The report makes a significant contribution to expanding the evidence base on the role that education/lifelong learning can play in overcoming disadvantage. It does so by addressing a number of other interrelated barriers to participation that can lock people into a cycle of disadvantage.
The purpose of this report is to describe the extent of educational marginalization in the UK and to consider the effectiveness of UK policy with regards to reducing this marginalization1. During recent decades the UK Government has introduced a wide range of policies aimed at both increasing educational quality and participation generally, and narrowing socio-economic, gender and ethnic gaps in education achievement.
The Australian government has adopted a ‘social inclusion agenda’ that aims to bring together social and economic policies in order to reduce disadvantage in the Australian community. Increasing participation and success in education and training is a key aspect of the social inclusion agenda. The government acknowledges that low levels of skill and education attainment contribute to disadvantage because they are associated with poorer labour market experiences and non-participation in the labour force.
The National VET Equity Advisory Council (NVEAC) has been established to provide high level advice to the Ministerial Council for Tertiary Education and Employment (MCTEE) to guide equity reform in the national training system.
The ‘Social inclusion in education’ roundtable is an opportunity for policy officials and Australia’s social sciences researchers to share knowledge of what we know and don’t know about the question of social inclusion in education.The purpose of the briefing paper is to support the roundtable discussion by providing participants with background to the current policy discussion, a summary of the findings and current research investigations, and to match this information to the primary topics for discussion.
The paper aims to contribute to the development of a new equity blueprint for VET by exploring the past – what has already been achieved and learned – and looking to the future – where further efforts are required.
With a renewed effort to increase the numbers of people from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds continuing their education beyond school, there is fresh interest in how equity is achieved in vocational education and training (VET).
Students from rural and isolated areas are often neglected as a higher education equity group. Frequently confused with distance education students, rural and isolated students are those whose permanent home address lies within the Rural, Remote and Urban Areas classification specified under the Accessibility/Remoteness Index of Australia, or ARIA.
The Parliamentary Secretary for Social Inclusion and the Voluntary Sector, Senator Ursula Stephens this morning addressed the 7th Annual Australian University Community Engagement Alliance National Conference in Launceston. Speaking on ‘Engaging the Community as Partners in Social Inclusion,’ Senator Stephens set out the importance of partnerships and collaboration in tackling educational disadvantage.
With a renewed effort to increase the numbers of people from low socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds continuing their education beyond school, there is fresh interest in how equity is achieved in vocational education and training (VET). Equity will be the subject of a keynote address at the 19th National Vocational Education and Training Research Conference, No Frills.
