A case study of the interaction between the 1980 A.C.T. Review Committee of Primary Education and the community

Abstract

The theme of this study is community involvement in education particularly as manifested in the 1980 Review of Primary Education in A.C.T. government schools. Evidence is provided that community concern and action were essential ingredients in the establishment of the A.C.T. school system and that consequently such involvement and provision for its continuation were incorporated in the guidelines for the system. The 1980 ‘primary review’ was initiated as the first major external check on how well schools in the A.C.T. were following the guiding principles and to consider what changes might be necessary to meet the exigencies of the 80’s. An important objective of the review was to determine the community’s views on its role in education. The operation of the review has been described from feasibility study to first draft report with emphasis on its provision for community input. A summary of some community submissions (especially that of the P. & C. Council) has been presented. It is shown that the consensus of submissions confirms the importance of community participation but there still exists a number of barriers preventing such involvement from being more widespread and efficient. Informal (‘ad hoc’) parent-school interaction is acknowledged as valuable but certain more ‘formal’ or ‘structured’ guidelines are seen as essential in order to ensure significant practical, mutually determined ideas implementable at ‘classroom level’ which are demonstrably beneficial to children. The study has found that greater school-community, teacher-parent communication is necessary and some methods for accomplishing these are outlined.

Date of Award	1980
Original language	English