Navigating the demands of the English schooling context: problematics and possibilities for social equity

The English schooling context has seen radical and rapid reform in recent times with the processes of devolution or deconcentration of centralised school governance, on the one hand, and the instating of ever-increasing and rigid external accountabilities, on the other. These reforms driven as they are by neoliberal and neoconservative ideologies have created a new kind of ‘system’ of schooling in England, one that is ‘heterarchical’ in governance, increasingly complex in its overlap, multiplicity and asymmetric power dynamics, but one that remains strongly tied to and regulated by the reductive and narrow measure of ‘success’ imposed by the state. Against this complex and changing backdrop, what constitutes quality and equitable schooling has been transformed. This special issue explores these concerns and, in particular, focuses on how the current demands of the English schooling context construct student achievement and identity, teachers’ work, conceptualisations of knowledge and pedagogy, and school organisation and collaboration. The issue has a strong equity focus. Many of the papers to this end focus on how teachers and schools are navigating through the demands of current policy reform to mobilise spaces of possibility for equity and good schooling. In this paper, we provide a context and framework to set the scene for the subsequent papers in the issue.

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.

A global perspective of aquaculture in the new millennium

In modern times, not many primary industries have consistently recorded high yearly growth over a period of two decades. Aquaculture has sustained a global growth, continues to grow, and is expected to increasingly fill the shortfall in aquatic food products resulting from static or declining capture fisheries and population increase well into the year 2025. Its further growth and development will have to occur under a different socio-economic milieu in the new millennium. The basic paradigm changes will be from an increased production at almost any cost, to a sustainable increase in production with minimal environmental perturbations. Despite such paradigm changes, aquaculture will increasingly contribute to food security, poverty alleviation and social equity. The contribution of aquaculture to world food supply of aquatic products has been increasing over the past 10 years, in comparison to capture fisheries, growing from 15 to 28 percent of total production between 1988 and 1997. As the bulk of aquaculture is rural and subsistence, it plays a major role as a provider of direct and indirect employment to the rural poor and, thereby, to poverty alleviation. In many developing countries, aquaculture provides opportunities for diversification on agriculture farms and productive use to otherwise idle land during certain seasons. The main cause for the upsurge in the sector has been the transformation of aquaculture from an “art” form to a “science”. This brought many advantages, ranging from less dependence on wild stock to the development of techniques that optimized yields, such as polyculture, or enabled the achievement of high yields with low inputs. Two major developments also enabled the sector to maintain growth momentum, appropriate institutional frameworks and concerted research and development. Regions or continents have many commonalities. These include the predominance of finfish among the cultivated species, and the predominance of species that feed lower in the food chain, although shrimp, which does not naturally feed high in the trophic level but is mostly reared on artificial feed, has become a significant culture commodity. Notable differences, however, include the fact that all regions, except Africa and the countries of the former USSR, have recorded a significant increase in per capita production between 1984 and 1997. While Asia continues to dominate world aquaculture in overall tonnage, as well as in every major commodity, South America has registered a very high (72.8 percent) average annual growth between 1984 and 1997. The global and regional trends over the last 20 years in the sector from a number of perspectives, such as production trends, contribution of aquaculture to aquatic food consumption etc., are evaluated. Based on these different trends and in the light of changing socio-economic conditions globally, and in particular, in developing nations, the potential changes in the sector in the new millennium are highlighted. Finally, projections are made for the next 20 years, where opportunities, constraints and strategies for achieving the targets are presented and discussed.

Women, minorities, and proportional representation in Parliament : a proposal for voting reform

The right to vote permits the voices of the electorate to be heard in democracies. However, voting is often insufficient for minorities to obtain representation by their preferred candidates. For traditional political ‘minorities’ including women, self-representation is essential to political equality and social equity. Despite holding roughly 50% of the electoral vote in Australia for 100 years, women comprise only 22% of the Commonwealth Members and 29% of Senators. This paper proposes a new vote counting system, STV with Borda elimination or STV-B. STV-B retains proportional representation but much greater voter control over selection of candidates. STV-B would provide women with a mechanism that yields proportional representation for women without undermining party representation.

Catchment to regional scale indicators of sustainability

Ecologically sustainable development requires an integrated approach to environmental integrity, social equity and economic performance. Development of sustainability strategies and empowerment of communities to achieve sustainability will only be effective if progress is monitored. This project provides an opportunity to work within a regional partnership to develop indicators for measuring progress toward sustainability in the south west region of Victoria, Australia. As sustainability is contextual, local organizations have been involved in the identification of key regional values (social, environmental, economic and institutional) and in selecting indicators that can be used to assess to what extent these values are being protected, depleted or enhanced. These indicators are to be used as the basis for exploring relationships between biophysical and socio-economic indicators, to determine what can be deduced from these relationships about sustainability and whether these relationships hold at different spatial scales (catchment, regional and sub-catchment). A rigorous and systematic analysis of indicators and the relationships between them will assist in developing a tool to facilitate decision making for regional sustainability.

Is education becoming irrelevant in our research?

It is argued in this paper that in a culture of ‘performativity’ research into ‘education’ is often avoided. It is observed in many research publications that attention is given to techniques of learning, teaching, management, social equity, identity formation, leadership and delivery of the curriculum, without a justification being offered as to why such instrumental approaches should be regarded as being ‘educational’. Often research quite unproblematically adopts rational economic justifications couched in terms of ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’. Such approaches are however identified as nihilistic and not educational (Blake et al., 2000).

Is 'education' becoming irrelevant in our research?

It is argued in this paper that in a culture of ‘performativity’ research into ‘education’ is often avoided. It is observed in many research publications that attention is given to techniques of learning, teaching, management, social equity, identity formation, leadership and delivery of the curriculum, without a justification being offered as to why such instrumental approaches should be regarded as being ‘educational’. Often research quite unproblematically adopts rational-economic justifications couched in terms of ‘efficiency’ and ‘effectiveness’. Such approaches are however identified as nihilistic and not educational (Blake et al., 2000)

The development and consequences of multiculturalism : as exemplified by the Polish diaspora intelligentsia

This study analyses the way intellectuals within the Polish Diaspora or Polonia in Australia use writing as a means to integrate the community within the host society whilst creating a distinct ethnic community identity. By interviewing authors and analysing the relationship between the evolving characteristics of Polish writing and social policy this study brings to light the shortcomings of multiculturalism. The controversial policy experiment of multiculturalism has lost support as it failed to redress central issues of social equity and as I will show created new social problems which have yet to be overcome. The central argument of the study is that multiculturalism created a reactive social environment which encouraged Diaspora ethnocentrism in a way that has been detrimental to national unity. I show how and why this policy has failed to foster inter-culturalism and why a move towards integration can lead to greater social cohesion and equity in Australian society. I also explore the extent to which Diasporas such as the Polonia have been agents of social change rather than recipients.

Anti-spectacle : a discussion paper

We want to open this discussion by repeating an earlier argument (Radovic 2008b) that there is a need to revisit World City Hypothesis (Friedmann, 1986). We see that as important in the context of the Conference on Degrowth, Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, as the idea of “world city” implies a certain (kind of) quality, and the concept of degrowth and the idea(l) of sustainable development are both about a necessity to redefine the very criteria which frame our understanding of progress. Cities offer an important arena for all developments related to sustainable future.

Neoliberal policy agendas and the problem of inequality in higher education: the Ethiopian case

Under the influence of the external policy pressure of donors such as the World Bank, higher education in Ethiopia has witnessed a series of institutional and system-wide reforms. This article reviews selected policy documents to show key neo-liberal policy agendas endorsed in the reforms and explicate how they have affected social equity in the subsystem. The analysis shows that higher education reforms in Ethiopia, primarily framed by concerns of economic efficiency, have constrained social equity in two important ways. First, at a discursive level, the problem of inequality is represented as a lack of access and a disadvantage in the human capital formation of the nation. Second, the drive for greater efficiency and reduced costs in the educational provision embedded in the reforms is inconsistent with the need for the financial and political commitments required to benefit marginalised members of the society through relevant equity instruments. If the equity policy provisions should be instrumental in ensuring participation, retention and successful completion, and thereby supporting the social mobility of disadvantaged groups, they need to draw on a broad social justice perspective.

Higher education in Ethiopia : widening access and persisting inequalities

 This Chapter has argued that, even though socially and historically disadvantaged
groups (e.g., geo-politically peripheral ethnic groups and women) have been given a
nominal advantage at the entry point (by slightly lowering admission cut-off points)
and despite the fact that participation has considerably widened, social equity is far
from being a reality in Ethiopian HE. The persisting inequality in the form of high
attrition rates and low graduation rates among females and ethnic minorities, low
female participation in the fields of science and technology, prejudicial views and
hostilities against women and, overall, the subordinate position of women in HE
clearly shows that framing the problem of inequality as a mere lack of access and a
human capital disadvantage is misleading and counterproductive.

Re-framing values for a World Heritage future: what type of icon will K'gari-Fraser Island become?

K’gari-Fraser Island, the world's largest barrier sand island, is at the crossroads of World Heritage status, due to destructive environmental use in concert with climate change. Will K’gari-Fraser Island exemplify innovative, adaptive management or become just another degraded recreational facility? We synthesize the likely impact of human pressures and predicted consequences on the values of this island. World-renown natural beauty and ongoing biological and geological processes in coastal, wetland, heathland and rainforest environments, all contribute to its World Heritage status. The impact of hundreds of thousands of annual visitors is increasing on the island's biodiversity, cultural connections, ecological functions and environmental values. Maintaining World Heritage values will necessitate the re-framing of values to integrate socioeconomic factors in management and reduce extractive forms of tourism. Environmentally sound, systematic conservation planning that achieves social equity is urgently needed to rectify historical mistakes and update current management practices. Characterizing and sustaining biological refugia will be important to retain biodiversity in areas that are less visited. The development of a coherent approach to interpretation concerning history, access and values is required to encourage a more sympathetic use of this World Heritage environment. Alternatively, ongoing attrition of the islands values by increased levels of destructive use is inevitable.

Promoting appreciation of cultural diversity and inclusion with the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen garden program

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present emergent findings from an evaluation of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden (SAKG) Program showing that the program promoted appreciation of cultural diversity and inclusion of culturally diverse groups. Design/methodology/approach – The findings reported here are from the qualitative component of a mixed-method, nonrandomized, pre- and post-comparison evaluation study. Focus groups and interviews were held with school principals, teachers, program specialist staff, parents, volunteers and children at the program schools. Findings – In a culturally diverse school, the program enhanced the school’s capacity to engage and include children and families from migrant backgrounds. In less diverse settings, the program provided opportunities for schools to teach children about cultural diversity. Research limitations/implications – Assessing the program’s impact on multicultural education was not a specific objective of this study, rather these findings emerged as an unanticipated outcome during interviews and focus groups that explored participants’ views on important changes to schools associated with the program. Thus, the quantitative component of the evaluation did not assess the extent of this program impact and further research is recommended. Practical implications – The program may have particular value in culturally diverse schools, providing benefits in terms of engagement of children and families and potentially, in the longer term, associated improvements in learning outcomes. Social implications – These findings suggest that the program can help to promote social equity and inclusion for culturally diverse groups. Originality/value – This paper highlights critical equity implications associated with school-based programs’ capacity to include culturally and linguistically diverse groups.

Counting the cost: the impact of cinema ticket prices in Australia

The authors discuss the change in cinema ticket price and its effect on audience perception on cinema attendance in Australia. Topics discussed include the comparison of ticket prices in Australia to countries such as the U.S., Japan, and New Zealand, the reason of high ticket prices in Australia such as high wages in theatre operation and piracy, and the drop of cinema admission as result of high ticket prices. They mention the social equity issues raised by the high cost of cinema tickets.

Principalship as negotiated practice: a Bourdieuian analysis

 Using a Bourdieuian social analysis the thesis explores the interplay of personal identity formation and system demands captured in the powerful narratives of experienced principals. Astute strategists, they are employing agentic actions centred on learning, democratic practice and social equity that are countering the prevailing logics of the education field.