Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Acronyms
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Modern Citizen 1960–1975
- Part II The Anti-citizen 1975–1990
- Part III The Economic Citizen 1985–1995
- 7 Education and national economic reconstruction
- 8 Participation and equity
- 9 Economic government in education
- Part IV The Multi-citizen 1990–
- References
- Index
8 - Participation and equity
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables
- List of Acronyms
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- Part I The Modern Citizen 1960–1975
- Part II The Anti-citizen 1975–1990
- Part III The Economic Citizen 1985–1995
- 7 Education and national economic reconstruction
- 8 Participation and equity
- 9 Economic government in education
- Part IV The Multi-citizen 1990–
- References
- Index
Summary
‘As a nation we must be prepared to invest heavily in human skills. We need a community and workforce that has the education necessary to cope with and adapt to a rapidly changing world. We must create a broad base of skills across the whole workforce. Only if we equip our people with the capacities and attitudes to compete effectively, with flexibility and with confidence, can we make the most of future opportunities. In the present day world, with its increasingly sophisticated technologies and the rapid rate of change, people must have the capacity and skill to move with the times, to be flexible, and to be innovative and creative. Of particular concern to the achievement of these objectives is the fact that the education rate in Australia remains one of the lowest in the OECD community.… far too many young Australians leave school too early.’
Bob Hawke, Prime Minister of Australia, speech to Participation and Equity Program conference, Canberra, 3 September 1984, Commonwealth Record, p. 1707.Prelude: Education as virtual employment (1984)
Between August 1981 and August 1983, a period of recession in Australia, the total number of full-time jobs held by young people aged 15–19 years fell by 100 200, and the rate of teenage unemployment rose from 15.6 to 23.3 per cent. In late 1983 an OECD team prepared a Review of youth policies in Australia (1984) on the invitation of the Commonwealth.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Educating AustraliaGovernment, Economy and Citizen since 1960, pp. 180 - 206Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997