2013 Prayer Calendar - August

August 2013 - Education

How does the education system in Australia work?

Australia enjoys a worldwide reputation for academic excellence, offering internationally recognised qualifications with immediate employment and career development opportunities. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) currently ranks Australia's education as the eighth best in the world and, according to UNESCO figures, Australia has one of the highest ratios of enrolment in primary and secondary education in the world.

In 2007, almost 60% of the Australian population had non school-based education or beyond high school education, emphasising the amazing educational opportunity Australia can provide children or even adults wishing to invest in further education.

The educational structure in Australia follows a three tier model that includes primary education (primary schools), followed by secondary education (secondary schools/high schools) and tertiary education (universities and/or Vocational Education and Training).

Schools can be classified according to sources of funding and administrative structures. There are three such categories in Australia:

Government schools (also known as public schools or state schools)
Catholic schools
Independent schools (known as private schools)

Public schools in Australia are secular, although they may offer optional religious education. Private schools usually have religious affiliations. Overall, around 64% of children in Australia attend public schools and 34% attend private or Catholic schools. Regardless of your choice of school, all are regulated by the same high standard curriculum framework. Read more at workingin-australia.com

The education revolution in Australia

Australia is in the midst of an 'education revolution'.

We are investing heavily in building a world class education system: investing in universal access to early childhood education for all four year olds; striving for 90 per cent year 12 or equivalent attainment rate by 2015; delivering a standard national curriculum for English, maths, science and history -agreed in October 2010; supporting a record 531,000 Commonwealth supported student places in Australian universities, including halving fees for maths and science students; and a record $5 billion investment in tertiary education and research institutions. This investment, this revolution, will provide a firm base from which Australians as individuals can grow and develop, to make a meaningful contribution to the big challenges of the day. The Australian experience is a good one. Not perfect but good, and improving.

See more at foreignminister.gov.au

Areas of Focus (Whole System Reform)

Standards and ambitious targets for school education are central to the reform agenda in Australia as shown through the following COAG schooling targets:

Lift the Year 12 or equivalent attainment rate to 90 per cent by 2020
Halve the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade (2018)
At least halve the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 or equivalent attainment rates by 2020.

To monitor progress towards meeting these targets, COAG will publish annual independent reports that review the achievements of the Australian Government, states and territories against the objectives, outcomes and targets specified in the National Education Agreement.

These goals are supported by reforms to strengthen the accountability and transparency of school education. Governments have agreed to the development of a national data repository to support education ministers and systems in their evaluations of system and school performance. This will assist in identifying what is working in schools across the country and help direct resources to where they are most needed. The creation of this data repository will enable education ministers and systems to make informed decisions, based not only on the performance of their own schools and systems but in comparison to other schools and systems across the country. Best practices can also be identified and shared.

The capabilities and capacities of teachers and school leaders are immensely important. Evidence has established that they are the two strongest school-based factors influencing student outcomes. At a national level, the Australian, state and territory governments have committed to a range of reforms to improve the quality of teaching and school leadership, including:

new professional standards to underpin national reforms
recognition and reward for quality teaching
a framework to guide professional learning for principals, teachers and school leaders
national accreditation of pre-service teacher education courses
national consistency in teacher registration
national consistency in accreditation/certification of Accomplished and Leading Teachers
improved mobility of the Australian teaching workforce
joint engagement with higher education to provide improved pre-service teacher education; new pathways into teaching; and data collection to inform continuing reform action and workforce planning
improved performance management in schools for teachers and school leaders
enhanced school-based teacher quality reforms

Taken from Buildiing Blocks for Education: Whole System Reform

Prayer Points

Let's pray for the ministers of Education Federal and State
Let's pray that all schools in Australia will have scripture study programs
Let's pray that God will raise more scripture teachers.
Let's pray that many students will attend Christian scripture and bible study
Let's pray that many volunteers will come forward to help churches and schools with their knowledge in pastoral care and scriputre study
Let's pray that God will raise Christian principals in every public school
Let's pray that God will stop violence in schools specially child abuse from clergy or others
Let's pray that God will provide funds to Public, Catholic, Private school to invest more money on Christian Education (Christian Values, Christian morals)
Let's pray that God will raise Chaplaincies in all colleges, unis, schools
Let's pray that directors in every Child and Adult Education will have influence on the Education system and God will raise Christian Directors
Let's pray that God will remove ungodly contents from school curriculums
Please pray for all Catholics, Anglicans, other christian colleges, unis, schools that God will provide the fund to train and equip priests, ministers, chaplains, and empower them with the Holy Spirit to be a good example to our children.

Pray that these universities (and other note named here) will support and foster Christian values:

Charles Sturt University (Bathurst, Wagga Wagga, Albury, Dubbo, Manly, Orange, Canberra)
Macquarie University
University of New England (Armidale)
University of New South Wales (Sydney, Canberra)
University of Newcastle (Newcastle, Callaghan, Ourimbah, Port Macquarie)
Southern Cross University (Coffs Harbour, Lismore, Tweed Heads)
University of Sydney (Sydney, Orange)
University of Technology, Sydney
University of Western Sydney
University of Wollongong

Christian universities and colleges:

Christian City Church School of Creative Arts
Citipointe Ministry College
Emmaus Bible College
Harvest Bible College
Hillsong International Leadership College
The Internet Bible College
Wesley Institute
Moore College
Morling College
SMBC
Sydney Training Institute
United Theological College
Youthworks College
Notre Dame University
Broken Bay Institute
Catholic Universities

Please if you wish to add more prayers request to the above list, we appreciate that