ENVIRONMENTAL LINKS AND RESOURCES
1. Season of Creation: This truly is a marvel with one of the richest resources on the web:news;prayers and Scripture not only for a series of special Sundays thru the year,eg land,mountain and ocean Sundays,but also sermon suggestions.While an Australian site it is linked to both the USA and European Christian Environmental Network.One great resource.
3.Christian Ecology Links: Includes a daily prayer guide,festivals and green sermon notes,as well as a handy listing of info on issues such as sustainable transport,genetically modified crops and mobile phone masts.
5.Faiths and interfaith links.
* The Climate Institute: Note the series of interfaith statements;CofC is not a signature to any of them.
And if you're interested in finding out who in your street or neighborhood is interested in the environment,check out: http://www.whoonearthcares.com/woec/home.action/ (Type in your post code and check out your neighbors;a product of ACF).
Thanks again to Alan Matheson for these links and resources - SJN.
RESOURCES AND LINKS ON INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA
Following are some internet based resources on issues facing Indigenous Australians. It is assumed that organisations such as ANTAR ( http://www.antar.org.au/), and Reconciliation (http://www.reconciliation.org.au/) are already known.The links contained in the following sites will take readers into such issues such as the stolen generation, land rights, racism and stolen wages.
There is no longer an excuse for not knowing what has been happening to Aborignal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI)communities.This site lists all of the reports,royal commissions and enquiries which have been conducted over the years.
A rich and varied site;important because of its women's perspective,but also because of its current and breaking news section (ABC,SBS,Koori Mail,Indigenous Times),blog watch,video,as well as an invaluable listing of black resources.
3.Religion,Spirituality and Worship
There are 3 sites which provide both information and resources which can be used in services as well as with children and young people.
An easy to read and accessible site on timelines as well as detailed information on Aboriginal spirituality.Also contains a good collection of stories of the dreamtime.
Not a site to be missed.Covers everything from justice,spirituality,education kits,liturgical resources,and music. For Victorians do not miss the link to Yarra Healing to provide all the information on the Aboriginal communities from whom land was stolen to build your churches!
A comprehensive resource of indigenous prayers and liturgies.
This is the site of one of the best known black activists.Gary Foley's collection of more than 3500 pages covers,reproductions of historic statements,photographs,time lines,articles,as well as one of the best collections of cartoons covering some of the significant black actions over the years.Great for browsing.
SJN thanks Alan Matheson for these resources.
HOW FAIR IS HIGHER EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA?
As part of What’s Fair in Anti Poverty Week, a forum was held at RMIT called “What’s Fair in Education?” (October 17th 2007) The presenters were:
Dr. Helen Kimberly (Executive Director of the Equity Research Centre),
Professor Richard James (Director the University of Melbourne’s Centre for the Study of Higher Education) and
Ms. Maree Bovell (Manager for Employment and Training Services at the Brotherhood of St Laurence).
The forum was hosted by the wonderful and witty Father Bob Maguire (JJJ radio presenter).
When we talk about fairness and equity in higher education we need to start with a definition of equity. Richard James from the University of Melbourne came up with a useful one; higher education populations should reflect the general population (except for age). This is a good starting point but is it true? No it isn’t, anyway you look at it, universities are filled with more students from higher socially economic backgrounds than from lower socially economic backgrounds. The higher education sector is split between Universities and the VET (Vocational Education Training) sectors. Within the VET system there are a number of groups; Tafes, ACE (Adult Community Education) RTO (Registered Training Organisations) and Enterprise training (Training programs created by large corporations).
The latest OECD report on education shows that the Australian government does not spend enough money on education at all levels from kindergarten right through to higher education.
“Most revealing was what Education at a Glance 2007 showed in relation to how much Australia invests in education, both public and private, across all levels: pre-primary, primary, secondary, tertiary and post-secondary, non-tertiary education.
Our public investment in education at every level has declined to the point where we are investing less than most other developed countries. As a proportion of GDP, public expenditure on all levels of education in Australia is 4.3 per cent, compared to an OECD average of 5 per cent. This places Australia behind countries such as the US, Britain, Switzerland, Sweden, Portugal, Poland, Norway and New Zealand. Only six out of 30 OECD countries had less public investment in education.
The OECD notes: "Differences in spending on educational institutions are most striking at the pre-primary level of education. Here, spending ranges from 0.1 per cent of GDP in Australia and South Korea to 0.8 per cent or more in Denmark and Hungary." As a proportion of GDP, our investment in pre-primary education is just 0.1 per cent compared to an OECD average of 0.5 per cent.” (Source The Australian Sep 24 2007)
Australia has seen a drop in detention rates in secondary schools in recent year, money spent on tertiary education fall as a percentage of GDP and a greater reliance on fees from international students.
When we look at accessibility for all students, there has been a tendency in the past to put all students labelled ‘disadvantaged’ in the one group. We have recently seen a move away from this model to a more complex model which considers the wide range of factors which impact students attending higher education.
Despite record levels of economic growth in Australia in the last decade, many Australians are still missing out on education. So who is missing out? Students from lower socially economic backgrounds (SOSE), rural students and indigenous people consistently miss out on educational opportunities. Rural students make up a third of the secondary student population yet they only contribute 17% to those in tertiary education. Students from a high or medium socially economic background are twice as likely to attend University.
Professor Tony Vinson for Jesuit Social Services and Catholic Social Services Australia wrote a report in April 2007 titled “Dropping off the edge, the distribution of Disadvantage in Australia” which raises a number of pertinent questions:
· Is equity built in or bolted on the education model? He asks the question “why are the disadvantaged on the edges of the system?”
· Is equity an issue of human rights or ethics?
“The report highlights the particularly strong link between intergenerational poverty and low educational attainment. By detaching individuals, families and whole communities from the modern economy in this way, the report argues that disadvantage is holding back the nation's economic potential. Concentrated disadvantage of the kind demonstrated in the report, robs the nation of needed skilled workers, adds to labour shortages and, by inflating welfare expenditure, reduces government expenditure than would otherwise be necessary.” (Source www.catholicsocialservices.org.au/node/976)
The second part of the forum was three focus groups who each looked at providing recommendations for assisting people to get to education, staying in education and then beyond education. The recommendations are below:
1. Recommendations from the Getting There Facilitation Group
· More welfare agencies should move away from a welfare model towards more of an education model
· Young people hoping to access tertiary education should have access to mentoring partnerships during their secondary school years
· Properly resource and support individuals so they are able to make their own decisions about higher education; irrespective of parents post code etc
Careers teachers should have improved access to students before they reach year ten.
2. Recommendations from the Staying There Facilitation Group
· Identify and offer support to first generation higher education students
· Revamp university processes for applying for support
· Improve eligibility conditions for income support
· Work on integration during critical first two weeks
· Improve housing support
· Cost of text book/computers/ material costs too high (investigate subsidising these costs)
· Fix curriculum so students can integrate work
Build better campus communities.
3. Recommendations from the Beyond Facilitation Group
· Strong support for building course connectedness with world of work and for course related work experience
· Strong support for increased provision of on-campus careers counselling
· Tighter regulation of the promotion of universities and future career prospects of graduates
· The level of expenditure on student recruitment should not exceed the level spent on student welfare and employment support.
4. Father Bob’s Recommendations
· All prisons should provide tertiary education
· People working with street people require accredited training (develop a system similar to “Doctor’s without Borders” in the education system).
The main aim of this forum was to develop a network of people interested in the issues of access, equity and poverty within education. At the forum we were lucky enough to have a number of interested people join however we would love to add more names to this list!
If interested in joining this network please send an email to Antony.McMullen@victas.uca.org.au with your name and a contact phone number. We will then contact you with further details. Your confidential contact details will only be used by the Justice and International Mission Unit for the purpose of informing you about our social justice campaigns (particularly education) and won’t be given to a third party without your consent.
