Getting to Know Your International Contacts: Part 2

Theresa in Australia:

 

  There are 3 levels of government, federal state and local council.Like the States, they all have different responsibilities and fund different things or contribute a percentage. Our school year runs 27th-28th Jan through to a week before Christmas. Most Long day Care Centres

 

Each of the states is responsible for the education facilities within it. There is a National Curriculum (Foundation to Yr 12)in place thus ensuring chn moving home about the country are not educationally disadvantaged.

 

We have 4 basic levels of education- Preschool, Primary, High School and Tertiary.

 

Early Childhood facilities are divided into the following-

1. Long Day Care Centres which takes chn from 6 weeks till they are ready for school. They open around 7am and some close as late as 6pm. Chn that are in the 3 & 4yr rooms participate in programmed learning activities in preparation for school.

2. Pre Schools which generally are open 9 till around 3pm. These have programmed learning activities preparing chn for school

3. Family Day Care. Here chn are looked after by a child care worker in her home. The hours are negotiated between parents and worker. No set program is followed. These are regulated by the local councils who set the no of chn allowed, usually 4 depending on the ages. The workers are supported by the council as far as I know.

 

The Long Day Care Centres and the Preschools can be either privately owned and operated or run by council. In NSW they charge $70 + a day per child (3yr +) depending where they are located. Babies also cost extra. The Govt does help with some funding. The set Govt rate is $70 a day. If parents are on pensions, they only pay any amount above the $70/day. I.e., if the fees are $75/day, the govt pays the $70 and they pay the extra $5 and is automatically deducted before the bill is issued.Parents who both work, even if one parent only works 1 day a week and earn less than approx $120,000 each, they receive a 50% refund off set rate, and if only 1 parent works the refund is 25% off the set rate. With working parents they pay the fees up front and they are then rebated quarterly through the tax office.

 

With compulsory education there are several systems. The public system which is run by the State Education Dept. The Catholic systemic, which are run by the individual diocese, the catholic independent schools, private religious schools and private schools. All these schools have to be registered and follow teaching programs set by the Board of studies.

 

The school year begins tomorrow and in NSW any child any that turn 5yrs by the end of June in the Catholic System, and end of July in the public system can begin regular school. Many parents these days, especially in the better off suburbs are keeping their chn back and not starting the chn till they are 6. Kinder, 1 & 2 ( even though come under the category Early Childhood) are the infant years and as part of compulsory education each child is funded by both the state and federal govt's. Public schools don't charge additional school fees but parent pay some monies to cover the cost of excursions, books and consumables. The Catholic Systemic schools each have their own scale of fees which are paid in addition to the govt funding. The Sydney Deuces for instance has a sliding scale of school fees for the 1st,2nd & 3rd child at school, the 4th and subsequent chn are free. In the Wollongong dieses, you only pay for your first one at school then the rest are free. You do however have to pay book/ excursion/consumable fees for all of them. Irrespective of these fees, if a parent wishes their child to have a Catholic school education and can't afford them the principals have the right to waver the fees. No child is to be denied a catholic education because of money- part of the philosophy. The other private schools set their own fees, and some can be quite high.

 

The other states would work on a similar basis with minor differences. In Qld for instance, the chn start compulsory ed a year later and go straight into Yr1.

 

Soraya in England:

 

Poverty, I can't really report any major concerns, perhaps there are 3-4 unprivileged children within our school but all our children are equally treated.

The children that come from low-income families are provided with free school meals, free morning milk, free extra reading and free school outings, all these privileges are funded by our UK government.

In our class there are 30 children, 17 boys and 13 girls. Age group 5 to 6 year olds in my class.

There is a strong partnership between parents and our school, parents are involved in library duties, sports days, school trips, Christmas parties, summer fair, etc. Within the school we elect 5 parent governors, regular meetings are held to express concerns and views which we take very seriously and act on to improve the everyday running of the school.

Parents are regularly informed of their children's progress, 4 times a year we hold parents evening which is based on a 1 to 1 meeting with each child's parents.

Parents are also welcome to look at their child's work once a week.

     I received new information from Theresa, but nothing new from Soraya.  Soraya said she was having a difficult time providing me with issues affecting young children too much in her area.  I have also learned that both private and public funding is an important part of providing young children with early childhood care.  As far as whether or not the care is high quality is yet to be determined. I am still waiting for more update from both Soraya and Theresa.