Social Inequality In Australia Discourses Realities And Futures

[Placido Teofilo]

Whileoverall rates of higher education participation among Australians have increased (Norton et al., 2018), students from regional and remote areas are less than half as likely as those from metropolitan areas to attain a university qualification (NCSEHE, 2017). If proportional university participation is a key indicator of success, then clearly higher education equity policy has yet to achieve real impact for this equity group.

The interviews and focus groups centred on the following broad topics, with slightly different questions for each participant group: perceptions of the community; schooling; post-school aspirations; careers activities within schools; and family experiences with higher education and/or vocational education. All student interviews and focus groups were held on school grounds during normal school hours, while interviews with parents/carers and teachers were either held at school or via phone. All interviews and focus groups were digitally audio recorded, with each location and school allocated a pseudonym to protect anonymity. Students were allocated a pseudonym if they did not choose their own.

It is important to acknowledge that our account of these two diverse locations is necessarily shaped by those who agreed to participate and the stories they chose to tell. There are no doubt other perspectives that we were not privy to in this study.

The main industries in and around Oldfields are agriculture, construction, and mining, with thriving employment opportunities in these fields. The school and local farms have traditionally been the main employers in town, but there has been a shift in the way farms operate. As more sophisticated machinery and/or foreign investors take over the farms, there is less need for farmworkers. While there is still interest in working with animals and farming among some young people, others are choosing careers in building and construction and are taking up traineeships prior to finishing school.

We interviewed seven students, three parent/carers, and two teachers at Oldfields Central School (OCS), a combined primary and secondary school, which is also the only government school in the township. The school has almost 300 students, 25% of whom are Indigenous. The high proportion of Indigenous students at the school compared to the much smaller percentage within the general population might be explained by some wealthier families in Oldfields sending their children to private schools outside the community.

While Lars explains that around 20% of the young people go to university, the community is one in which most young people value their rural lifestyle and make choices based on a desire to stay. For many students, there are alternatives to higher education that provide them with appropriate, practical, and desirable pathways into thriving local industries:

Previous research has shown that rural youth leave their communities primarily because of a shortage of educational and employment opportunities (Fray et al., 2019; Eacott & Sonn, 2006). However, in Oldfields and the surrounding area, gainful employment in mining and on the land can be realised without leaving. Nonetheless, a broader range of occupational opportunities is limited in the local area. Young people interested in pursuing study or work in other industries must commute or move away. Students address this reality in practical, matter-of-fact terms:

Tomatillo is a remote community with a population of roughly 4000, of whom approximately 30% are Indigenous. The main industries are agriculture, forestry, and fishing. We interviewed six students, seven parents/carers, and two teachers at the local co-educational school, Tomatillo High School (THS). There are just over 200 students enrolled at THS, with nearly three-quarters Indigenous enrolment. Crime and unemployment are high, and the interviews suggest that drug and alcohol abuse are persistent concerns in the community. Anecdotally, despite the high percentage of families on social benefits, there are also wealthier families who work in the limited employment landscape.

Not surprisingly, THS experiences high teacher turnover, out-of-field teaching, and highly limited subject selection, especially in Years 11 and 12, all of which are recognised as having significant negative impacts on educational advantage and educational outcomes (Alloway & Dalley-Trim, 2009; Cuervo, 2014; Roberts, 2015). Collectively, these realities have a detrimental impact on the culture of the school:

Yet not all students are in a position to conceive of, or pursue, such opportunities. Parent interviews depict a place where aspirations are constrained for students from certain circumstances, imposing a habituated logic on how they can imagine their futures:

There are lots of kids in Tomatillo who probably don't have a parent or a relative or anyone that has been to university, but they still have great potential and would love to go. There's no one there sort of showing them the steps on this is what you have to do to get in there. It'd be great to see more contact with universities so that it becomes normal to these children that okay it is a pathway that I can choose and it's not just the ones who have a parent that went to university. It can be for anyone. (Margit, parent)

In Oldfields, the lens of doxic and habituated aspirations has illuminated the complexity that lies at the heart of aspiration formation and how young people can be pulled in different directions. This case study teases out some of the intricacies involved in decision making about the future which is in stark contrast to policy discourse which simply focuses on the end goal of increased access to higher education.

It is also important to recognise how valorisation of the urban ideal affects rural communities. As shifts in the economy result in shrinking rural populations, school enrolments decline, ultimately leading to incentives for families of school-aged children to leave, causing further community depopulation, and the cycle continues (Roberts, 2015). Tomatillo highlights how economic downturns and social shifts directly impact employment and community vitality, indeed putting a spotlight on the chronic precariousness of employment that troubles many remote Australian communities (Alston & Kent, 2003; Corbett & Forsey, 2017; Dalley-Trim & Alloway, 2010).

This research is funded by the Australian Department of Education (Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program). The authors wish to acknowledge the support provided by Julie Bowe, Matthew Harper, Tammy Hunter, Adam Lloyd, Bettina North, Brooke Rosser, and Wendy Taggart in the process of data collection.

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