Introduction:
The analysis of policy in regards to impacts on students, families and community, leads to a discussion of problems within our society and their influence on the very policies created to respond to these circumstances. Within the educational sphere, all polices contribute to the lives and educational experiences of every student and as a result, their families and the community. This case study looks at the Department of Education and Training [DET] Diversity and Equity policy and outlines a school-based scenario that analyses diversity and equity within the classroom. The case study analyses the policy and scenario to formulate discussion about how students, families and communities can be impacted by diversity and equity and
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6). The Diversity and Equity policy (DET 2013) was created to respond to the growingly diverse Victorian Community. Many Victorians face issues of racism and bullying and due to cultural and religious backgrounds, as well as socio-economic status, many do not experience equal or equitable opportunities. This is due to the emergence of our society as neo-liberal. Neo-liberalism means that ‘the agenda of economic and social transformation’ (Connell, 2013, p. 99) has moved from public agencies to ‘companies selling services in a market.’ A society modelled under neo-liberalism is skewed to support those with money and privilege, a majority of which, in Australian society, are middle class Anglo-Australians. As a result, the issues of equity and diversity within a neo-liberal society leave those affected at a marked disadvantage in comparison to the majority of Australians. The Diversity and Equity policy (DET 2013) is an attempt to improve the disadvantage experienced by the …show more content…
Though this policy attempts to achieve a support of diversity and an increase of equity among the Victorian community, its affects are hindered by an education system that favours the middle class and above. As stated by Reid (2013, p. 13), the equity espoused within policy ‘is produced by policy processes which are counterproductive to the achievement of equity.’ This means that, in order to really achieve equity for all students, the education system needs to
Kenway’s article Challenging Inequality in Australia: Gonski and Beyond is a critical analysis of how Australian governments have evaluated and responded to the issue of educational disadvantage. The piece primarily focuses its critique on how the Review of Funding for Schooling Final Report (Gonski et al, 2011) recognises, and presents solutions for, educational disadvantage within the national education system. The central argument is that, despite the report’s shortcomings, it should be supported as it emphasises issues of socio-educational disadvantage which urgently need to be addressed. It is noted that the Gonski Report, in its description of the “imperatives” of addressing educational disadvantage, reminds the reader that Australian
I find that the concepts of diversity, inclusion and social justice to be important because they build on each other and have the power to change the world. When all of these aspects work together and are acknowledged then we are able to work toward changing social norms and creating aspects in society that are focused on equity, rather than equality. Of course, social justice should be the goal that we as individuals want to achieve in liberating areas of our that have limited and restrained others. I connect diversity and appreciating diversity with being the foundation to this equation of equality because individuals need to understand that there will be differences between people. I enjoy the statement on, “… Who is in the room?” because it starts to explain the variations in personal characteristics within a group of people. This is going to be part of my position as an RA within Resident Life because a floor’s residence are going to have wide range in their own diversities through their age, sexual orientation, journeys to get to college, race and ethnicity, etc. I am proud to have experienced the things I have and lived and go to high school in such a place like Aurora, CO to where I was able to live and embrace a diverse community. I came to define this diversity to be normal, but coming up to CSU and Fort Collins has shown me how much of Colorado does not have the same kind of standards. The next support beam to building this idea that works toward social would be
This case study illuminates that government policy; funding and program implementation is a form of regulated control. It is as if the government cannot justify the expense to the public unless they understand the problem by the unjust or prejudicial treatment of people to resolve the issues (Campbell, Wunungmurra & Nyomba 2005). This confused state of affairs smacks of racism or cultural ignorance or both. Further, the projects the government funds to reduce the health, education, income and employment gap between the wealthy and marginalised people of Australia would work if all they provided was “culturally relevant encouragement, funding and technical support” (Campbell, Wunungmurra & Nyomba 2005, p.164) and followed the community development
I honestly don't understand why there is so much hatred toward immigrants when this country is only made out of immigrants. All we do is try to shame other people ethics background to try to feel superior when all we are doing is showing the lack of respect. People like this are being the disgrace of this country. We should be proud of the diversity we have and learn to respect one another. At the end of the day this world we live in is not ours because we are born to die. Might as well do positive changes in the world we live in while we live and not start with all this evil hate and disrespect. At the end we are all humans and children's of God. Stop this nonsense already.
Social inclusion policies in Australian tertiary education focus on the underrepresentation of students from disadvantaged backgrounds and rarely call attention to the over-representation of students from more privileged backgrounds. This casts disadvantage as attributes that are lacking in students from disadvantaged backgrounds, thus obscuring the social conditions that structure disadvantage and privilege. As an example, the Australian government routinely publishes
It is a social norm for Australians to believe in equality of opportunity. Moreover, numerous of them strongly believe that it is being recognized in practice that Australians' life prospects are less reliant on their birth environment and less hindered by inflexible class makeup, or lack of social networks, than are the life prospects of numerous people in other comparable nations.
A national change to “a fair and inclusive system that makes the advantages of education available to all, [as it] is one of the most powerful levers [in making] society more equitable” (OECD 2008). This Australian wide change can then lead to a global education revolution that involves all classes, gender and intellect to break poverty cycles and provide equal opportunities for all.
The Beyond diversity workshop dealing with racial issues made me think more in depth about what people of color have to endure. I have always tried to put myself in others situations to help me better understand their actions, and this workshop shined some light onto issues I have not considered. These issues (like how the majority of the United States population sometimes ignore one pivotal point in history—slavery, and celebrate others—like 4th of July) encompasses what social psychology is about: how we relate to, and treat other people. Obedience, as discussed in Pettijohn with the shock experiment, help me better understand why good people may treat others the way that they do. For example, in my home
It is important for schools to have written policies that specifically deal with social disadvantage and equality. Marginson (n.d, p.4) encourages leaders to create public policy that aspires to raise the general level of scholastic accomplishment over the entire level of learning achievement across all of society, but especially focusing on students who are socially disadvantaged due to belonging to low income families. This means it is important for each school, whether public or private, to be creating policies that encourage diversity within the education system and aim to help those from the poorest communities. Every state in Australia has suburbs that are classed the most disadvantaged in the state. According to Biddle (2013, p.7) some of the most disadvantaged suburbs in each state are as follows: Broadmedows, Victoria (VIC), Busby, New South Wales (NSW), Riverview, Queensland (QLD), Elizabeth North, (SA), North Mandrua, Western Australia (WA), Risdon Vale, Tasmania (TAS), Gray, Northern Territory (NT) and Namadgi, Australian Capital Territory (ACT). Every one of these disadvantaged suburbs contains at least one public primary school. Upon investigation only two schools contain information on their web pages that displays to the public that the school leaders understand and have addressed some of the challenges faced by being located in a low socioeconomic area. The first school website to contain helpful information was Busby Public School website
“[People] may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but [they] all belong to one human race.”- Kofi Annan
The three most pressing diversity issues in an educational setting or schools today are the race/ethnic background of a child affecting his or her education opportunities, professional development opportunity to train teachers on diversity, and allowing access to rich and rigorous curriculum and content aligned to the standards regardless of a student’s diversity. Each of these has impacted my school. The school I work for has taken step or set up new procedures to reduce the effects of these issues on our staff, teachers, students, and
Poor education is a major issue resulting from racism and white privilege. For example according to the 2011 Census only 25% of Indigenous students completed all 12 years of primary and secondary education compared to the non-Indigenous students’ rate of 52% (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011). The result of this disparity in education is that it may affect social health and make it harder to find employment.
When the Three-Fifth Compromise was ratified and the Constitution written, diversity was rarely an issue and played little to no importance in the Constitution. However, race has been one of, if not the central of politics predominately in the southern states during the mid-1900s. It has played a majour role in defining politics and issuing many public policies such as social welfare and Medicaid. During the mid-1900s, several civil rights court cases and movements such as Brown v. Board of Education, Hernandez v. Texas (1954), Chicano and the Civil Rights Movement in which minorities were trying to bring equal rights upon the minorities took place. Other policies include the on-still healthcare debate dealing with Obamacare and providing
Traditionally Australians have believed in and conveyed the myth of Australia as a fair , egalitarian society without excess wealth or poverty, however we are definitely not a classless society. Australia's education system has been and remains one of the most unequally distributed social resources and could possibly be regarded as the main source of inequality in our society (Encel 1970; Anderson & Vervoorn 1983; as cited in Jamrozik, 2009). Now more than ever, Australia's education system is acting as a kind of 'sorting out' mechanism, allocating people to certain stations within
Australians likes to think of themselves as an egalitarian society in which everyone has a ‘fair go’ . This idea has led to the creation of an equal education system but today, the reality is far from this egalitarian system. Only 17% of Australians from low-socioeconomic backgrounds are able to attend university , roughly half the likelihood of Australians from medium and high socioeconomic backgrounds. This degree of