Allegations of unlawful discrimination in education: parents taking their fight for Auslan to the courts

This paper examines the use of the Disability Discrimination Act (Commonwealth of Australia, 1992) by parents seeking access for their deaf children to native sign language in the classroom. It reviews a number of cases in which Australian parents have claimed indirect discrimination by educational authorities over their children's lack of access to instruction through Australian Sign Language (Auslan) and discusses the outcomes of such litigation. The policies endorsed by deafness organizations are contrasted with those of state educational authorities. The author discusses the limitations of a complaints-based system to address systemic discrimination and suggests the need for legislation to protect the linguistic rights of deaf children.

Measuring the economic consequences of racial discrimination in Australia

 Racial discrimination results in economic inefficiency. This thesis has investigated its impact and estimated, for the first time, the health-related costs attributable to racial discrimination. The study found that the Australian economy incurs substantial loss due to the burden of disease associated with the exposure of minorities to racial discrimination.

Banjos on the snowy : implementing e-activism in education

e-Activism (the use of ICT in support of environmental action) aims to develop students' knowledge, skills and attitudes to make them proficient in using ICT to achieve environmental and political goals.  This requires teachers to be able to create appropriate ICT-based learning environments.  This paper dicusses a particular pedagogical design and demonstrates its relationship to real-world political and environmental action.

Twisting the knife: discrimination in the law

Of the many different variations that can occur in human sexual formation, transsexualism no doubt remains the least understood by the wider Australian community. As a consequence, the process of attaining human rights to legal status, privacy, dignity and freedom from discrimination for those who experience this unusual condition has been a slow and sometimes frustrating one. The article seeks to introduce the reader to some of the more recent developments in the international jurisprudence of transsexualism and the underlying medical evidence that has supported them. It also offers criticism of the belated attempt by the State of Victoria,  with the Births, Deaths & Marriages Registration (Amendment) Act 2004, to establish certain statutory rights in this regard. While the legislation was enacted with the stated and very laudable purpose of providing for the  correction of birth records on the Register of Births of those people with transsexualism who have altered their phenotypic sex by hormonal  medication and surgery, the article argues it has also served to remove other equally important rights already won and proposes that a final remedy will only be found, as on previous occasions, in the courts.

The eradication of compulsory retirement and age discrimination in the Australian workplace : A cause for celebration and concern

Earlier this year the Age Discrimination Act 2004 was passed by the Commonwealth government. This paper provides an overview of the Age Discrimination Act 2004 and critically examines whether it is likely to be successful in eradicating compulsory retirement and age discrimination within the workforce. Empirical studies suggesting that law reform alone is insufficient to eliminate ageist employer behaviour are discussed as is the need for public awareness campaigns. Given that compliance with the law is closely linked with normative belief, this paper also considers whether a moral duty to refrain from age discrimination can be grounded within the natural law ethic.

Social justice and the study and practice of leadership in education : a feminist history

This historical sociology deconstructs the interrelationship between the theory and practice of the troublesome notions of leadership, social justice and feminism. First, it tracks marginalised groups' relationship to the field of educational administration and their claims upon the state. Mainstream approaches have been informed by theories, practices and politics that do not focus on the core educational work of teaching and learning, therefore sidelining social justice issues. Second, it maps feminist and critical theorists' alternative conceptualisations, for example, of democratic leadership, which dissolve artificial binaries between formal and informal leadership. Finally, it considers what this means for re-theorising leadership for social justice.

The employment effects of gender discrimination in Australia 1994-95

Interpreting the unexplained component of the gender wage gap as indicative of discrimination, the empirical literature to date has tended to ignore the potential impact wage discrimination may have on employment. Clearly, employment effects will arise if discrimination lowers the female offered wage and the labour supply curve is upward sloping. The empirical analysis employs the ABS Income Distribution Survey 1994–95 and finds evidence of both wage and associated employment effects. The analysis is replicated for the earlier period 1989–90. A comparison across time is of interest given the substantial deregulation of the Australian labour market over the period.

The major drawbacks to the use of wireless communication products in education

This paper considers the use of wireless devices as an educational facilitator both in the classroom and in a business environment.  There are many characteristics of such devices which are favourable to their use in such settings.  But there are also problems.  We identify the main problematic areas as being security, low speed and reliability, and the lack of interoperability.  In our opinion, the use of wireless devices for educational purposes will grow quickly, and the problems of reliability, speed and standards will be overcome.  However, the issue of security will remain a major problem into the distant future.

Passion in Jamie's kitchen : the vital ingredient in education and training for young workers?

In this paper we will sketch out and briefly analyse a recurring and central theme throughout the reality TV series Jamie’s Kitchen – that of passion:

• Passion for food;
• Being passionate as you construct and present yourself;
• Being passionate about your work;
• Having a go, getting passionate in a training environment which compresses years of training into months of training.

In this series the high profile celebrity chef Jamie Oliver set out to transform a group of unemployed young Londoners into the enterprising, entrepreneurial, ideal worker of 21st century flexible capitalism. This series, and its figure of the entrepreneurial, risk taking, small businessman (who in this instance is also a global celebrity brand) seeking to develop similar dispositions and behaviours in a workforce that initially does not display such character features, illuminates, and provides a means to explore, key features of new work regimes. The emphasis on passion in the analysis – which draws on Foucault’s later work on the care of the self - allows us to connect to discussions about education and training that highlight the passionate/pleasure dimensions of pedagogy. These elements of education and training very rarely get discussed in a vocational education and training environment which is largely driven by modules/competencies/outcomes.

Reviewing research in education in Australia and the UK: evaluating the evaluations

In many countries concerns have been expressed about the merits of educational research. This paper reports on the outcomes of a review of reviews of such research in Australia and the UK. Taken at face value, the latest round of reviews are largely critical in the UK (where they have generated much debate) and mainly favourable in Australia (where they have not). In accounting for this difference the paper suggests that it might be explained in part as a function of how the reviews were conducted. In the UK reviews have tended to begin with the research and work forward to practice whereas in Australia they have been inclined to begin with practice and work back to the research. It is suggested that policy makers, practitioners and researchers in Australia and the UK have much to learn from each other's experience, as have those in other countries planning similar reviews.

Institutional and structural forms of HIV-related discrimination in health care : a study set in Beijing

This paper presents key findings of a situational analysis of institutional and structural levels of HIV/AIDS-related discrimination in Beijing, China, with a focus on the area of health care. Initially slow to respond to the presence of HIV, China has altered its approach and enacted strict legislative protection for people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). In order to determine whether this has altered discrimination against PLWHA, this study examined existing legislation and policy, and interviewed key informants working in health care and PLWHA. The overall findings revealed that discrimination in its many forms continued to occur in practice despite China's generally strong legislative protection, and it is the actual practice that is hindering PLWHAs' access to health services. A number of legislative and policy gaps that allow discrimination to occur in practice were also identified and discussed. The paper concludes with a call to rectify specific gaps between legislation, policy and practice. An understanding of the underlying factors that drive discrimination will also be necessary for effective strategic interventions to be developed and implemented.