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Equity in Victorian education and ‘deficit’ thinking

Tony Knight

To cite this article: Tony Knight (2002) Equity in Victorian education and ‘deficit’ thinking, Critical
Studies in Education, 43:1, 83-105, DOI: 10.1080/17508480209556394

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MELBOURNE STUDIES IN EDUCATION, VOL. 43. NO.l. MAY2002, 83 -105

Equity in Victorian Education

and 'Deficit' Thinking

Tony Knight

Australia, in common with both developed and developing economies, continues to

reconstruct schools and schooling. The past five decades have seen dramatic social
and economic changes in Australia. Within these contexts, the State of Victoria, has
seen large increases in secondary student and teacher numbers, accompanied by
constant changes and experiments to curriculum direction and content. The concept
of equity was challenged on a number of fronts and changed in response to these
differing contexts.1"2 During the 1990s, for example, there were severe reductions in
the numbers of government schools and teaching staff. Government financing did
not keep pace with previous expansions.The general drift in government schooling
policy these past decades has been satisfying political and economic demands. Economic
demands have seen the emergence of entrepreneurialism within and between schools;
at the same time, the Federal government has given more financial support to private
schooling.
The purpose of this article is to outline the changing definitions of equity, to
analyse the place of'deficit' thinking and its domination of past and present educational
policy, the parallel effects of the modernisation of selective curriculum, and the
emergence of 'at risk' theory as a 'repressive label.' In conclusion, democratic education
is presented as an alternative to deficit thinking, and a necessary adjunct to equity.
Explanations for poor school performance during the early twentieth century
were linked to genetic causes.This was a conservative view of student pathology that
argued student performance relied on alleged strengths and weaknesses in genetic
intelligence. Educationalists also faced the difficulties caused by the expansion of student
numbers. This meant that early education research attempted to develop efficient
tests to classify students , especially those preparing to enter secondary education.
Bessant et al,3 commented on an aspect of student selection applied at the time:

the emerging popularity of eugenic ideas also supported research which would lead to a
'scientific' means of separating 'deviants' from the normal children.

1. S.Taylor, & M. Henry .Challenges for Equity Policy in Changing Contexts, Australian Education
Researcher, Vol. 27, No.3, 2000, pp. 1-15.
2. Australian Schools Commission, 'Quality and Equality', Commonwealth Schools Commission,
Canberra, 1995, p.3.
3. B. Bessant, & A. Holbrook, A. Reflections on Educational Research in Australia, A History of the
Australian Association for Research in Education, Melbourne, 1995, p.3

83
Tony Knight

Early racist discourses and genetic pathology models contended that inferiority is
transmitted by the genetic code.This research enabled the development of specific
deficit thinking school programs (eg, 'remove' classes; student streaming; mentally
retarded categories; low level vocational classes). The genetic pathology model used
measurement foundations, at both primary and secondary schooling, as a basis for
measuring student progress and student 'potential.' Difference in measured scores
(IQ) was genetically held to be determined - this state was seen as a fixed entity.
The theory of school failure presented here is termed as deficit thinking; it is a
model founded on imputation, not documentation.4
From the 1960s onwards a liberal version of deficit thinking replaced the
conservative theory of genetic pathology. These theories took many forms - various
explanations of deficit theory were forwarded, for example, school failure was because
of cultural deprivation; that is, the family was a carrier of pathology with alleged internal
deficiencies, such as cognitive impairment and restricted vocabulary. The child thus
entered school with alleged deficits. Inadequate socialisation was defined as emerging
from a chaotic home situation resulting in character disorder, arrested development,
and inability to delay gratification, thus the lack of school performance. Compensatory
education programs were used to compensate those students so categorised. This
resulted in differentiated teaching styles according to perceived deficits. The third
paradigm was called an environmental deficit disorder based on cognitive development
theory, where accumulated environmental deficits were developed in the early years,
leading to irreversal cognitive deficits. Therefore student cognitive behaviour and
affective attitudes were inimical to school success.5'6'7 The 'culture of poverty' thesis
was a shift in deficit thinking and became popular in policy circles, replacing other
models of cultural deficit. It was forwarded by anthropologists with a highly selective
concept of culture. This poverty discourse was a series of popular and vivid descriptions
of a self perpetuating culture, with cultural differences of language, family and
community. Defined as anti intellectual, the nature of the culture of poverty meant
the culture of schooling was incompatible. These paradigms were eventually replaced
with new paradigms of culture revised with theories of class, class cultures and power.8

Throughout the period observed there has been a dual purpose in Victorian
schooling - it was a divided system. Equity in schooling embraced both the conservative

4. R. Valencia, The Evolution of Deficit Thinking: Educational Thought and Practice, London.l 997.
5. T.Knight, 'Qualify Schooling: Quality Education?' In, LClaydon, T. Knight, and M. Rado,
Curriculum and Culture: Schooling in a Pluralist Society. Sydney, 1977, Ch. 4.
6. A. Pearl, & T.Knight, The Democratic Classroom: Theory to Inform Practice, NJ, 1999, Ch.8.
7. Valencia, op. cit.
8. D.E.Foley, 'Deficit Thinking Models Based on Culture: The Anthropological Protest'. In, R.R.
Valentine, The Evolution of Deficit Thinking, London, 1997, pp.113-131.

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 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

and liberal versions of deficit theory; and 'deficit' programs operated in tandem with
increasingly developed hierarchal curriculum demands, and a stratified schooling
system.
This article starts with the 1950s, where the legacy of deficit models from previous
decades, influenced successive policy mandates defining the causes of student success
and failure. The professions of psychology, anthropology, sociology, management,
linguistics, history, economics, State and Federal central policy all adopted aspects of
these policy explanations. Through this professional use, it is possible to trace the
evolving use of deficit thinking as it shaped educational policy through the decades,
and how it is used as a basis for programs in contemporary schooling.
Labels change over time and contemporary school policy has popularised several
deficit theories, an 'at risk' policy, that viewed alleged student backgrounds of poor,
ethnic, and under class children as being responsible for school failure. Nothing new
here - it may well be a recycling of deficit theory, drawing from previous deficit bases,
and emerging under new headings. The present definitions of the 'at risk' child can be
seen as a reconstruction of the 'culturally disadvantaged 'child of the 1960s and 1970s.
Recent versions of the genetic model have included 'attention deficit disorder' (ADDH);
'left brain or right brain'; concrete or abstract; and definitions of'seven intelligences'.
Teacher in-service courses find these models appealing when associated with classroom
practice. However, it is argued that these approaches are merely sophisticated versions
of the pathology model.9-10 Changing teaching in response to categorising uniqueness
will produce temporary positive results, as will any efforts that replace passive receptive
learning with some form of active student participation. But this in itself is not sufficient
education in a rapidly changing world.Teaching by recategorising students offers no
more promise of changing the life conditions of students than the old ways of teaching.
Evidence of long term benefit is yet to be established.
Policy development concerning these issues has witnessed messy outcomes and
tension between pastoral and educational goals;" this was combined with a quiet
evolution toward a selective subject structure that preserved and extended social
advantage. Inequality in education has preserved itself despite all the government
efforts toward a more equitable schooling. It could be interpreted as a form of'hidden'
curriculum that operates despite new policy directives. Richard Teese has completed a
well researched structural account of explanations for student school failure in Victorian
schools covering a period of five decades.Teese devotes considerable attention to
analysing the maintenance and effects of the academic curriculum, the development

9. T.Knight, and A. Pearl, 'Really making a Difference', Age, 2, May, 2001, pp. 12-13-
10. R. Valencia, & D.G. Solorzano, 'Contemporary Deficit Thinking'. In, Valencia, op. cit., London,
1997, pp. 160-210.
11. S. Power, The Pastoral and the Academic, London, 1996.

85
Tony Knight

of academic hierarchies, and the construction of inequality in schooling. It is a counter

to the deficit and individualised theory reflexively used to explain student school careers,
and advocated in policy documents. He12 has made a strong argument for a structure
of inequality developed within the the hierarchy of school based subjects:

Structural inequality exists when the locations in the school system typically occupied
by different social groups yield advantages or disadvantages that are large, persistent and
predictable. Inequality does not arise from the attributes of individuals considered in
isolation, but from the ways in which individuals are brought together at particular sites
within the school system."

This structural inequality meant that Victorian education has shown a biasing of
provision towards an academic minority, and towards the socially advantaged; resulting
in limited opportunity, and maintaining a rising inequality. As the policy efforts toward
equity and school retention increased, there was also a parallel decrease in work
opportunities for youth. Research also indicated there was a decrease in student
engagement in decision-making, and a decreasing interest in social and civic
responsibility.14'15
This article will conclude with a presentation for a 'strong democracy' in the
classroom; proposing an alternative to general theories that maintain forms of deficit
thinking. This model for a democratic classroom offers six groups of practices that
prepares all students to be an informed and responsible democratic citizen.The six
groups act as curriculum organisers that encourage all students to become effective
problem solvers.
In order to trace formal educational inclusion , indigenous 'education', or lack of
it, becomes an essential part of this overview.

History of Policy Denial: Indigenous Citizenship and Education.

While there is much to be admired about Australia's evolution toward social justice
and democracy, the same cannot be said about the involvement of Australia's Aboriginal
population.Tracing the history of Commonwealth legislation toward the indigenous
population, it is not difficult to conclude that a policy of denial toward accessing
privileges associated with full citizenship has been systematically implemented. An
example of this citizenship divide can be found starting with the 'Immigration

12. R. Teese, Academic Success & Social Power: Examinations and Inequality, Carlton South, 2000.
13. ibid.,p.l95.
14. R. Lewis, 'Teacher Support for Classroom Forms of Classroom Management', International
Journal of Inclusive Education, 3 (3), 1999, pp. 269-285.
15. S. Mellors, 'Whats the point* - Political Attitudes of Year 11 Students, Monograph, 53, ACER,
Melbourne, 1997.

86
 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

Restriction Act (1901), and the Commonwealth Franchise Act (1902); the result being
the exclusion of the Indigenous population as full citizens.These rules and the
subsequent adoption of the 'White Australia' policy, became deeply entrenched as
part of the Australian social consciousness during the twentieth, century.16 It was
1948 when Commonwealth legislation created the legality of 'Australian citizen'.;
and the "White Australia' policy was finally abandoned by government in 1973.
Anderson17 argues that 'contours ' of this 'white Australia' policy are still reflected in
contemporary debates for or against 'assimilation' or 'self determination'; he makes
this point:
Race science may not inform research and practice in the clinic and the laboratory, but
it remains the partly hidden bedrock underlying m uch public debate. Perhaps we should
ask how much one would imagine otherwise a nation that has from the beginning been
predicated on biological homogeneity, on an organic unity that seemed to demand
alienated cxdusiveness'.

Since federation, the Aboriginal peoples have been systematically excluded from normal
citizenship rights; and it was not until 1967 when the Australian constitution was
amended to allow the Aboriginal population inclusion in the Commonwealth census.
In 1992 an important step toward reconciliation was the Mabo judgment of the High
Court of Australia granting land rights legislation.18 Presently there are significant
gaps in Aboriginal education, health, housing, and land rights.19'20 Equity under the
law as full citizens has been, and still is, a dramatic struggle for Indigenous Australians.

Access for Women - Youth employment.

Access for women to education and employment has been considerable during this
period. In 1961, men enrolled at universities at two and one half times the rates of
women. By 1995 women's access to university education exceeded men by one third.
Women's access to work force participation increased by almost 50% since 1961. 21
However in the past fifteen years, a dramatic shift in economic assumptions has also
witnessed a tolerance for significant increases in youth unemployment, and a widening
inequality in general income.

16. ,W. Anderson, The Cultivation of Whiteness: Science, Health and Racial Destiny in Australia,
Carlton South, 2002, p.249.
17. ibid.
18. T.Blackshield, M.Coper, & G. Williams, Mabo Legislation, High Court of Australia, Sth.
Melbourne, 2001, pp. 446-452.
19. P. Peterson, & W. Saunders, Citizenship and Indigenous Australians, Cambridge, 1998, p.102.
20. J. Chestcrman, &C B. Galligan, Citizens Without Rights: Aborigines and Australian Citizenship,
Cambridge, 1997, p. 102.
21. P. Karmel, 'Opinion: Australia and the Economic Paradigm: 30 Years of Change', Newsletter,
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Vol. 1, 1997, pp.35-42.

87
Tony Knight

Paradigm Shift

The general paradigm shift toward economic rationalism and its advocacy of market
forces, was a movement away from an Australia characterised by a mixed economy
supported by more than a hint of state paternalism. The language of corporate and
business relationships have become laced with expressions such as, deregulation, user
pays, privatisation, worlds best practice, downsising, bench marking, mission
statements, out sourcing, performance indicators; all reflecting a striving toward forms
of corporate efficiency.22 Australia now views itself as a player within the global market.
Emerging from this economic and social repositioning is the proposition that all levels
of schooling and tertiary education are seen as essential to the Australian economy
being competitive in a global economy. This shift toward the dry side of economic
rationalism has meant a dramatic increase in State intervention with new forms of
ideologically driven education policy. Schools and schooling have adopted a business
metaphor, (that is, intrusive, market entrepreneurial, corporatist and managerial) in
order to bring about increased improvements in student performance, and,
subsequently, redefining teacher work and governance in schools and tertiary
institutions.

School Enrolments

Between 1965 and 1975 there was a remarkable growth in Australian education.
Enrolments in secondary schooling increased by 43%, technical schooling by 45%,
enrolments in universities and advanced education from 83,220 to 273,137 (228%).23
Australian independent school enrolments were 5%, and for Catholic schools
approximately 20%. The government school share of enrolments rose to 78.7% in
1975. The central informing principles to this educational growth were based on a
'social justice' sentiment prevalent in the 1960s (especially in the UK, USA, and
Australia), plus assumptions based on 'human capital' theory that investment in
education direcdy produces increases in the marginal productivity of educated labour.24
Education was viewed as a common public service - a direct responsibility of
government.
Research in education was powered by these 'liberal' sentiments' and reached its
zenith in the 1970s. In 1973 there was a 400% increase in OPEC oil prices resulting
in dramatic economic changes; in particular, the acceleration of an increase in youth

22. John Ralston Saul, The Unconscious Civilisation, Ringwood, 1997.

23. S. Marginson, 'Economics of Education as Power-Knowledge, Discourse, Vol. 18, No. 2. August,
1997, pp. 215-227.
24. ibid., p. 216.

88
 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

unemployment rates. For example, petrol at service stations previously served by young
people, became rapidly a self-service facility. It was a cost saving change in
servicing.These economic changes were to reach into the school sector to provide a
basis for changes in curriculum and process.

Repositioning the Economy and Schooling

It was the start of the repositioning of the relationship between the economy and
schooling, the development of more complex explanations on the development of
social capital, which ultimately set the conditions for new social relations.The dominant
liberal - democratic paradigm in education was exorcised by the 1990s. Education
was no longer a 'common public service'. It had become an education market; more
accurately, schools had become a system of quasi- markets.25"26'27 Marginson comments:

The dominant paradigm was no longer that of education as a common public service. It
had become an education market, steered from the background by government, in which
students and parents were consumers, teachers, and academics were producers, and
educational administrators had become managers and entrepreneurs.28

The languages of deregulation, schools as business, and niche marketing came to

dominate public education policy and planning.The education market place would
be driven by the values of ordered competition; school decisions tended toward the
commercial rather than educational, leading to a systematic restructuring of school
management and process. The interesting contradiction that has emerged, is that despite
the emphasis on free markets and decentralisation, governments have used
interventionist strategies to reduce the autonomy of the local school and decision
making of teachers. Decisions over curriculum content, evaluation and budget, have
become increasingly centralised, despite government legislation committed to
decentralisation.There is an emerging argument claiming that Victoria is slowly evolving
towards private - sector involvement in public education.29
The maintenance of deficit thinking was enhanced through these economic
relationships. In fact, an argument can be made that the selection processes within
and between schools hardened because of tighter competition forced on students for
higher university entry scores and tertiary selection. It was obvious that education was

25. S. Gewirtz, S.J. Ball, R. Bowe, Markets, Choice and Equity, Buckingham, 1995.
26. Meg, Maguire, Stephen J. Ball, & Sheila Macrae, 'In All Our Interests: internal marketing at
Northwark Park School, British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 22, No. 1, 2001, pp. 35-50:
27. G. Whiffy, Education Policy and the Sociology of Education, In, International Studies in the
Sociology of Education, Vol. 7. No.2., 1997, pp. 121-135.
28. Marginson, op. cit., pp.215-227.
29. Roslyn Guy, 'When Public Goes Private', Age Education, Melbourne, 20 March 2002, pp.4-5.

89
Tony Knight

no longer a common public service, it was an education market steered from the
centre.This has lead to an erosion of social values and service ethic, in favour of'private
and self interested ones'.3031
The following is a short hand overview of the decades 1950s to 2000s. Each
decade is arranged to review both the context of schooling, the changes to educational
discourse that occurred, and how forms of'deficit thinking' maintained itself despite
concerns with equity. Since the 1950s there have been a number of profound changes
to Victorian education. At least six major concerns for equity have dominated Victorian
education discourse since the Second World War. Suggested periods are as follows:

1950s- The Loyal Subject,

1960s - The Technical / Skilled Student.
1970s - The Deficit / Disadvantaged Student.
1980s- The Economic Subject;
1990s- The Marketed Subject.
2000s - The School as 'quasi- market': die role of student selection.

1950s: TheLoyal Subject

Schooling in the 1950s inherited the education structure from previous decades. The
concept of student streaming, and measurement using I Q tests was rampart in the
1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Each student was carefully tested to find their correct slot in
the system. For example, during the 1920s, racial differences in intelligence were
heavily affected by the widespread use of hereditarian views, eugenics and
psychometrics, all these assumptions seeped into school testing procedures.32'33'34 The
use of measured tests drew upon assumptions of race and genetic theory. It was a
person-centred explanation of school failure, defining that alleged deficits are
transmitted via low grade genes, inferior culture and class, or inadequate familial
socialisation.This early schooling practice of deficit thinking was continued with the
inauguration of, 'secondary education for all' in 1946. It had a dramatic effect on the
structure and expectations of schools in the 1950s.
Victoria in the 1950s had full male employment, a stable economy, and a state
mandated uniform curriculum in schools.The main curriculum style was

30. A .Pearl, & T. Knight, op .at.

31. R. Plant, 'Enterprise in its Place: the Moral Limits of Markets', in P. Heelas,. & P. Morris, (eds),
The Values of Enterprise Culture. The Moral Debate, London, 1992, p.89.
32. J. Blum, Pseudoscience and Mental Ability: The Origins and Fallacies of the IQ Controversy, New
York, 1978.
33. Anderson, op. cit.
34. D . McCallum, The Social Production of Merit: Education, Psychology and Politics In Australia,
1900-1950, London, 1990.

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 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

predominantly Society- centred. 'Socialisation' was the key notion - the adjustment of
the individual to fit in with the prevailing needs of the State, and British Empire.
Loyalty was demonstrated on each Monday morning school assembly where a
declaration to State and Empire was loudly recited: 'I honour the flag, I will serve the
Queen and cheerfully obey my parents, teachers and the laws'.35
The teaching mode was teacher centred - 'exposition' being the general teaching
model. Australia during this period had a full migration program. Schools in general
ignored this social change - there was a form of 'brutal bargain' in operation - e.g, if
you want to join us, then you have to be like us.36 Cultural diversity was yet to be
defined and understood.The indigenous (Aboriginal) population was generally ignored
in mainstream schooling.

Parents

Parent opinion was first recognised in the Education Act 1872 (Sections 14 and 16)
ruling that each school was to have a Board of Advice, which was to include parent
and citizen representatives.The powers of the board were varied but included the right
to suspend any teacher for misconduct, or to summon parents before a 'Justice' if they
neglected to send their child to school.These boards of advice were abolished in 1910.
School committees were to take their place, and parents were removed from the
governance of school policy formation.37 Centralised, bureaucratic control of school
decision - making was to remain in place for almost a century. If parents were to exert
any influence over school policy at all, it was through the Minister of Public Instruction,
not the director-general. Education came to be seen as something that happened in
the classroom, and parents were not to be involved in their childrens education.
In the 1950s, parents inherited this legacy, and were excluded from school decision
making forums; they were defined as helpers in canteens and money raising activities.
Little had changed in school-parent relationships since the early twentieth century.38

Schooling Structure

State schooling was divided into three categories: 1) Government schooling, 2)

Technical schooling, 3) Private or Independent schooling. This sorting system had
been well established during earlier decades. This was a selective system, and students
were tested, sorted and streamed predominantly according to socio economic status,

35. Education Act 1958, part 11, division 1, clause 21. Victorian Education Department.
36. N. Podhoretz, A f ^ % / f , New York, 1968.
37. J. Collins, 'Parent Power 1972- 1973', The Educational Magazine, Vol. 30, No.6, 1973, p. 10.
38. T. Knight, 'Parents, the Community and School Governance', In, Educational Administration:
An Australian Experience, (eds) Colin Evers & Judith Chapman, Sydney, 1995, pp. 254-273.

91
Tony Knight

family status, ethnicity and race background. Few students were to advance to tertiary
education, and student economic and schooling careers were set early by these structural
relationships'39

The launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 seriously disturbed American complacency about

the comparative quality of its education system - this in turn would significantly
influence Australian education. It promoted what became known as the 'new' maths
and die 'new' science. The work of Jerome Bruner4°l41 in 'discovery' learning was adopted
by a wide range of educational theorists. From this period each decade witnessed
significant school struggles over curriculum content, changing teacher work, student
positioning, policy ownership, and definitions of equity.

Cirriculum: 1964-1970: The Technical / Skilled Student

There was during this decade a growing work force, and student life chances had
become increasingly tied to school credentials. Conscription for the war in Vietnam
was to assume national importance, and youth were drawn into a public debate and
protest on this issue.42 It was an era of individualised instruction. Education psychologists
had their heyday when they defined the individual as the main focus for educational
concern - that is, lack of school attainment was interpreted in terms of an individual
'deficit' theory. Certain students entered the school room minus important cognitive,
language cultural and social skills.This 'education deprivation thesis' stressed differences
in cognitive styles, command of language and aspirations according to home
background, and the degree to which 'maladaptive' personality was caused by family
environment, child-rearing, and parent- child relationships.43'44 The emphasis was on
'difference', there was an assumption that curriculum content, teacher expectations,
school culture, and classroom practice were all satisfactory. Deficit thinking dominated
educational policy and practice. The 'Disadvantaged' Schools program, for example,
was indebted to 'deficit' theorising, and generously funded from Commonwealth
government sources.45'46-47-48 Issues of Equity moved onto the Commonwealth policy
agenda.

39. Marginson, (1997), op. cit.

40. J. Bruner, The Process of Education, N.Y, I960.
41. J. Bruner, Towards a Theory of Instruction, N.Y, 1968, Ch. 3.
42. S. R. Watt, 'Vietnam , Myth and Reality: an Appraisal of Western Policy'. In, Heritage, Princes
Hill High School Magazine, North Carlton, 1965, pp. 6-7.
43. T.Knight, 1977, Ch.4.
44. A. Pearl, The Atrocity of Education, N.Y, 1972.
45. T. Knight, 'Educational Disadvantage: Challenging the Myths'. Centre for Continuing
Education, Monash University. Paper delivered at Conference: Disadvantage in Education,
December, 1972.

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 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

In order to meet the curriculum demands for the Technical / Skilled student', teaching
kits were designed with an emphasis on 'self-paced learning, 'natural ability',
'individualised instruction', testing and evaluation.These were the outcomes of the
'individual differences' thesis. Subjects were divided into blocks of learning process.
Litde was expected in terms of higher order dunking, and/or problem solving.The school
journey started to look longer as fewer students left school at 14-15- Credentialing was
starting to effect school retention rates. Schools were becoming more flexible as
experiments with 'open classrooms', 'schools without walls', schools within schools, and
alternative community schools were initiated. Students from migrant background, were
of increasing interest to the Education Department. Issues of gender also became of
interest, but little was delivered in the classroom. Parents were confused over the new
language of schooling, such as 'learning at your own pace', individual learning theory,
the 'new maths' ( with its no math's tables); all this meant a host of new symbols when
compared with die traditional subject-based approach of their own schooling.In general,
social issues were removed from curriculum content. There was a tendency to regard the
learning of techniques and methods of learning as more important than the learning of
content, and to treat school process as independent of any problem-solving social context.
Progressive and radical reformers of the 1960s questioned the legitimacy of the
process and ritual aspects of schooling. These critical antagonists to the existing school
system, certainly raised the ire of the traditional conservatives with their belief in
'natural' inequalities.49-50 The conservative voice accused the reformers as promoting
mediocracy in the name of social justice. Defining 'important knowledge' within schools
was not on the agenda during this decade. However, Ron Reed, Director of Education
in Victoria, signalled new curriculum directions, a more school- based approach.

Early 1970s: The Deficit I Disadvantaged Student

This decade signalled a slowing of the economy; a view of 'growth' sustained by a

leisured future, and a new set of demands on school curriculum.

46. N. Caplan, & S. Nelson, 'On Being Useful: The Nature and Consequences of Psychological
Research on Social Problems'. In, American Psychologist, Vol.28, No.3, March, 1974.
47. T.Knight, 'Social and Economic Disadvantage: Theory and Teacher Education. Conference
paper for: Tertiary Education and the Disadvantaged: Challenge and Response. Darling Downs
Institute of Advanced Education, November, 1975.
48. Aboriginal Board - NSW. Annual Report. 1966. (Early school leaving is associated with Aboriginal
children not possessing ' intelligence' comparable to white peers).
49. R. Kirk, 'The Conservative Mind', (7th, ed.) Washington, DC, 1986.
50. S. L. Chorover, From Genesis to Genocide : The Meaning of Human Nature and the Power of
Behaviour Control, Cambridge, MA. 1979, p. 210.

93
Tony Knight

OPEC oil price rose 400% in 1973 which meant a strong revaluation of economic
relationships .The notion of'finite earth' energy reserves dramatically changed youth
employment patterns, and a changing technology were to effect education planning.
Strong criticisms of the classroom as a harsh and too often brutal environment
during the 1960s brought a softer and more liberal approach to classroom relationships.
The classroom should be 'pleasurable' to both student and teacher. Programs were to
have a strong emphasis on 'disadvantage* and school innovation. It was to be the era of
the sociologist with an emphasis on group differences, it, according to class, gender,
ethnicity, race, and categories of disadvantage. The debate and struggles within schools
and society from 1945 to 1975, over defining the origins and definitions of
multiculturalism, had a lasting influence on future school policy decisions. Lopez51 in
his extensive research on the origins of multiculturalism in Australia made this point:

it deals with political debates and struggles about what it means to be Australian and
what kind of society Australia should constitute in the late twentiedi century and beyond.
The outcomes of these debates and struggles has had an impact on every workplace,
schoolyard, neighbourhood and household.

Definitions of Inequality

The Australian experience at this time was to draw heavily from the American 'War
on Poverty* experience of the the late 1960s to early 1970s.There were two kinds of
alleged deficit that theorists posited at the time. One, the conservative definition
imputed a basic deficit to the poor or disadvantaged. Some social scientists hypothesised
that black, brown or poor white people are genetically or culturally inferior, therefore
all educational programs must be adjusted to suit their capacities. Second, the liberal
definition of disadvantage imputed that deficits had been caused by past gender, race,
class and ethnic biases. An alternative to both previous positions was that people were
disadvantaged because of present forms of structural inequalities, present barriers to
choice, present forms of racism, which had replaced older forms of inequalities.52
Definitions of inequalities, and their translation into institutional policy, decided
program action. The difficulty over time with 'deficit' theories, lies in the perception
of the 'problem', and limitations of methodologies used to substantitiate these claims.

51. M. Lopez, The Origins ofMulticukumlism: in Australian Politics 1945-1975, Carlton South, 2000, p. lx.
52. T. Knight, 'Powerlessness and the Student Role: Structural Determinants of School Status', The
Australian andNew ZealandJournal ofSociology,Vo\.lQ, No. 2,1974, pp.112-117.

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 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

Curriculum

School curriculum was directed by a school - centred approach. This heralded a more
questioning curriculum, problem solving and discovery; women's studies/transition
education' and a host of new subjects (electives). This led to a number of fragmented
courses, a concept of choice and diversity and with teachers competing for student numbers
in their classrooms. Arguments by various sociologists of knowledge that the selection
and organisation of curriculum content reflected the interests of dominant groups, this
meant the curriculum was often defined as an instrument of social control. The critical
sociologists were to considerably influence Victorian teachers and policy makers. The
school was defined as a conservative force, and socially reproduced class interests in
society.53"54'55 As a consequence of this analysis, there had been support for separate
curricula for different social groups. In particular, reference had been made to an
appropriate curriculum for the working class,56 and discussion of curricula that reflect
gender differences.57 Formal authority in schools was replaced by informal authority in
the form of student negotiation and contracts. Neither individualised instruction or
'choice and diversity' were to prove successful. However, there were aspects of school-
based curriculum, eg, goal-based assessment, classroom experiments, and a range of year
twelve Certificates that met favour from teachers. (Many teachers presently state - on
reflection and with a hint of nostalgia - we almost had it right at this point in time').
This decade saw twenty two, two year, school-based, Task Force Teams to address
the issue of deficit thinking and school - based research. Here the history of education
informs us that small scale interventions have been highly influential, these Task Force
Teams were no exception.58'59 It became obvious in the early 1980s that secondary
schooling was to undergo another round of educational change, resulting in the demise
of school-based flexible curriculum arrangements, and assessment initiatives.

53. P. Bourdieu, & J.C. Passeron, Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture, London, 1977.
54. M. Young, Knowledge and Control, London, 1971.
55. ,P. Freirc, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Hamondsworth, UK, 1971.
56. R. W. Conncll, D. Ashendon, S. Kessler & G. Dowsett (1982) Making the Difference: Schools,
Families, & Social Divisions, Sydney, 1982.
57. J. Martin, Bringing Women Into Educational Thought, Educational Theory, Vol. 34, No 4,
1984, pp. 341-53.
58. D. Jones, M. MetcaJf, T. Williams, & J. Williamson, Sunshine High School 1975-82: A School
Curriculum and Self Evaluation Project, Task Force Team, (Ed.) T. Knight, LaTrobe University,
Report No. 7, 1982, Bundoora.
59. T. Knight, 'Youth Advocacy Report: A Student Initiated Project, Vandalism Task Force,
Department of the Premier and Cabinet, Victoria, 1982.

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Tony Knight

1980s: The Economic Subject

This decade signalled an expansion into the classroom of Government policy decisions.
Numbers of policy documents emanating directly from the Ministry of Education
were to reshape school curriculum and process. Culminating in the late 1980s and
early 1990s with clear moves toward National Curriculum statements and profiles.
The previous decades emphasis on school-based reform, was to be replaced during the
1980s by centralised forms of policy discourse. Curriculum 'Frameworks' and a spate
of Ministerial papers were to herald a 'Participation and Equity' policy. Corporal
punishment in government schools was eliminated, and schools were required to design
new school discipline policies.60
Education was viewed as part of work planning for a technicist society, it was the
start of the integration of education and micro economic reform. Ministerial discussion
was centred around a 'Core Skills' and 'Key Competency' agenda. Definitions of school
and workplace culture were to be redefined. Terms such as education for 'The Clever
Society' were favourite epithets from political leaders of the day. Equity in education
was being redefined in terms of economic futures and 'pathways'.

Curriculum

School curriculum was to have an essentialist focus with an emphasis on 'back to

basics', a subject- based structure, with an emphasis on market oriented management
theory. These changes were combined with the start of budget cuts to State education
through school mergers. It was a strong reaction to what was perceived as the soft
progressive policies of the 1960s and 1970s. Basic skills while defined as necessary,
were insufficient if defined as an end in themselves.

Youth Unemployment and School Retention

This decade saw a continuation of rising unemployment for youth; and increasing
school retention rates became a central concern for educational policy makers.
Education was increasingly viewed as preparing students with competitive skills to
compete in the new world economy. Although, despite no clear agreement or
understanding within the profession that such skill training would achieve this
connection, or that sufficient work would be created for youth; die purpose of education
continued to be defined in technicist terms.

60. R. She, Changing Theories and Practices of Discipline, London, 1995.

 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

School Changes

As the youth employment market continued to contract, competition for available

jobs and entry to prestigious university faculties increased. One result of this market
tension was the flight of students to private, fee paying schools, in the belief that
students attending these schools would be more competitive in the shrinking market
place. Employers became critical of graduating secondary students. In their opinion
students lacked the prerequisite 'life skills' to compete in the new market
place.Substantial pressures were placed on schools and in the opinion of some critics,
made scapegoats for an economy unable to employ its youth.Schools were being
attacked from a number of quarters as they struggled to adapt to a changing cultural
context.The expansion of professional interventions in education (i.e, youth work
and social work industries), changing familial patterns, mobility of young people
(homelesness), and burgeoning youth cultures; indicate patterns of cultural dissonance
interacting on schools and youth.61 In general, there was confusion over specific
educational aims within schooling, despite 'policy frameworks' from state and federal
government sources.62 What the majority of schools had in common was a lack of a
coherent set of educational aims that informed the knowledge content and process of
every day activity.
Indigenous education, while having a more noticeable profile, provision and
access was far from satisfactory within schooling; in fact there was a noticeable absence
of thought on these issues within state education policy. Also, no government (Federal
or State) wanted to address the issue of work creation for youth - it was still off the
agenda. The work market advocated an over investment in skill training - but with a
severe decline in full time work for youth, this 'over training' extended inequality for
youth. Put another way, there was for youth, a policy of training - for non existent
jobs.63

Late 1980s

New government policy 'frameworks' appeared on the desks of government school

principals. This was a form of 'new progressivism' influenced by the failure of the
essentialist movement informing earlier curriculum changes.64 Ideas were adopted from
successful progressive values of the 1960s and 1970s; students were to be educated as

61. L. Foster, Australian Education, Melbourne, 1987.

62. Australian Educational Council 'Common and Agreed National Goals for Schooling in Australia',
Conference, Hobart, 1989.
63. L. Weis, Working Class Without Work: High School Students in a De-Industrialised Economy, New
York, 1990.
64. A. HzigKaves.Curriculum and Assessment Reform, Buckingham, 1989.

97
Tony Knight

'problem solvers' and active members of society. Schools were directed to adjust programs
to suit the child - it was a child- centred approach to learning. Differentiated teaching
according to different learning styles - meaning that teachers evaluated the 'dominant'
learning styles of students and then altered dieir teaching accordingly.There was, after a
significant number of programs, no evidence of long term change. The same enthusiasm
for 'recategorising' students reemerged during die mid-1990s, producing some short
term results, but offered no promise of changing the life condition of students when
contrasted with older forms of teaching.65 Students were able to negotiate treaties as to
acceptable behaviour, and critics referred to the new curriculum as 'shopping mall' high
schools where the emphasis was on, 'choice-variety and neutrality' - bare of educational
principles. School experiences were to be work related and students were to be taught
those competencies needed to enter employment.These policy changes intended to
redefine die definition of general education.This vocationalising of die school curriculum,
combined with an increased centralising of curriculum and assessment, proved to be a
strong rejection of die social democratic values of die past. The 'smorgasbord of ideas'
concept was not a new one. It is an administrative version of educational theory which
viewed schools as a supermarket of experiences, and students were consumers. There
were strong moves at die end of diis decade toward National Policies in Australian
education, this included National Curriculum statements and profiles. Equity was being
redefined widiin a vocationalising of the curriculum.

1990s: The Marketed Subject

This was to an era that would hold to a central premis: schools would only improve if
education is treated as a private good to be mediated through the free play of market
forces.
The following are points of reference common to this policy approach to the
push for market based education:
- decentralisation of school management
- accountability becomes vertical to Department of Education
- schools compete for pupils
- pupils as 'customers'
- tying of school revenue to pupil numbers
- market not neutral
- form of ordered competition with clear social and economic goals embedded in it
- parent 'choice' according to social class and area of residence
- no clear data that student learning improved.66

65. Knight & Pearl, (2001), op. cit.

66. SJ. Ball, Policy Making in Education, UK, 1992.

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 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

Data from the UK led the direction for policy analysis during this period. While the
local policy language might be dissimilar to the UK, actual Victorian policy content
appeared to be influenced by British educational policy. For example, 'Schools of the
Future'67 was an example of the new devolution and organisational restructuring of
schools in State education.Victorian schools were to establish a school charter with a
number of what appear as common sense provisions.
However, Australian decentralisation like decentralisation in the United States and
England appears as an educational mirage, an illusion in the absence of clearly defined
educational goals.Thc 'autonomy of schools is more apparent than real', meaning that
'the state' is able to 'retain considerable steerage' of the goals and processes of the education
system - while appearing not to do so. Retention of State control over curriculum content
and evaluation, plus budget allocation, is maintained by state centralised authority. The
market skills of efficiency and rationalisation combined to move schools toward a 'schools
as business enterprise' culture. Fensham 68 gave a critical evaluation of policy regarding
Key Learning Areas (KLA's) as an attempt to define the curriculum for schooling. He
argued that there was 'much rhetoric about access and accountability, but very little about
what all this prescribed learning was for'. Fensham and Cross69 both argued that this
curriculum change was without 'vision to moral and social responsibilities'.
All this school reorganisation was accompanied by severe funding reductions for
state education, increase in class sizes, and staffing cutbacks.70A policy of school
retention was tied with issues of equity. Non work was associated with 'disadvantage',
status, gender, ethnicity and indigenous background.71 Schools in the same suburb
were to compete for pupils (especially middle class students), and the ethos of
competitive individualism was firmly driving the agenda.This development of a new
enterprise culture was based on a set of values and beliefs which supported independent,
entrepreneurial behaviour. In order to address this competitive environment schools
developed new programs such as 'giftedness', and 'accelerated programs'. ('Select Entry
Accelerated Learning Programs', are recent Victorian Department of Education and
Training sponsored programs, and are advertised as an 'alternative for exceptionally
bright students).72 This is a form of sorting students and was known as 'streaming' in

67. Directorate of Education (DES), Schools of the Future, Melbourne, 1993.

68. P. Fensham, 'Education without vision: The Curriculum and Standards Framework (CSF)',
Centrefor Democratic Education, Pamphletl 1, April, North Carlton, 1996, pp.2-4.
69. R. Cross, 'Science in Victorian Schools', Melbourne Studies in Education , Vol. 38. No.2,
November, 1997, pp.101-113.
70. S. Marginson, 'Kennett's Damage to Public Schools', Centre For Democratic Education, Pamphlet
No.2, November, 1994.
71. R. Teese, 'Post Compulsory education and training: Some recent research findings and their policy
implications', The Australian Educational Researcher, Vol.27, No. 3, December, 2000, pp. 49-58.
72. Victorian Department of Education and Training, Select Entry Accelerated Learning Programs
2003, Education Age, Melbourne. 20 March 2002, p. 2.

99
Tony Knight

earlier decades; past data indicate a savage return to forms of schooling inequality
between students. It is not clear just what educational and social meaning is contained
in finishing six years of schooling in five years.
The effects of school closures and staff cuts were documented in pamphlets, e.g,
by the Centre for Democratic Education, North Carlton, on the basis o f sound
research data and analysis', and distributed to 3000 State Parent Associations.73 In the
middle of this top down policy fuzziness, it was not at all clear from available education
data, that private schools would be more efficient than, government funded
schooling.74-75
Summarising this policy direction, Whitty76 makes the following points regarding
new curricula developments:

The new curriculum policies foster the idea that the responsibility for education and
welfare, beyond the minimum required for public safety, is to be defined as a matter for
individuals and families. Not only is the scope of the state narrowed , but civil society
becomes increasingly defined in market terms.

While the entrepreneurial school developed, simultaneously the school curriculum

was narrowed to meet university demands, teaching resources were withdrawn, and
the so called average student had increasing difficulties in graduating from school.77
Indigenous education saw some movement toward an inclusion within schools during
this period, and some schools and teachers did become engaged. It was Northland
Secondary College, while not defining itself as a Koori school, but a community school
for all, nevertheless had the largest concentration of Koori students in the state school
system. On 21 November, 1992, the tiien Kennett state Liberal government announced
the closure of a number of schools, including Northland Secondary College. After
two years of community resistance, media attention, and action through courts, the
school was reinstated to the government school system. It was a rare example of a local
community and school acting to successfully preserve, what it defined as its basic
educational and cultural values, through political action. The school did hold different
views of what counts as important knowledge regarding culture, equity and
commitment to its community. Northland Secondary College, and community, defined
ownership over what was interpreted as important knowledge. It was also an example
of an inner urban school and community influencing existing state education policy.7879

73. T. Knight, 'Pamphleteering: The Academic in the Public Debate*. Conference paper delivered:
Australian Association for Research in Education, Hobart, 26-30 November, 1995.
74. Gewirtz, Ball, & Bowe, op. cit.
75. Pearl & Knight, (1999) op. cit., Ch. 2.
76. Whitty, (1997), op., cit, pp.121-135.
77. Teese, (2000), op. cit, p.228.
78. T.Knight, 'Public knowledge: Public Education: Northland Secondary College versus the State',
InternationalJournal of Inclusive Education, Vol. 2, No. 4,1995, pp. 294-308.

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 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

Late 1990s - The School as 'Quasi Market': the Role of Cultural

Selection

By the end of the twentieth century, Victorian education was marked by a powerful
conflict between the values of trade, competition, and finance; and the search for
academic distinction, aided and defined by an increasingly selective curriculum. The
use of 'mercantile metaphors' valuing how much students could 'get' in life, has far
reaching ramifications for all levels of the education system. Youth employment policy
was still off the state and federal agenda. However, equity in schools was now being
defined in terms of career planning and 'pathways'. This newer relationship of youth
to the work market and economy, redefined the relationship between equity and social
exclusion. Research from the UK in education competition, and growth in marketing
and promotion within schools and universities, increasingly reflect local concerns.80
This internal marketing of schools 8I, indicate that the 'language of the market place
was being gradually incorporated into the everyday language and practices of the
school'. The implications being that it may not be simply a greater pragmatism or
cynicism from teachers, but a reworking of what it means to be a teacher.The reality
here is that when there are no serious work choices for youth, increasing numbers of
schools will find it difficult to be taken seriously by young people.There is a decline in
work pathways for numbers of vulnerable students, particularly those with poor
achievement. What was a promissory note between school and full time work has all
but disappeared; except for those students attached to selective schooling that assigns
meaning and extends social advantage.

'At Risk' Programs: Contemporary Forms of 'Deficit Thinking

The popularity of contemporary 'at risk' programs utilised by policy makers is an

attempt to deal with rising truancy and school dropout problems, particularly amongst
low income, racial and ethnic students.8283 One of the purposes of this program is to
identify characteristics associated with 'risk' performance, such as, low school

79. Delores Dclgardo Bernal, 'Critical Place Theory, Latino Critical Theory, and Critical Race
Gendered Epistemologies: Recognising Students of Color as Holders and Creators of Knowledge',
Qualitative Inquiry, Vol. 8; No 1, February, 2002, pp. 105-125.
80. SJ. Ball, 'In the Education Economy: Towards the Performative society?' Australian Educational
Researcher, Vol. 27, No. 2, August, 2000.
81. Maguirc, Ball, & Macrae, (2001) op. cit., pp. 36-50.
82. T.Knight, 'At Risk Schools': A Problem for Students, Principal Matters, Vol. 2 No. 4, April,
1991.
83. M. Fine, 'Making Controversy: Who's "at risk"?' Journal of Cultural Studies, No.l, 1990,
pp. 55-68.

101
Tony Knight

attainment, and those vulnerable to dropping out. The term 'at risk' is resurrected
from the deficit notion of'cultural deprivation' in use during the 1960s. Associated
with this movement is the construction of'high stakes testing'. This is a state mandated
strategy exercising the exclusive use of test scores to make significant decisions about
student potential and school futures. As such at risk became a person centred approach
defining alleged student shortcomings. School structural affects, and present injustices
perpetrated were ignored.These projects plus a variety of pastoral care methods are
used to remediate students with imputed social deficits.84 There has been a serious
retreat to personal growth models, and the pastoral-academic divide gives authority to
the dominance of school subjects.85
This article has tried to minimise the emphasis and arguments that social class
theorists; personality and learning oriented psychologists / sociologists; 'coping'
theorists; have presented in terms of deficit theories and troubled backgrounds when
discussing 'flawed' and / or failing youth.The nature of deficit thinking, and the lop-
sided power arrangements lie in the 'perception' of the problem, and the limitations
of the methodology used to substantiate such claims.The increasing structural
reproduction of social advantage through the evolution of academic subjects, has
preserved the principle of cultural selection, and has been maintained through a selective
hierarchical curriculum. This resulted in a skewing of provision towards an academic
minority and those socially advantaged. Students not attached to strong school
groupings became vulnerable to lack of school achievement which had a substantial
effect on early school leaving.86 The contemporary construction of the 'at risk' child
emerges as a response to these structural inequalities.
The present market place does not have the same impact on every institution, as
schools are 'adapting' with a variety of differences. Without work creation as a priority
for youth, schools struggle internally with changes to modes of pathways and training
for non-existent jobs. Ball87 called this state for youth as' flexible under employment',
resulting in an extension of the youth phase with an emphasis on transition and
retention. All these gyrations internal to institutional and school life, and the subsequent
adaption of new markets for youth with its 'dependence and the refusal of adulthood',
redefine the concept of equity, and eventuate as 'natural' outcomes.88

84. B.B. Swadener, & S. Lubeck, (cds) Children and Families 'atpromise': Deconstructing the Discourse
of Risk, Albany, NY, 1995.
85. Power, (1996) op. cit., pp.134-136.
86. G. Marks, & N. Fleming, 'Factors Influencing Youth Unemployment in Australia', Research
Report No. 7, Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth, Campberwell: Australian Council for
Educational Research, 1998, p. 19.
87. S.J. Ball, M. Maguire, & S. Macrae, Choice, Pathways and Transitions: New Youth, New Economies
in the Global City. London, 2000.
88. M. Maguire, S. J. Ball, &C S. Macrae, Post-Adolescence, 'Dependence and the Refusal of
Adulthood', Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, Vol. 22, No. 2, 2001.

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 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

In a political economy that has built into its structure unemployment, poverty
and insufficient jobs for all who aspire to them, the best possible result is an equalisation
of poverty. Schools are therefore left to try to equalise inequality, unless there is a
different purpose to education.

A Strong Democracy as an Alternative to Deficit Thinking

But I, being poor, have only my dreams;

I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
W.B. Yeats (" He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven," 1899)

Victorian education since 1950 has witnessed a considerable diversity within education
debate and schooling innovation. As schools enter the twenty first century there are a
number of challenges that teachers and students in Victoria can no longer avoid.
These become key elements of the curriculum aiming for a proposed democratic
classroom. At the start of the twenty first century, we encounter fundamental and
cataclysmic changes in human history. These changes, political, economic, social,
environmental, cultural, and technical changes are unparalled. Chaos as defined by
'themeless juxtapositions',89 more than planning characterises much of this change.
Every conception of democracy has a commitment to equality (justice). Of all
the democratic attributes, equality is the most problematic, the most difficult to define,
and the most divisive. A democratic classroom addresses two different
conceptualisations of equality. The first equality is distributive justice, defined as the
equalisation of life condition.
The second equality is fairness, it is the extent to which a society acts to ensure
everyone has an equal encouragement to achieve success in all of societies sanctioned
activities. The distributive justice aspect is a curriculum issue in the democratic
classroom, and is treated (as all curriculum issues ought to be treated) as a problem to
be solved through research, discussion, and debate.This process leads to a resolution -
a program of action.
According to Pearl and Knight 90 , if the future is to be understood and brought
under human control, students must be prepared to be an integral part of the challenge.
The test of a democratic education is the difference it makes in the lives of students,
and to the community to which they belong.

89. R. Kaplan, 'The Coming Anarchy, The Atlantic, Vol. 233, No. 2, 1994, pp. 44-76.
90. Pearl & Knight, (1999), op. cit., p.36.

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Tony Knight

Students as Creators ofKnowledge

When the issue of important knowledge is conceived as something that is democratically

determined, every student is encouraged to become a researcher, to evaluate, investigate
and debate. Democratic education is not an exercise in predicting futures. It presents
students with problems, allows diem to marshal evidence (do research) and helps
them to find solutions to those problems. Students are encouraged to become creators
of knowledge, rather than active learners of defined knowledge. Students are asked to
unleash their imagination. Victorian education as it reaches into this millennium,
needs a schooling system that helps to revitalise society.

A Political Question

Equity, a central concern of this article, is a vital component of democracy. The history
of educational equity in Victorian education during the twentieth century has witnessed
difficult and painful struggles. Within die State context, women won the right to
vote, industrial workers the right to organise, and minorities a measure of their human
rights. Each struggle reduced inequality. Sadly, history teaches us that progress made
can also be lost. The lack of a full employment policy is a disturbing labour market
trend for youth. Boreland et al91 made this point: 'what is clear is that the economy
has failed to generate an adequate supply of jobs paying a living wage, and hence
supporting full and independent involvement in the Australian community.The
position here, is that whether equality is attainable is a politicalquestion that cannot
be ascertained in advance. Moreover, while absolute equality is probably beyond reach,
significant progress toward such a goal is realistic*.
This article has focussed attention on forms of deficit thinking and how deficit
thinking leads to unequal encouragement. The role of human agency in anti deficit
thinking is critical. Deficit thinking is a draconian form of oppression, it treats people
as victims, and thwarts human development. Teachers refusing to treat students as
victims, hopefully persuade students not to treat themselves as victims. Equality in
education thus is operationalised as equal encouragement - in contrast to the opposing
policy views of: 'equal treatment'; 'equal result'; and 'equality of opportunity'; each
implemented with a confidence that these educational reforms would even out 'life
chances' for children of diverse backgrounds. Strong democracy is advocated here as
an alternative to deficit thinking.92*93

91. j . Boreland, B. Gregory, & P. Sheehan, Work Rich, Work Poor: Inequality and Economic Change
in Australia, Centre for Strategic Economic Studies, Victoria University, 2001.
92. B. Barber, Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age, Berkeley, CA, 1984.
93. B. Barber, An Aristocracy of Everyone: The Politics of Education and the Future of America., New
York, 1992.

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 Equity in Victorian Education and 'Deficit' Thinking

Equal encouragement represents one of the requirements (from the two principles,
and four requirements) proposed for a democratic classroom advocated by Pearl &
Knight. 94 From several decades of research data emerged an optimum learning
environment , finding that with equal encouragement (here the psychology of the
classroom is defined as: Security, Usefulness, Competence, Hope, Excitement,
Belonging, Comfort, Meaning, Creativity, Ownership95) much of the difference by
race, ethnicity, and class evaporates.96 An equitable and democratic education will not
become a reality by some top down dictum, nor will it emerge by 'steering from afar.'
It will emerge, as all successful democratic movements have and should, from the
development of a grounded organisation building on small successes. Democracy will
not be 'discovered', instead, given the nature of the times, its initial growth will be one
classroom at a time until it catches on and grows as democracy must grow
exponentially.97-98-99

Acknowledgements: My appreciation to David Jones, VUT, Footscray; Darrel Caulley, Institute for
Education, Latrobe University, Bundoora, and referees for generous help on aspects of this paper.

94. Pearl & Knight, (1999), op. cit.,Ch.2.

95. Pearl & Knight, (1999), op. cit., pp. 265-289.
96. C.E. Hollins, It Was Fun from the Beginning, New York, 1991.
97. Tony, Knight, 'Longitudinal Development of Educational Theory: Democracy and the
Classroom. Journal ofEducational Policy. Vol. 16, No. 3. 2001, pp. 249-263.
98. The principles
1) AUTHORITY: (PERSUASION & NEGOTIATION)
(as distinct from the objections to democracy, guardianship (authoritarianism) and anarchy
(abdication of responsibility) (Dahl, 1989)
2) INCLUSION
(to counter a variety of forms of exclusion in school and society)
The requirements
3) it provides that knowledge for every student to engage in informed debate on every social and
personal decision.
.4) it provides the opportunity for universal participation with equal power in the decisions that
effect their lives.
5) it provides dearly specified rights and responsibilitiesthat arc made universally available, coupled
with an education that provides an understanding of those rights, a) the expression of unpopular
political beliefs, b) privacy, c) a due process system that includes an assumption of innocence,
rights to council, protection against cruel and unusual punishment, and d) freedom of movement.
6) it provides equal encouragement to everyone in all society's legitimate activities.
The above two principles and four requirements for a democratic classroom are informed by a
comprehensive general theory - the theory recommended is a democratic one.
99. R. A . Dahl, Democracy and its Critics, New Haven, CT, 1989.

105