Paige Bishop 17288141

102083 Diversity, Social Justice and Learning

Australian schools have students with varied necessities who come from various races, ethnicities
and social classes (Kenway, 2013). In this essay I will explore how class, race and ethnicity amongst various
students impact their academic success and life chances. To do this, I will define each of these terms,
discuss how each of these elements are related within society and education and the influences these
might have on students’ academic success and life chances. I will also demonstrate how a teachers’
attitudes and beliefs can assist and even change the students’ success and achievements. Using Marxism,
functionalism, post-colonialism and critical theory I will demonstrate how diversity in race, ethnicity and
class might determine students’ life chances and aspirations.

Firstly, each of these elements must be defined to understand their relationship. The terms race
and ethnicity are used interchangeably, however, race can be defined, on a personal level, as being
inherited biological characteristics and on a social level as having similar social experiences between
individuals (Sun, 1995), while Ethnicity has been described as a “state of belonging to a social group with
similar cultural traits” (Castillo, Barcelo, Mameli, Miguel & Vila, 2014). The term class does not simply refer
to a community but rather the socioeconomic status (SES) of an individual (Weber, 2014). SES is
determined by ones’ education, employment, income and social affiliations (Chiu, 2016).

Race, ethnicity and class can be related within society as every race has a particular culture or
cultural beliefs that they adhere to, for example the celebration of holidays, the food that different
cultures eat and the traditional clothing they wear (Castillo, et.al. 2014). Various races and ethnicities can
be seen clustered in similar geographical areas (Castillo, et.al. 2014) which correlates with their
socioeconomic status, for example majority of refugees coming into Australia would not have high
socioeconomic statuses, therefore they would be placed in a low socioeconomic area as opposed to
someone who has a high socioeconomic status where they can choose which area to inhabit (Chui, 2016).
This is related to the Marxism theory, which states that society is divided into classes (socioeconomic
status) and the bourgeoisie control the power within society, while the working class purely conform (Jupp,
Nieuwenhuysen & Dawson, 2007; Weber, 2014). The ‘power’ discussed here can be related to social
capital, as they associate with only ‘elite’ people, economic capital, as they have higher income
occupations and cultural capital, as the bourgeoisie mostly attend private education (Chiu, 2016; Weber,
2014). These are related to education as well because coming from a low socioeconomic status, or a race
or ethnicity other than ‘white’ Australian makes you disadvantaged within education because they are not
presented with the same academic opportunities as students from richer social classes, resulting in no
equality or equity for these students (Chui, 2016).

Class (socioeconomic status) is a social injustice issue within education and does affect the life
chances and aspirations of some students (Jupp, Nieuwenhuysen & Dawson, 2007). Students, typically, do
not have a socioeconomic status, therefore they rely on their parents’ SES to determine which area they
live and which schools they attend (Duncan, Yeung, Brooks-Gunn, Smith, 1998). For example, a student
whose parents have a low socioeconomic status, would send their children to a low SES school, which
usually refers to a Government school (Public school), whereas if their parents have a high SES, they would
probably send their children to a Non-Government school (Private school) (Hill, 2010). As previously stated,
this can also be related to their race and/or ethnicity, as particular races and ethnicities tend to inhabit
similar suburbs, which would also influence the level or quality of education students obtain (Duncan,
Yeung, Brooks-Gunn, Smith, 1998). Private schools largely depend on their students’ paying education fees
to attend their schools and these schools have also been known to only accept students’ of certain races

1
Paige Bishop 17288141
and ethnicities to attend, which is severely unfair and discriminatory as every student should have the right
to attend and access quality education (Hill, 2010). Public schools do not incur any fees for student
attendance and any race, ethnicity and social class can attend, which makes them more diverse and
accepting of students needs (Hill, 2010). Public schools rely on their funding from the Federal and State
Governments, however, the Government also donates some funding to Private schools as well (Jupp,
Nieuwenhuysen & Dawson, 2007). Perhaps this is to demonstrate both equality and equity within the
distribution of funding between the different education institutions, as both are receiving funding, which is
equality, however Public schools, overall, obtain more funding than Private schools, which is equity as they
require more funding (Harrington, 2011). The amount of funding a school obtains, I believe, plays an
important role in the students’ academic success and life chances, because the amount of funding a school
receives determines what resources the school can afford. Having the latest and better resources,
especially in terms of technology, can boost teacher and student moral within the school, thus the
students want to actually learn and achieve greater things than students with outdated resources who
generally have low attendance and poor academic achievement (Jupp, Nieuwenhuysen & Dawson, 2007).

Being from a race other than Caucasian or an ethnicity not from the western world, would
disadvantage students within education as they are perceived to be ‘different’ and therefore get treated
unfairly and discriminated against because of this diversity (American Psychological Association, 2012).
This is rather disappointing as Alcorn & Thrupp (2012) demonstrated that there was actually a positive
correlation between diversity in schools and the students overall academic achievements, therefore
diversity in schools should be praised instead of reverting back to post-colonialism, where the Western
society is preferred (Lawson, 2002). I also believe that one of the biggest challenges that all races,
ethnicities and classes face is the media. Every type of media, whether it be social media like Facebook or
the news, tends to portray particular cultures, races and social classes in usually negative ways, which then
society reacts to and develops these stereotypes as their own views which implicates innocent individuals
(Tsiolkas, 2013). For example, refugees or asylum seekers, are perceived by the media as being a bourdon
to our society (Tsiolkas, 2013), however this is not necessarily true. There are legitimate reasons why
people become asylum seekers and they do require a certain amount of support, regardless of where they
came from and especially if they have children because they attend our schools and their life experiences
would shape their aspirations (Castillo, et.al, 2014; Tsiolkas, 2013).

There are many dominant discourses that are associated with students of a particular class, race and
ethnicity within education (Alcorn &Thrupp, 2012). A racial dominant discourse would be how students of
Chinese descent are typically thought of as geniuses, or how Pacific Islander students do not care about
their education and academically perform poorly. These racial dominant discourses relate to functionalism
and how the education system is used as a ‘sorting hat’ to place these students in their, according to
society, appropriate occupation and place in the world (Turner, 2014). Another Racial dominant discourse
would be how Middle Eastern races are classed as “terrorists” because of a few extremists from those
countries who partake in horrific incidents, however, Caucasian races have higher rates of terrorism.
Similarly, an ethnicity dominant discourse would be that students from overseas are “dumb” or “slow”,
referring to linguistic differences, compared to students who grew up in English speaking homes. Both of
these racial and ethnicity discourses relate to Critical Race Theory as it demonstrates white supremacy and
racial inequality (Buchanan, 2010; Sleeter, 2016). Dominant discourses associated with class would be that
students from a low socioeconomic background academically perform lower than those students from
higher socioeconomic backgrounds and that students or individuals who come from lower class suburbs
tend to go into blue collar occupations, whereas the bourgeoisie perform white collar jobs and obtain
better wages. These class discourses can be linked with Marxism, which describes how everyone in society
is separated into ‘classes’ based on their social, economic and cultural capital and how there is competition
between these classes as the bourgeoisie control the power within society and obtain the better quality

2
Paige Bishop 17288141
life (Marx, 1935; Resnick & Wolff, 2013) and also with functionalism, which has been previously mentioned
how everyone in society has their place and function (Turner, 2014).

These dominant discourses would impact a student’s aspirations and life chances because if they
believe that people view them this way, they will eventually see themselves as these discourses, making
them lower their standards, thus achieving poorly with assessments and exams, which ultimately limits
their life chances and occupational dreams (Harrington, 2011). In schools that aren’t diverse they would
prefer the post-colonialism way of life as they are either blatantly ignorant or not culturally exposed or
aware, which I believe is where majority of the dominant discourses revolving students and their academic
achievements originate (Lawson, 2002). I also believe that all of these dominant discourses are
circumstantial. All students no matter what class, race or ethnicity they come from have diverse needs
when it comes to education and learning and teachers should challenge these discourses and be
accommodating to these needs to the best of their ability for optimal student performance.

The Australian Government and the New South Wales Department of Education have enforced
various educational policies to ensure equality and equity for all students and staff within the education
system. Some of these policies include the Anti-racism policy, which rejects all forms of racism and is
“committed to eliminating all direct and indirect racial discriminations in all aspects of the learning and
working environment” (NSW Department of Education, 2005a). This policy would assist students in their
right to an education despite diversity, this would significantly improve the students’ academic success as
they would less likely to be bullied because of their differences. The Government has also enforced the
Aboriginal Education Policy, to improve the wellbeing and academic progress of Indigenous Australian
students and help promote inclusiveness (NSW Department of Education, 2008). This educational policy is
beneficial as it would make every student within the education system equal, with promoting equity as
well, as there is also additional support for those Indigenous students who might require it. Another key
policy within the education system is the Multicultural Education Policy, which enables all students,
regardless of their race, ethnicity, culture or religion, to achieve equitable social and academic outcomes
and also recognises and celebrates, through Harmony or Multicultural day, the diversity within schools
(NSW Department of Education, 2005b). This policy is ethical in theory, acknowledging diversity within
schools and appreciating these differences, however, these types of policies and celebrations are
unintentionally segregating ethnic minority students by explicitly demonstrating how different they are
from the rest of the student populous (Watkins & Nobel, 2016). Watkins and Nobel (2016) demonstrate
that these types of educational policies may be harmful to the ethnic minority groups within education
because they do not represent the reality of society and that they should focus more on the cultural
similarities instead, which would bring the students together as a community as opposed to saying how
different they all are. I do believe that these educational policies that affect ethnic minorities do need to be
reviewed on a regular basis as society is continuously evolving. The Australian Government has also
implemented the Gonski policy which provides funding for Australian schools in low socioeconomic areas
and reflects that there are difference needs of students and they require more resources to accommodate
these needs (Harrison, 2011). Gonski also ensures a reduction in class sizes, providing assistance for
students with disabilities and providing additional training for teachers to expand their skills and
knowledge which is a very useful policy within education (Kenway, 2013).

Since studying this unit and working in a high school my cultural understandings have changed
dramatically. I believe that all teachers should challenge the dominant discourses that are associated with
ethnic minority groups within society and schools and leave their own cultural beliefs at home before they
enter the school grounds. I will, as a preservice teacher, try to accommodate the needs of all the students
within my classroom through pedagogical processes by allowing students to process and critically think or
analyse information instead of the ‘banking’ concept explored in Freire, Ramos & Macedo’s (2009) theory,

3
Paige Bishop 17288141
while also constantly ensuring that there is equality and equity. Exploring how various theorists perceive
society is a terrific way to challenge your own thoughts on how society functions and definitely contributes
to open-mindedness, which is an important characteristic to have in the teaching profession. Other major
factors that I want to incorporate into my teaching practice are positive relationships between myself and
the students and the students amongst themselves, positive reinforcement and praise to help boost the
students’ self-esteem and to set expectations and encourage further achievements so students can have
high expectations for themselves.

In conclusion, it is evident that class, race and ethnicity can have a positive or negative effect on a
students’ life chance and aspirations and this has been proven through various educational studies and
theories about society. There are educational policies in place to ensure equality and equity within schools,
however teachers play a vital role in setting the expectations, pedagogy and positive relationships within
the classroom.

References

Alcorn, N., Thrupp, M. (2012). Uncovering meanings: The discourses of New Zealand secondary teachers in
context. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 47(1), 107-121.

American Psychological Association. (2012). Ethnic and racial disparities in education: Psychology’s
contributions to understanding and reducing disparities. Retrieved from
http://www.apa.org/ed/resources/racial-disparities.aspx

Buchanan, I. (2010). A Dictionary of Critical Theory. Oxford University Press

Castillo, F, D., Barcelo, J, A., Mameli, L., Miguel, F., Vila, X. (2014). Modelling Mechanisms of Cultural
Diversity and Ethnicity in Hunter-Gatherers. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 21(2),
364-384. New York.

Chui, M, M. (2016). Socio-Economic Status, Inequality and Academic Achievement. In Perkins, G (Ed.).
Socioeconomic Status. 1-26. Nova Science Publishers Inc.

Duncan, G., Yeung, W, J., Brooks-Gunn, J., Smith, J, R. (1998). How much does childhood poverty affect the
life chances of children?. American Sociological Review, 63 (3), 406-423.

Freire, P., Ramos, M, B., Macedo, D, P. (2009). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York.

4
Paige Bishop 17288141
Harrington, M. (2011, January 31). Australian Government Funding for Schools Explained. Department of
Parliamentary Services. Retrieved from:
https://www.aph.gov.au/binaries/library/pubs/bn/sp/schoolsfunding.pdf

Hill, D. (2010). Class, Capital, and Education in this Neoliberal and Neoconservative Period. In Macrine, S.,
Mclaren, P., Hill, D. (Ed.). Revolutionizing Pedagogy, 120-143. Basingstoke, United Kingdom: Palgrave
Macmillan.

Jupp, J., Nieuwenhuysen, J., Dawson, E. (2007). Social Cohesion in Australia. Cambridge University Press.

Kenway, J. (2013). Challenging inequality in Australian schools: Gonski and beyond. Discourse: Studies in
the Cultural Politics of Education, 34 (2), 286-308.

Lawson, A. (2002). Describing Empire: Post-Colonialism and Textuality. London: Taylor and Francis.

Marx, K. (1935). Marxism. London: Chapman & Hall.

NSW Department of Education. (2008). Aboriginal Education Policy (Reference No. PD/2008/0385/V03).

NSW Department of Education. (2005a). Anti-Racism Policy (Reference No. PD/2005/0235/V05).

NSW Department of Education. (2005b). Multicultural Education Policy (Reference No. PD/2005/0234/V01)

Resnick, S & Wolff, R. (2013). Rethinking Marxism. A Journal of Economics, Culture & Society, 25(2), 152-
162.

Sleeter, C. (2016). Critical Race Theory and the Whiteness of Teacher Education. Urban Education, 52(2),
155-169.

Sun, K. (1995). The definition of race. American Psychologist, 50(1), 43-44.

Tsiolkas, C. (2013). Why Australia hates asylum seekers. The Monthly. Retrieved from
https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2013/september/1377957600/christos-tsiolkas/why-
australia-hates-asylum-seekers

Turner, S. (2014). Robert Merton and Dorothy Emmet: Deflated Functionalism and Structuralism.
Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 44(6), 817-836

Watkins, M. & Noble, G. (2016). Thinking beyond recognition: Multiculturalism, cultural intelligence, and
the professional capacities of teachers. Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 38(1),
45-57.

Weber, M. (2014). Class, Status, Party. In Grusky, D (Ed.). Social Stratification, 113-140. Stanford University.