Education department policy constructions within highly political contexts: a critical policy study of multiculturalism

ABSTRACT

This article provides a critical analysis of policies from two education systems that support the education of students from migrant backgrounds. This analysis examines the highly political policy context of multiculturalism to reveal how education systems acquiesce to or resist social and political forces. In making this case, the article presents an historical analysis of the Australian federal government’s multicultural policy and the events that shaped it. The article then presents an analysis of the national policy statement Multicultural Australia: United, Strong, Successful to understand the current federal position on multiculturalism. These analyses provide an understanding of the political rationality of the broader context. This article argues that education policy constructions are likely to reflect this political rationality. Against this backdrop it then examines primary policies from two education systems that relate to education for students from migrant and refugee backgrounds. The key argument is that, whilst the federal government attends to concerns about security, social integration and economic contributions, education departments can ‘resist’ and attend to broader issues related to educational equity and social justice.

KEYWORDS:

• Critical policy analysis
• education policy
• multiculturalism
• politics
• social justice

Notes on contributors

Anna Sullivan is Director of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion and Professorial Lead at the University of South Australia. Her research focuses on the ways in which policy and practice includes and/or excludes those who are most vulnerable in education.

Neil Tippett is a Research Fellow at the University of South Australia. He is currently as a chief investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant investigating school exclusionary policies and practices and their impact. His research focuses on student behaviour, school bullying and wellbeing.

Jamie Manolev is a PhD candidate at UniSA Education Futures, University of South Australia. His developing research interests include critical studies in education, and understanding the ways in which power operates through educational processes and systems.

Melanie Baak is a Senior Lecturer at the University of South Australia. Her research focuses on areas of equity and inclusion, particularly in schools, with a focus on culturally and linguistically diverse students, refugee education and resettlement.

Bruce Johnson is Emeritus Professor at the University of South Australia. His research interests include human resilience, early career teachers, classroom management and sexuality education.

Disclosure of potential conflicts of interest

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. This paper is an outcome of the Refugee Student Resilience Study funded by the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme (LP170100145). The following organisations contributed funds and/or in-kind support to this project:

• Brisbane Catholic Education, Queensland

• Department of Education, Queensland

• Department for Education, South Australia

• Catholic Education South Australia

• Brisbane Australian Refugee Association

2. Coalition Government: The political parties, Liberal Party of Australia and the National Party of Australia, have formed a long-term alliance on the centre-right which is commonly known as the Liberal–National Coalition (16 December 2020, Wikipedia).

3. Labor Government: The Australian Labor Party, also simply known as Labor, is a major political party in Australia, which describes itself as ‘centre-left’ (16 December 2020, Australian Labor Party website).

4. Pauline Hanson: An Australian politician who co-founded the One Nation party. She has been a strident opponent of multiculturalism and views it as divisive to Australian society, and a threat to the traditional character of the nation. (Jupp 2007)

5. John Howard: Prime Minister of Australia between 1996 and 2007, and ‘had a long record of opposition to the concept of multiculturalism’ (Jupp 2007 p. 94). As Prime Minister, he actively dismantled much of the governmental infrastructure that had been established to develop and support multicultural policy, and even ‘refused to use the word “multiculturalism” in public until the late 1990s’ (Jupp 2007 p. 52).

6. Tampa affair: The ‘Tampa’ was a Norwegian container ship which rescued several hundred Afghani asylum seekers from a sinking vessel in international waters. The ship was refused entry into Australian waters by the Australian Government. The ship was later commandeered by Australian troops to prevent the asylum seekers reaching Australian territory. Under Australian control the ship delivered the asylum seekers to Nauru. ‘The “Tampa Crisis” became the catalyst for Australia’s resultant border protection policy’. (15 December 2020, National Museum Australia website)

7. September 11 terrorist attacks: On 11 September 2002 Four US commercial jetliners were hijacked. Two jets were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, one into the Pentagon in Washington DC and another crashed in rural Pennsylvania. Around 3 000 people were killed. These attacks have been acknowledged as the world’s worst terrorist attack in history (Commonwealth of Australia, 2002). Subsequently, the Australian government responded in multiple ways to combat the war on terrorism.

8. Bali bombings: The Bali bombings is the name given to a terrorist attack that targeted tourist hotspots in Bali killing 202 people, 88 of which were Australian. It has been ‘the single largest loss of Australian life due to an act of terror’ in Australia’s history. (15 December 2020, National Museum Australia website)

9. Cronulla race riots: The Cronulla race riots were a violent two-day protest driven by growing racial tensions in Sydney, Australia. The riots began when a largely Anglo-Australian crowd descended on the Sydney beachside suburb of Cronulla to ‘reclaim the beach from outsiders’. Racially motivated violence erupted with the crowd targeting people of middle eastern appearance. The riots lasted for two days. The ‘Events at Cronulla renewed the national debate about multiculturalism and Australian values’. (15 December 2020, National Museum Australia website)

10. London bombings: The London bombings were a coordinated terrorist attack on the London transit system that killed 39 people. The terrorists were four young British men that had been radicalised. Two months after the attacks the militant Islamist organisation al-Qaeda claimed partial responsibility for the bombings. (15 December 2020, Encyclopedia Britannica website)

11. Lindt Café siege: The Lindt Café siege was an armed siege that took place in a Lindt Café in Sydney. The siege was carried out by Man Monis, a man who claimed to be an Islamic State operative. Two of the eighteen hostages died in the siege, along with the hostage-taker. The siege ended when police stormed the café almost eighteen hours after it began. (15 December 2020, Australian Institute of Disaster Resilience website)

12. Minister Dutton’s commentary on African gangs: In 2018, Peter Dutton was head of the newly formed Department of Home Affairs, bringing under his control ‘departments from border protection, to immigration, multicultural affairs and the nation’s security agencies’. During this time ‘a series of crimes linked to Australians of African heritage in Victoria’ took place. Minister Dutton provided extensive media commentary on the crimes blaming African gangs for them ‘and suggesting Victorians were scared to go out’. (SBS News, 23 April 2020)

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme [LP170100145].