Has equity's time come for VET? Observations and principles for equity policy and practice in Australian education

Equity has a long history in education. When compulsory schooling was first introduced in industrialising nations in the mid 1800s, many advocates saw it as a way of improving the circumstances of the poorest and most disadvantaged in their communities. But access to schooling did not prove to be the great equaliser that some had hoped. Instead, it became central in the reproduction of social and economic inequalities (Bourdieu & Passeron 1977). High academic achievement became highly correlated with high socioeconomic status, and vice versa (Teese & Polesel 2003). In Australia, the Karmel Report (1973) proved to be a watershed moment in naming the equity problem in schooling and, among other things, gave rise to the Disadvantaged Schools Program (DSP): an attempt to level the playing field albeit by ‘running twice as hard’ (Connell at al. 1991). Almost two decades later, A Fair Chance for All (1990) signalled official concern for equity in Australian higher education. While access to university was not to be universal, it was to be equitable; all social groups in the Australian population were to be proportionally represented among its university students. Today, Australia is still grappling with the inequities in its schooling and higher education systems, highlighted by renewed interest by governments to address the issues. Although not of the same order of magnitude, there now appears to be an emerging policy agenda around equity in VET. Has equity’s time come for VET? This paper canvasses the history of equity in Australian schooling and higher education, with a view to drawing out principles to inform a rejuvenated equity agenda in vocational education and training.

Rethinking higher education : implications of the Australian Government’s expansion and equity agenda

In this paper I outline three broad challenges to higher education, implied in the Australian Government’s 20/40 targets and their attendant requirements for universities. In identifying these challenges I draw on publically available statistics on Australian schooling, vocational education and training (VET) and the higher education sector, as well as on recent research on outreach programs by universities in schools.

More towards the centre : searching for field position for student equity in Australian higher education

The field of Australian higher education has changed, is changing and is about to change, as it is repositioned in relation to other ‘fields of power’. It is a sector now well defined by its institutional groupings – the Go8, the IRUs, the ATN and the rest – and by their relative claims to selectivity and exclusivity, with every suggestion of their differentiation growing. Even within these groupings there are distinctions and variations. Moreover, Australian universities now compete within an international higher education marketplace, ranked by THES and Shanghai Jiao Tiong league tables. ‘Catchment areas’ and knowledge production have become global. And the potential of a ‘joined‐up’ tertiary education system, of VET and universities, will rework relations within Australian higher education, as will lifting the volume caps on university student numbers. In sum, Australian universities (and agents within them) are positioned differently in the field, although not in the stable relations imagined by Pierre Bourdieu in the France of the 1960s. And being so variously and variably placed, institutions and agents have different stances available to them, including the positions they can take on student equity. In this paper I begin from the premise that our current shared stance on this has been out‐positioned. Nation‐bound proportional representation loses its equity meaning when the Australian elite send their children to Harvard, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge. The same could also be said, and has been, about equity representations by region, institution, discipline and degree. What then, also, for a new national research centre with a focus on student equity and higher education, for its research agenda and positioning in the field? What stance can it take on student equity that will resonate on a national and even international scale? And, given a global field of higher education, what definitions of equity and propositions for policy and practice can it offer? What will work in the pursuit of equity?

Towards a southern theory of student equity in Australian higher education : enlarging the rationale for expansion

Student equity in Australian higher education is a numbers game. While university student recruitment departments focus on ‘bums on seats’, equity advocates draw attention to which bums, in what proportions and, more to the point, which seats, where. But if the counting of ‘bums’ is crude, so is the differentiation of seats. Just distinguishing between courses and universities and scrutinizing the distribution of groups is a limited view of equity. This paper proposes an expanded conception for student equity and an enlarged regard for what is being accessed by students who gain entry to university. Drawing on Connell’s notion of ‘southern theory’, the paper highlights power/knowledge relations in higher education and particularly for ‘southerners’: those under-represented in universities, often located south of cut-off scores, and whose cultural capital is similarly marginalised and discounted. The paper concludes that taking account of marginalized forms of knowledge requires thinking differently about what higher education is and how it gets done.

Equity and marketisation: emerging policies and practices in Australian education

The conjunction of equity and market logics in contemporary education has created new and different conditions of possibility for equity, both as conceived in policy discourses and as a related set of educational practices. In this editorial introduction, we examine how equity is being drawn into new policy assemblages and how, in the context of marketisation, equity is evolving and being enacted in new ways across education sectors. Different conceptions of equity are considered, including the increasingly influential human capital perspective promoted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). We argue that, separate from critiques of neoliberalism and its deleterious effects on equity in education, it is necessary to analyse carefully the increasing rationalisation of equity agendas in economic terms, the associated effects on education governance and policy-making, as well as on the work of educational institutions and educators. Providing an overview of the contributions to this Special Issue, we direct particular attention to the multiple, complex and often contradictory effects of the current education reform agenda in Australia, which has prioritised equity objectives and intensified performance measurement, comparison and accountability as means to drive educational improvement and reduce disadvantage.

Equity, social justice and ethics in mathematics education

The performativity policy mindset driving national and international testing highlights issues of equity in access and success according to socio-economic status, geographic location, ethnicity, gender and combinations of these factors. Researchers seek explanations for these inequities in terms encompassing engagement, participation and achievement to identify socially just and ethical practices at system, school and classroom level. The emergence of a theoretical perspective involving redistribution, recognition and participation (Fraser, 2013) is evident in a range of studies concerning leadership, professional learning, pre-service teacher education, and pedagogies that focus on equity and social justice in mathematics education. The challenge of ethical and socially just practices at all levels and social groups is in providing access to deep learning in mathematics and success in “knowledge making” (Jorgensen, 2014).

The equity raw-score matrix - a multi-dimensional indicator of potential disadvantage in higher education

Issues surrounding student participation, transition, retention and successful completion in higher education are topical. While the Australian federal government has identified broad groupings of under-represented students, these do not shed light on the complexities underlying the issues of the educationally disadvantaged, such as the compounding problems of multiple equity-group membership or the overlay of the acute or chronic effects of equity sub-group membership. This paper details the Equity Raw-Score Matrix. The matrix is a multi-dimensional indicator of potential disadvantage in learners, created for the specific purposes of diagnosing the complexities of educational disadvantage and creating pre-emptive strategies for the participation, transition and retention of students who are disadvantaged. The paper also describes the qualitative research study that was the catalyst for the creation of the matrix.

Transnational feminism, globalisation, human rights and education

The article demonstrates how neo-liberal ideologies and market forces of
globalisation have produced new discourses in education, which have created new sites of political action and require a radical rethinking about feminist theorizing concerning gender equity in education. The article, in analysing the transformation of the social relations of gender and social stratification, draws from feminist, poststructuralist and postcolonial theories. The author concludes that there is need for redefining
feminist paradigms in global pedagogies. Such a new paradigm in feminist pedagogy, based on discourses of power, human rights and social justice should provide a foundation for improving the equity for girls and women in education and society globally.

Race, identity and education achievements among Arab-Australian students

This paper discusses the challenge of managing cultural diversity in secondary schools, focusing on key structural, ideological, cultural, attitudinal and identity factors affecting the educational experiences and outcomes of Australian students from Arabic-speaking background (ASB). Recent research indicates that there are complex processes at play that hinder the ability of non English-speaking background (NESB) students to access constructive and meaningful education, and that such processes need further systematic investigation. It has also been argued that Australian schools are failing the test of social equity and that the dominant approach to curriculum and pedagogy does not meet the needs of the growing numbers of students from divergent cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. This paper focuses on identifying the social, cultural and attitudinal factors that affect the educational achievements of ASB students within a broad multidimensional approach to multicultural education. By linking thorough empirical research and innovative theory with practical, tested plans of action, this study proposes an in-principled approach to multicultural education that is extendable to a variety of schooling contexts while retaining its core focus on effecting positive learning outcomes. The key objectives of the larger study upon which this paper is based are to (a) address the disadvantages and barriers faced by NESB young people, particularly ASB young people, in achieving positive educational outcomes; (2) increase their chances for better life opportunities and self fulfilment; and (3) develop a good practice model for diversity management in Victorian schools. This latter objective will complement Victorian Government policies on cultural diversity and multicultural education.

On the governance of public education

Private schools in Australia receive significant public funding, but their determination to concentrate social and cultural capital and consolidate positional advantage ‘denies the possibility of their serving the public interest’. A 1998 study of Victorian private schools has confirmed that they produce above-average academic results and are also concentrated in high socioeconomic geographic areas. The few private schools outside this pattern serve mainly provincial areas or ethnic minority groups. High academic credentials depend at least in part on their scarcity, and ‘the selective function of schools, directed towards establishing a hierarchy of performance, overwhelms the pedagogical function of universal learning and social justice,’ especially at transition points in the education system. The governance procedures of schools typically encourage high academic standards ‘through mechanisms of exclusion’. Private schools in particular, at the secondary level, tend to ‘export failure’ through ‘predatory recruitment and selective dumping practices’, and by arrangements with universities for early placement of high performers into preferred tertiary courses. The broader education system reinforces the competitive processes within schools though competitive examinations. A range of steps can address these equity problems. Curriculum should be made more sensitive to disadvantaged social groups. Secondary schools should be aligned more closely to the social, cultural and economic development of their communities through mechanisms such as VET in schools, linkages with TAFE colleges, and a broadened curriculum that addresses community problems.

Language and power in vocational education and training

In this paper I explore the way language is used in Training Packages, and the impact this language has when Training Packages are used to support work-based vocational programs. Training Packages are a fundamental component of the regulatory framework of the national vocational education and training (VET) system [in Australia]. The national strategy for VET places employers and individuals at the centre of VET, and policy commitments to access and equity are enshrined in the auditable standards of the Australian Quality Training Framework (AQTF). Yet Training Packages and related official VET texts are written in an abstract, generalised and complex language form which acts as an insurmountable barrier to many people at the front line of VET. My PhD research (a work in progress) explores the proposition that this language form is representative of, and constructive in, unequal power relationships. Early data analysis suggests that VET practitioners and training participants talk about their experience of this language in terms of power and exclusion. In contrast, the official VET response generally leaves the official language form above challenge, and instead largely focuses on the presumed deficient language and literacy skills of those who are excluded by these texts.

Career progression, human capital and pay equity in Australian public sector labour markets

This study uses data from the Victorian Public Sector Census 2004 to identify the extent of equity in pay and career progression (promotion). A system of three equations is developed to capture the endogeneity between human capital and promotion and the interdependence between promotion, pay and human capital. The results indicate that there are substantial differences in the average wages earned by public sector employees in different Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) groups. While some of these differences arise from factors beyond the control of the public sector employers, others arise from bias in the public sector employment system and procedures. The earnings of individual employees in the public sector are determined in a systematic way by the wage structures in the different sub-sectors, the skill base of the employee on recruitment, sub-sector specific promotion rates, acquisition of formal and informal training and the apparent bias within recruitment and promotion systems in dealing with particular groups. The apparent bias of recruitment and promotion systems is complex in makeup and varies within EEO groups as well as between EEO groups. Most of the difference in pay across employees can be explained as an outcome of individual choice and labour market conditions external to the public sector. After adjusting for sectoral wage differences, skill base when recruited, sectoral promotion rate differences, experience in the public sector, whether individuals are employed on a full-time or part-time basis and individual training decisions, the statistical evidence is consistent with the finding that public sector recruitment and promotion systems tends to be biased, on average, against females and those from culturally diverse backgrounds. Achievements in formal education are important for salary progression. This is particularly the case for women. The main drivers of participation in formal education were employer support in both financial and non-financial terms. Promotion rates were important factors in explaining wage differences. Women tended to receive slightly fewer promotions than men, but women received, on average, greater rewards for each promotion.

Transforming frameworks: new approaches to CCTs and the pursuit of educational equity

Teacher educators throughout the world are increasingly under pressure to develop educational programs and school-based relationships which respond simultaneously to the multiple consequences of changed and changing technologies, new understandings of identity (what it means to be a teacher and a student) and persistently uneven pattems of educational (and social) success. Responses to these challenges regularly draw upon computer and communication technologies (CCTs) in the sometimes optimistic belief that this will improve the chance of any educational reform having a positive impact on students at risk of educational alienation and failure. Unfortunately, the gap between the hopeful embrace of technology and the actual outcomes delivered by technologically mediated educational innovations is often quite considerable. This paper investigates the kinds of educational conversations that are necessary to allow us to move beyond these optimistic adoptions of technology to address long standing patterns of educational success and failure and outlines a framework for transformative work in this area.