Government Initiatives in Quality Learning
In the current age, a person without qualified education is considered to be not ready for the society since he/she lacks the required skills that will fit him well in the current competitive job market (DeJarnette, 2012). Due to the ever increasing advancement in technological innovation, the old skills which were normally taught can no longer be used in our current context. As a result, the government has been actively taking part in the curriculum development of the education system so as to equip the future job market with the relevant skills.
The governments of different states have been working hard by using every resource at their disposal, especially in the technological department to ensure that the future job market is ready when the time comes. As a result of this hard work, there have obviously been results that have been achieved (Aiken, Cheung, & Olds, 2009). This study will focus on the results that have come up as a result of the government’s initiative in the curriculum. This study is based on well researched works that have been governed by various sources.
One of the main methods the government has used in quality learning is the ‘National Grid for learning. This is a method by which the government has deployed many educational institutions with adequate amounts of learning equipment such as ICT equipment. This increases the skills of the learners in such a way that they are able to become competent computer literates (Bethell, Newacheck, Hawes, & Halfon, 2014). This then enables them to be fit for the future job market as it will be mostly based on technological innovation. However, there is still inadequate use of ICT equipment in some school courses across the curriculum. The other method that has been used by the state is through training of teachers of various school subjects hence enabling them to be computer literates. The impact brought about by this initiative is that as teachers become more competent in the ICT sector, they are able to impart the skills acquired to their students, which is the first step in ensuring that the school curriculum is improved (Keengwe, Schnellert, & Mills, 2012).
The government has also enhanced the curriculum by the introduction of whiteboards to the schools. The white boards have increased the learner’s eagerness to learn. They also improve on the quality of teaching hence improving on the quality of the curriculum.
Apart from the ICT sector, the government has introduced and initiative where grammar tests are taken frequently. These tests will lead to enhancement of the language skills of the students. To enhance more on the system, schools were given the freedom to carry out their own assessment tests against the national curriculum tests (Lucas, 2010). This enables the school to identify the areas which affect each student and come up with solutions to improve on the students’ weak areas.
The government also came up with an initiative to make the school leavers better in their skills by reforming the system and coming up with strong foundations for further academic and professional studies. Students over 16 years to specialize in science and math related subjects. This will lead to an increase in technological innovation (Voogt, & Roblin, 2012).
Benefits of the Government’s Initiatives
In Finland, the government was desperate to improve on the education quality of its schools. As a result, the country came up with a system that catered to both the bright students and the challenged ones. One of the main initiative that the government of Finland did was to involve the brightest of the high school graduates and convince them to be a teacher through incentives such as adequate pay and better working conditions. This motivated many talented citizens aspire to take part in the development of the country (Roehrig, Kruse, & Kern, 2009). As a result, the country’s education improved greatly. The country is known to be the best country globally in terms of science and math related subjects. In each and every class, there are a minimal of two teachers in the class; one teaching and the other helping the weak students in understanding the new concept. As a result, the government’s efforts have paid off as the country has a 2% high school dropout compared to the United States with a 25% high school dropout rate. The country is also the 8th best in education affairs overall in the world (Gude, 2009).
The government may also take part in the curriculum development by the provision of student loans. Some of the students lack enough funds to support their educational needs most especially those in universities. The students can then pay the loans later when they are financially stable. As a result of the provision of the student’s loans initiative, most of the needy students are able to pay their fees and support their daily needs (Whitehead, Jensen, & Boschee, 2013). This increases the number of graduates in a country. Another impact would be that some of the business minded students can begin small businesses which will provide a steady income to them and may become potential big businesses that may play a big role in the economy development of the country.
Good education without moral character will be of no good use, hence the government may impact the curriculum by providing moral and civic education to the students. The impact of this would be increased discipline in the schools. This would also equip the students to become morally fit people for the society. The greatest impact of this would be that the crime rates of a given country reduce to a minimal level and hence improve on the country’s economy (Glatthorn, Jailall, & Jailall, 2016).
The government could also introduce learning of general skills to the students. As silly as it would seem, it may play a big role. Students could be taught skills such as carpentry, metal work, artwork, building and construction and basic computer skills. The impact of this would be that the students are able to become creative in various ways and open up their way of thinking. Such basic skills could also be of help to students who may not qualify for the undergraduate level studies in universities (Porter, McMaken, Hwang, & Yang, 2011).
The government could also impact the curriculum by the restructuring of the school subjects and make them more technical and practical. The impact would be that not only will it increase the student’s thinking capacity, but also enable them to be craftier. When these two skills are combined, they lead to problem solving of major issues and innovation of more technology that will continue to serve mankind (Blumenthal, 2011).
Impact in Finland
The school curriculum would be impacted further when the students are given more time to work on their own rather than always being supervised by teachers. This enables the students to understand each other and work with each other which is basically the most important value one can have at the workplace. This also enables the students to become more responsible and innovative (Wilson, 2013). Examples of group works that became big giants globally are Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook among many others. Bill Gates could have created Microsoft without the help of Paul Allen neither would have Steve Wozniak come up with the Apple Company without the help of Steve Jobs. Hence it is important that the students are given time to work on their own.
Another important initiative would the restructuring and shortening of the curriculum. This reduces the heavy burden of studies that a student has to worry about. There are some unnecessary topics which the students are taught and are of no importance. The students should also be allowed to specialize in their areas of interests. This gives students an early exposure to their career of choice (Doolittle, Sudeck, & Rattigan, 2009). When they get the early exposure, they become competent professionals who are able to improve the industry state rather than just continue with the current state.
The government would also impact the education system through the restructuring of the leadership of schools from one that is more student-friendly. This allows the students to access help whenever they need any aid (Polly, Mims, Shepherd, & Inan, 2010). The administration could also be made more efficient through the implementation of the open office policy which allows students to access assistance easily.
Introduction of the campaign against drugs would play a huge role in impacting the curriculum. This would be of a huge impact most especially in countries such as the US that are hit badly by deaths caused by drug addiction. In the US, it is reported that close to 600,000 people die daily due to the abuse of narcotics (Mathis, 2010). The students become aware of the consequences of drug addiction and hence they become more responsible people in the society hence reducing the number of deaths related to drug abuse.
One of the main aims of the government is to ensure that there is equality across the education system regardless of one’s background or physical ability. Before the government could take part in the development of the physically challenged beings, they used to remain non-useful beings in the society and at some point, this would also hinder their full potential. This also made them feel like they were not a part of the society (Darling-Hammond et al. 2009). Once the government stepped in and improved the curriculum by including the physically challenged in the development of the society, this has overturned all the negative stuff about them and has enhanced their capabilities and self-esteem. To some levels, they are have filled some of the gaps which the physically able couldn’t. The government has taken part in the development of their physically challenged through the introduction of braille systems, advanced sign language education and many other types of equipment.
Provision of Student Loans
The government could also take part in the curriculum development by the provision of breakfast and lunch in schools. It is said that in the US that over forty million people do not have sufficient food. Of the total number, 13 million are children (Darling-Hammond et al. 2009).This would mean that there are students who go to school on a hungry stomach. Introduction of free food would improve the living standards of some of the students and hence increase their efficiency and learning capabilities. This will generally improve the education system as it will lead to improved performance of the students struck by hunger.
Apart from all the positive impacts that have been brought about by government involvement in the curriculum, there are also some negative reports regarding the issue. Firstly, the government is not giving enough room for the teachers to take part in the curriculum development (Glatthorn, Jailall, & Jailall, 2016). The government only allows the teachers to participate only when they follow the set of guidelines provided to them by the authorities in the curriculum. This makes the teachers take part in the curriculum development passively and hence new ideas on how to enhance the curriculum are not that frequent hence slowing the rate of positive education reforms. The teachers also tend to feel less important and this reduces their morale and esteem.
One of the greatest challenges faced in the modern day parenting is the inadequacy of time for parents to take part in the development of their children. A huge percentage of the workers have school going kids who need parental care (DeJarnette, 2012). The government could take part in ensuring enhancement of child care by increasing the number of off hours to workers with schools going kids. This makes the kids feel loved and cared for and hence this provides them with a perfect environment for them to succeed at school. This also ensures that children grow to become morally upright people in the society
The other negative effect that would come up as a result of increased government initiatives in the curriculum is too many frustrating exams which sometimes lead to frustrations among students. Too many exams may slow down student’s productivity as they are always focusing on studying for their exams (Desimone, 2009). The students may also develop a bad attitude towards education and hence delaying the main reason of education which is to impart the knowledge required for the development of the future job market in a fun way. When students lose interest in education, they learn little or nothing. Hence, the government should consider such factors as it takes part in curriculum development.
The authorities may also tend to focus too much on academic matters and give less focus on co-curricular activities which mainly lead to character developments of most students. This may also hinder the development of talents among students (Parkay, Stanford, & Gougeon, 2010). Some of these talents need to be nature as they sometimes become a career to some of the students. If Cristiano’s talent was not natured, then he could not have been among the greatest soccer players globally alongside Lionel Messi. The solution to such would be for the government to organize a curriculum that is all round. These can be organized by the introduction of academic and co-curricular activities competitions among schools. This would also allow positive interaction between students of different schools which would lead to more exposure as they exchange ideas.
Moral and Civic Education
Thirdly, the government is drained into providing quality education for the students such that they forget the introduction of services as guidance and counseling which ensure that a student is mentally stable. The reason such services are needed is as before children attain adulthood, they tend to go through difficult experiences such as bullying, home issues such as parents’ divorce or loss of a parent or a close relative (Davis, Preston, & Sahin, 2009). One in four children under 18 years faces mental illness caused by traumatic experiences. So as to aid for the students who may need to recover from such experiences, the government should ensure that each school has facilities to cater for such kind of cases so as to ensure the dropout rate is minimal. Such services would also ensure that the students are able to bring out the best of their capabilities and Maximize their productivity on school based activities.
Another limitation that is caused by the government involvement in the curriculum is inadequate facilities in schools. This is caused by delays brought about by the government in supplying of the various equipment required. Government involvement causes schools to entirely depend on the government for resources. Sometimes the government does not provide the exact equipment requested by the schools that depend on it (Breakspear, 2012). As a result, this leads to ineffective learning as students have to use what is provided. This causes inefficiency and inaccuracy and hence leading to inefficiency. The paraphernalia supplied may also be inadequate and hence leading to sharing a limited number of resources among a large number of students. The students are then not well exposed leading to little or no understanding of the concept being taught.
The government initiative has a lot of implications on educational leaders such as teachers. Combined the government initiatives have increased the teacher’s competency in their skill. This increases the learning capability of the students hence equipping them further for the job the job market. The initiative to increase the usage of ICT equipment in class has also enhanced students’ understanding by through enhanced well elaborated diagrams rather than poorly drawn diagrams which were used initially by the educators (Stromquist, & Monkman, 2014). An example is that instead of the teacher drawing irrelevant diagrams of a certain landscape; he/she is now able to elaborate using well captured photographs. The teachers are also able to use precise videos to elaborate on scenarios which they would like to explain to their students. In return, the students are able to actively participate in class and try to comprehend what they have just learnt. The student’s questions also become more focused, logic and intelligent. For the rest of the lesson, the students remain glued to the lesson.
The initiative has also improved the teacher’s motivation to teach. This then improves their way of teaching and this enables different as the students to remain glued to the teacher for the whole of the lesson (Darling-Hammond et al. 2009). When some pupils are asked about learning with the new technology, they described that the words on the whiteboard seem clearer, makes learning a lot more fun than it used to be, it is easier and not confusing, presentations are easily shared on the screen and the teacher can easily go back to previously taught work. Teachers who are also the most important in this initiative after the students are not given equal rights as the rest of the professionals. An example is that teachers are paid below the average pay for a professional. In the United States, teachers are paid an average of 36,000 annually compared to other professionals in the market who get an average of 50,000 dollars annually (Aiken, Cheung, & Olds, 2009). The average pay for well experienced teachers ranges at around 50,000 dollars. This makes the teachers lose morale and hate their occupation. This then bears bad results as the teachers extend their frustrations in classrooms leading to reduced efficiency and hence slowed academic progress.
Learning General Skills
One of the main policies that would make teachers happy would be the reduction of government activities in schools most especially public schools. This initiative is not meant to exclude the government from the curriculum but rather to allow schools to operate on their own (Doolittle, Sudeck, & Rattigan, 2009). This allows teachers to actively take part in the development of the students intellectually and also character-wise among many other important values rather than just follow a set of guides and rules implemented by the government. This increases teacher efficiency, experience and they also tend to develop a great passion for their job.
From the analysis, it is clear that the methods the government has used in quality learning include the ‘National Grid for learning’ enhanced the curriculum by the introduction of whiteboards to the schools and training of teachers of various school subjects hence enabling them to be computer literates. Combined, the government initiatives have increased the teacher’s competency in their skill. This increases the learning capability of the students hence equipping them with necessary skills the job market. The main policy that would make teachers happy would be the reduction of government activities in schools most especially public schools. This initiative is not meant to exclude the government from the curriculum but rather to allow schools to operate on their own. The government could also take part in the curriculum development by the provision of breakfast and lunch in schools. Apart from all the positive impacts that have been brought about by government involvement in the curriculum, there are also some negative reports regarding the issue. Firstly, the government is not giving enough room for the teachers to take part in the curriculum development. Teachers who are also the most important in this initiative after the students are not given equal rights as the rest of the professionals. One of the greatest challenges faced in the modern day parenting is the inadequacy of time for parents to take part in the development of their children.
The other negative effect that would come up as a result of increased government initiatives in the curriculum is too many frustrating exams which sometimes lead to frustrations among students. The authorities may also tend to focus too much on academic matters and give less focus on co-curricular activities which mainly lead to character developments of most students. The government is drained into providing quality education for the students such that they forget the introduction of services as guidance and counseling which ensure that a student is mentally stable.
References:
Aiken, L. H., Cheung, R. B., & Olds, D. M. (2009). Education policy initiatives to address the nurse shortage in the United States. Health Affairs, 28(4), w646-w656.
Bethell, C. D., Newacheck, P., Hawes, E., & Halfon, N. (2014). Adverse childhood experiences: assessing the impact on health and school engagement and the mitigating role of resilience. Health Affairs, 33(12), 2106-2115.
Blumenthal, D. (2011). Implementation of the federal health information technology initiative. New England Journal of Medicine, 365(25), 2426-2431.
Breakspear, S. (2012). The policy impact of PISA.
Restructuring and Shortening Curriculum
Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R. C., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). State of the profession. The Learning Professional, 30(2), 42.
Darling-Hammond, L., Wei, R. C., Andree, A., Richardson, N., & Orphanos, S. (2009). Professional learning in the learning profession. Washington, DC: National Staff Development Council, 12.
Davis, N., Preston, C., & Sahin, I. (2009). Training teachers to use new technologies impacts multiple ecologies: Evidence from a national initiative. British journal of educational technology, 40(5), 861-878.
DeJarnette, N. (2012). America’s children: Providing early exposure to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) initiatives. Education, 133(1), 77-84.
Desimone, L. M. (2009). Improving impact studies of teachers’ professional development: Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational researcher, 38(3), 181-199.
Doolittle, G., Sudeck, M., & Rattigan, P. (2009). Creating professional learning communities: The work of professional development schools. Theory Into Practice, 47(4), 303-310.
Glatthorn, A. A., Jailall, J. M., & Jailall, J. K. (2016). The principal as curriculum leader: Shaping what is taught and tested. Corwin Press.
Gude, O. (2009). Principles of possibility: Considerations for a 21st-century art & culture curriculum.
Hiebert, E. H., & Mesmer, H. A. E. (2013). Upping the ante of text complexity in the Common Core State Standards: Examining its potential impact on young readers. Educational Researcher, 42(1), 44-51.
Keengwe, J., Schnellert, G., & Mills, C. (2012). Laptop initiative: Impact on instructional technology integration and student learning. Education and Information Technologies, 17(2), 137-146.
Klenowski, V., & Wyatt-Smith, C. (2012). The impact of high stakes testing: The Australian story. Assessment in education: Principles, policy & practice, 19(1), 65-79.
Loveless, T. (2013). The common core initiative: What are the chances of success. Educational Leadership, 70(4), 60-63.
Lucas, T. (Ed.). (2010). Teacher preparation for linguistically diverse classrooms: A resource for teacher educators. Routledge.
Mathis, W. J. (2010). The “Common Core” standards initiative: An effective reform tool. Boulder and Tempe: Education and the Public Interest Center & Education Policy Research Unit. Retrieved July, 29, 2010.
National Research Council. (2009). Engineering in K-12 education: Understanding the status and improving the prospects. National Academies Press.
Parkay, F. W., Stanford, B. H., & Gougeon, T. D. (2010). Becoming a teacher (pp. 432-462). Pearson/Merrill.
Pinar, W. F. (2013). International handbook of curriculum research. Routledge.
Polly, D., Mims, C., Shepherd, C. E., & Inan, F. (2010). Evidence of impact: Transforming teacher education with preparing tomorrow’s teachers to teach with technology (PT3) grants. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(4), 863-870.
Porter, A., McMaken, J., Hwang, J., & Yang, R. (2011). Common core standards: The new US intended curriculum. Educational Researcher, 40(3), 103-116.
Roehrig, G. H., Kruse, R. A., & Kern, A. (2009). Teacher and school characteristics and their influence on curriculum implementation. Journal of Research in Science Teaching: The Official Journal of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching, 44(7), 883-907.
Stromquist, N. P., & Monkman, K. (Eds.). (2014). Globalization and education: Integration and contestation across cultures. R&L Education.
Voogt, J., & Roblin, N. P. (2012). A comparative analysis of international frameworks for 21st century competences: Implications for national curriculum policies. Journal of curriculum studies, 44(3), 299-321.
Whitehead, B. M., Jensen, D. F., & Boschee, F. (2013). Planning for technology: A guide for school administrators, technology coordinators, and curriculum leaders. Corwin Press.
Wilson, S. M. (2013). Professional development for science teachers. Science, 340(6130), 310-313.
Wiseman, D. L. (2012). The intersection of policy, reform, and teacher education.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
