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Grand designs, grim reality : political representation, competition and equity in regional Victoria

- Tischler, Catherine

Authors: Tischler, Catherine
Date: 2020
Type: Text , Thesis , PhD
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Description: This work brings new understanding to the subtle ways in which the ability of one rural community to change is curtailed by self-reinforcement of an ideology not entirely of their own making. In a political environment where economic returns and population growth appear to be the true indicators of value and success, the struggle of some rural communities to change a long term and seemingly intractable trajectory of decline is well documented. The historical importance of rural communities as a place where food and fibre are grown has been challenged by market forces, climatic conditions and the relative growth of cities and service-based industries over the last three decades. To people in rural areas experiencing population stasis or decline, the situation appears to be a competition that is not being won at a local level. This thesis employs critical ethnography to understand a layered investigation of the ideological paradigms internalised by leaders in this community in a place-based setting to explore how this influences political advocacy and action. The work focusses on the Wimmera Southern Mallee region in Victoria, Australia with a particular emphasis on the city of Horsham as the major regional centre. The purpose of this work is to understand how ideology and behaviours are used to reinforce a system of power that is dominated by prestige leadership. The work also considers how external political and ideological influences may further reinforce on to leaders in the region a set of values and expectations which negatively impact on action and outcomes. The findings of this work have implications for rural community engagement, regional development, place-based initiatives and regional advocacy.
Description: Doctor of Philosophy

Social work and social justice : What are we fighting for?

- Solas, John

Authors: Solas, John
Date: 2008
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Australian Social Work Vol. 61, no. 2 (2008), p. 124-136
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Description: A cardinal value of social work practice is social justice. Social justice ranks as the second of five values that underpin the Code of Ethics of the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW. However, although social work's commitment to promoting social justice is laudable and, indeed, may even be a distinguishing feature of the profession, precisely what kind of social justice does social work espouse? The answer to this question remains unclear. Views about the nature and scope of social justice stem from broader conceptions of justice that not only differ from, but may also conflict with, each other. Therefore, it is important not only for social work to be clear about the type of social justice that it currently advocates, but also to ensure that it is one that the profession seeks to defend and maximise. It is argued that the choice must be as egalitarian as possible. Indeed, it must be radically so. Otherwise, what is social work fighting for?
Description: C1

The ethics of problem representation in public education policy : From educational disadvantage to individual deficits

- McInerney, Peter

Authors: McInerney, Peter
Date: 2007
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Policy and Society Vol. 26, no. 3 (2007), p. 83-96
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Description: This paper explores the ways in which notions of educational disadvantage have been reshaped and redefined in policy discourses during the ascendancy of neo-liberal governance in Australia. Over the past decade there has been a pronounced shift away from social democratic traditions of social justice towards more market-individualistic approaches that have called into question the ethical responsibilities of governments when it comes to challenging inequitable educational policies and practices. Commonwealth policy now leaves little place for socially produced disadvantage, as manifestations of disadvantage are typically described in educational terms and hence to be redressed by schools. What is most disturbing is that the problem is now being constructed around individual deficits, rather than structural inequalities. I conclude with a brief outline of ethical alternatives to current policies.
Description: C1
Description: 2003005684

Australia's great disengagement with public education and social justice in educational leadership

- Smyth, John

Authors: Smyth, John
Date: 2008
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Journal of Educational Administration & History Vol. 40, no. 3 (12 2008), p. 221-233
Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP0990206
Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP0665569
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Description: Australia has been one of the countries to most enthusiastically embrace the neo-liberal conditions conducive to the dismantling of equitably provided public schooling. The article argues that part of the explanation for the absence of any effective challenge to this trajectory lies in the contradictory nature of the Australian identity. The ensemble of policies that have been officially promoted to produce this situation, include: an official process of disparaging public education, while eulogising the alleged virtues of private education; promoting school choice as the mechanism for upholding standards and accountability; encouraging structures and school cultures that bolster marketised views; deliberately cultivating inequities in resources and funding that exacerbate exit of a fearful middle class; and generally producing a compliant view of educational leadership that is deferent to management views. The effect has been a major shift of social justice off the wider Australian educational and political agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Educational Administration & History is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
Description: 2003006317

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From naive optimism to robust hope : Sustaining a commitment to social justice in schools and teacher education in neoliberal times

- McInerney, Peter

Authors: McInerney, Peter
Date: 2007
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education Vol. 35, no. 3 (Aug 2007), p. 257-272
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Description: Drawing on a school ethnography and the voices of graduate students, this paper explores the concept of robust hope with reference to the ideal of social justice in education policy and practice. Although the arguments to support a commitment to social justice in education systems, schools and teacher education programs, are often well-articulated, the pedagogical and political strategies to achieve such goals often remain elusive. If we are to reclaim the utopian imagination of socially just schools and egalitarian society we need to move beyond naive optimism to cultivate a notion of robust hope that is praxis-oriented and fully cognisant of the complexities, tensions and difficulties associated with the task. "Getting real" in this sense requires the development of conceptual ideas to critique existing social arrangements, a vision of an emancipatory alternative, and a set of political strategies and resources to affect progressive change. Notwithstanding the difficulties of contesting market-driven approaches to education, this study reveals that there are "resources of hope" in schools, educational institutions and the broader community to guide teachers and teacher educators in pursuing a goal of socially just schooling.
Description: C1
Description: 2003005687

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The socially just school and critical pedagogies in communities put at a disadvantage

- Smyth, John

Authors: Smyth, John
Date: 2012
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Critical Studies in Education Vol. 53, no. 1 (2012), p. 9-18
Relation: http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/LP100100045
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Description: Public schools around the world have been hijacked and deformed beyond recognition by the forces of the economy over the past three decades. This paper provides an analysis and a way out of this miasma around the notion of the socially just school. While not another prescription, this orientation is argued to be the most hopeful possibility for those parts of the community that have lost the most through the spot-welding of schools onto the economy. © 2012 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC.

Supporting pre-service teachers through intercultural experiences: a pathway to socially and culturally inclusive teaching

- Johnstone, Carolyn, Cooper, Maxine

Authors: Johnstone, Carolyn , Cooper, Maxine
Date: 2016
Type: Text , Conference proceedings
Relation: 10th International Technology, Education and Development Conference (INTED2016) Proceedings, Valencia, Spain. 7-9 March, 2016
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Description: In the classrooms of tomorrow, beginning teachers encounter a wide array of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socio-economic backgrounds. The global community is reflected in the classroom and teachers are expected to prepare their students for global citizenship. Practising and pre-service teachers studying education programs at open access regional universities in Australia often have limited experience of travel and few opportunities to develop global mindedness. Drawing on Bourdieu’s work on social and cultural capital, this qualitative research explores how intercultural experiences contribute to the individual’s developing teacher identity and, in particular, whether unfamiliar professional experience settings promote socially and culturally inclusive teaching in a global context. The study examines whether pre-service teachers develop intercultural empathy, improve intercultural communication and assemble values that reflect membership of a global community. Critical pedagogy principles have been applied to the research and participants are encouraged to critically reflect on their professional experience and their personal journeys as they build their teacher identities. Participant stories, collected through interviews and reflective writing, are examined through narrative inquiry. Additionally, questionnaires are used to provide observer evaluation of the extent to which participants are being and becoming socially and culturally inclusive teachers in a global context. This paper reports on the experiences of the first cohort in the study who have travelled from Federation University Australia to complete professional experience placements in China, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea in 2015. Initial findings indicate that these experiences may increase the individual’s cross-cultural empathy, understandings and communication skills, thus enhancing their capacity for socially and culturally inclusive teaching. In addition university mentoring and guidance through the reflection process can increase the learning that occurs including understanding cultural diversity in the classroom, becoming responsible and globally informed teachers and deeply reflective practitioners.

Community events and social justice in urban growth areas

- Mair, Judith, Duffy, Michelle

Authors: Mair, Judith , Duffy, Michelle
Date: 2015
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events Vol. 7, no. 3 (2015), p. 282-298
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Description: Community festivals appear to be proliferating, partly in response to local government social justice policy imperatives around strengthening sense of community among their constituents. This has led to policies that encourage participation by all so as to minimise social isolation, increase opportunities for interaction and facilitate greater understanding of difference, as well as the maintenance of minority cultural practices [Lee, I., Arcodia, C., & Jeonglyeol Lee, T. (2012). Benefits of visiting a multicultural festival: The case of South Korea. Tourism Management, 33, 334â€“340]. However, community is a contested and multifaceted term, and sense of community is intangible and therefore hard to measure. Taking a case study approach, this paper examined two community festivals in the growth corridor in the south-east of Melbourne, Australia; one a long-running grassroots festival celebrating the rural traditions of the area and the other a new festival designed and staged by the local authority to address their community strengthening objectives. The findings of the study show that both councils accept within their policies that festivals and events have strong connections with community and identity. However, their focus on a place-based definition of community and a relatively narrow view of what constitutes community has led to limited success in achieving their objectives. © 2015 Taylor & Francis.

Developing a practice framework

- Matthews, Audrey

Authors: Matthews, Audrey
Date: 2008
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Practice Reflexions Vol. 3, no. 1 (2008), p. 47-54
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Description: This paper will outline the key elements of my professional identity, giving the reader a portrait of how I will operate as a social welfare worker. My practice framework includes a discussion of the values of social justice, accountability, transparency and congruence which I feel strongly about. Included is an evaluation of postmodernism, systems theory and anti-oppressive theories, three theories which have best informed my practice, and how these theories were revised, modified or confirmed (O’Connor, Wilson & Setterlund 2003:217). Issues such as the influence of the medical model in welfare work and the use of principles similar to those used during the time of the stolen generation posed a challenge to my practice on placement. I have discovered my professional identity is shaped by my belief that change is possible and can occur. I have identified closely with critical social work practice and a reflective approach.

Education and working-class youth : Reshaping the politics of inclusion

- Simmons, Robin, Smyth, John

Authors: Simmons, Robin , Smyth, John
Date: 2018
Type: Text , Book
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Description: This book provides an inclusive and incisive analysis of the experiences of working-class young people in education. While there is an established literature on education and the working class stretching back decades, comparatively there has been something of a neglect of class-based inequality – with questions of gender, ‘race’ and other forms of identity attracting significant attention. However, events including Britain's 2016 decision to leave the European Union, have thrown social class into sharp focus, both in the UK and elsewhere. Featuring leading thinkers in the sociology of education, this book examines the different ways in which young people relate to various parts of the education system, including different forms of schooling, post-compulsory and university education. They maintain that the issue of social class goes beyond the walls of specific institutions to affect young people in a variety of ways: not only in the UK, but across the globe. This book will be of great value and interest to students and scholars of the sociology of education, working-class youth, and equality of opportunity.

Reflecting on a nascent south gippsland birth-year 6 oral language partnership

- Glowrey, Cheryl, Plowright, Susan

Authors: Glowrey, Cheryl , Plowright, Susan
Date: 2019
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Educational researchers and the regional university : agents of regional-global transformations 2 p. 23-39
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Description: Addressing inequality gaps between and within countries is number 10 of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2016-2030. In Australia, regional and remote area dwellers are disproportionately more likely to experience low socioeconomic circumstances, thus as Federation University Gippsland Education (FUGuE) researchers and neighbours, knowing this and that geographical context is an important factor in children's outcomes, it is not surprising we found ourselves meeting with the acting principal of the local primary school to offer our services. From this emerged a partnership between educational leaders from two small primary schools, a kindergarten and a local-government facilitated supported playgroup. Addressing delays in oral language development was considered to be a pressing educational and social justice concern in this relatively geographically isolated area with limited resources for maximising children's engagement, educational aspirations and outcomes for a just future. The partners co-designed a 12-month action plan with three strategies: shared professional learning workshops; extended placement of two fourth-year pre-service teachers in the schools; and trialling of an oral language enrichment programme for senior students. The accompanying research intended to evaluate the impact of these strategies and the partnership, however, was implemented in a limited way because of disruptions and complexities we report on. Rural communities though have resilience and rhythms that extend over longer timeframes than the average research project so as regional researchers and residents deeply committed to 'our place', we will continue to address the inequality gap we see around us by reinvesting in our region through our research. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2019. All rights are reserved.

Inclusion, equity, diversity, and social justice in education in the twenty-first century

- Goriss-Hunter, Anitra, Burke, Jenene, Weuffen, Sara, Plunkett, Margaret, Emmett, Susan

Authors: Goriss-Hunter, Anitra , Burke, Jenene , Weuffen, Sara , Plunkett, Margaret , Emmett, Susan
Date: 2023
Type: Text , Book chapter
Relation: Inclusion, equity, diversity, and social justice in education: a critical exploration of the sustainable development goals Chapter 1 p. 1-10
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Description: The chapter offers a road map that charts the key issues raised in this edited collection that contributes to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) series. Throughout the book, questions are raised, tensions observed, and practices highlighted, often through passionate discussion, regarding the ways in which considerations of equity, inclusion, and social justice are configured, challenged, observed, or ignored in a range of educational settings. All chapters address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education which advocates for the provision of inclusive and equitable education and the promotion of lifelong learning for all. This chapter extends the focus of diversity, inclusion, and social justice to examine the inclusive approaches embedded in the production of the book. Rejecting potentially exclusionary publication processes, the editors mobilized inclusive approaches to selecting, reviewing, and editing chapters and the development of edited scholarship. Focusing on connections and capacity building, a diverse range of authors, reviewers, and editors worked together in a supportive, inclusive, and encouraging framework to produce an interwoven contemporary narrative about the state of diversity and inclusion in mainstream education settings.

International student mobility & study tours as a tool for social justice

- Roffee, James, Burns, Kate

Authors: Roffee, James , Burns, Kate
Date: 2023
Type: Text , Journal article
Relation: Teaching in Higher Education Vol. 28, no. 1 (2023), p. 1-16
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Description: Universities value the provision of opportunities for students to undertake international mobility experiences. Contemporaneously, they often highlight their commitment to social justice through international experiences, though it is not always clear how their educational activities fulfil this commitment. There has been little focus to date on the intersection of student mobility and the desire to include socially just pedagogy into university curricula. Drawing on narratives from semi-structured interviews with academics and professional staff, we explore the utilisation of study abroad within criminology. We argue that student mobility experiences have the potential to be socially just pedagogy through increasing access to new forms of education for a broad range of students. In turn, this positions mobility as a pedagogy for social justice by providing experiential learning opportunities that encourage critical engagement of students and increase their capabilities to act on social justice when in their home country. © 2020, © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

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