Access to education and equality of opportunity This essay will look at wether access to education and training is instrumental in promoting equality of opportunity in today’s Australia. The discussion will start with a description of the role of education and training in our society, it will continue with the identification of various social groups and the factors influencing their access to education in all its forms. Current policies will also be examined and commented on and it will look at ways that the community can support disadvantaged groups to move towards a greater equality of opportunity. The essay will conclude with a list of recommendations that could enable greater equality of opportunity in our society. The role of
The immediacy of the economic situation forces people into work. On the other hand if a student comes from a more affluent social group where it is likely that either one or both of the adults are professionals and there exists a history of scholarship with all its attendant resources such as books, encouragement and better schools: these students will tend to perform better later in life. This economic imbalance as stated by Dowling (2007) is also perpetuated by the funding model adopted by the Federal government which results in Independent schools receiving more then twice that off public schools. An article by Ross Douthat in the Atlantic Magazine (2005) shows the economic reality, “Native intelligence and academic achievement do lift many poor students into college. But especially where elite colleges are concerned, students from well-off families have a big advantage. The figures are stark. If you hope to obtain a bachelor's degree by age twenty-four, your chances are roughly one in two if you come from a family with an annual income over $90,000; roughly one in four if your family's income falls between $61,000 and $90,000; and slightly better than one in ten if it is between $35,000 and $61,000. For high schoolers whose families make less than $35,000 a year the chances are around one in seventeen.” Australian governments both State and Federal have various policies that promote equality of opportunity for education and training. In