Culture and Education: Adapting to the Asian Century

 

 “Nine of the top 10 countries that send international students to Australia are from Asia” (Shorten, 2013), says Bill Shorten, Minister for Education and Workplace Relations.

The increasing influx of Asian migrants coming to Australia as students has created many opportunities in Australia’s education system; however, it has also generated some concerns in regards to the current conventional curriculum and stimulated discussions around issues of multiculturalism within the classroom. The way in which we teach in the classroom must be altered to meet the demands and needs of international students and create a learning environment that is inclusive of all cultures while still conforming to the established curriculum.

Inclusive education, a term widely recognised today to identify complex forms of exclusion, looks at “the ways in which schools address or fail to address the intersection of the layers of difference” (Waitoller & Kozleski, 2013, p.36) between students. However, as culture plays a significant role in guiding and structuring human activity within the education system, these cultural differences place a significant strain on developing a unified arrangement for education.

These differences between students can also create communication barriers between Australian and Asian students as the current curriculum is not all that inclusive of Asian languages. However, as Bill Shorten states in his article, the aim for 2025 is that “all students will have access to at least one priority Asian language” (Shorten, 2013). He says that “Curricula are being developed for Hindu, Mandarin, Indonesian, Japanese, Vietnamese and now Korean” (Shorten, 2013) which will not only allow Australian students to better communicate with students from these countries, but also to better understand Asian cultures and therefore will aid them in strengthening global cross-cultural relations between Australia.

This is an important aspect to consider especially as we move into a period known as The Asian Century where we must adapt to a pretty huge social and cultural change occurring within Australia. As we have previously addressed, changes are currently being made to the curriculum in response to the increasing global educational arena, and, with a growing importance to develop a high level of education within Australia, we must continue to adapt and modify our education system to ensure that Australia benefits from the opportunities presented by this social change.

So what does this change mean for the future of culture and education? It is an exciting period in Australian history and has already created a number of opportunities for Australia to strengthen connections with Asia (Shorten, 2013). With a continuing increase in globalisation and migration from Asia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2012) Australian society is becoming ever more multicultural, and therefore, we can say the same for the educational environment. With a consistent rise in Asian students, the issue of multiculturalism within the classroom continues to be at the forefront of debates in education. This therefore lends itself to issues in cultural classification and categorisation which I believe can be resolved if we are able to integrate the study of Asian languages into the curriculum and create a more inclusive learning environment for all students.  

References:

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2012-2013). 2071.0 - Reflecting a Nation: Stories from the 2011 Census. Retrieved from: http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/2071.0main+features902012-2013

Shorten, B. (2013). The Education Century that must go with the Asian Century. Retrieved from: http://www.smh.com.au/comment/the-education-century-that-must-go-with-the-asian-century-20130808-2rjnw.html

Waitoller, F. Kozleski, E. (2013). Working in boundary practices: Identity development and learning in partnerships for inclusive education. Teaching and teacher education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 31(3), pp.35-45