Folio 1: Alleviating Poverty (local)
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Did you miss any of our note-taking during warm ups? See the slides here:
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What assessment task are we working towards?
You will "curate" a collection of images that demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of local poverty.
After selecting relevant images, you will then comment on how they represent power structures in our society. You can negotiate to present this in a variety of ways, including a Pinterest board or hardcopy scrapbook. |
Historical & Contemporary Contexts
The Playford Alive development has parallels to the "Playford Plan" of the 1950s and 60s. Check out this video that was used to recruit migrants to move to what were then Adelaide's newest suburbs. What do you think it has in common with the promotion of the Playford Alive development today?
See also:
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Visit the City of Playford History Services page ---> |
By the 1990s, Elizabeth had become one of the most disadvantaged areas in not only South Australia, but the nation. How did such optimism result in despair?
Mark Peel grew up in Elizabeth and in Good Times, Hard Times: The past and the future in Elizabeth (Melbourne UP 1995) he argued that:
Mark Peel grew up in Elizabeth and in Good Times, Hard Times: The past and the future in Elizabeth (Melbourne UP 1995) he argued that:
There is no doubt that Elizabeth is disadvantaged, relative to most of Adelaide. But its disadvantage is new, the poverty of postwar suburbs savaged by restructuring and recession. This is a place MADE poor, a place for the people who live along the bad edge of a changing Australia. (p. 1)
Peel went on to publish another important body of research about poverty across Australia titled The Lowest Rung: Voices of Australian poverty (Cambridge UP 2003). One of the things that is special about Peel's research is that he conducted extensive interviews with people living in poverty, rather than just writing ABOUT them (as compared with, for example, Susan Mitchell's book All Things Bright and Beautiful [2004] about the Snowtown murders). More on this later when we discuss ethics.
This recent video by the Don Dunstan Foundation (2014) provides three perspectives on some of the current issues relating to poverty in northern Adelaide:
This recent video by the Don Dunstan Foundation (2014) provides three perspectives on some of the current issues relating to poverty in northern Adelaide:
What is the Playford Alive development now doing in order not to repeat the mistakes of the past? Below is the Playford Alive Master Plan as at 2014. We will also go on an excursion to the Playford Alive Discovery Centre to learn more about the philosophies behind the development.
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Growing Up Poor
Let's focus on CHILD poverty now. What impact does poverty have on children's development? This Four Corners documentary (ABC 2012), filmed in Claymore, a suburb of Sydney, will draw your attention to some of the factors to consider.
Some MOC statistics
For his Society and Culture investigation in 2014, Jesse Parker researched ways to overcome educational disadvantage. Below are some relevant statistics he found with hyperlinks to the relevant sources. You could include some graphic representations of statistics in your photographic collection.
The Review of School Funding (Gonski et al. 2011, p. xxxii) claims that ‘concentrations of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and Indigenous students have the most significant impact on educational outcomes’. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) measures socio-educational disadvantage using census data. The 2011 Index of Relative Socio-Economic Advantage and Disadvantage (IRSAD) confirmed that the City of Playford is the fourth most disadvantaged Local Government Area (LGA) in SA (after Anangu Pitjantjatjara, Maralinga Tjarutja and Peterborough) and includes the most disadvantaged suburbs in SA (Elizabeth, Smithfield-Elizabeth North and Davoren Park). |
The Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) is used by the Australian Curriculum Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). According to ACARA ‘there is a strong relationship between the educational advantage/disadvantage a student has, as measured by their parents occupation, level of education completed and their educational achievement’. ICSEA is a value higher or lower than 1000, which indicates whether a school has above or below the average educational advantage. MOC’s ICSEA value is currently 938, which ranks as below average and 51% of its students are in the bottom quarter for socio-economic advantage. Educational disadvantage is also measured by the SA Department for Education and Child Development (DECD) Index of Educational Disadvantage using categories from 1 to 7, with 7 being the most advantaged, hence 1 most disadvantaged. All public schools from Playford Alive have been assigned to category 1. |
These factsheets about the City of Playford from the Stretton Centre might also be of use to you. They cover:
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Notes from our group work on the fact sheets:
Remember: It can be inaccurate to rely on statistics for the whole of the City of Playford to describe a particular suburb:
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Poverty and Power
Finally, now that you have some knowledge and understanding about local child poverty, we need to look at an underlying power structures in our society. This is where you need to extend your analysis to Society and Culture's bigger concepts.
We will start by undertaking a task in class where you will become familiar with the Brotherhood of St Laurence's 4 Power Model (Reinfeld, Australia Fair: Teaching and Learning for a more socially just Australia, DETE 1999): "The model identifies resources, information, relationships and decision making as vital for individuals and groups to access and maintain power over their lives".
We will then "unpack" this TED-Ed video by Eric Liu in class:
We will start by undertaking a task in class where you will become familiar with the Brotherhood of St Laurence's 4 Power Model (Reinfeld, Australia Fair: Teaching and Learning for a more socially just Australia, DETE 1999): "The model identifies resources, information, relationships and decision making as vital for individuals and groups to access and maintain power over their lives".
We will then "unpack" this TED-Ed video by Eric Liu in class:
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