Discuss how Australian schools are meeting the challenge of equity and

access for ESL students as a minority group

Monica Sharpe (18795006)

The Melbourne Declaration on Education Goals for Young Australians states that

the Australian schooling system is to be one of equity and excellence (p.7) in

which all students are supplied high-quality education, free from discrimination

(Ministerial Council on Education, Training and Youth Affairs, 2008). In an

educational landscape as diverse as that of Australia, this presents a challenge to

Australian schools, and especially teachers, to engage in reflexive practices to

ensure the differentiation of curriculum and pedagogy for their diverse

population of students. The following discussion will focus on the experience of,

and policy surrounding, one minority group in the Australian school system,

English as Second Language (ESL) students. Bourdieus (1990) theory of

language as a form of cultural capital will be applied in order to explore the way

in which language operates in the classroom as a form of power with the

potential to either enable or restrict students access to equitable education.

Current Australian educational policy, especially that surrounding the

implementation of and focus upon the National Assessment Program for Literacy

and Numeracy (NAPLAN) results will then be discussed. It will be suggested that

a focus upon standardized testing and meeting international literacy

benchmarks, leads to the framing of ESL students as deficit within schools, and

presents a barrier for equitable education practices. It will be concluded that

reflexive teaching practices are essential in meeting the challenge of equity for
ESL students, and that pedagogies of reconnection (Comber & Kamler, 2016,

p.1) are a pathway by which this can be achieved.

Within the Australian context, ESL students are a substantial minority that

schools and teachers must take into account in meeting the challenge of

delivering equitable education for all. In 2011, there were 224,794 students

enrolled in NSW public school who had a language background other that

English, accounting for 29.7% of all students (NSW Department of Education and

Communities, 2011). In 2005, in NSW public schools alone, there were 6,690

students who were new arrivals to Australia (Hoddinot, 2006). It is clear that

ESL students are a prominent part of the Australian education landscape whose

needs must be taken into account in delivering equitable education. In order to

discuss the needs of ESL students, it is important to differentiate between

equality and equity in terms of education. Whereas principles of equality would

suggest that all students should be treated in exactly the same way, principles of

equity recognize the different needs and merits of all students (Collins & OBrien

2011). In terms of ESL students acting in terms of equity means recognizing that

these students have different language needs and abilities compared to their

English-speaking classmates, and that curriculum, pedagogy and assessment

needs to be differentiated to take into account these differences.

Bourdieus (1990) sociological theory of fields and capital can be used to analyse

power relations between speakers of the dominant language and ESL students

within the classroom. Bourdieu conceived of society as a series of interrelated

fields in which capital, in the form of economic, cultural and social assets, are
exchanged and transformed into a variety of goods. Within these fields, holders

of symbolic power designate value to individuals capital that then allows that

individual access to certain goods. The education system, schools, and

classrooms are interrelated fields in which such exchanges take place. Within the

educational field many structures, including government agencies, policy

documents, assessments, curriculum documents and school districts, interact to

determine capital that will count in a variety of ways (Dwarte 2015). Bourdieu

conceived of language as form of cultural capital that is exchanged within the

education field. Bourdieu suggested that generally one dominant language is

legitimized and privileged within the social field. Speakers of that dominant

language possess a form of cultural capital that is valuable, while speakers of

other languages have a cultural capital, in the form of language, which is

considered less valuable (Luke, 2009). This value is assigned not only be

institutional power, but also by teachers who have the ability to accept the

normative terms of exchange within their classroom, or resist by valuing non-

dominant language (Dwarte, 2015). This capital will either allow students to

attain positions of privilege and success within the classroom, or restrict such

access.

This theoretical framework can be used to analyse the power relationships that

operate within Australian classrooms between teachers, English speaking

students and ESL students. In Australia the dominant language in education is

English; it is the language of education policy, curriculum documents and the

language used in mainstream classrooms. In this environment, unless there is

significant resistance to the dominant discourse by the teacher, English speaking

students possess valuable cultural capital (Luke, 2009). This capital can be

transformed into certain goods, for example they are construed as competent

learners, good communicators and intelligent students (Luke, 2009). ESL

students possess a cultural capital in the form of language that is not considered

as valuable. In such an environment there is a danger that ESL students can be

positioned as deficit, or problem, students (Dwarte 2015). Although they may

possess excellent literacy and communication skills in their native language, this

is not a valuable form of cultural capital, because it is not the dominant language

(Luke, 2009). This lack of valuable cultural capital can be interpreted or

transformed in such a way that ESL students are positioned as having low

potential, low communication abilities and low intelligence (Luke, 2009). This

limits their access to goods that would profit their life chances, for example

good marks in NAPLAN and the HSC, and therefore entry into higher education

Instead, they can be positioned as unable to perform academically and enrolled

in reductive literacy programs that do not take into account the literacy skills

they already possess (Dwarte 2015). This is a form of symbolic violence upon

ESL students that will lead to the reproduction of inequality within Australian

schools.

Bourdieus (1990) theory of power relations in the education field can be used to

assess the effect of current education policy and practice on ESL students in

Australia. One such trend is the emphasis in the NAPLAN test as a means of

assessing student literacy. Within the Australian context in the last two decades,

there has been a shift towards the used of standardized tests as a way of

measuring the quality of schools, teaching and students (Hannan, 2009). This has
occurred for a number of reasons. Since the late 1990s there has been a

perceived literacy crisis within Australian, with Australian school students

falling substantially below their international counterparts in basic literacy and

numeracy benchmarks (Hannan, 2009). This perceived crisis has been met with

a new focus on standardized national testing, and eventually the implementation

of NAPLAN in 2008. Since its implementation politicians have focused

educational policy, almost solely on the improvement of NAPLAN results

(Creagh, 2014). This is evident in NSW from Premier Mike Bairds 2015 state

plan, NSW: Making it Happen. This document which outlines the goals used to

monitor the state governments performance is a wide array of areas, including

education, has only one education goal; to increased the proportion of NSW

students in the top two NAPLAN bands by 8% (NSW Government, 2015). The

release of the MySchool website, which publishes specific schools NAPLAN

results and is accessed by parents, further foregrounds NAPLAN results as the

epitome of quality education (Creagh, 2014). However, there is a substantial

body of research that suggests that the NAPLAN test is problematic for ESL

students (Creagh, 2014; Hannan, 2009; Freeman 2013). The NAPLAN tests are

based around Statements of Learning that represent common English and

Mathematics knowledge, skills, understands and capacities (ACARA, 2011).

Creagh (2014) argues that these Statements are problematic for ESL students

because they assume both English as a 1st language and that all students have

had a linear and cumulative schooling experience (p.27).

In the Australian context, this excessive focus on NAPLAN results at the level of

government and policy has negative effects on equitable education practices for
ESL students. For teachers, there is extreme pressure to perform well in NAPLAN

which has led to a trend of teachers teaching to the test, that is, only focusing on

the skills needed in NAPLAN (Hannan, 2009). This can result in a narrowing of

curriculum and a restrictive view of literacy as the development of English

language skills only (Creagh, 2014). In this situation, no matter effort or personal

progress, ESL students will always be viewed as failures, with problem literacy

abilities (Freeman, 2013). Research has shown that it takes ESL learners 3-5

years to develop basic oral proficiency in English and between 4-7 years to attain

academic English proficiency (Freeman, 2015). However, the NAPLAN test is

constructed in such a way that this is not taken into account, because the test is

entirely based upon age, rather than length of exposure to the English language.

Therefore it is entirely unrealistic for many ESL students (Freeman, 2015). For

example, a twelve-year old student who is a new arrival to Australia is forced to

sit the Year 7 NAPLAN test, even though they may have had less than 6 months of

exposure to English. This immediately frames ESL students as deficit and fails to

recognize their native literacy skills as having any kind of value in the Australian

classroom. In the language of Bourdieu, a focus on the NAPLAN test reinforces a

dominant, and inequitable discourse, which assesses English language skills as

the only valuable form of cultural capital in the form of language. It makes it

extremely difficult for Australian teachers to challenge such a discourse and re-

assess language skills other than English as valuable. When ESL students are

denied access to any form of valuable cultural capital, in terms of language, their

access to other goods that affect their life chances, for example good grades and

confidence, is also denied.

In an educational context that includes policies that inherently disadvantage ESL

students, individual teachers have a special responsibility to resist dominant

discourses and implement equitable practices within their classroom. This

requires teachers to engage in ongoing processes of critical reflection, or

reflexivity (Ferfolja, Diaz & Ullam, 2015). The first step in the process of

reflexivity is a teachers recognition that her own identity, attitudes and values

have been culturally constructed and will affect her pedagogical practices

(Ferfolja et al, 2015). For white, middle class teachers who have English as their

first language, this can be a difficult, and somewhat painful process, in which

they become aware of a system in which they are deeply embedded and that has

afforded them particular privilege. Once teachers are aware that their values and

attitudes have been constructed in such a way as to often unconsciously dismiss

language skills other than English as insignificant, they can begin to challenge

such a dominant discourse. They can recognize their own position of power

within the classrooms as the symbolic power holder who has the ability to

change the rules of exchange within their own classroom (Luke 2009). They can

then begin the process of researching their own students different literacy skills,

recognize them and re-assessing them as a valuable form of cultural capital. They

can also begin to engage with a variety of research- based policy documents that

recognize the importance of native languages in students education. For

example in terms of Indigenous languages the Indigenous Languages Report

states that where indigenous languages are spoken fully, and passed on,

governments need to recognize and work with these languages in order to Close

the Gap (Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, 2009,
p.1). Although the government has chosen to ignore such findings, it does not

follow that individual teachers need do the same.

In order to deliver equitable education for ESL students, curriculum and

pedagogy needs to be differentiated to draw out the knowledge that the students

already possess. Rather than being framed as deficit, students need to be re

positioned as having high potential learners who possess valuable funds of

knowledge that can be used as a resource within the classroom (Comber &

Kamler, 2004). These kinds of pedagogical practices are referred to as

pedagogies of reconnection (Comber & Kamler, 2004, pg.1) because instead of

focusing on knowledge that students do not have, they re-connect with what

students already know and use those skills and knowledge as resources through

which new skills and knowledge can be gained. In her research, Jacqueline

Dwarte (2015) reports upon a unit of work in a classroom with students from a

variety of different language backgrounds. In the unit the students were

encouraged to research each others language and cultural backgrounds and

analyse the data that was collected. They discussed their own and others ability

to translate and live in bilingual and multilingual classrooms. These abilities and

skills were framed as positive and important by the teacher and were then used

to design a set of English unit that focused on multimodal and multilingual texts

and skills. Dwarte reports that used these kind of pedagogies of reconnection

allowed students to reflect upon and recognize their own literacy skills as

valuable and diverse which increased a sense of agency in their own learning. In

this kind of classroom ESL students regain access to educational goods, such as

good grades and confidence that is denied them in classrooms which reinforce
dominant discourses valuing English as the only legitimate form of language skill

(Dwarte, 2015). With such access ESL students life chances are greatly

improved and inequalities that exist within society are not reproduced in the

classroom.

It is essential that teachers recognize that their classrooms are domains of power

in which inequalities that exist in society can either be reproduced or challenged.

An understanding of Bourdieus (1990) theory of fields and language as a form of

cultural capital, allows teachers to analyse the interactions of power that takes

place within their classrooms between speakers of English as the dominant

language, and ESL students. It also allows them to recognize that there are

aspects of Australian educational policy that is inherently disadvantageous to

ESL students, such as the focus on NAPLAN as a benchmark for literacy. In the

face of such policy, teacher need to engage in reflexive practices, implementing

pedagogies of reconnection (Comber and Kamler, 2004, pg.1) to ensure ESL

students access to equitable education.

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