Social Inclusion in Education: Where Are We?

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If we are to redress the significant under-representation of particular groups in Australian higher education, we will need to find a more sophisticated approach to the problem. This was the strong message of the inaugural Social Inclusion in Education conference held last week in Sydney.

Organised by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, the conference brought together national and international educators, researchers, senior managers and policy-makers to explore how government, education sectors and institutions can work in partnership to develop fairer and more inclusive forms of education.

The conference featured the work of two leading researchers from the United Kingdom: Professors Miriam David (University of London) and Lori Beckett (Leeds Metropolitan University).

A number of principles emerged from the conference, which arose from a desire to identify substantive and creative ways to collaboratively advance the social inclusion agenda.

As a first principle, the importance of establishing genuine partnerships within and across institutions and educational sectors was repeatedly expressed. Yet cross-sector partnerships cannot give priority to the interests of universities. They must be based on shared interests, rather than competition between the interests of particular organisations, institutions and sectors.

Genuine partnerships were also seen to involve designing pathways into institutional structures and educational qualifications. This includes developing coherent policy to support teaching and learning that is responsive to the needs of diverse social groups. The conference agreed that there is a need for shared definitions and an understanding of the complimentary nature of equity targets and programs across the tertiary sector as a whole.

A further theme that emerged was the importance of making learning central to social inclusion initiatives. While increasing access to education is important, what happens when students get there also matters. This includes the need for ‘connectionist’ pedagogies that provide more engaging teaching and learning for students from diverse backgrounds. Making learning central also includes developing school-university partnerships that support teacher research and professional learning communities.

The need for institutions to engage with the particularities of the places in which they are situated and the communities they serve was also identified. While national targets are useful in focusing the minds of bureaucracies and institutions, these cannot be pursued and are unlikely to be successful without engaging with the communities in which those institutions are located.

The conference concluded that education institutions in Australia must take advantage of the possibilities that our current moment holds for advancing the social inclusion agenda. Certainly, government aspirations to improve educational outcomes for under-represented groups are tied to significant funding incentives, which have helped to draw institutional attention to these issues. At the moment it would seem most institutions are taking seriously their equity obligation and recognise the unique opportunity to translate symbolic commitments to equity into concrete improvements for students and their communities.

Together, these themes constitute a set of principles that could productively inform the next phase of social inclusion policy and practice in Australian education. Together, they point towards a more sophisticated approach.
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Sam Sellar is a postdoctoral research fellow and Trevor Gale is the director of the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education, hosted at the University of South Australia.

Visit their website here - www.equity101.info