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Caitlin MacQuaid
44350697 | UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND - EDUC1029 - TUTORIAL 4
The Australia we live in today is more culturally, ethnically and sexually diverse than it
ever has been in our history. Unfortunately the Australian school system has not yet
reached a point where minority groups within our diverse national community has
access to the same opportunities or has the same chances to succeed at school, as
majority groups. Socio-cultural factors such as race, cultural identity, gender, sexual
Youth Affairs , 2008, p. 7) play an indisputably significant role in determining the quality
Meadmore highlights the importance of these sociocultural factors when they write
“More clearly evident than ever before in this country are vast social differences that
reflect differences in culture, wealth, status and education that come together in the
unequal exercise of power. In this way, power relations between, among and within
social classes are created and exercised.” (2004, p. 74). The following paper will draw
on theory and academia to explore how these sociocultural factors influence student’s
experiences at school, their chances of success at school, how teachers and schools
expectations influence these the former, and the role teachers play in addressing these
issues.
According to Lampert, Burnett, & Morse (2015, p. 78), “Within the Australian school
system where the majority of teachers, administrators and students are white,
whiteness can be seen as the ‘norm’ and non-white skin color as the ‘other’. This
positioning of white as ‘normal’ can encourage intercultural relations in which race and
racism are ‘normalized’ and viewed as an inevitable part of the daily existence.”. The
aforementioned concept of ‘othering’ is the predominant route through which
sociocultural factors in school students are singled out and discriminated against. The
voices and experiences of students from diverse cultures and ethnicity tend to be
excluded from pedagogy and curriculum, and their inherited linguistic and cultural
‘norms’ (Mills & Gale, 2010, p. 58). This undervaluing of students identities often leads
to a disconnection from learning (Mills & Gale, 2010, p. 34), they “…respond to a form
of schooling that says they are not suitable, or indeed capable, of education by rejecting
p. 74). Lampert, Burnett, & Morse (2015, p. 79), also find that unequal power
relationships between students and their teachers arise as a result of this inequality;
and in on the flip side of this, Moustakim (2015, p. 130) found that, generally, “the
quality of students experiences of schooling are contingent upon being treated with
respect by school staff and teachers’ critical awareness of the marginalizing effect of
economic level is found to have a strong effect on the experience of students at school,
with Mills & Gale (2010, p. 34) stating that hunger, homelessness and financial hardship
adversely influence students schooling. The effect that sociocultural factors have on
proportionally low academic outcomes for students from Indigenous and other minority
groups fail to locate the debate about learner engagement and academic achievement
in the wider context of social inequality, choosing instead to contribute students
effect that socioeconomic factors have on the achievement level and chances of
success for students at school, one must first examine and understand the theory.
Bordieu’s theory of social practice encompasses three concepts: capital, habitus and
field. In this context, the focus will be on capital which can be further reduced into three
types: social, cultural and economic capital. Cultural capital involves the skills,
dispositions, attitudes and other cultural assets that parents pass down to their children,
and it is important to note that certain types of cultural capital are valued in our western
school system over others. Research has shown that “cultural capital confers
has a positive effect on reading literacy, sense of belonging at school and occupational
aspirations.” (Moustakim, 2015, pp. 132-133). Schools are very much responsible for
reproducing social inequalities, with schools in the past catering too specifically to, and
working most effectively for, middle-class white male students (Mills & Gale, 2010, pp.
1-2). As Mills & Gale (2010, pp. 1-2) put it “…with their reduced access to the cultural
suffering educational repercussions for having a cultural captial that is in the wrong
et al. (2015, p. 80) also find that this teachers lowering of their expectations may not be
conscious and purposeful, in fact they may not even notice them as these expectations
expectations are particularly harmful for Indigenous children's success and experiences
at school as teacher low expectations extend past abilities and into attendance and the
worse” (Lampert, Burnett, & Morse, 2015, p. 80). Additionally it is important here to note
that there have been various studies which prove the expectations of teachers to be
students educational achievement and success. (Lampert, Burnett, & Morse, 2015). It is
necessary for pre-service teachers to develop the skills necessary to challenge their
unexamined attitudes towards both poverty and ‘race’ are often invisible to themselves
and need to be brought to the force in an ongoing and deliberate way.”. First and
foremost teachers need to play a role in affecting policy both within their own school and
on higher levels of state schooling. Moustakim (2015, p. 135) finds that at the policy
enactment level of schools, teachers must engage critically with assumptions meanings
24), finds that the cultural recognition ad its significance must be reflected within the
practices and structures of the school. Meadmore (2004, p. 12) believes that one “…
must aim to develop a focus on inclusiveness, in which curriculum and pedagogy serve
the full spectrum of students in an increasingly diverse society.”. The strategy most
77) who write that good teachers must develop reflexivity as part of their teacher
preparation in order for them to effectively interrogate their attitudes prior to beginning
their career’s. Additionally they must continue to engage in an ongoing dialogue and
engage with continued reflection throughout their careers (Lampert, Burnett, & Morse,
2015, p. 77). It is important to note at this point that “Many teachers in high poverty,
under served schools in Australia are white and come from middle class backgrounds;
therefore it is common for teachers to arrive in these classrooms with little knowledge of
their students’ families and communities.” (Lampert, Burnett, & Morse, 2015, p. 77).
facilitate this development. Teaching educators must also contribute by creating ample
opportunities early in their teaching programs for their students to “ examine critically
In our increasingly racially, socially and ethnically diverse Australian society, everyone,
previously, marginalized groups are often ‘othered’, shoved into the spotlight in a
negative fashion and are not granted access to the same capital and therefore the same
chances of educational success as the dominant group. As teachers of the future we
Keddie, A. (2011). Educating For Diversity And Social Justice. Taylor and Francis. Retrieved from
http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/uql/detail.action?docID=958249.
Lampert, J., Burnett, B., & Morse, K. (2015). Destabilising Privilege: Disrupting Deficit Thinking In White
Pre-Service Teachers On Field Experience In Culturally Diverse, High-Poverty Schools. In T.
Ferfolja, C. Jones Diaz, & J. Ullman, Understanding Sociological Theory For Educational Practices
(pp. 76-92). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.
Meadmore, D. (2004). Chapter 6: How do social class and education make the great divide? In D. M.
Bruce Burnett, New questions for contemporary teachers: taking a socio-cultural approach to
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Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs . (2008). Melbourne
Declaration On Educational Goals For Young Australians. Melbourne: Ministerial Council on
Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs.
Moustakim, M. (2015). 'Disaffected' Youth: Intersections of Class and Ethnicity. In T. Ferfolja, C. Jones
Diaz, & J. Ullman, Understanding Sociological Theory For Educational Practices (pp. 129-144).
Melbourne : Cambridge University Press.