Diversity And Equity Policy

3. Critically analyse the following quote from Sarah Wise (2011) “As Australians we promulgate the value of a fair go. Yet there are individuals and groups in our society that experience extreme and persistent disadvantage that sets them apart from the rest of our society”. (Reference: Wise, S. (2011) “Advance Australia Fairly” Sydney Morning Herald. January 14, 2011)

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

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

As an owner of a growing automotive shop you are one day visited by a man named Jeff. Jeff runs his own lawn company and for his job he has 10 trucks, he was wondering if you would be willing to work on them for him. You show him around your shop and introduces him to your team. You have Chuck, Chuck has been with your shop for 22 years and he is a hard worker. You also have Sarah, Sarah has been with the shop for seven years and like chuck she’s a hard worker, also your last employee is Jake. Jake has been with the company for about two years he comes in after school and on the weekends. As you and Jeff sit down to discusses the opportune on how you can get the job. Jeff likes your place but he doesn’t like your workers because chuck is Muslim descent, Sarah is a female and Jake is too young. You now have a couple of options to get the contract. One, hire a third employee to

 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.

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

“[People] may have different religions, different languages, different colored skin, but [they] all belong to one human race.”- Kofi Annan

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.

Social justice in schools is quite a controversial topic with many aspects outlined in the Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young Australians that are considered major issues. Goal one of the Melbourne Declaration (2008) states that the Australian Government, in conjunction with the schools sectors, is committed to the promotion of excellence and equity in all schools, free from all forms of discrimination. Some main forms of discrimination, or barriers to academic achievement, faced in this modern society include; gender, language, sexual orientation, pregnancy, culture, ethnicity, religion, health or disability, socioeconomic background and geographic location (Melbourne Declaration of Educational Goals for Young Australians

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.

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

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

Access to Education and Training as a Means of Promoting Equality of Opportunity in today's Australia

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

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