Sustainability in Education: Analysis of IT Education in Australia

Running head: SUSTAINABILITY IN EDUCATION
SUSTAINABILITY IN EDUCATION: AN ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION
TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1SUSTAINABILITY IN EDUCATION
As opined by Livingstone (2018), the United Nations had declared education as one of
the most important basic right of the individuals which the national governments of the different
nations are required to fulfill. Webb et al. (2017) are of the viewpoint that one of the most
important reasons for this declaration is the fact that the construct of education equips the
individuals with the kind of tools or for that matter the skill sets which are likely to help them in
the later part of their lives. However, as discussed by Beynaghi et al. (2016), the major problem
arises because even in the present post-modern world it is seen that there are many individuals
who not have access to the required education and this in turn had not only adversely affected the
lives of these people but also the growth of the nations as well. This becomes especially
important from the perspective of the diverse sustainability issues that the world is presently
facing like employment crisis, economic crisis, lack of sustainable development, food crisis and
others (McKenney and Reeves 2018).
A critical analysis of all these sustainable issues would reveal the fact that they are all
tied up with the problem of lack of education and the inability of the individuals to use the skill
sets or the knowledge that is required for the resolution of the same. More importantly, it had
been seen that the educational departments of the different nations of the world like Australia
and others are presently lowering the educational standards or for that matter qualifications
which are required for undertaking higher education in the diverse fields like information
technology, engineering and others (Keppell, Suddaby and Hard 2015). However, the major
problem associated with this particular move is the fact that while it had enhanced the number of
qualified professionals it had at the same time adversely affect the quality of knowledge
possessed by them or the work performed by them. Thus, it can be said that rather than helping
the nations to attain sustainability this move is likely to adversely affect the future growth

2SUSTAINABILITY IN EDUCATION
prospects of the same. This paper intends to analyze the manner in which the widening of access
to Australian higher education for the information technology professions is likely to adversely
affect the concerned nation in the longer run.
Altbach, Reisberg and Rumbley (2019) are of the viewpoint that the nation of Australia
boasts of a well-integrated educational system and the illiteracy rate of the concerned nation is
only 3.7% as per the statistics of 2018 which is way lower when compared to the other nations of
the world. However, as discussed by O’Byrne, Dripps and Nicholas (2015), when the level of
literacy is being taken into the situation becomes really grim and it is precisely at these different
levels that the changes needs to be made. For example, as per the statistics of Abs.gov.au (2019),
around 6.5% or for that matter 1.1 million people in Australia do not have access to “Level 1”
education whereas 13.9% of the individuals do not get the opportunity to pursue higher
education because of various reasons. Some of the most important ones in this regard are the
higher educational cost, inadequate financial resources possessed by the students, the stringent
admission or qualification criteria and other (Keppell, Suddaby and Hard 2015). More
importantly, the statistics become even grimmer when a look is being taken at the educational
status or the literacy rate among the aboriginal or the indigenous people of the nation under
discussion here. The national government of Australia in the face of these issues is presently
following the policy of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) so as to effectively
address the different sustainability issues presented by the present situation dominant within the
educational sphere of the concerned nation (Tomas et al. 2015).
As discussed by Wooltorton et al. (2015), the advancements made by the nation of
Australia in the recent times especially in the field of information technology and
communication (ITC) had made the professionals related to the same an imperative one within

3SUSTAINABILITY IN EDUCATION
the framework of the concerned nation. However, over the years it had been seen that the
educational system of the nation under discussion here had followed a stringent policy regarding
the bare minimum qualifications that the students are required to have related to the information
technology courses which in turn had substantially narrowed down the number of professionals
related to the same in the concerned nation (Staniškis and Katiliūtė 2016). According to Tondeur
et al. (2016), this had adversely affected the business prospects of the business corporations
related to the information technology sector of the nation of Australia and thereby the growth or
for that matter the development of the concerned nation. In the fact of this, the educational board
of the nation of Australia had substantially relaxed the qualification criteria or for that matter the
bare minimum qualification that the students are required to have in order to get admitted to the
different courses related to information technology. In this relation, mention needs to be made of
the “The Higher Education Technology Agenda” of the educational board of Australia which
along with the other policies of the same related to the relaxation of the qualification criteria
(Caudit.edu.au 2019). However, at the same time it needs to be said that this is not the first
attempt of the education board of Australia to relax the qualification criteria so as to increase the
number of professionals related to the information technology profession.
The nation of Australia had followed the “Widening participation policy” since the 19th
century for the purpose of offering high quality education not only to the native students of the
concerned nation but also to the overseas or for that matter the international students as well
(McKenney and Reeves 2018). More importantly, “The University of Sydney” was established
as per the precepts of this educational policy followed by the national government of Australia
(Klimova et al. 2016). Furthermore, it had been seen that this particular policy followed by the
national government of Australia greatly regulated the quality of education offered to the