Reaching the marginalized: EFA global monitoring report, 2010; 2010

REACHING THE MARGINALIZEDMeasuring marginalization in educationencouraging evidence that Māori children –especially girls – are catching up with non-Māori.Even so, the achievement gaps remain large.Whereas 65% of all students leave school withthe National Certificate of EducationalAchievement (NCEA) level 2 qualification, thefigure drops to 44% for Māori children. Māorilearners are three times as likely as non-Māorito leave school with no qualification (New ZealandMinistry of Education, 2009).Speaking a minority language is also oftenassociated with low levels of educationachievement. In many countries, large numbersof children are taught and take tests in languagesthat they do not speak at home, hindering the earlyacquisition of reading and writing skills. Theirparents may lack literacy skills or familiarity withofficial languages used in school, so that the homeenvironment reinforces learning opportunity gapsbetween minority and majority language groups.International and national learning assessmentsconfirm the importance of home language as afactor in test scores. The TIMSS 2007 assessmentfound that fourth- and eighth-grade students whoreported ‘always speaking’ at home the languagein which the test was conducted score significantlyhigher. For fourth-grade science students whoreported only ‘sometimes speaking’ the testlanguage at home, the test score was 10% lower.For students who reported ‘never speaking’ thetest language at home, the score was 20% lower(Martin et al., 2008).ConclusionFigure 3.21: Indigenous Australians perform consistently below the studentaverage in reading% of population meeting reading benchmarks at grade 7, indigenous Australiansand all students, by location, 2006% of population who meets reading benchmark100806040200Metropolitan Provincial Remote Very remoteSources: Australia Department of Education (2008), Table A3.4, p. 190; Biddle and Mackay (2009).Data have an important role to play in theformulation of such policies. Disaggregatedhousehold survey data such as those availablein the DME data set (Table 3.3) can providepolicy-makers with the means to identify socialgroups and areas characterized by high levelsof deprivation. They can also provide insightinto the interaction between different patternsof disadvantage, informing approaches totargeting it and the development of strategiesaimed at equalizing opportunity. That is whyinvestment in data collection and analysis shouldbe an integral element of any national povertyreduction strategy.IndigenousAll studentsInvestment indisaggregateddata collectionshould be anintegral elementof any nationalpoverty reductionstrategyMaking sure that everyone has a chance to developtheir potential through education is an importantchallenge for all countries. Equal opportunity ineducation is a basic human right. Moreover, fairand inclusive education is one of the most powerfullevers available for making societies moreequitable, innovative and democratic. Overcomingthe extreme and persistent disadvantages thatmarginalized groups experience is a vital elementin the wider agenda for inclusive education.Extending opportunity to these groups requiresmore than the general expansion of education andthe improvement of average learning achievementlevels. It requires policies that target the underlyingcauses of disadvantage in education and beyond.159