of the schools.