Education Assignment: Sociological Perspectives on Education

This education assignment delves into the complexities of the Australian education system, focusing on student diversity, equity, and the challenges faced by learners. It examines the impact of social class, socio-economic factors, gender, race, and ethnicity on educational outcomes, highlighting in...Read More

Running Head: EDUCATION ASSIGNMENT
EDUCATION ASSIGNMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Part 1– Summary
The Australian student population is facing various diversity in terms of social
background considering the standard approaches for education. The core concern of this study is
learner diversity and challenges of educational equity (Gobby & Walker, 2017 p. 358). The
students use the academic field to build a suitable career with prosperity in Australia. Melbourne
Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australian defines two categories of goal. First,
to promote equity and excellence, and second goal is to become a successful learner with proper
confidence and creativity. Both the goals lead to make the person as a dynamic and conversant
citizen. Issues that challenges the learning environment of Australian students are social class,
socio-economic factor, gender, race and ethnicity, and social justice and equity.
This study also defines social class as a factor that contribute to build disadvantage for
the education practitioners. The experts demonstrated social class as the hierarchy determined by
the financial status, strength, and culture. Hence, it is recognized that the social class is an
important part in the performance at school and determining the success. Along with social class
there are other determinants that influence the educational performance including socio-
economic factor and gender. Gender inequality in Australia is a common thing that is observed
within the education system also.
Another group of study demonstrate that individual life and social life are interrelated. In
this regard, it is worth mentioning that, the educational system does not work equally for the
entire student generation of Australia (Gobby & Walker, 2017 p. 11).School is the miniature
form of society that occurs with individual difference. All the children in a particular school
reflect different class, culture and ethnicity. On the other hand, teachers work within the school

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environment tend to belief any particular set of political ideology. The belief consider the
achievement of students do not depend on the matter of intelligence. It depends on the activity of
the school and the assigned teachers. For instance, ethnographical approach is used to explore the
specific outcomes related to education. The ability to perceive a problem determines the
efficiency of the solution. Every individual being possess different ways of thinking and
addressing challenges in different way. Hence, the main idea is some group of student do well
within school and some groups does not. The only reason behind this is the notion of individual
difference.
School is platform that bring different individual being under one single roof. The study
discloses that educators who introduce difference are engaged in various forms of advocacy with
direct or indirect links with political beliefs. Political beliefs refer to neoconservatives, socialists,
and radical beliefs. Along with that, the study depicts that, education is delivered by considering
it as a problem by the kids acquiring the basic knowledge. Simply, according to this notion, the
education should be considered to address a problem and providing right solution for it (Gobby
& Walker, 2017 p. 14). According to the sociological imagination concept, culture and
community can bring possible forms of identification during the exclusion of others that make
them difficult to express.
The concept of virtual schoolbag and pedagogical study of engagement explore that
variance in social groups is responsible for disparity in schooling outcome. The purpose of
school retention program in Australia is to enhance the amount of employment and outcomes in
term of productivity (Gobby & Walker, 2017 p. 387). There are multiple reasons behind the
problem of schooling disengagement faced by some particular group of students. The reasons
include outside triggers such as intersection of social, economic and cultural factors. On the other

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hand, the inside triggers are policies adopted by the school, pedagogy, and school curriculum.
Combining factors of both the outside and inside triggers for disengagement contribute to the
failure of the students. As a resolving strategy the schools can enhance the engagement
procedure through pedagogy. Pedagogy is the scientific study of any particular discipline. The
school needs to follow the curriculum of virtual schoolbag containing the knowledge, skills and
the ability to view the value of word. This components do not have any specific alignment with
schools and the faculties.
Pedagogy engages the entire student generation especially the containers of virtual
schoolbag. The components of virtual schoolbag are knowledge, skills, and perception about the
world with alignment with school expectation and connection between the educators. All the
components contribute to bring all round development within the students. Along with this, the
virtual schoolbag also includes development in co-curricular activities including music, sport,
celebrities, films, fashion, games, and readings.
The educational expansion in the Australian academy seems to demand democratization
in academic outcomes. The socio-economic status (SES) of Australia is becoming a constant
disadvantage for the education system. The SES refers to a rank depended on the wealth,
occupation, income, academic attainment, and combination of all these options. For example, a
student with working parents is considered as possessing high ‘SES’ (Gobby & Walker, 2017 p.
190). According to the history, education is the way to prepare oneself to face the social,
economic, and affective roles. Hence, education can occur by kinship networks experientially or
informally. The twenty first century nature of Australian schooling is identified with various
advantages and disadvantages. Both the advantages and disadvantages has different connotations
of social and economic inequalities of Australia.

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This chapter of the book brings forth the disadvantages of educational practices standing
within the twenty-first century. Schooling plays an influential role in the domains of
employment, earnings, maintaining wellbeing and wealth. Government support for both the
public and private schools can help to overcome all the observed disadvantages of education
system. One of the strategy is to connecting the classroom environment with young people’s
world. Students need to orient their lives with new challenges to develop their thinking. It will
also help them to learn new strategies to communicate with the society and acquire new
language.
One of the disadvantages of Australian education is the deception of binary thinking. This
trap is creating problems for gender issues and contributing for social disadvantage also. Binary
thinking refers to a group of paired concepts initially related to each other and perceived as
opposing each other. The main idea of binary thinking is to consider things in either/or way. It is
claimed to set false dichotomies by the researchers (Gobby & Walker, 2017 p. 198). A
dichotomy refers to creating differentiation between to concepts where each concept of the
binary is private from the other. Along with this, in Australian society, the schools restricts the
students from thinking outside the gender and the curriculum. Hence, the binary thinking and
gender education is constructing disadvantages for the entire education system.
The false dichotomy in binary thinking is the main point of discussion in this chapter.
Literal meaning of dichotomy refers to clear differentiation between two original concepts and
ideas. In gender false dichotomy refers to differentiation between the two genders that are male
and female. The study provides the example of Barbie representing the extremity of binary male
or female dichotomy. Here the study introduced a new concept of performativity. It explains that
dwelling in the regular life every individual being perform a scripted social activity that is

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already rehearsed during the previous course of action. Hence, the study reflects the binary
thinking in the Australian education system.
Another aspect of Australian education system is the concept of homophobic panic in the
families. The tolerant Australian society is still exhibiting glimpses of homophobic panic as
stated by the researchers. The social diversity is the one responsible to give birth this panic into
the society (Rodwell, 2017 p. 220). According to the study, the region of South Australia is the
state to reflect gay and panic defense. It also reflects that childhood innocence cannot be
considered as universal truth as it has relevance to recent constructs of Western society.
Homophobic panic is the concept that is affecting the Australian educational practice at a
greater extent. It often leads to bullying and other forms of violence or harassments. According
to the core value of Australia it promotes diversity over the society. The chapter describes the
homophobic panic from the beginning to the recent period of time. During the middle of 2004,
the ‘Through the Window’ segment of a television program introduced the concept of same-sex
family. It effect continued for the consecutive two years. It was somehow disturbing the lives of
the innocent children and making the same-sex parents as ‘dangerous’ family. The end note of
this chapter provides affirmation about the existence of gay and lesbian families.
The term curriculum has different connotations due to different perceptions of people and
organizations. Combining the existing definitions it can be said that, teachers also possess the
requirement to grow along with the students (Gobby & Walker, 2017 p. 437). Teachers need to
transform their thinking into thoughts, the thoughts into reflections, and the reflections into new
domain of action or thought. The terms that can define the student and the teacher’s
circumstances can be considered to be a part of curriculum. Hence, the National Quality

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Framework plans uniquely to cope with the circumstances of Australian society. It acknowledges
that the curriculum intersects with the initiatives of planning.
The key concepts of this chapter includes the connection of pedagogy, social
constructivism theory, and decision making theory for with the entire education system of
Australia. All the mentioned aspects can be infuse within the education system with proper
curriculum practice. Curriculum during the early childhood setting has a proper association with
decision making by the teachers. Teachers need to follow proper framework to plan the
curriculum and imply the strategies accordingly. Teaching pedagogy is the domain that help the
teachers to make proper decision for planning the curriculum.
The recent educational system of Australia focuses on approaches centered on both the
primary and secondary level students. Thee educators need to be innovative enough to manage
the diversity of the students. Rich communication skill and organizational skill is a mandatory
factor for an effective teacher (Gobby & Walker, 2017 p. 460). On the other hand, effective
teaching refers to explaining lessons with influential theories, historical events, knowledge,
beliefs, culture and policies. Hence, the teacher needs to possess decision making skill along
with the other skills of effective teaching. Moreover the effective teacher should be capable
enough to plan intended curriculum for the students.
This chapter reflects the notion of student-centered approach to plan for the secondary
schools. All the components that an effective teacher require is to bring innovation in planning
the teaching technique. There are effective teaching need to incorporate with theories, history,
knowledge, culture, beliefs and policies and some original thoughts.

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Reference
Gobby, B., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2017 pp. 1 -15). Powers of Curriculum: Sociological
Perspectives on Education. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from:
global.oup.com/academic/product/powers-of-curriculum-9780190303709?
cc=in&lang=en&
Gobby, B., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2017 pp. 169 -190). The Education System and SES: Mapping
Disadvantage, in Powers of Curriculum: Sociological Perspectives on Education. Oxford
University Press. Retrieved from: global.oup.com/academic/product/powers-of-
curriculum-9780190303709?cc=in&lang=en&
Gobby, B., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2017 pp. 195 - 213). The trap of Binary Thinking:
Problematising gender and social disadvantage, in Powers of Curriculum: Sociological
Perspectives on Education. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from:
global.oup.com/academic/product/powers-of-curriculum-9780190303709?
cc=in&lang=en&
Gobby, B., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2017 pp. 211 -222). Innocent children, dangerous families and
homophobic panic, in Powers of Curriculum: Sociological Perspectives on Education.
Oxford University Press. Retrieved from: global.oup.com/academic/product/powers-of-
curriculum-9780190303709?cc=in&lang=en&
Gobby, B., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2017 pp. 373 -392). The Virtual Schoolbag and pedagogies of
engagement, in Powers of Curriculum: Sociological Perspectives on Education. Oxford
University Press. Retrieved from: global.oup.com/academic/product/powers-of-
curriculum-9780190303709?cc=in&lang=en&

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Gobby, B., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2017 pp. 421 -441). Planning, programming and embedding
curriculum, in Powers of Curriculum: Sociological Perspectives on Education. Oxford
University Press. Retrieved from: global.oup.com/academic/product/powers-of-
curriculum-9780190303709?cc=in&lang=en&
Gobby, B., & Walker, R. (Eds.). (2017 pp. 445 - 469). Student-centred approaches to planning in
primary and secondary schools, in Powers of Curriculum: Sociological Perspectives on
Education. Oxford University Press. Retrieved from:
global.oup.com/academic/product/powers-of-curriculum-9780190303709?
cc=in&lang=en&
Rodwell, G. (2017 pp. 210 -222). Moral panics and school educational policy. Routledge.