Places Of Education Need example essay topic

What is education? What are the challenges facing those who provide it? Education is a crucial part of life, it influences the way people think, speak, talk, write and react to the world around them. However, education is much more than just an influence, it is a part of life itself. Throughout the past century, education has dramatically called upon change and variation, with new technology, science, and both ethical and cultural values making way. Hence, education can really only be defined by its time and place.

This means that as educators, we need to continually update our qualifications and skills to be in equilibrium with the constant changes that are happening around us, which is a challenge all educators face (Dusseldorp 1998). Functionalism is the idea that there should be an even balance in society, which is achieved through the various roles played by the different parts of society (Walker & Loughland 2001). This idea is based on the ideals that everyone in society has a role to play, and everyone also has an equal chance to play each role. But instead, it can clearly be seen that education has otherwise been used as a sorting mechanism, ever since education became compulsory in 1880. McBurney-Fry (2002: 6) states that one of the purposes of education is "to sort and distribute people into appropriate roles such as occupational hierarchies, employment and life chances".

It can easily be seen that this way of sorting is not always fair, but instead children are sorted into various groups, such as race, gender, cultural background, ethnicity, religion and academic ability, rather then providing equal opportunities for everyone. Therefore, educators need to teach a group of individuals rather than teaching a class of children. By not treating each child as an individual with different learning capabilities, the challenge of creating a fair chance for each child will never be met. Educational institutions should try their hardest to restore this balance, and provide an equal opportunity for each child for their futures to come. Kalantzis (1998) argued that one of the main objectives of education is to prepare young people for the world of employment, but through the continuous development of postFordism this objective can be an extremely hard job for educators.

No longer can your expect a stable career path with perhaps the slightest of job changes, instead, the average person passes through at least 7 very different careers during their life. Moreover, with new fields of work constantly being created, there is a large demand for people with the right qualifications and skills (Kalantzis 1998). Finding the right people with such skills can be a hard task, unless educational institutions such as schools, takes and universities are continually updating the subjects they teach and their teaching methods (Dusseldorp 1998). Along with changing careers is technology, the most rapidly developing resource on the planet. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics, 66% of Australian households have access to at least one computer at home and over 72% of households have access to mobile phones.

Quality Education Data have also surveyed that just over 90% of school teachers feel "unprepared" to effectively use technology. This statistic really concretes a point; educators are not keeping up with technology, and in consequence are slowing down the ability for children to gain experience with technology. Today we live in a world that solely relies on technology, and not being able to effectively use this technology can be a real problem. As technology changes more and more, educators will only find it harder to keep their skills up-to-date unless they are consistent in keeping up with the move.

Education also strives to imitate and 'mirror' the ways society works, through both structure and organisation (McBurney-Fry 2002). It slowly prepares children to face the reality of adult life where there will be winners and losers, consequences for wrong actions, responsibility, reliability and also independence. Education also provides a place where students can participate in the various processes of the government, which helps to develop the children's confidence and familiarity with how an organized society works (Kalantzis 1998). Kelly (1996 p. 1) stats that: If our society didn't have schooling, we would invent it.

Without our teachers and schools, there would be no process whereby all of Australia's citizens could participate in a common experience based on common values. We can see through this that schooling, as a part of education, provides the process whereby all Australians are taught the same common values, in order that together, we function properly as a society. There is a large number of children in society today, that lack 'cultural capital', due to their parents unsuccessful school experiences and / or careers paths. It has been believed that through these experiences, parents shape their children's education and life chances (Burnett, Tait & Mead more 2004). This means that some children come to school without the resources, understandings, knowledge and skills that many other children already have.

These children may not feel comfortable in a school situation and may only find it threatening, in addition these students may even feel alienated and confused in the classroom, which exposes a huge challenge to us as educators. Teachers must therefore create a welcoming, hospitable and inviting classroom environment that is both supportive and inclusive (Walker & Loughland 2001). Places of education need to serve linguistic and cultural diversity, which is achieved through the sharing and transmitting of both culture and language (Kalantzis 1998) (Emm it, Pollock & Komesaroff 2003). Schools need to become a place that embraces and understands multicultural and indigenous languages, but also a place that standardizes the common 'colonizer' language. Australia has become a surpassingly diverse country with a very wide cultural diversity, ranging from indigenous communities to asylum seekers and to the gay and lesbian communities. Educators therefore need to assist every individual child no matter what cultural or linguistic background they are from.

Kalantzis (1998) argues that the focus of education is becoming increasingly responsive to the highly competitive market approach, but instead, this focus should firmly be put back into the individuals, no matter what social class or religious background they are. And in consequence, "schools and education are now reflecting economic and political interests and agendas". (Burnett et al. 2004). This also has caused an ever progressing gap between both private and government schools, as Phillip Adams comments, The private school system is, in essence, about exclusion, privilege, religious or caste definition.

There's no denying that many of the best schools in the country are private schools. But whatever can be said in their favour, they are tribal and socially divisive. (2003, p. 15) Together as educators we need to marginalize the cultural and religious differences, in order that the social status gap between state schools and private schools disappears. It has been almost three decades since the first gender issues appeared on education policy agendas in Australia. Since then, many women's movements have addressed the government concerning girls' unequal outcomes in education.

But now the concern has switched the opposite way, the strategies of improving the education of girls has gone way to far, where for the boys are being left behind and disadvantaged (Burnett et al. 2004). There are now more girls completing the full 12 years of school and proceeding onto university, although this does not mean girls are more advantaged in the workplace or income. This gender inequity in education has somewhat to do with the construction of masculinity and femininity that make up school life, which can be created through the absence of sexes in certain school practises (Hayes & Lingard 2003). Such an example would include the role of males in a primary school, where the majority of males are cleaners, manual arts and sports teachers, or in high leadership positions. Together this contributes to the narrow construction of both masculinity and femininity.

Undoubtedly, there is a need for more male teachers in the school environment, and this is a problem that needs to be addressed, but, schools need to work through this and prepare all children, both boys and girls, for their future employment and roles in society. In conclusion, the big challenge bought to educators is how to change schools and the classroom from being socially divisive and old-fashioned to becoming a place that promotes an even balance between work, leisure learning and equity between each child (Burnett et al. 2004) (McBurney-Fry 2002). We, as educators, need to focus on these individual needs of each child, and the class as a whole, and support them all no matter what religion, cultural background, ethnicity, gender, sexuality or learning capabilities people have.