Disadvantaged schools program in Tasmania : description and application

The purpose of this dissertation is to provide a descriptive analysis of the operation of the School Commission's Disadvantaged School Program with particular emphasis of its application in the Tasmanian context. In Tasmania, the name of the Program is different - it is known as the Priority Projects Programme. However, the Tasmanian Catholic System retains the original title. For the purpose of this dissertation, the Country Areas Program, an element of the Disadvantaged Schools Program shall be excluded since it has a somewhat different rationale and method of operation. The Disadvantaged Schools Program is a specific federally funded program. It operates in thirty two selected Tasmanian Schools (1982). The Program attempts to promote more equal outcomes of schooling for all pupils by providing a higher than normal level of resources to schools serving disadvantaged communities. Such communities are characterised principally by high levels of poverty. The Program's objective is to urge schools to look for ways of redressing educational disadvantage associated with low socio-economic status. In sum, the Program has these aims: * that schools should provide greater equality of opportunity; that is, that all children should be assisted to gain the fundamental skills necessary to participate fully and equally in society, and to have the opportunity to share in its culture; * that schooling should be relevant, enjoyable and fruitful in itself, not merely preparation for later life; and * that schools should become closely identified with and supportive of the communities within which they are situated. The Program is therefore a form of positive discrimination tn favour of schools where educationally disadvantaged pupils are congregated. Declared schools are eligible to participate in the Program on the basis of socio-economic background characteristics associated with lower than average school success. As a condition of funding, it is necessary for school communities to analyse their objectives and operations, to formulate proposals designed to improve learning outcomes, to relate the curriculum more closely to the life experience of the pupils enrolled, and to foster closer relationship between parents and the school. Basically, Chapter lanalyses why the Program was established; the prinicipal values that it has inherited from the Report of the foterim Committee for the Australian Schools Commission; the need for the Program; the objectives of the Program and the reasons for providing extra resources to disadvantaged schools. Chapter 2 is mainly concerned with the major emphases of the Program, including the basis for funding in disadvantaged schools. Chapter 3 looks at a Tasmanain Case Study of Rokeby Primary School, which was in the process of joining the Priority Projects Program. This Case Study is wholly based on the research material provided by the Education Department of Tasmania. It describes the process of formulating a submission, the actors involved in it and the problems they had encountered in preparing a submission. The final chapter draws all the thread3together and presents an overall picture of the Disadvantaged Schools Program. A common theme whi eh runs through this di ssertati o,n, especially in Chapter 3, is that the success of the Disadvantaged Schools Program depends on good relationships between the main actors - the pupils, the parents and local community, the teachers and the education authorities. If these actors are working in a co-operative manner, the chances of edicational success for disadvantaged pupils seems to be great. (*) Australia, Commonwealth Schools Commission, Program Guidelines 1982, Canberra Publishing and Printing, Canberra, 1982.