Bridging Gaps:: An Analysis of Access Programmes for Persons of Disadvantaged Backgrounds

• Peter J. McNamee ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Southern Queensland

     University of Southern Queensland

     Australia

     
• Localización: Innovations in education and teaching international, ISSN 1470-3297, Vol. 32, Nº 2, 1995, págs. 106-111
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Since the introduction of the Commonwealth Higher Education Equity Programme in 1985, by the Australian Federal Government, there has been considerable growth in the number of University access programmes for disadvantaged persons operating in Australia. These programmes have been seen by many as successful in promoting social justice and enhancing access to higher education for the disadvantaged. However, this paper makes problematic the nature of these programmes and the accounts of social justice that typically underwrite them. Particular attention is focused on the social justice discourses that inform these programmes, and the effect that these accounts have on the curricula, pedagogies and management of these programmes. While it is acknowledged that these programmes have been successful in their aim of increasing the participation of groups traditionally under‐represented in higher education, it is argued that these access programmes, by their adoption of a deficit model of disadvantage and the need for compensatory action, serve to divert attention away from the causes of inequality to the treatment of it.