Equality in Education: an Analysis of the Australian Educational Landscape

Running head: EQUALITY IN EDUCATION
EQUALITY IN EDUCATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE AUSTRALIAN
EDUCATIONAL LANDSCAPE
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1EQUALITY IN EDUCATION
Introduction
As stated by Schwab (2018), the construct of education helps the individuals to acquire
the skill sets or the knowledge which enables them to perform different job roles adequately in
the latter part of their professional life. Rowe and Perry (2019) are of the viewpoint that
education is an important determinant of the quality that the individuals lead and also determines
their position or status within the societal framework as well. It is because of these aspects that
the national government of the different nations of the world and also the international bodies
like the United Nations and others had made basic education an important right for the
individuals (Myers, 2016). However, it had been seen that within the educational landscape of
the nations like Australia, New Zealand, Canada and others wherein a large number of
indigenous people, immigrants and others reside equality is a major problem or issue which
narrows down the number of individuals to whom education is being offered (Lester, Lochmiller
& Gabriel, 2017).
This issue as a matter of fact had reduced the access to education to the people of the
nation of Australia which in turn had not only adversely affected the quality of life led by the
people of the concerned nation but also slowed down the economic growth of Australia as well.
More importantly, it had been seen that the national government of Australia over the years had
taken the help of the concept of equality and thereby formulated different legislations, policies
and others to ensure that basic as well as advanced education is available to all the individuals of
the concerned nation yet it had failed to attain the desired results through the same (Lubienski &
Yoon, 2017). In this relation, it needs to be said that the most important stakeholders who are
affected by this particular issue within the educational landscape of the nation of Australia are

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the students, the indigenous people, the immigrants who had migrated to Australia for
educational purposes or to seek asylum and others (Clarke & Phelan, 2017). Furthermore, it had
been seen that the different policy actors, the educational department of Australia in conjunction
with its national government have different policies like “National Early Childhood
Development Strategy” (2009), “Students First” (2014), “National Partnership Agreement on
Skills Reform” (NP, 2012), “New Colombo Plan” (2013) and others which are intended to
reduce the inequality in education within the concerned nation (Education.gov.au, 2020). These
policies along with the other reforms of Australia have not only reduced the inequality in terms
of education by providing adequate educational opportunities to all the people of Australia but
also policies which the other nations of the world can use for fostering equality in terms of
education for their citizens. The purpose of this paper is to undertake a critical analysis of the
educational equality within the Australia educational landscape and also recommend the manner
in which the other nations of the world can use them to foster equality in terms of education for
their citizens.
Educational Landscape of Australia
Fogarty et al. (2018) are of the viewpoint that the national government of Australia
realizing the fact that education is an important determinant of the success attained by the
individuals in the latter part of their lives have focused on the basic education of its citizens.
Adding to this, Bunn and Lumb (2019) have noted that just like the educational frameworks of
the other nations of the world, the educational framework of the nation of Australia had also
undergone a significant amount of change over the years. For instance, in the 19th century and the
20th century it was seen that the private educational institutions were dominant within Australia
and education was restricted to a handful of individuals since these educational institutions

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charged exorbitant remunerations from the students (Lubienski & Yoon, 2017). However, at the
same time it was seen that this substantially reduced the literacy rate of the concerned nation and
in the light of this aspect, the national government of Australia established public educational
institutions or for that matter the government of educational institutions (Bush, Bell &
Middlewood, 2019). The primary objective of the national government of Australia behind the
establishment of these government sponsored educational institutions was to offer the best
quality education to all the people of the concerned nation at affordable prices (McGregor et al.,
2019). In this relation, it needs to be said that this particular initiative of the national government
of Australia was inspired by the educational system of the nation of Norway wherein primary,
secondary and tertiary education is being offered completely free cost to all the people of
Norway (Salokangas & Ainscow, 2017). As a matter of fact, it was seen that by the end of the
20th century primary education was made compulsory for all the people of the concerned
regardless of the social or the economic background to which they belonged (Valencia, 2019).
As discussed by Bowl (2018), despite the best initiatives of the national government and
the educational department of the nation of Australia, the concerned nation was not being able to
attain equality in terms of education because of the fact that the indigenous people or for that
matter the aboriginals do not take advantage of the education which was offered to them. Adding
to this, Abankina et al. (2016) have noted that the aboriginals because of the stigmatization,
discrimination, social deprivation and other kinds of social evils that had faced within the nation
over the years developed a negative attitude towards the educational policies and the other
welfare policies of the nation of Australia. More importantly, it had been seen that the
curriculum which had been followed within the Australian educational institutions were designed
completely from the perspective of the European settlers or the people of the concerned nation