Education and social cohesion

This document is the print version of a lecture in the Faculty of Education Dean's Lecture Series at the University of Melbourne on 16 May 2006. It aims to answer the question of whether education can actively promote social cohesion in a more proactive fashion than at present. Data on quality and equity in Australian education is examined, drawing on international comparisons. The evidence on the quality of the outcomes of education systems is drawn from the OECD's Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). Strategies are proposed for increasing equity while also increasing quality and for enabling schools to contribute to the development of social cohesion. One of these is to organise schools which are both differentiated and collaborating. Examples are discussed, such as that of Golden Grove in metropolitan Adelaide, South Australia, where there are three secondary schools on a single site: one government, one Catholic and one joint Anglican/Uniting Church. Their physical facilities are arranged around a core of common buildings that house shared library, senior science and home economics and manual arts facilities. Other benefits to students such as the right to take courses not available in their own school in another in the complex are presented, and the benefit to social cohesion is discussed. Show less