The Australian education system and its structure change all the time, sometimes they change for the worse. But then this is the fun part, it is only when you try to change it that you discover if it works or not. If it does not work as you intended, then you change again.
Even when we have the same government, it tweaks the education system every couple of years. When we do change the government, of course a major change could be expected. It is quite an effort to keep up with the changes. The government study aid scheme, the examination system, the curriculum are all subject to change. Change, it seems, is the only constant.
Two years ago, the federal government introduced a national assessment tests for students in Year 3 and Year 5. These tests measure the students' individual ability as well as to provide a national performance comparative study for each school. Until these tests were introduced you could only guess how well a school in Victoria performs against another in South Australia. Each state has its own curriculum and examination system.
When I talk about these constant and rapid changes, I have my reference point firmly planted in the Malaysian education system. For as long as I can remember, the Malaysian system changes little. And if there is a change, it takes years to implement, whether it is to implement or to remove an implementation. The Malaysian model is like a sailing Titanic, it starts slow, and it stops slow.
We know if something is not broken, don't fix it. In the real competitive world, being complacent with what has worked is the equivalent of being broken. Fix it nevertheless.
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