Adrian Piccoli (Minister for Education in the O'Farrell government and Deputy Leader of The Nationals) recently said that there is "no evidence that testing makes the slightest difference to student outcomes" (Tebbutt, September 19, 2013) regarding the National Assessment Plan for Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN). There is a tendency regarding NAPLAN to focus solely on academic indicators and outcomes and not focus on wider social and cultural consequences that result from national testing. I would argue that this is a typical negligent practice, and fits with educational theorist Giroux' (1981) statement that “mainline curriculum
theorists rarely understand what the linkages are between curriculum theory and
cultural reproduction” (pg. 147). This depoliticises teaching, and ignores that
teaching is embedded in a social reality in which hierarchies of power are always enacting relationships of dominance and subordination.
Ho, C. (May, 2011). ‘My School’
and others: Segregation and white flight. In Australian Review of Public Affairs. Sourced from: http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2011/05/ho.html
NAPLAN publishes their results to the public on the myschool website, which breaks down data gathered through testing into league tables that compare schools outcomes against each other. This has allowed parents to have more insight and control over their child’s
hypothesised future educational opportunities and results. Myschool also releases the percentage of students with language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE) enrolled in each school, which according to the Australian Review has contributed to what appears to be the chosen segregation of students based on cultural background, reflected in the fact that public schools have the overwhelming majority of students with LBOTE whilst Anglo-Australian parents are sending their students to private schools (Australian Review, 2011). Jakubowicz has described this as “…a withdrawal from intercultural interaction, into monocultural isolation with only carefully controlled interactions with ‘Others’” (2009, pg. 4). Educationally this is problematic because Anglo-Australian students at private schools are not being exposed to the culturally diverse make-up of our society and their opportunities to learn acceptance, tolerance and gain valuable cross-cultural insights are significantly lessened. Private schools are widely considered to house better facilities and more highly trained teachers. These perceived educational advantages are less attainable for migrant families who may earn less financial income than native Australians because they are recently settled or may have little or no English. This too contributes to the polarisation of schools based on Anglophone and non-Anglophone cultures.
This form of cultural segregation is not overt, like the ethnic cleansing of the White Australia Policy. Instead it is a subtle phenomena which is perpetuated by individual decisions. Minikel-Lacoque's (2012) break down of the taxonomy of racial microaggression is helpful in considering what psychological underpinnings drive this phenomena of racial segregation based on language backgrounds. This is definitely a case of environmental microaggression at the macro level because this problem is supported by the systemic practice of publishing myschool data. In some cases the racial segregation of students may be perceived as a microinsult regarding the "ascription of intellligence" of LBOTE students: it is possible that English speaking parents are making assumptions that students whose first language is not English are less intelligent and less capable of succeeding in Australian schools.
The Australian Review has published a table using data gleaned from myschool that shows the top ten selective public schools in NSW and the percentage of students with LBOTE at those schools (see http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2011/05/ho.html table 2). Significantly the top performing selective school has 97% of its students with language backgrounds other than English. I think this information that should be gaining as much acclaim as the myschool league tables, as it undercuts any racial microaggression based on assumptions about intelligence.
Ho, C. (May, 2011). ‘My School’
and others: Segregation and white flight. In Australian Review of Public Affairs. Sourced from: http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2011/05/ho.html
Jakubowicz, A. 2009, Cultural
Diversity, Cosmopolitan Citizenship and Education: Issues, Options and
Implications for Australia: A discussion paper for the Australian Education
Union, Sydney.
This is a great blog Emma and one I thoroughly agree with. As great as the My School website may be, I see so many ways in which it is more negative than positive. The theme of segregtion is so blatently obvious it shocks me..
ReplyDeleteOne point I would include is that it does not only segregate non Anglo-Australians it also completely encourages discrimination against Australian Indignous students.
Biologically, race does not exist. Race is "a system of socially constructed and enforced categories that are constantly recreated and modified through human interaction" (Gillborn, 2008, 3). So if this is the case, why does the My School website still encourage this segragation.
I personally don't believe there is a need to give percentages on LBOTE and/or Indigneous students. We need the opposite, it should be the school, the teaching staff and results that ultimately place the institue within its position or staus. The desire to attend a school should be based on the educational outcome rather than who your child will mix with in the palygrond.
Schools can be seen as micropublics where racism can be excluded as students of all different backgrounds mix togeher. Ho's definition of micropublics inspires me, saying micropublics are spaces "where people from diverse backgrounds are forced to negotiate with each other and are sometimes enabled to transcend cultural boundaries" (Ho, 2011, 604). This is as simple as kids sharing their lunch with other kids. These micropublics are spaces that enforce unity rather than segregation.
REFERENCES
Ho, C., 2011, Respecting the Presence of Others; School Micropublics and Everyday Multiculturalism, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 32:6, p 603-619
Gillborn, d., 2008, Racism and Education: Coincidence or Conspiracy?, Routlege