The effects of Multiculturalism on the Australian education system

Hi guys,
Just thought I'd post this to get some ideas on what you think. This is an essay that is due for one of my other courses this semester in education- Socio-Cultural Politics of Education. Yes, as the name suggests -YUK! It is due on Friday 5th OCt so if anyone has any comments feel free to let me know.

Education systems around the world have developed school curricula to include all knowledge’s and values that a society deems to be important to know, for the continual progress and advancement of that society. But living in a country that promotes an effective and functioning multicultural society, how are the knowledge’s and values of each group that makeup this multicultural society in Australia promoted through the education? Who decides what knowledge’s and values should be included in the curriculum and which should not? In addressing this issue of multiculturalism in the school curriculum, the Australian Capital Territory’s (ACT) new curriculum document Every Chance to Learn, will be analysed and critiqued on how it provides for different cultural groups within the territory in relation to the subject area of Physical Education and Health. It should be noted the territory has a different approach to curriculum implementation to its neighbour, New South Wales (NSW). While the NSW Board of Studies develops school curriculum, schools and classroom teachers statewide then implement it in the classroom. In opposition The ACT Department of Education and Training has developed a broad document, which encompasses Essential Learning Achievements (ELA’s). These ELA’s embrace knowledge’s and values that should be known by certain levels of schooling, but then leaves the individual school to develop their own curriculum encompassing these ELA’s. The history of multiculturalism in Australia will be considered in this critique of the document as well as current debates over the future of Australian education and curriculum.

Curriculum is a strategic plan for student learning, which defines what students need to know, understand, do and value and includes all learning planned and guided by schools and preschools (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p3). But in a society such as the ACT, that has so many diverse cultures how is it decided on what to include in the Physical Education and Health curriculum? The Australian Capital Territories new curriculum document: Every Chance to Learn proposes four educational purposes that underlie this change in curriculum development. The purpose of this new curriculum is to develop each student attending school in the ACT: as a lifelong learner; as a person who can discover and develop their capabilities and talents; as a community member who participates in the social and economic life of their community; and as a contributor to their local, national and global society (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p6). In an attempt to achieve these four educational purposes, the developers of the new curriculum in consultation with all stakeholders within the education system developed twenty-six Essential Learning Achievement’s, which they believe identifies learning that is essential for students to know, understand, value and be able to do from preschool to the end of compulsory schooling- year 10. To examine all twenty-six Essential Learning Achievements here would not allow sufficient time to appraise and scrutinize, so the ELA’s that are relevant to Physical Education and Health will be examined. The first six ELA’s are considered to be multi-disciplinary. These include the student to: use a range of strategies to think and learn; understands and applies to inquiry process; make considered decisions; acts with integrity and regard for others; contributes to group effectiveness; and uses Information and Communication Technologies effectively (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p15-42). It is expected that all curriculum areas will attempt to address these first six ELA’s in the individual frameworks.

The following ELA’s relate to the area of Physical Education and Health. The student takes action to promote health and well-being by understanding, valuing and practising ways of developing and maintaining all these aspects of a healthy and balanced lifestyle, but this can only be achieved through the development of the skills of decision-making, planning, risk analysis, problem solving and the ability to critically analyse health information and services (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p101). The second ELA exclusive to Physical Education and Health involves the student to be physically skilled and actively acknowledges the important role of physical activity in providing opportunities for the student to grow personally, to enjoy physical activity and to provide the student with many challenges, in maintaining a healthy lifestyle and promotes the understanding that everyone has the right to participate in active lifestyles (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p107). The final ELA to be considered under the Physical Education ‘umbrella’ is, the student manages self and relationships. Through this, the student can understand and value their own personal identity and the need for positive relationships with others, which develops connectedness to their community and therefore be able to cope with changes to relationships and develop resilience when facing many of life’s challenges (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2006, p112). The nature of the ACT education system allows for these ELA’s to be interpreted and implemented according to what the school community believes students need to know, understand, do and value (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 3). Organisations and people need to be responsive to changes in local, national and global contexts and schools need to be part of this if they are to remain relevant and meet community needs. This is especially important in relation to the changing environment of the nation as we continue to receive migrants from cultures around the world and therefore foster relations between our nation and the cultural ‘homes’ of ‘new’ Australians (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 5). For this reason, the flexibility enabled by school-based curriculum in the ACT helps schools to respond to the changing demographic within schools and the changing global context that the school operates in (ACT Department of Education and Training, 2004, p 5). But how do schools determine what and whose knowledge’s and values should be included when teaching, according to the new Every Chance to Learn curriculum framework and the ELA’s? To answer this, the history of multiculturalism and its influence on education in Australia from the beginning of immigration until the present day need to be analysed to determine the direction of future curriculum.

“What is, who is, an Australian?” This question about the Australian identity was proposed by Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007, p176) and in an attempt to answer this they turned to the education system as playing a major role in developing this image. The education of citizens about our Australian nation through our history and our observance of many nationalist practices has developed this image of ‘what is an Australian’. But this image of the self has changed significantly from the image portrayed in the 1950’s and 60’s history curriculum, due to the increase in migrants who now call Australia home. Blainey (as cited in Fitzgerald, 2007) acknowledged that the history taught in the Australian education system during the post-World War Two immigration boom, ‘undervalued indigenous history and uncritically promoted Australia’s British Heritage…’ Fitzgerald (2007) supports Blainey: the ‘contributions and sufferings of women, Indigenous Australians and of non-Anglo-Celtic migrant has to often been ignored.’ Through this one-sided presentation of our history Donnelly (as cited in Fitzgerald, 2007), accepts that there is truth to the argument that education can be used …to impose a one-sided view of the world. Hooks, (1994, p37) reminds us that ‘no education is politically neutral’. The curriculum is used as a tool to promote certain ideas and ignore others, which is demonstrated by the omittance of the struggle of minority groups throughout Australia’s history and the promotion of the ‘Australian Self’. This ‘Australian Self’ is the ideal of Australia and Australians, which is advanced through our institutions, politics and the media (Wadham, Pudsey & Boyd, 2007, p171). Through this, it attempts to connect all Australians to a notion of our nation and its people, but what if an individual does not fit this imagined ‘self?’ Schools have always been places where nationalism and patriotism has been encouraged, but they are also places where ethnic conflict can be fuelled and feed and can feed off, broader cultural violence, and we usually come back to the question “What is, who is, an Australian?” as the trigger. The production of a nation is usually based upon the beliefs, values and ideals of some group of people over another. Singh’s (1997, p12) recount of growing up Asian in Australia: ‘Through their silences, through the narratives which remain untold, and through the construction of passive, inferior roles for white women, immigrants and colonised people, these stories of my schooling degraded and defiled my identity,’ supports this notion of production of an ‘ideal self’ based on those standards of a certain few.

It is hard to believe that racism can evolve but according to Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd (2007, p199) the ‘new’ racism is based on cultural difference rather than the ‘old’ racism of earlier times, of race inferiority. It “appeals to sameness as opposed to difference…but has the same effect of determining the other as different or not-the-same” (Wadham, Pudsey and Boyd, 2007, p199). In response to this racism and the emerging multiculturalism in Australia, there were three distinct phases in response to immigrants. There was an expectation that immigrants would eventually ‘fit in’ to the dominant Anglo-Australian culture, which characterised the first phase. There was then a shift to tolerance and a respect for diversity that the migrants brought to the nation, and this still continues today. But the third phase has shifted its focus from the human and cultural assets to the economic assets that have emerged from the multicultural diversity in our country (Hage, 1998, p129). But what can be done in our schools and through the use of the curriculum to increase the value of diversity and mutual understanding in our students? Lets first look at the classroom. Hooks (1994) believes that for the learning experience to be inclusive, the classroom setting needs to change and as teachers, our styles of teaching also have to be flexible to change (p35). By creating a classroom that is democratic, all students feel a responsibility to contribute, and this is a major goal of Hooks’ (1994, p39) transformative pedagogy. Through this democratic setting, a sense of community is fostered where there can be a shared commitment to learning and a ‘common good that binds’ all that are part of the classroom community (Hooks, 1994, p40). This in turn encourages recognition of all voices within the classroom. Hooks (1994) does acknowledge that this inclusive classroom may take a while to progress to this level of understanding of diversity and recognition, mainly because teachers and students alike ‘have to learn to accept different ways of knowing’ (p41), but by changing pedagogy and recognising our multicultural society, we can give our students an education they desire and deserve.

The Australian Ethnic Affairs Council (AEAC) have defined multiculturalism ‘as people’s legitimate right to preserve their ethnic and cultural identity while accepting the responsibilities of common citizenship (Jamrozik, Boland & Urquhart, 1995, p104). Multiculturalism means many things to many people, so to define it is quite hard, but to accept it and incorporate others’ beliefs, values and ideals into our society is achievable. Smolicz (as cited in Jamrozik, Boland & Urquhart, 1995, p111) believes that a multicultural society is realistic and he proposes a means to achieve it. Firstly the various cultures within the Australian society need to be identified and these various core values of each of these cultures are also identified. From these core values from all the different cultures, an umbrella of common core values is proposed. Perhaps this approach could be utilised for the Australian education systems’ various curriculum’s, where schools with high cultural demographic could employ Smolicz’s theory to develop an inclusive and culturally diverse curriculum framework. In regards to the Australian Capital Territory’s new Every Chance to Learn curriculum framework, the broad nature of the Essential Learning Achievement’s and the very nature of school-based curriculum would allow for schools to develop their own way of addressing the ELA’s while making the content delivered through the curriculum relevant to the students changing needs and the changing needs of the global context which the school operates.

History has shaped the ‘Australian Self’, sometimes at the expense of the truth and at the neglect of minority and other cultural groups. Multiculturalism brings diversity and instead of embracing what these cultures had to offer the Australian nation, people in positions of significant power have jostled to exert their opinions on how the ‘Australian image’ should be portrayed. This has usually been through the education system as it has much influence over the promotion of ideals and values. If the education system can embrace the changes that are occurring locally, nationally and globally in relation to the movement of people and goods around the globe through globalisation, and incorporate these changes into the curriculum, the only thing that can come of it is advancement of the Australian nation, not only through tolerance, but understanding and acceptance of our many differences. Only then we can embrace and celebrate the changes in our nation and truly call ourselves a multicultural country.

Reference List:

ACT Department of Education and Training. (2004) Every Chance to Learn: Curriculum Renewal Discussion Paper. Produced for the ACT Department of Education and Training by Publishing Services.


Fitzgerald, R. (2007, March 17). Dumbing Down. The Australian. Retrieved September 20, 2007, from http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/


Hage, G. (1998). White multiculturalism: a manual for the proper usage of ethnics (Ch.4). In White nation: Fantasies of white supremacy in a multicultural society, (pp117-140). Annandale, NSW: Pluto Press.


Hooks, B. (1994). Embracing change: teaching in a multicultural world (Ch. 3). In Teaching to transgress: education as the practice of freedom (pp.35-44). New York: Routledge.


Jamrozik, A., Boland, C and Urquhart, R. (1995). The meanings of Multiculturalisms. In Social change and cultural transformation in Australia (pp. 103-116). Cambridge, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.


Singh, P. (1997). On Speaking as an “Asian” teacher. Education Links, 54, pp. 11-15.


Wadham, B., Pudsey, J. & Boyd, R. (2007) Culture and Nation. (1st ed.) Pearson Education Australia: N.S.W