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DE
& Home Ed
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Curriculum
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Teachers
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Facilities
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Students
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Enrolment
& Attendance
Application of Standards to Schools Using
Non-Traditional Approaches to Curriculum Delivery and School
Attendance
The Board is aware of the dramatic growth and recent
developments in the area of open learning as an approach to
the delivery of educational programs and will determine
whether an organisation providing open learning is operating
a school for the purposes of registration under the
Education Act 1994. All schools must meet the standards
set down in Sections 3.1–3.7 as appropriate.
AN 1.1
The
Distinction Between ‘Distance Education’ and ‘Home
Education’
The Board notes that there is a real distinction between
home education and non-traditional approaches to schooling,
including distance education. The major difference relies on
who is ultimately responsible for providing for the
full-time education of children under the Education Act
1994.
AN 1.1.1 Home Schooling
In
home schooling the responsibility lies solely with the
parents as registered home educators. They may seek certain
types of help in carrying out that responsibility, such as
buying in curriculum materials and tutorial help and even
assistance from schools with some elements of the program.
However, the responsibility for seeing that their
children are receiving full-time education is the parents’
and theirs alone. Any school involved in this process cannot
enrol such students as part-time students as the Act clearly
does not allow for a combination of school and home
education.
AN 1.1.2 Distance Education
In
Distance Education, the provider and the responsible party
is the school. The school may need to rely on parents, or
other carers, to supervise those elements of the program
that are conducted in the home and may well have some
written form of undertaking in relation to supervision.
However, the school is responsible for seeing that the
student is getting full-time education, within the meaning
of the Act.
The Board is determined to
see that the difference between home schooling and distance
education is real and that any school undertaking distance
provision under a Board registration understands this
difference and has adequate processes to carry out its
responsibilities
Distance
Education
Requirements
Regardless of the modes of delivery of curriculum to
students, all registered schools must meet the Standards
administered by the Schools Registration Board. However,
in consideration of school applications to provide
distance education services, all of the criteria listed
below need to be met.
Requirements for approval of Distance Education
studies for students:
-
The students are formally enrolled in the school.
They may not be concurrently registered for Home
Schooling with the Home Education Advisory Committee.
- The school is fully responsible for the curriculum
delivered to the students and that curriculum must
satisfy the curriculum Standard of the Board.
- A registered teacher accepts responsibility for each
subject studied by the students and is accountable for
the achievement of outcomes for each enrolled student.
- Home-based activities may be supervised by parents
but such activities are formally specified by the
teacher(s) responsible for the subject(s). These
activities constitute off-campus learning time.
- All student work, including work completed
off-campus, is formally monitored and accredited by
teachers.
- Teachers maintain documented records of student
achievement and report formally to parents on student
achievement and other aspects of development.
- Certification of student achievement is the
responsibility of teachers.
- The school has clearly stated requirements for
student attendance and/or teacher/student contact. These
are consistently applied and non-compliance followed up.
- Any alternative sites used for school-based programs
must meet the same Standards as those applied to
base-school buildings.
- All parents of students utilising this mode of
delivery will have read this set of requirements (1 – 9
above) and certified that they have accepted enrolment
under these terms.
The standards in 3.1 apply
to all registered schools. Additional information required
by the Board would relate to:
AN1.2.1 modes of delivery;
AN1.2.2 provision that will be
made for monitoring student progress;
AN1.2.3 the expectations of
parental supervision and study facilities, together
with
any forms of agreement required of parents or guardians;
and
AN1.2.3 the planned interaction
that will be provided both among students and between
students and teachers.
In applying the standard in 3.2,
the Board would expect to see:
tAN1.3.1
that the qualified
teachers employed have appropriate qualifications for
other roles in curriculum delivery; and
AN1.3.2 adequate
ancillary staff are also employed with qualifications appropriate to the mode
of delivery.
In applying the standard in 3.3,
the Board would take into account the maximum number of
students attending at a particular site at any one time and
the length of time for which they are present.
The standards in 3.4 and 3.5
apply as appropriate.
To be registered as a school, the institution must accept
responsibility for the full-time education of all students
of compulsory school age enrolled in the school.
In relation to the standard in 3.6,
the Board would require information on the process by which
the school collects and records evidence of the amount of
study undertaken by each student. In further considering
3.6, the Board would require to know how the school proposes
to monitor the amount of time spent on study or work done by
students, to satisfy the requirement under the Act that the
students are receiving full-time education.
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