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Australia: A Multicultural Education Experiment

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The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to critically review the Australian research literature from 1980 to 2017 on the relationship between race and ethnicity, education and social inequality. The chapter begins with a discussion of the Australian education system, and also Australia’s changing immigration patterns and immigration policy. An assimilation policy gave way to a multiculturalism policy from 1973 to 1979, which has radically altered the experience of migrants from all cultural backgrounds up to the present time. The points-based selection migration system began to emerge in the 1970s and replaced a system based on country of origin to one based on personal, social and occupational attributes. In this review, in addition to studies of European migrant children, a separate treatment of Asian migrants, refugees and indigenous Australians is provided, as their profiles regarding education and inequality require a different set of sociological variables and processes. The deficit model in various forms still prevails for explanations of low attainments for the indigenous Australians and to a lesser extent, to refugees, while a language and culture model dominate studies of European migrant children. Children of refugee migrants have unique experiences of trauma and interrupted schooling which have been given special programs. Multiculturalism and the current points-based migration policy have proven to be successful, but continue to be contested policies for reducing educational inequalities between migrants and non-migrants. The educational attainment gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Australians has closed, but it is still substantial, and many indigenous youth remain educationally disadvantaged. Implications of these findings and directions for future research on the migration and education topic are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Lawrence J. Saha

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  1. Lawrence J. Saha
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Correspondence to Lawrence J. Saha .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

    Peter A. J. Stevens

  2. Department of Sociology, The University of Houston, Houston, TX, USA

    A. Gary Dworkin

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Saha, L.J. (2019). Australia: A Multicultural Education Experiment. In: Stevens, P.A.J., Dworkin, A.G. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Race and Ethnic Inequalities in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94724-2_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94724-2_3

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