Social I nclusion in Tertiary Education

1. Social Inclusion in Tertiary Education Sue North and Fran Ferrier

2. Overview • Social exclusion and disadvantage • What is the evidence of disadvantage? • Measuring social exclusion • What processes create and sustain disadvantage?

3. Comparing disadvantage and social exclusion Disadvantage and social exclusion are both relational concepts Both are used as shorthand labels for social ills

4. Because they are different: Look at inequities through The lens of disadvantage + The lens of social exclusion = A more comprehensive picture

5. Application in policy-making Disadvantage is a state (dynamic) Social exclusion = processes (active/passive) • Social exclusion processes = the disease • Disadvantage = the symptoms For interventions to be most effective both the symptoms and the disease need to be treated simultaneously

6. Application in research • Disadvantage = outcome of processes of social exclusion • What is the evidence of disadvantage? • What social exclusion processes create and sustain this disadvantage?

7. What is the evidence of disadvantage? • Under-representation • Completions • Attrition • Poor quality experience • Over-representation in lower-level courses

8. Table 1: Level of highest post-school qualification – 20-39 year olds in the survey population

9. Graph 1: Education attainment – those in lowest decile of gross household weekly income, compared with population share

10. Graph 2: Education attainment – those with a disability, compared with population share

11. Graph 3: Education attainment – those living outside major cities and inner regions, compared with population share

12. Indicators to measure social exclusion • Cultural dimension – diverse norms, values, ways of living • Economic dimension – income, employment, housing, work • Political dimension – access to utilities, services, education, health • Social dimension – family, friends, relationships in community

13. What processes create and sustain disadvantage?

14. The economic dimension of social exclusion • More likely to be unemployed or not in the labour force. • More likely to rely on government support. • More likely to indicate no employment in their household. • More likely to indicate difficulties in paying bills. • More likely to indicate that they would have difficulty in raising emergency funds.

15. The political dimension of social exclusion • 50% of men in all categories have no children; 70% of women in the two disadvantaged categories have children • More than a third of Cert I/II males had difficulty getting to places • Those with Year 11 or less where the least likely to use the internet and the most likely to indicate no computer use at home • Those with Year 11 or less were least likely to be studying • 20% of those with Cert I/II were studying part-time

16. Summing up • Cultural dimension • Economic dimension • Political dimension • Social dimension • Effective responses built on the findings of these explorations would simultaneously seek to treat both the disease (social exclusion) and the symptoms (disadvantage)