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This resource is designed to assist educators to ensure that all students are included in classrooms and can access the curriculum and content of lessons regardless of difference in social class or socioeconomic status. The basic premise we recognise is that educational systems have often been mechanisms for consolidating social separation in their lack of support for students who do not fit into the social norms assumed by schools (Young, 2006; Grenfell, 2014). The effect of social class on inclusion must therefore be interrogated by teachers, which we hope our resource will facilitate.

Although broad policy documents such as the Melbourne Declaration (2008) consider socioeconomic background as a factor in inclusive education, policy that targets other social class factors is less easy to locate - as are resources for teachers of students from diverse social backgrounds. The Department of Education and Training (DET) (2003) provides some general strategies to promote economic inclusivity in classrooms that are useful to teachers using socio-economic background as an entry to social inclusion. However, economic factors are not the only delineators of social class, which the DET (2018) does recognise in their "Education for All" program that separates economic and social factors but does not provide clear policy directives related to social class. Therefore the theories of Bourdieu and Fraser have been applied in this resource to shed more light on how social class factors into inclusive education. Social class can be delineated in a number of ways: we will consider class primarily along Bourdieu’s terms as materialized in the forms of capital that students possess; within which, while economic capital is often the most visible, social and cultural capital are also relevant considerations in socially just education.

Economic capital (considered here as socio-economic status and access to goods) often dictates the ability of families to choose where their children attend school, as such a choice is limited to those with the economic capital required to pay potential school fees, transportation and uniform costs (Mills, 2015). Although economic capital is not the only indicator of social class, the amount and quality of education a child receives is still largely determined by their family’s level of wealth and income (Young, 2006). Economic capital also dictates families’ abilities to provide students with resources such as laptops or devices required by schools. We will consider the possibilities for amelioration for students from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds contained in Fraser’s (2009) redistributive remedies – which have implications for social justice within school communities.

Social (or cultural) factors constitute symbolic capital, which includes things such as acquired knowledge (from school or home), cultural codes, manner of speaking and practices of consumption that can be associated with particular social classes (Mills, 2015). Cultural capital as an indicator of class becomes relevant in schools where there are implicit or explicit values, knowledge, or attitudes required for success in school that one class particularly brings with them to school but other social classes may not; it has been noted by researchers that schools tend to assume middle-class culture, attitudes and values in all pupils (Mills, 2015; Grenfell, 2014). Fraser (2009) also addresses notions of cultural injustice as manifested in cultural norms that “generate misrecognition or status inequality for particular social groups” (Keddie, 2012, p.14). Fraser’s (2009) notion of recognitive justice therefore aims to correct such misrecognitions, for example by “positively valorizing cultural diversity... and the cultural products of maligned groups” (p. 38). Such practices will be drawn on in our consideration of how social or cultural norms devalue students from diverse social classes and how teachers can work to recognise and alter such norms within classes.

In line with Aitsl (2018) standards, we want teachers to become more able to teach students from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds (1.3) and be aware of strategies that might support inclusive student participation and engagement in the classroom (1.4). Our resource therefore aims to identify issues related to social class in theory, policy and practice and suggest ways that teachers can turn that awareness into inclusive practice. We have divided our resource primarily into learning-area resources, however some resources are relevant to all teachers in different disciplines.

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Please click on the below links to find resources specific to your learning area:

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Please click on the below links to find resources specific to your learning area:

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Addressing social class differences in science

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Overcoming the challenges of low socioeconomic status schools and/or low socioeconomic students.

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Australian professional standards for teachers. (2018). Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership. Retrieved from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards.

Education for all. (2018). Victoria State Government: Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/Education-for-all.aspx.

Fraser, N. (2009). Justice interruptus: Critical reflections on the “postsocialist”condition. New York: Routledge.

Grenfell, M. (Ed.) (2014). Pierre Bourdieu: Key concepts. New York: Routledge.

Keddie, A. (2012). Educating for diversity and social justice. London: Routledge.

Melbourne declaration on educational goals for young Australians. (2008). Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs. Retrieved from http://www.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/National_Declaration_on_the_Educational_Goals_for_Young_Australians.pdf.

Mills, C. (2015). Implications of the My School website for disadvantaged communities: A Bourdieuian analysis. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 47(2), 146-158. Doi: 10.1080/00131857.2013.793927.

Social inclusion at school: How to help low income families. (2003). Victoria State Government: Department of Education and Training. Retrieved from https://www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/principals/spag/management/PP_SocialInclusion.pdf.

Young, I.M. (2006). Education in the context of structural injustice: A symposium response. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 38(1), 93-103. Doi: 10.1111/j.1469-5812.2006.00177.