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– Diversity, Social Justice and Learning.

Assignment 1: Impact of Difference and Intercultural Understandings on Teaching and
Learning

Word count – 2163 (Including citations within the text)

Question: 2. Choose one contemporary social justice issue currently being focused on in
the media such as sexuality, gender, language, refugees or ethnicity and discuss how
Australian schools are meeting the challenge of equity and access for minority groups.






The challenge of equity and access to quality education in Australia, for minority

groups, is complex and with no fixed answer. One major barrier to success for

minorities in the school system is institutionalised racism, which results in a form of

social class reproduction. Without an equity-based education system, it is difficult to

break the class reproduction cycle. The use of critical race theory can give an

understanding of the racism that minority groups face. Bourdieu’s theories around

capital, habitus and field provide a framework through which to examine social class

reproduction and academic achievement. Understanding how a problem comes into

effect does little in the way of solving the problem. This means structural changes

within the educational system, that also allows for differentiation for minority groups

and individuals, are necessary for equity. Australia has a long history of racism

towards Indigenous Australians. It is in the context of Indigenous access to and

performance in education that this essay examines. I will also be reflecting critically

on my own intercultural sensitivities as they relate to myself as a white, male, pre-

service teacher.
Since the arrival of the first fleet, white Australians have held a position of power and

dominance over Indigenous Australians (Ferfolja, Jones-Diaz, & Ullman, 2015)

based on racist beliefs of colonial superiority. So entrenched is this racism towards

Indigenous Australians that it is considered acceptable practice by some in the

community (Meldrum-Hanna, Fallon, & Worthington, 2016) to abuse indigenous

children in detention. A newspaper cartoon response to this abuse (Meade, 2016),

itself overtly racist towards Indigenous Australians, was deemed fit for publication by

a major Australian newspaper. So dominant is the discourse on Indigenous

Australians that those who do not fit Indigenous stereotypes are told they do not look

Indigenous (Shipp, 2012), or they have their cultural identity challenged (Shay,

2015), based on their outward appearance. Windle (2008) makes the point that

mainstream media also shows racism towards African Youth, further demonstrating

the acceptance of racism by white Australians.

Racism within Australian education is a blend of institutional racism and structural

racism. Noble (2014) argues there is the risk of perpetuating racist stereotypes of

students when constructed by their parent’s country of origin. Through inclusive

multicultural practice, there is a risk of alienating a student who identifies as

Australian, as opposed to the racial construct created by the school or educators

within the school. Research indicates that school leadership plays a role in the

continuation of institutional racism in the school setting, making the point that racism

is “embedded in the cultural fabric of Australian society” (Aveling, 2007). Leaders

interviewed for Aveling’s work denied that racism was a concern for their school

arguing that any racist events were deemed as individualised racism on the part of
the student, which ignores the historical context and background for such incidents in

their school. This approach also fails to address the impact that such events can

have on student engagement (Schwab, 2012), academic performance, and future life

chances. Standardised assessment programs such as NAPLAN (ACARA, 2016) can

disadvantage Indigenous students by failing to allow for assessment relative to that

student’s comprehensive ability (Ford, 2013; Wigglesworth, Simpson, & Loakes,

2011).

Critical race theory (CRT) allows for assessment and understanding of race

inequality (Bradbury, 2014; Ferfolja et al., 2015; Gillborn, 2006; Ladson‐Billings,

2005; Lampert, Burnett, & Morse, 2015) and of racism itself. Central to CRT is the

concept of race as a social construct (Shay, 2015) applied to maintain white

hegemony (Ford, 2013) over black people. Berman and Paradies (2010) add that

racism is a combination of prejudice and power; an “ideology of inferiority that

devalues others and justifies inequality”.

It is useful to understand one’s own privilege (Lampert et al., 2015) through the

concepts of CRT, and through reflexivity (D'cruz, Gillingham, & Melendez, 2007;

Noble, 2014), challenge the dominant racist discourse within the education system

(Forrest, Lean, & Dunn, 2016). CRT allows one to critically analyse their own

privilege and understand the role that plays in perpetuating the discourse of white

dominance. Whiteness, as a concept, can be used as a way of investigating (Lander,

2014) the discourse that allows for systemic racism to continue unchallenged. The

privilege of being born white in Australia means you are part of the cultural ‘norm’,
that is rarely scrutinised in the media, based on your constructed racial profile. This

privilege also extends to the classroom where white students generally have higher

expectations set for them, and hence achieve at a higher level, than Indigenous

students. As a white male about to enter the teaching profession, I am acutely aware

that I am, and will be afforded, a privilege that many others are not. It is the privilege

of looking like I belong to the constructed ‘norm’.

In education, it is common to think of Indigenous learners as being less able (Mills &

Keddie, 2012; Sarra, 2007) than their peers. This can lead to a discourse of deficit

(Lampert et al., 2015), where an assumption is made, that a student’s poor

performance has more to do with their racial profile and cultural background than it

has to do with your pedagogy. As educators, your expectation for student

performance has a strong influence on the actual performance of that student

(Moustakim, 2015). Culturalist beliefs around Indigenous students, ranging from their

level of poverty (Hatton, Munns, & Dent, 1996), parental engagement (Lampert et al.,

2015) or their ability to learn (Sarra, 2007) can directly influence your pedagogical

approach and the academic outcome for your students. One needs to be reflexive of

their own practice, whilst challenging the ‘norm’ assumption (Ullman, Jones-Diaz, &

Ferfolja, 2015) by recognising their own privilege and whiteness within the

classroom. The purpose of reflexivity is to enable social justice and equity through

the use of critical pedagogy.

Bourdieu’s theory around capital, habitus and field (Bourdieu, 1989) has applications

for Indigenous Australians in education. Capital is an indication of the resources

(Gaddis, 2013) available to the individual. Rhamie (2014), commenting on middle-

class black parents in the USA, found that black parents with capital still felt their

“ethnicity prevented them from identifying with the middle-class”. A comparison can

be made to Indigenous Australians, where the middle-class is constructed as being

white. Indigenous Australians who manage to become upwardly mobile are seen as

being ‘other’ to the middle-class norm (Shipp, 2012), whilst also being ‘other’ to the

middle-class’ construction of the Indigenous norm (Sarra, 2007; Shay, 2015).

Cultural capital is an influencer of social class reproduction (Dumais & Ward, 2010)

through its privileging of students from upper and middle class backgrounds in an

educational setting. The middle and upper class’ cultural capital can see more

attention bestowed on them from teachers and the encouragement, and expectation,

to continue into tertiary education. By comparison, many Indigenous Australians do

not go onto higher levels of education (Gray & Beresford, 2008) where their trend

has been to spend less time at school and leave earlier. This cultural capital is

reflected in the lower mean income and higher unemployment rates of Indigenous

Australians, which leads to a reproduction of the Indigenous lower socioeconomic

class.

Habitus is influenced by capital in an educational context and is an essential part

(Huppatz, 2015) of Bourdieu’s theory. Habitus is the embodiment of practices,

perceptions and tendencies that individuals learn from their social environment and

in doing so learn how to act and react in various social constructs. One example

relates to the need for literacy habitus developed in the home, that leads to success

in literacy learning at school. The institution of education can be considered a social

world (Gaddis, 2013) in which the game is played, and as such be considered a field.

Indigenous students from lower socioeconomic classes will struggle to become

upwardly mobile within this system (Jæger, 2011) as they lack the capital and

habitus to win in the field, without some form of equity advantage. This promotes a

barrier to upward mobility for many in the Indigenous low socioeconomic class. If

their economic capital means they have to choose between food on the table and

books to read (Shipp, 2012), they will reasonably choose food which prevents an

academic habitus being formed.

Having the theory to understand inequality can give us the framework to introduce

structural and personal changes to promote equity. The concept of colour blindness

is one example of equality as opposed to equity. It is based on the idea that race and

culture play no role in constructing how you, as an educator, treat an individual

student and is a common perception (Lampert et al., 2015) of pre-service and new

service teachers. Although it may seem fair to treat all students with a meritocratic

approach, Gillborn (2006) argues that such an approach ignores the disadvantage

that Indigenous and other minority groups face. This ignorance is one of the ways in

which whiteness works. Treating students equally is not an equitable approach that

allows disadvantaged students the opportunity to achieve academic success.

Recently, there has been a strong move towards equity within the Australian

education system. “Equity doesn't mean treating all the kids the same... it's an

expectation that their background and everything about their past life doesn't equal

being a barrier….everybody's job is to remove all those barriers” (Keddie, 2012). The
Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians (MCEETYA,

2008) states as its first goal, the promotion of equity in the Australian education

system. Its intention is to remove social class being a barrier to academic

achievement and to eliminate social class reproduction. It also attempts to address

some of the issues around Indigenous achievement in schools by highlighting the

need to include “Indigenous cultural knowledge and experience as a foundation for

learning”. Incorporating Indigenous cultural knowledge is difficult for non-Indigenous

teachers. Harrison and Greenfield (2011) point out that Aboriginal perspectives are

hard to cultivate when the majority of teaching is done by non-Aboriginal people.

Despite a general consensus of equity being essential for improving academic

success of Indigenous learners (Forrest et al., 2016), it appears that the majority of

Indigenous students learn about their non-Indigenous teacher’s interpretation of

Indigenous culture.

One practical way to improve the outcome for Indigenous students in schools is to

engage role models from the Indigenous community. Chris Sarra is one such

relatable role model, who tells his students that, “The most important thing you’ll

learn from me is that you can be Aboriginal and you can be successful” (Sarra,

2007). Sarra was able to have a great positive influence on his school by promoting

the Indigeneity of the students and community, whilst fighting against the negative

stereotypes (Shay, 2015) that many Indigenous in his community end up subscribing

to. Sarra implored his teachers to deliver the educational outcomes and standards

that the students deserved, and not to default to the discourse of deficit (Lampert et
al., 2015). Sarra emphasises teaching history with accuracy and truth as a way to

understand each other and to move on.

Assessment, in the wider scope, can also be problematic for Indigenous students.

The fact that tests such as NAPLAN (ACARA, 2016) are standardised for English

speaking children can present a barrier for those from Indigenous communities,

particularly remote communities. NAPLAN does not measure students relative to

their starting point (Wigglesworth et al., 2011), nor is it an effective measurement of

the whole student. Even when Indigenous students learn the concepts of Standard

Australian English (SAE) they will often default to their own Aboriginal English

(Shipp, 2012) in NAPLAN and other assessments.

Making lessons relevant by providing Indigenous voices and perspectives in the

classroom (Sarra, 2007) can help with Indigenous engagement in the lesson.

Differentiation by using texts from Indigenous authors (Shipp, 2012) rather than

voices of the dominant white discourse (Keddie, Gowlett, Mills, Monk, & Renshaw,

2013) can also keep students engaged and provide a more accurate assessment of

ability, as opposed to an assessment of interest in a text. An examination of one’s

own whiteness through CRT (Ford, 2013) and being reflexive about one’s own

teaching (Ullman et al., 2015) can lead to a more equitable power relationship

through critical pedagogy (Ferfolja et al., 2015) and in doing so, may also lead to

greater classroom engagement from otherwise disaffected (Moustakim, 2015)

Indigenous students.
It is clear that the Melbourne declaration is a genuine and concerted effort to create

equitable situations for Indigenous learners and improve their overall academic

performance. There is no one solution for breaking social class reproduction and

addressing racism within the school context. It is important to understand your own

privilege and be reflexive about your whiteness as a way of addressing potential

racism in your pedagogical practice. By focusing on equity in the classroom setting,

teachers hold the key to improving the life chances of Indigenous students, thereby

breaking the cycle of Indigenous social class reproduction. Making small changes in

the world of the students of your classroom goes a long way to improving their future

and their community’s future life chances.

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