The article examines the importance of effective secondary education for all children as Australian society embraces globalisation. In a global era, where societal development will rely on the knowledge and skills of the workforce, an effective education will become even more important for socio-economic engagement and equality. Students from disadvantaged backgrounds are the most vulnerable to globalisation as they are less likely to achieve academically or go on to benefit from the restructured neo-liberal economy.
Students in disadvantaged schools are often seen as lacking in ability, motivation and appropriate academic skills. In a practitioner-university collaborative project which investigated literacy, information and communication technologies and educational disadvantage, student researchers made short films about new technologies in their school. The authors discuss positive metaphors that their films brought to mind for us: apprentice theorists, word players, cadet film producers, novice researchers and global communicators.
This article provides an alternative perspective on what it means to ‘do school’ in a disadvantaged community, particularly in the way that disadvantage is reproduced for marginalised students. It explores the mobility of teachers (temporarily) working in a small secondary school located in an economically depressed regional community in Australia, characterised by high levels of unemployment, high welfare dependency and a significant indigenous population.
A selection of 30 year ten students from NSW Priority Action Schools experienced university for the first time last week building robots with engineers from the UTS Faculty of Engineering and IT. The Make a Real Robot Project is part of an ongoing outreach program run by UTS during the school holidays to grow the aspirations of students who face many challenges to gaining a degree.
In this paper the author provides a broad overview of outreach and student engagement strategies
used in Australian universities and raise key issues in regard to improving access to higher
education for disadvantaged and under-represented students.
The Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences proposes the Australian Government work with social science researchers to identify key programs and policies to achieve the Bradley Review target of 20 per cent participation in higher education from socio-economic groups disadvantaged through low incomes, remoteness and other causes.
CQUniversity has announced ‘a renewed vigour' in the way it forms relationships with disadvantaged students in primary schools and beyond, to enable their progression as learners and to involve their families along the way.
The University of Sydney and The Smith Family today renewed their joint commitment to supporting students of promise, with the University pledging more than a quarter of a million dollars to provide scholarships to disadvantaged students.
The University of Sydney says not enough disadvantaged and regional students are getting the opportunity to enrol in university courses. With less than 10 per cent of its students coming from lower socio-economic backgrounds, the university wants to boost the intake.
After spending half his childhood in an orphanage, it's no surprise Lionel Baars had a few "psychological barriers" against achieving in society. Nowadays, thanks to encouragement from his wife and success in a CQUniversity bridging program, he's "going forward in leaps and bounds".
