Socio Cultural Factors That Can Negatively Influence The Education Of A Child From A Disadvantaged

Critical issues facing educators today include; educational inequity, socio-economic status of students, cultural diversity, stereotyping, dominate cultural paradigms, and social disadvantage. Because of these issues, educators will be best prepared for classroom life if they find ways to adapt and modify the learning environment in order, to provide for inclusive regardless of the learners needs. All children in Australia are presented with the opportunity to attend schools which are designed to be inclusive for any and all abilities. Due to the diverse nature of the school age population in Australia classrooms are made up of an assortment of needs in relation to social, cognitive, and physical areas of learning.

Teachers should advocate for all students’ backgrounds and cultures to better their students’ learning. To accomplish this, teachers should be informed about their students’ home lives, be conscious of how and what they should be taught, and ultimately make their education a priority. Students from poverty in a multicultural classroom need the correct tools and teaching approaches from their teachers.

In a contemporary Australian school setting, inclusion is the ongoing collaboration of all members of the school community to effectively meet the diverse needs of all students, including those with additional needs (Blackmore, 2009; Lyons, 2014). All students regardless of their cultural background or ability level should experience an enriching education where they feel included and supported. Creating inclusive cultures, producing inclusive policies and evolving inclusive practices are the best ways to promote learning and participation in schools for all students (Centre for Studies on Inclusive Education, 2012; Dempsey, 2014).

An educator who understands issues of diversity and difference will make the classroom a more enriching environment for all of the students in it, and will ensure those students who are adversely affected by such diversity and difference are given the opportunity and encouragement to overcome challenges they face. Socio-economic disadvantage among students has an impact in the classroom in terms of the ability of a child to gain an understanding of the knowledge and skills required to be a successful student. Gender issues can be one of those concerns in a classroom that, unless they are quite obvious, can be almost disregarded because they are not acknowledged as a concern, for example, asking boys to move chairs. Stereotypical roles can be ingrained in an educators psyche. Cultural diversity is becoming more prevalent in our classrooms; it is the educator’s responsibility to ensure the classroom is a welcoming and diverse environment. When considering how to approach these issues in a classroom and incorporating support for students, an educator would benefit from consulting the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) or the Australian Curriculum (AC). These documents provides frameworks for working with diversity and ensuring students succeed within their given circumstances with the support of both their educator and their school. It is imperative educators understand the effects of socio-economic disadvantage, gender issues and cultural diversity when creating an

Rights & Responsibilities • Discrimination, Harassment and Bullying Respecting Diversity • Inclusive Curriculum Celebrating the • diversity of achievement • Beyond Euro- centrism Inclusive Learning Responding to Diversity Needs and interests of communities Being aware of diverse needs of different communities/groups

The United States is a country based on equal opportunity; every citizen is to be given the same chance as another to succeed. This includes the government providing the opportunity of equal education to all children. All children are provided schools to attend. However, the quality of one school compared to another is undoubtedly unfair. Former teacher John Kozol, when being transferred to a new school, said, "The shock from going from one of the poorest schools to one of the wealthiest cannot be overstated (Kozol 2)." The education gap between higher and lower-income schools is obvious: therefore, the United States is making the effort to provide an equal education with questionable results.

Within a school, equality, diversity and inclusion is very important. It is their duty to make sure all children have equal access to the curriculum. Whether they are a different race, culture, gender or have a special need or disability, it is important that they are supported and have a right to participate and be treated equal; this is known as inclusion. As part of this it is important that schools and other professionals support and promote cultural diversity in schools and the wider society, breaking down any discriminatory barriers to learning.

Education is a necessity across the globe, from America to Africa to China. Some education systems, however, are more successful than others and hold differing views and approaches to education. Culture greatly impacts education, which in turn impacts further opportunity. As unfair as it may be, a child’s cultural background largely determines their level of success. The American education system is lacking when compared to various other world cultures, and this is causing the socioeconomic gap to grow. Because of this inadequate education, more and more families are dipping beneath the poverty line. This could be due to poor discipline as well as the diversity of students. The diversity of the students results in a wide array of needs that are not being met by the public education system. This issue could be minimized by working to create a more inclusive academic environment to ensure equality and success.

It is essential that educators create safe, welcoming environments that promote learning for all students in a classroom and to do this they must acknowledge issues of diversity and difference and know how to approach these issues. There are two key documents that guide educators in their planning and implementation of curriculum; The Australian Curriculum and The Early Years Learning Framework. Using these two documents to create learning programs, educators must enact an inclusive curriculum that empowers all students, regardless of differences. For educators to understand and address issues of diversity and differences such as socio-economic, cultural and ethnic backgrounds, language barriers and stereotypes around gender and sexuality, they must look at their own philosophy, values and beliefs around these issues.

Australia is a multicultural country and welcomes people from varying nationalities into its communities each and every day. As a result, classrooms all over Australia are changing. No matter what location a teacher is contracted to, there will be some element of a variety of cultures within that environment. Diversity of cultures within individual communities will fluctuate from town to town and state to state as people re-settle and create homes for themselves and forge a new identity and sense of place. As a teacher, it is also important to note, that the experiences of migrant students in your class will vary. Some may assimilate very well; others may encounter more hurdles than others. A teacher’s role in a child’s life should be one which is positive. Supporting a child through their education and ensuring they have appropriate care and compassion in relation to their situation is important. This guide has been put together to help teachers with some background knowledge on educating culturally diverse students and some strategies to help foster compassion and understanding within the classroom.

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

The article discusses the effect of poverty on children’s readiness to learn. The article presents some excellent facts such as one in seven children will experience poverty and that the especially impacted are the indigenous youth. This is advantageous as it gives an overview of the magnitude of poverty children in Australian are facing as poverty affects a range of conditions such as full-time employment (Furlong et al., 2005), independency and autonomy (Schneider 2000), accessibility to sub-cultures (Forsyth et al., 2003)and higher risk of entering the criminal system (Kelly, 2003). Its central focus is to emphasise how low-income families impact their children’s readiness to learn. Importantly, low income children suffer from family divorce,

According to Farley, cultural deprivation was considered, by some, the reason for poor performance in school in families of minority, poor, and working class (p. 402). According to this functionalist theory based idea, it was believed that minorities has under developed skills and inferior work habits as those in other groups. A study done by Coleman, found that those with less items such as televisions, automobiles, vacuum cleaners, and other items had lower learning abilities. This is also in connection with poor familial support, parental interest in their child's education, availability of books, newspapers, and other educational opportunities within the home causes student to be less ready to learn in a school environment. Coleman found underachievement to be a direct correlation to children with poor self-image, disinterest in school, and not being able to control the environment around them (or believing in good luck, not hard work) (p. 402). It is believed that changing the student's attitude towards learning would ready them, enhance, and provide a better learning experience. Coleman's believes this can be achieved, in part, by desegregation of schools so disadvantaged students could attend school with advantaged students, which tend to have better attitudes towards learning and disadvantaged students would inherently become better, more positive learners. Being able to prepare the child is part of this idea as well, which includes being ready to learn. This

Historically and Culturally within Australia, education has been viewed as a right, as previously discussed. Although Australia perpetrates the myth of an egalitarian society, it has been cultivated to conceal the unequal life chances of disadvantaged individuals (Jamrozik, 2009). This is central to the political and cultural differences/conflicts and the bases of knowledge in which our education system is being built upon. Within schools certain students are being labelled

Diversity in education is extremely broad and can refer to setting an individual apart from one another. This is the differences in geographic, ethnic, racial, academic/professional, socioeconomic backgrounds and many other attributes that contribute to diversity as a whole. As an educator you need to be fully aware of these differences among your students, so you can provide a classroom where the students are comfortable interacting with different people, ideas and backgrounds within the physical school environment. Diversity can contribute to the effects on the health and learning of children and my aim will be to narrow the selection to socioeconomic status (SES) on families. Socioeconomic status is the whole social position of a person or family Considine, G. and G. Zappala (2002). Sociological research clearly indicates how SES affects the health and academic performance of children and is one reason why it affects educational outcomes. Children 's health and learning have a great relationship within the socioeconomic status, these include the geographical location, family structure or dynamics and school and neighbourhood environments.