1.

Are Australian schools meeting the challenge of equity and access in our democratic
society? Discuss by using examples from your own experience and knowledge of
schools to substantiate your point of view.

Students attending Australian schools come from many diverse

backgrounds and various socio-economic status, ethnicity, race and gender

environments. These factors are important to the way in which we approach

their education. The following essay will discuss whether teachers, policies,

policy makers and resources in Australian schools are fair and impartial to

meet the challenge of promoting equity and access to all students, particularly

in relation to Indigenous students. Through discussing how the dominant

discourse within our democratic society might influence a students education

due to their Indigenous background through opportunities during their

schooling, this essay will look to discuss if Australian schools are meeting the

challenge of equity and access within our democratic society.

Equity is defined as the quality of being fair and impartial ("equity -

definition of equity in English from the Oxford dictionary," 2015) Furthermore,

access is defined as the means or opportunity to approach or enter a place

("access - definition of access in English from the Oxford dictionary," 2015)

When discussing these terms in relation to Australian schools, we must ask

ourselves if every student is being treated fairly and from an impartial

viewpoint, and whether every student has the opportunity or the means to

approach or enter a place. The place in question here is the same level of

schooling and opportunities as any other student may get, irrespective of their

background. Unfortunately, Australian schools are not meeting these

standards with the Indigenous student population. A recent study

demonstrates this reporting that Indigenous 15 year-olds remain

approximately two-and-a-half years behind non-Indigenous students (Dreise &

Thomson, 2014). Dreise and Thomson (2014) argue that the challenge of

meeting equity and access in Australian schools has not been met, with a

number of audits suggesting that Indigenous programs have either been a

complete failure or have not been able to achieve the aims they set out to.

From these examples, it is evident that Indigenous students have not been

provided with equity and access in Australian schooling and they are not

receiving the necessary resources and education because they fall outside of

the norm or dominant discourse.

Social justice is defined as justice in terms of the distribution of wealth,

opportunities, and privileges within a society ("social justice - definition of

social justice in English from the Oxford dictionary," 2015). In Australian

society, there is a disparity among the distribution of wealth, opportunities and

privileges. This is mirrored within the education system as students from

varying backgrounds receive varying levels of equity and access, as shown by

the Review of funding for Schooling: Final Report (2011). Tranter (2011)

argues that students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds have better

equity and access to education, whilst the lower socioeconomic areas are

worse off, with their specific needs not being met. This argument is justified in

the 2015 report The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander people (The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander people (AIHW). 2015) which demonstrates the link
between the low socioeconomic status of Australias Indigenous population

and poor education outcomes. The report stated that (amongst other facts

and figures) Indigenous households were nearly 2.5 times as likely to be in

the lowest income bracket and 4 times less likely to be in the top income

bracket as non-Indigenous households and nearly half of all Indigenous

children were living in jobless families in 20063 times the proportion of all

children. This is coherent with schooling, where only 31 percent of

Indigenous people aged 20-24 had attained a year 12 level of schooling,

compared to 76% of the non-indigenous population. (4102.0 Australian

Social Trends, Mar 2011) These statistics show how clearly linked racial

background can be with socioeconomic status and education outcomes. The

statistics on year 12 attainment rates can also be comprehensively attributed

to the unmistakable inequality that is present. For a country that prides itself

on being forward thinking and a world leader, Australia is falling

embarrassingly behind when it comes to Indigenous issues. Australias

Indigenous students are getting left behind in education because they dont fit

into the dominant discourse within Australian society.

The idea that our Indigenous population is to blame for the situation

that they find themselves in is part of the dominant discourse in Australia. For

years, Australia held a policy of assimilation for all migrants and our

Indigenous population. (Moran, 2005) Assimilation means for one culture to

adopt the customs, beliefs and way of life of another culture in order to

assimilate into society and leave behind their own traditional ways of life and

beliefs ("assimilation - definition of assimilation in English from the Oxford

dictionary," 2015) This was a huge failure with Australias Indigenous

population as the policy of assimilation automatically assumed Indigenous

Australians to be inferior to the white population which was the dominant

discourse within society. The expectation that Indigenous Australians would

also give up all their customs and beliefs that they had lived by for 40,000

years was also very short sighted by the then Australian government. The

idea of Indigenous Australians being a race below whites and inferior to them

has become the dominant discourse of thinking for a proportion of Australias

population, with these sorts of ideas also making their way into the minds of

some educators and schools. This is evident in John Howards refusal to

apologise to the Indigenous community and acknowledge the horrific acts

perpetrated by previous governments (Beresford & Partington, 2003). It is a

widely held view in Australias conservative population that the aboriginal

problem is something that doesnt concern them, consequently leaving

indigenous students in schools by the wayside. Within schools, there is the

belief amongst some that Aboriginals students dont want to be there and are

disrespectful or of a lower assumed ability than other students. These sorts of

attitudes dont take into account the circumstances that may surround an

Aboriginal students life such as the lower socioeconomic status they may

come from. Indigenous students habitus may be different to non-indigenous

students. Things such as overcrowded housing, family problems, low-income

households and (especially in remote communities) drug and alcohol

problems affect all of society but the proportion of affected is higher amongst

indigenous people. ("current challenges facing Indigenous people in Australia

and the importance of rights | Australian Human Rights Commission," 2005)

In order for aboriginal students to be given the same access and equity as

other non-Indigenous students, their schooling has to be approached in a way

that is sensitive to their cultural background and the issues that surround it.

Their education has to be looked at as part of the bigger picture, and teachers

and policy makers need to be aware of the past and the circumstances that

surround our Indigenous population in order to forge a bright future with fair

and equal schooling for Australias aboriginal population.

In 2008, the Australian Labour government under Prime Minister Kevin

Rudd introduced a new policy in relation to the indigenous population, called

Closing The Gap. ("Closing the Gap in Indigenous Disadvantage | Council of

Australian Governments (COAG)," 2008) This policy aimed to close the gap

between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in areas such as life

expectancy; early childhood education; mortality rates for young children; the

literacy and numeracy levels of students; yr 12 attainment rates; and

employment outcomes. From this policy change, the Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander Education Action Plan (Ministerial Council for Education, Early

Childhood Development and Youth Affairs (Australia), 2010) was created to

close the gap in education. This policy aims to assist Indigenous students by

providing specific framework for educators to follow and funding for schools to

help improve the education standards and life chances of indigenous students.

The report Evaluation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan

2010-2014 (ACIL Allen Consulting, La Trobe University, & PhillipsKPA, 2014)

looks at the success of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education

Action Plan in relation to program implementation and school outcomes for

indigenous students. Whilst mostly praising the policy, the report also had

some recommendations for improvement as well as looking at the overall

effectiveness of the policy. One of these recommendations for improvement

can be found on page 26, where it states The Action Plan may have

benefited from greater focus on pre- and post-school education, rather than

focusing only on school education. The report also criticises the influence of

the policy in promoting cultural recognition, something it describes as

critical to creating a welcoming school environment that encourages

students to attend and engage. (ACIL Allen Consulting, La Trobe University,

& PhillipsKPA, 2014 p. 63) Overall the policy is effective however reports such

as the Evaluation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan

2010-2014 findings have to be listened to, so as to improve the policy and

achieve its goals.

In 2010 the Australian government issued an independent review into

the state of Australian schooling funding. The report was to provide

recommendations that develop a funding system which is transparent, fair,

financially sustainable and effective in promoting excellent educational

outcomes for all Australian students. (Australia. Department of Education,

Employment, and Workplace Relations. Review of Funding for Schooling,

2011, p.xi) Released in 2011, this report was chaired by Australian

businessman David Gonski and thus became known colloquially as The

Gonski Review. The report was highly critical of the outdated way in which

the Australian federal and state/territory governments funded schools. The

report states, many schools, particularly those in the government sector, are
suffering from a lack of capital investment. This impacts on the educational

opportunities afforded to the students, as well as the attitudes and morale of

students, parents and the broader community. (Australia. Department of

Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations. Review of Funding for

Schooling, 2011, p. xv) The Gonski Review into school funding in Australia is

fundamental in demonstrating the ways in which the dominant discourse is

disadvantaging students in their education. The lack of funding and poor

choices made in funding hinder the promotion of equity and access in

Australian schools as they are holding back on educational opportunities for

students.

During the course of writing this essay, the author discovered many

abhorrent statistics regarding Australias Indigenous population. When

teaching, educators must take into account all the circumstances that

surround Indigenous students life and the past history of the Indigenous

population, in order to be fair and impartial in their teaching. The dominant

discourse in our society in relation to the Indigenous population doesnt take

into account the history surrounding white and Indigenous Australias past

relations. Whilst not every Australian may face the same issues or experience

the same socioeconomic status, it is important for educators to take into

account that students come from varying backgrounds of race, ethnicity,

socioeconomic status, gender, sexuality and more. Therefore, it is important

in education that we remember that there isnt a one-size fits all approach.

Policies, resources, teaching and curriculum must all be approached with the

idea of being able to suit any students needs. If we take this approach in our
education, Australians can be assured that our schooling system is meeting

the challenge of equity and access in our democratic society.

References

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