University Essay: Education, Change and Society in Australia

This essay provides an analysis of the Australian schooling system as described by Connel et al. (2013) in their book 'Education, Change and Society.' The essay focuses on how identity and social groups influence student experiences in Australian schools. It explores the construction of identity from a sociological perspective, social group differences, and their impact on education across various social groups. The discussion covers the concepts of in-group and out-group dynamics, economic disparities, and linguistic and cultural differences affecting educational outcomes. The essay also highlights the efforts of the Australian government to address these disparities through policy and legal frameworks, aiming to create a more equitable environment for all students. The essay concludes by summarizing the key factors contributing to varied educational experiences within the Australian education system, including culture, economy, and identity, and the measures taken to bridge these gaps.

Running head: EDUCATION CHANGE AND SOCIETY
EDUCATION CHANGE AND SOCIETY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1EDUCATION CHANGE AND SOCIETY
This particular essay shall be providing and analysis of the schooling system of the
Australian nation as described by Connel et al (2013) in their book ‘Education, Change and
Society’. The focus of the essay shall be on the how the identity and the social groups influences
the student experience in the schools of Australia. In the following sections the discussion shall
be focusing on the notion of identity construction from a sociological perspective, social
group difference from a sociological perspective and how does that affect the experience of
education among the various social groups and also their overall effect in the general Australian
education sector. The discussion shall basically focusing on the book ‘Education, Change and
Society’ along with other supporting references.
The explanation provide by Connel et al (2013) in their book about the concept of
identity construction is very much similar to the one provided by Turner, Brown and Tajfel
(1979) which tends to argue that that the construct of the individual self and its identity is devoid
of autonomy, and it is on the basis of the subjective social set up into which an individual is born
and then socialized. A human being is likely to have multiple sets of identities and all of them
are dependent upon the social setting in which the individual has been placed. However, the
primary identity of an individual is something which tends to supercede all other forms of
identities of an individual, and that is the identity that is gained from the family, which is but a
result of the ethnic, racial, or religious community to which one belongs to. These ascribed
categories of the identities tend to determine whether a person belongs to the in-group or if one
belongs to the out-group. Although Australia is a multicultural set up, the distinction between the
in-group and out-group is not supposed to be there on a general scale but the fact that the white
western population being in majority on one hand and on the other hand the aboriginal and the
other ethnic minorities lead to the relational dynamism between the in-group and out-group

2EDUCATION CHANGE AND SOCIETY
(Jenkins, 2014). Thus the social group difference is inevitable and that is prevalent only in the
racial terms but also in terms of the economic sphere which is manifested in the sphere of
schooling as well. It is quite an important phenomenon that has been observed in Australia that
the educational differences are very much based on the racial and cultural background of a
particular individual as the racial differences are a mark of ones economic standing in the
Australian society.
Over the years however there have been several moves undertaken by the Australian
Government by means of policy and also in terms of the legal set up of the nation in order to
bring about a degree of parity among the races especially in the sphere of education so that the
future generation could have a level ground to compete with each other and the relative
economic differences between the white population and the other non white ethnic minorities
could be bridged properly and students belonging to all ethnicities could have similar
experiences. The economic differences are an important factor which makes the experiences of
different ethnicities different in the Australian education sector but there are other set of
differences as well that makes schooling or educational experience in general different for
different ethnicities and the reason being majorly linguistic and cultural in nature. Australia
being an Anglophonic nation, English language is the most preferred language and also the
official one which makes the ethnic minorities lag behind the white population for whom the
English language is quite convenient. Naturally, the non white ethnic minorities and the white
ethnic population cannot assimilate and integrate even within the school environment. The
linguistic handicap is thus a serious issue which makes the non white ethnic minorities have low
grades in the school compared to the white counterparts. However there have been improvements
in terms of bridging the gaps between the white ethnic minorities and the white population of the

3EDUCATION CHANGE AND SOCIETY
nation by means of introduction of mixed schooling system and the recognition of the ethnic
languages of the non white ethnic minorities of the nation (Connel et al., 2013).
Thus at the concluding section it can be said that the experiences of the different ethnic
minorities are different in the Australian Education System and that is owing to the difference in
culture, economy and identity which have been made an attempt to be bridged by the
Government of Australia.

4EDUCATION CHANGE AND SOCIETY
References
Connell, R., Welch, A. R., Vickers, M., Foley, D., Bagnall, N., Hayes, D. N., ... & Campbell, C.
(2013). Education, change and society. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Jenkins, R. (2014). Social identity. Routledge.
Turner, J. C., Brown, R. J., & Tajfel, H. (1979). Social comparison and group interest in ingroup
favouritism. European journal of social psychology, 9(2), 187-204.