Towards a southern theory of higher education

Crudely, social inclusion in Australian higher education is a numbers game. While the student recruitment departments of universities 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. The most prestigious seats of learning give students access primarily to dominant forms of knowledge and ways of thinking. In terms of access, it is to a diminished higher education, for all. Further, undergraduates – particularly in their first year – are rarely credited with having much to contribute. Higher education is the poorer for it. In this paper I propose an expanded conception for social inclusion and an enlarged regard for what is being accessed by students who gain entry to university. Drawing on Connell’s conception of ‘Southern Theory’, I highlight power/knowledge relations in higher education and particularly ‘southerners’: those under‐represented in universities – often located south of ENTER (Equivalent National Tertiary Entrance Rank) cut‐offs – and whose cultural capital is similarly marginalised and discounted. While increasing regard for the importance of Indigenous knowledges is beginning to challenge the norms of higher education, we are yet to generalise such reconceptions of epistemology to include knowledges particular to people from regional and rural areas, with disabilities, and from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Nor have we really engaged with different ways of thinking about the physical and social worlds that are particular to these groups. To take account of marginalized forms of knowledge and of thinking will mean thinking differently about what higher education is and how it gets done.

Challenging Australian higher education : three places to begin

I want to begin by thanking Professor Johnson for this opportunity to rehearse and indeed expand on the comments I made earlier this year at the Universities Australia meeting of Vice‐Chancellors in Brisbane. My comments then and now are in part speculative, given that they comment on what might be, although they are also cognizant of what we already know about student equity issues in Australian higher education and of the research data currently available, including research undertaken by the National Centre but also research available more widely, nationally and internationally. Informed by this work, the central thesis that I want to put to you today and to open up to discussion is that if the Australian higher education sector is to take seriously the federal government’s 20/40 targets, then there are three main challenges that need to be confronted.

First, that expansion of higher education provision and of a particular mix, will need to be done in the context of limited excess student demand, certainly compared with previous periods of expansion by the sector. Second, that the 20/40 targets have brought into sharp relief the problems with our current set of definitions and measurements of students: of equity groups (including socioeconomic status) but also student achievement and aspiration. And third, that universities will need to confront the teaching and learning that is higher education. This is the very thing – or at least one of them – for which we would hope school students would aspire.

Biomedicine course may trim equity intake

The University of Melbourne is in the embarrassing position of possibly winding back an access program for low socioeconomic and rural students to its biomedicine degree because it has been too successful.

Trevor Gale raises equity fears as Bradley recommendations could concentrate disadvantage

Disadvantaged students could be further concentrated in younger and regional universities if Bradley review recommendations on entitlements are implemented without stringent controls, derailing a major objective of the review, according to National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education director Trevor Gale.

Go8 warning on equity

Universities could exploit the Rudd government's multimillion-dollar equity push by enrolling underprepared students, the Group of Eight universities has warned.

With $503 million available, incentives are high to quickly increase the number of low socioeconomic status students "without regard for likelihood of success", the Go8 has told the government.

Inside higher education

This section of the proceedings report provides details of the issues discussed in the theme Inside Higher Education. This theme explored the experience of university from the inside for students and staff, including pedagogy, the first year experience, orientation programs and curriculum. Much ground was covered by both the equity practitioners and the academics who contributed. However, several common issues emerged across the sessions. Inevitably not everything covered in this theme can be reported, but what follows is a synthesis of the main issues and the presenters who raised them.

Gender inequality and education : changing local/global relations in a ‘post colonial’ world and the implications for feminist research

This article explores the relationship between education reform and gender equity, both within and between nation states. Utilising feminist critical policy analysis and post-colonial theory, it examines how education reform over the past decade has impacted on gender equity, and how educational reform is itself gendered. It considers the nature of gender restructuring; maps significant shifts in gender equity policy in the wider context of educational and social inequality debates; and through an analysis of recent research on gender identity, schooling and leadership argues that gender can no longer be privileged when identifying and responding to educational inequality. Key assumptions underpinning how social change and education reform delivers equity are questioned, concluding with feminist theorising about how social justice may inform equity policy and practice in culturally diverse educational contexts.

Windows on practice : investigating equity in technology based mathematics classrooms

The strengths and weaknesses of using ethnographic research to investigate equity in a study of a grade 9 class that used a dynamic geometry program with laptop computers will be presented. It will be argued that research approaches that involve “windows on practice” provide understanding of not only who is advantaged and disadvantaged in technology-mediated classrooms but how this occurs. The way that other paradigms such as reflexive methods may enhance qualitative research will be proposed. Studies that involve “windows on equitable practice” will provide mathematics educators with models for advancing equity in mathematics learning when teaching with technology.

Equity and technology : a case study

I am researching equitable and socially just teaching practices when using technology for the mathematical learning of disadvantaged and marginalised students in junior secondary school. Using data gathered from teacher interviews and a meeting of teachers, I present a case study of one teachers’ practice. The case suggests that there are some equity considerations for the use of an integrated project approach to teaching mathematics and that whole class problem solving with technology can provide access to mathematical ideas when students have limited access or skills with technology.

Understanding equity as an asset to national interest: developing a social contract analysis of policy

Alongside the influence of market-based reforms in education policy has been the growth of policy that has largely been overlooked – those that outline social contracts. This paper draws on policies that connect with equity as a way of illustrating this social contract turn in policy and develops a conceptualisation of social contracts as they apply to education policy. The argument provides three principles that underpin social contracts, including informed consent, negotiation and accountability. This paper applies these principles to three levels of social contract. At the first level are broad social contracts, which are associated with debates about the kinds of things that states should expect from its citizens, and the things that citizens could expect from governments and the state. The second level of social contract is an institutional or field-based social contract, which spells out the obligations and connections between a specific field and other fields. This level names a kind of social contract that is often exemplified in policies or statements by specific institutions. The third level of social contract deals with contract-like mechanisms embedded in fields that make tangible the obligations and expectations of citizens in fulfilling the expectations of fields.

Striving for educational equity and ‘world-class quality’ schools in Mauritius in global times

Concerns that the education system in Mauritius has not been adequately preparing students for work and life, and unsatisfactory academic achievement in schools, have fuelled the government’s drive to improve the quality of schools. These concerns exist within education structures that systematically segregate students into ‘star’ schools and less desirable schools that curtail the education experience of the majority of Mauritian children. Within this context, Mauritian education authorities have attempted various educational reforms aiming at ‘World Class Quality Education’ so as to contribute to an efficient and dynamic workforce and to meet the needs of an increasingly competitive, knowledge-based and globalised economy. Reflecting the Mauritian government’s ‘quality’ agenda and its focus on the work of school leaders, this article reports the findings of research exploring Mauritian principals’ views about the usefulness or otherwise of Total Quality Management (TQM) principles in raising educational standards. It focuses specifically on whether and how principals are addressing the mounting challenges brought about by globalisation. The findings indicate that, despite the government’s efforts at reforms, the education system detracts from ambitions to adequately prepare all Mauritian children for work and life in a globalised and networked world. The article argues that school leaders need to take proactive responsibility for ensuring that all Mauritian children have access to an education system that cultivates their participation as active citizens of the global community.

Australian women in education : 2012 and still blocked at the pass. Is there a remedy?

Women have been striving for equity and diversity for a long time. Despite enormous changes in Australian women’s lives over the past five decades, there are glaring ‘sticking points’ – in education and social life in general - that are proving resilient to change. This keynote addresses some of these issues and canvasses what might be needed to tackle them.