Toowong State School Policy Report: Analysis and Review

This report provides a detailed analysis of the school policy at Toowong State School (TSS), focusing on the Responsible Behaviour Plan for Students (RBPS). It begins with an introduction to TSS, its mission, values, and the role of the principal in implementing policies. A cultural analysis explores how school policies influence student behaviour, the importance of effective leadership, and the need for evidence-based policies. The report then delves into policy analysis, classifying different policy types and examining the policy cycle. It emphasizes the importance of reviewing and amending policies to meet new requirements and support positive student behaviour. The report highlights the principal's role in monitoring student behaviour, implementing support plans, and collaborating with staff, parents, and external agencies. Overall, the report advocates for a proactive approach to policy review and implementation to foster a safe, supportive, and effective learning environment at TSS.

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TSS
School Policy
Report
Student name
3/20/2019

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Table of Contents
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................1
Cultural analysis:.............................................................................................................................2
Policy analysis:................................................................................................................................3
Implications and Recommendations:...............................................................................................6
Relevant Legislation or Authority............................................................................................6
Related Department Policies....................................................................................................7
Other Documents......................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:
Toowong State School (TSS) is state level school. It is having more than 500 students.
TSS situated in the Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland. The Majority of the staff members
have good quality of teaching and they have good experience more than fifteen years in the field.
It is necessary to school as well as students education point of view. NB Headland established
TSS in 1880. Brendon Madden is principal of TSS. The Principal is responsible to implement the
policy in the school for better learning and understanding. They have a great mission for their
school in which they want holistic development of each student through providing balance
educational services. They place an emphasis on the different values, such as honesty, fairness,
loyalty, self-respect, leadership, sportsmanship, good manners, courtesy, respect, tolerance, and
understanding.
TSS school community has identified some rules for responsible behaviour, which are as:
1. Be safe
2. Be kind
3. Be responsible
4. Be a learner
5. Be respectful.
TSS is providing various services to their students, such as early intervention program,
speech pathologist, and specialist staff for learning and behavioral support. Responsible
Behavior Plan for Students (RBPS) is necessary to followed by every Queensland state schools.
All the state schools are following the designed framework of Department of Education and
Training (DET). According to DET, it provides commitment towards ensuring that every student
is having well learning from every lesson, achieving with in a disciplined learning environment
as well as safe, and supportive. TSS is required to review their policy in 2019. All the things are
well maintain by the TSS. Still it is required to review RBPS in 2019. It is necessary to
implement the facilities to create safe and supportive environment in the school (det.wa.edu.au,
2016).

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The principal is responsible to maintain behavior of the students and teachers. Therefore,
it is necessary to implement and revised the policy as per requirement to develop better behavior
support for learning of students. State government and DET are continuously reviewing all the
policies as per changes in societies and communities as well as technological changes in
upcoming time. However, implementation is depending on the board of the schools and the
principals with the support of staff members (det.wa.edu.au, 2016).
Cultural analysis:
State school should have a proper explaining, framing and forming in their study
methods, which is directly affecting student’s behavior. Policy forming is a huge task and
implementation is having different challenges (Adams, 2016, pp. 290, 307). Every policy is
having a specific purpose. Therefore, it is necessary to follow those policies for betterment of
student’s future. Every policy is having actor and subjects. It is clear to all the state level schools
that they are under some policy of government as well as national level policies (Ashwin, Deem,
& McAlpine, 2016, pp. 2184, 2197).
A Policy is a collection of some sets of rules for completing a task in a better way. It
provides proper resources to complete the process with better results. Policy is containing
principles to getting desired outcomes from a process. School is having a process, where
everyone is learning from different things, such as classroom, labs, and many others. The
principal and teaching staffs are main actor who originate and represent particular policy, which
directly affects students (Ball, What is policy? Texts, trajectories and toolboxes, 1993, pp. 10,
17). Schools are following all the policies, as the state government maintains a monitoring
process. State schools are having all the policies but they are not working properly. Therefore, it
is necessary to review them to maintain proper outcome. (Ball, Maguire, Braun, & Hoskins,
2011, pp. 625, 639).
School should have better leaders to monitor all the activities of the school as well as
motivate all the actors of the school, such as teachers. Effectiveness is necessary in the state
schools, as they are having students and they learn from everything from environment.
Therefore, it is necessary to maintain a better culture in the school by all the leaders and actors. It
will provide a better outcome (Bolman & Deal, 1991, pp. 509, 534).

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According to (Bolman & Deal, 2016), Leaders are having many skills, which are useful
for reframe all the things in a proper time to get better outcome. Great leaders are having
multiple qualities to maintain decorum of different processes. They motivate their followers as
well as transfer their skill into them. Therefore, it is necessary to behave in a polite way with the
students. Leader is facing critical situations in their work and they provide a best solution of that
problem. It is an art that they reframe the issue.
Leaders should have a proper qualification. It is necessary to maintain all the things
possible. Qualified leader can provide better way to reframe and review the issues and provides
new solutions. They are taking full responsibility to follow all the principles of a given task.
They create a positive culture around them (Harris, Jones, & Adams, 2016, pp. 166, 178).
Evidence based policy is having better results as compared to other approaches. It is
necessary to maintain and create policy based on the evidence (Head, 2008, pp. 1,11). The
principal will make a document, which have set of rule for students and other staff member to
support positive student behavior. These things can be includes in the plan:
 It should include in the code of conduct of school that good behavior is implement
that is beneficial for learning of students
 All the staff members are having responsibility to implement better behavior support
in school
 It includes best teaching methods that support positive student behavior
 Proper ICT security and the rules regarding electronic devices use in school
 It should maintain a record and use that data for effectiveness of whole school
behavior support.
To support positive student behaviour, the principal must implement rule in that ways:
 They should consider interest of the child
 Health safety is highly consider of all the students and staff members of school
 Always makes a positive approach in good order of the school
 School must consider student need and incorporate personalized adjustments
 Teachers should maintain cohesion of behaviour support

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 Staff member must build consistency with parents and community in favor to
behaviour support.
 Staff members make appropriate things for student development in term of
culturally and psychologically
 All the staff member reduce the need for adult intervention
 To create better behaviour support the growth of peer-regulation and self-
regulation
 Make students more strong in terms of emotional states
 Involve external agencies or practitioners to maintain behaviour interventions
 School behaviour data must maintain and respond it to the assessment
 Collected data should be used for the positive behavior of students and staff
Policy analysis:
A Policy is having a special purpose to fulfill the objective of the policy. There are many
types by which policy can be classified, which are as:
Distributive and redistributive policy: it is a way to distribute funds and resource to those
groups, which are needful for them. Symbolic are those, which have abstract goals and material
policy is tends to the provision of resources. Rational and incremental approaches to policy: it is
a way to amend changes in policies as per requirement. Substantive and procedural policies have
related to government and it provides a way to implement policy in a good way. Regulatory and
deregulatory policies are that which attempt to control behavior and market forces. Top down
and bottom up: Top down policies is those, which has developed by central authorities while
bottom up are emerge grassroots concerns.
The principal must review all the records, which has related to the behaviour of the
students. In addition, he can change few things for betterment of teaching methods and
understanding level of students. Principal should be a good leader, as each student is directly
influence from the principal of the school. TSS can increase special programs for students to
overcome their weaknesses and improve their confidence. It is necessary for both school and
students to implement better culture using a better behavior of students and all the staff members.

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Source: (Althaus, Bridgman, & Davis, 2007)
Policy analysis is having a sequence, which is as:
• Formulate the problem.
• Set out objectives and goals.
• Identify decision parameters.
• Search for alternatives.
• Propose a solution or options.
According to (det.wa.edu.au, 2016), it is necessary to implement RBPS policy in school
to create new culture, which is better for learning of students. Student should have a proper
behavior with the teachers and their classmates. It is basic thing to maintain curriculum of the
school. It will influence the learning of student. Learning is a basic process in the school.
Therefore, it is necessary to implement different policies to maintain decorum of the school.
Principal is the person, who is responsible to maintain RBPS policy in school. There are different
theories and practices to change the behavior of students and make them positive towards
education (Hogarth, 2017, pp, 21, 34).

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A policy cycle is having different phases. Policy analysis is an important part this cycle.
It provides requirement of the policy to implement different things through actor of the policy.
(Howard1, 2005, pp. 3, 13).
Policy cycle is process that provides solution of different issues through different phases,
such as evaluation of the issue, identification of issues, policy analysis, policy instrument,
consultation, coordination, decision, and implementation of policy. Education system is having
different policies to create a safe and supportive environment in schools for their students by the
actor, such as principals, teachers, and many more. It is necessary to make proper policy to
handle unwanted issues (Luke, 2011, pp. 367, 377).
Source: ( RIVERS, 2018)
Policy is a way to maintain the curriculum in a proper way. It has designed to maintain
discipline in the school by all the members. It is a document, which is implementing by the
selected actor of the policy (Mundy, Green, Lingard, Verger, & eds, 2016). Leaders are perfect
to implement all the policy in a proper way and make changes as per requirement. They are only
responsible for the outcome of the policy. Policy is having rule and regulation for actors (Ropo
& Sauer, 2008, pp. 560, 572).
Policy creation is an uncertain process. Therefore, it is necessary to analysis about the
policy and implements it. It is also necessary to take results of that policy implementation.
Therefore, actor can make desired changes in the process based on the evaluation (Sahl &
Bernstein, 1995, pp. 124, 135).

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Policy can be proper in documents but it requires proper implementation through
authorized actors of the policy. In addition, it is necessary to take decision about the policy and
amend required changes in internal process (Shipan & Volden, 2012, pp. 788, 796). In present
era, there are many changes in the style of teaching and learning methods. Therefore, it is
necessary to change the policies based on new researches. It is highly required to maintain
decorum and culture of the school though policies (Taylor*, 2004, pp. 433, 451).
According to the (Althaus, Bridgman, & Davis, 2007), it is necessary to implement and
review them for amendments based on the new requirements. The principal must provide
separate student behaviour support where the requirement is identify through these things:
 Principal should monitor students behaviour and find out those students, which
are not adequately met behaviour support plan
 Maintain different advices, which are received from regional service staff as well
as statewide service staff
 Can include external practitioners , as required
 Student personal information should mention in personalized behaviour support
plan
 For enhancement in behavior support, staff can reviewing records and their
outcomes
Implications and Recommendations:
Policy implementation process is a tough process. In addition, it is beneficial for the
leader as well as students. It is a long process to implement a policy in the school. Therefore,
principal should maintain a strong relationship with the teachers and students to implement new
changes in policy. Leader is faces problem because of changes in the culture. It is in positive way
but applicants take it in another way. Therefore, leadership is necessary to implement a policy.
Principal can implement any policy in the school, but many of the policies are creates for
student’s betterment. The principal will do few things to implement policy, which are as mention
below:
1. He or she can discuss with the board on the school on this planning

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2. He can review whole school behavior as well as student’s behavior especially
whenever it needful in favor of students.
3. He must report to the board of school about the performance in behavior support by
students
TSS is follows all the rule and regulations as per the DET’s policies. It is a best way to
enhance learning of the students as well as teachers. They already have many programs to create
a better culture for learning and understanding. It is necessary to overall development of the
students. Culture is a main feature that affects the learning of the student as well as behaviour.
Therefore, it is necessary to develop better culture to support behaviour of students. There are
some acts and laws for the schools to maintain policies, which are provide by DET and other
educational departments.
Relevant Legislation or Authority
 State Records Act 2000
 Children and Community Services Act 2004
 School Education Regulations 2000
 Disability Discrimination Act 1992
 School Education Act 1999
 Disability Standards for Education 2005
Related Department Policies
 Child Protection in Public Schools
 Students Online in Public Schools
 Dress Codes for Students in Public Schools
 Students at Educational Risk in Public Schools
 Duty of Care for Students for Public Schools
 Emergency and Critical Incident Management
 Student Attendance in Public Schools
 Risk and Business Continuity Management
 Records Management

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Other Documents
 Talking with My School
 Complaints Management Toolkit
 Effective Teaching
 Emergency and Critical Incident Management Plan Template
 Physical Contact with Students
 Keeping Our Workplace Safe
 Homework Guidelines

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References
RIVERS, A. (2018, March 8). Public Policy Teaching. Retrieved from https://medium.com:
https://medium.com/the-machinery-of-government/public-policy-teaching-b2975f3df8aa
Adams, P. (2016). Explaining, framing and forming. Journal of Education Policy, 31(3), 290-
307.
Althaus, C., Bridgman, P., & Davis, G. (2007). The Australian policy handbook. Sydney: Allen
& Unwin.
Ashwin, P., Deem, R., & McAlpine, L. (2016). Newer researchers in higher education: policy
actors or policy subjects? Studies in Higher Education, 41(12), 2184-2197.
Ball, S. J. (1993). What is policy? Texts, trajectories and toolboxes. The Australian Journal of
Education Studies, 13(2), 10-17.
Ball, S. J., Maguire, M., Braun, A., & Hoskins, K. (2011). Policy actors: Doing policy work in
schools. Discourse: Studies in the cultural politics of education, 32(4), 625-639.
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (1991). Leadership and management effectiveness: A multi‐frame,
multi‐sector analysis. Human resource management, 30(4), 509-534.
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Head, B. W. (2008). Three lenses of evidence‐based policy. Australian Journal of Public
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Hogarth, M. (2017). Speaking back to the deficit discourses: a theoretical and methodological
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Ropo, A., & Sauer, E. (2008). Dances of leadership: Bridging theory and practice through an
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Sahl, J., & Bernstein, B. (1995). Developing policy in an uncertain world. The International
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Shipan, C. R., & Volden, C. (2012). Policy diffusion: Seven lessons for scholars and
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