Educational access for Australia's rural young people: a case of social exclusion.

The social and economic effects of globalisation in rural communities is well documented. Ageing populations, loss of services and employment opportunities are typical of rural areas in many western industrialised countries. Focusing on declining access to tertiary education, this paper argues that a lack of adequate policy is creating socially excluded young people in country towns. In particular, drawing on research conducted in the Centre for Rural Social Research at Charles Sturt University, it argues that the financial cost of education is creating a huge barrier for many rural families. If rural areas are to benefit from globalisation, a skilled workforce is critical. Declining rural access to tertiary education exacerbates power differentials resulting from globalisation and therefore restrains access to the opportunities of globalisation and hinders rural revitalisation.

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Globalisation and the power differentials it creates have had significant social and economic impact on rural and remote areas of Australia in recent times. Major cities have benefited from the focus on the knowledge-based production that global capitalism demands, drawing in capital, people and resources. By contrast, many inland rural areas have experienced the reverse and lost population, services, and job opportunities (Alston, 2002; Birrell, quoted in Sydney Morning Herald, 2000, April; Cheers, 1998, Gray & Lawrence, 2001; Salt, 1999). Many small towns and regions are characterised by ageing populations in areas of low business diversity, precarious employment opportunities and low levels of infrastructure development (Alston & Kent, 2001). The painful lesson of the last 15 years is that economic prosperity in a globalised marketplace is dependent on factors that link regions to the outside world. Israel, Beaulieu, and Hartless (2001, p. 43) argue that critical to a region's prosperity are the capability to participate in the global economy, the ability to incorporate information technology into the workforce and the development of a workforce with the skills and knowledge necessary to interact with the increasingly sophisticated work environment.

Although it would appear that Australia is paying too little attention to all of these factors in the rural context, it is the latter that is the focus of this paper. In particular, it is argued that, for many rural young people, their restricted access to tertiary education is a significant barrier to the development of a skilled knowledge-focused workforce in rural and remote regions of Australia. Drawing on research being done in the United Kingdom, it is argued that many rural young people are in danger of becoming socially excluded from global opportunities through a lack of access to the skills, resources and training needed to be competitive in a globalised world. As a consequence, many are disempowered by globalisation and lose out in the high stakes on offer. In making this claim, the writers' present findings from research conducted through the Centre for Rural Social Research during 2000 and 2001 in several small towns in inland New South Wales. It is important in presenting this material that we note the heterogeneity of both rural and urban areas. Not all rural people or all rural communities are disadvantaged by globalising forces nor are all urban people and urban areas advantaged. Outer suburbs of large cities and the residents of these areas, for example, also face significant issues suggesting differentiation is occurring in both rural and urban locations. Yet when we look at social trends and policy developments, we are able to support claims of exacerbated rural disadvantage and to suggest that one of the consequences of globalisation is the creation of a group of socially excluded young people living in rural areas.

Policy responses to globalisation

Although the impact of globalisation is keenly felt in the Australian rural landscape, the situation of rural decline is not unique to Australia. The effect of the internationalisation of the marketplace and globalisation is restructuring rural/urban interactions in much of the developed world. Increasingly the global capitals such as London and New York and, to a lesser extent, Sydney and several Asian capitals are looking outward to an international network of multinational trading partners (Gray & Lawrence, 2001). One result is a growing elite of privileged urban workers in secure and very profitable positions who experience a working life that is far removed not only from that of many of their rural counterparts but also from many urban workers in less secure positions and/or on the urban fringes. There is, however, growing recognition of the widening gap between those who have benefited and those who have not and, very often, this gap is based on the rural/urban divide. Many countries and regions have made efforts to tackle this divide. In the European Union, for example, the development of the LEADER and LEADER+ programs has resulted in significant attention to regions that are 'lagging' or 'fragile' (Ray, 2000).

By contrast, Australian attention to the issue of rural and regional decline is diffused by a widespread commitment in federal and state government arenas to neo-liberal policies (Alston, 2001; Bourke & Lockie, 2001; Gray & Lawrence, 2001). These policies are designed to ensure that the Australian economy is internationally competitive and that government intervention is kept to a minimum. National Competition Policy, for example, was developed during the Keating federal Labor government years (1991-96) and adopted by the Howard conservative government (1996 to the present) as a way of making Australia's economy more efficient and competitive in the global marketplace. National Competition Policy dictates that services are judged on performance outcomes and funded on their quantitative outputs, a situation that seriously disadvantages rural service providers because of a lack of critical mass (Cheers, 1998). For rural areas, such policies have resulted in less government involvement in services, labour market skilling and job creation activities. None the less it is widely recognised that governments have merely withdrawn from delivery of services, preferring a more distant, but hardly less controlling and certainly less accountable role in service delivery (Alston, 2001). This situation makes it difficult for rural people seeking redress for service decline.

It could be argued that governments have created a blind spot in relation to access to the education needed for rural people to become internationally competitive. The contention of the paper is that such 'hands off' attention is ensuring that many rural young people who are unable to access paths to knowledge-based skills training are becoming socially excluded from the opportunities of globalisation.

Link between social exclusion and education access

One of the impacts of the election of the Blair government in the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s was the renewed focus on those marginalised by global forces. The establishment of a Social Exclusion Unit (SEU) in the Deputy Prime Minister's Office in 1997 tangibly demonstrated this focus. Social exclusion refers to the processes that act to marginalise certain groups in society and to create pockets of disadvantage and poverty (see the Social Exclusion Unit website at http://www.cabinet-office.gov.uk/seu/what_is_SEU.htm). Social exclusion occurs through circumstances that are beyond the control of the individual (Barry, 2001). The SEU commitment has enabled extensive research to be conducted on the socially excluded in Britain. Shucksmith (2000), for example, notes that processes of social exclusion are widespread in rural Britain and that class, gender and age differentiate those affected. Of particular significance in the context of this paper is Shucksmith's assertion that education is one of the critical factors that facilitate or restrict young people's access to the global marketplace. He argues that those with lower levels of education are restricted to local labour markets and their life chances are consequently reduced, a claim supported by McGrath (2001) in an Irish context. In further research conducted by Hobcraft (2001), education level was linked to 36 measures of adult social exclusion. The link between enhanced life chances and young people's access to education is supported in the Social Exclusion Unit (1999) report to government where they argue that those whose access to education is hindered suffer 'a variety of kinds of social exclusion' (p. 8).

The concept of social exclusion is useful in examining educational access in an Australian context. Extensive work by Birrell and others (Birrell, Caulderon, Dobson, & Smith, 2000; Birrell & Dobson, 1997; Birrell, Dobson, & Smith, 1999; Dobson & Birrell, 1996) suggests that changes introduced to higher education access in Australia have adversely affected certain socioeconomic groups who lack the financial resources to participate. In particular, the introduction of parental means testing for young people seeking Youth Allowance has restricted access for many young people seeking the Allowance to pursue higher education. It is only families with annual incomes of less than $35 000 per annum who are eligible for assistance. Birrell et al. (2000) suggest that only one-third of full-time undergraduate students receive an allowance and many of these are on part payments. The remainder are reliant on parents or part-time work options for financial support. For this reason, Birrell et al. (2000) argue that the over-representation of students from higher socioeconomic backgrounds in Australian universities is directly reliant on their parents' ability to pay.

From this line of argument, the restriction of Youth Allowance payments, and the lack of consideration of geographical disadvantage in the means testing equation, have led to a similar restriction of access for rural young people. Unless they are located in an area where there is a regional university, rural young people must of necessity leave their home towns to study at university level. Families whose income is judged as too high must not only pay for their young people to study, they must also support them in alternative accommodation. For those whose families are unable to support their ambitions, their ability to engage in higher education is severely restricted.

Higher education figures demonstrate a decline in the number of rural young people accessing higher education. Despite constituting approximately one-third of school students, rural young people make up only 17 per cent of tertiary students (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2000). At a time when national participation is around 30 per cent, this gives cause for very real concern (James et al., 1999). This decline in access for rural students at a time when access for urban students is opening up suggests many rural young people are indeed being socially excluded.

In a report to the Department of Employment, Training and Youth Affairs, Stephenson, Evans, Maclachan, Karmel, and Blakers (2000) argue that rural community attitudes to the value of education must change for there to be a major shift in participation rates between rural and urban regions. This is despite their claim that social and economic conditions are important factors in explaining differential access. The position adopted by Stephenson et al. (2000) in blaming communities for their lack of interest excuses inertia in tackling the problems of economic constraints. In fact, lack of parental valuing of education is not a claim supported by James et al. (1999). They caution that this is a misrepresentation of the value that rural families place on higher education. In fact, their research suggests a very strong desire by rural families for their children to gain tertiary access, a position supported by the research presented in this paper.

Explaining the decline in the numbers of tertiary students from rural and remote regions, James et al. (1999, p. xvi) suggest that these students perceive more discouraging barriers, such as the cost of living away from home and fewer encouraging supports. Of particular significance is James et al.'s assertion that the financial cost puts higher education out of reach for many disadvantaged rural families. They also note that the combination of lower socioeconomic background, rurality and distance from a campus have a cumulative effect in creating barriers to tertiary access. It would appear that access to tertiary education is very much circumscribed by a family's ability to pay, a situation that restricts access for many rural young people and therefore ultimately restricts their ability to engage in global opportunities and increases their risk of social exclusion.

Sidoti (2000), the former Human Rights Commissioner, suggests that access to education is a human rights issue. He, therefore, felt compelled to institute an investigation into rural access to education in 1999. The subsequent National Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education highlights the concerns of rural and remote dwellers about the declining access to education for their children. Although the focus of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) inquiry was on secondary schooling, the issues are similar in relation to tertiary access. Access is problematic because it is not freely available, and is not physically and economically accessible.

Negotiating the critical transition period from school to higher education and/or to work is fraught with obstacles that may restrict young people's life chances. Those who cannot negotiate the transition successfully are in danger of becoming marginalised or socially excluded in relation to opportunities. Data from studies conducted under the auspices of the Centre for Rural Social Research are presented (Alston & Kent, 2001; Alston, Pawar, Bell, & Kent, 2001) to show the perceptions of rural young people, their families and community members about higher education access.

Research studies

Two studies conducted through the Centre for Rural Social Research in 2000 and 2001 looked at issues relating to rural young people. The first examined young people's access to employment opportunities in rural small towns and therefore necessarily dealt with educational aspirations (Alston & Kent, 2001). Young people in this study were defined as those between 15 and 19 years and data were gathered in three inland towns and one coastal town with populations ranging from 3000 to 11 000. The study included a number of focus groups with young people, in-depth interviews with key informants including careers advisers, school principals, youth workers and local government representatives. The study also included two large surveys--one of young people (through high schools, TAFE and employment agencies) and the other of parents of young people.

The second study examined tertiary education access in the western Riverina division, a large area of south western New South Wales covering the regional centre of Griffith and a number of small towns located up to 120 kms from this regional centre (Alston et al., 2001). Although not focused specifically on young people, a number of methods of data collection were used including a survey of high school students and their parents, focus groups and key informant interviews with parents, local government officials and school personnel.

From both of these studies emerges a picture of young people negotiating the critical period from 15 to 19 years when their life chances are in the balance and dependent on a number of factors often outside their control. These include financial and emotional support, ability to leave the safe environment of the known, community valuing of higher education, physical accessibility of higher education options and critical career advice. Whereas a large majority negotiated this access successfully (in both studies up to 80% of young people leave town and many of these go to higher education institutions), there are a minority of young people in all the towns visited who do not make a successful transition and are becoming socially excluded. The following section presents findings on factors that restrict young people's access to education.

Findings

Local opportunities

Young people in the 15 to 19 years age group in country towns are for the most part in school. Although a larger proportion of rural compared with urban young people will fail to complete secondary school (HREOC, 2000; James et al., 1999) approximately two-thirds will remain in high school until the end of Year 12 (Alston et al., 2001). Additionally, depending on the size of the town, up to 75 per cent of young people in senior levels of rural secondary schools have part-time work in supermarkets, small businesses and farms (Alston et al., 2001). This work provides young people not only with financial support but also with self-esteem and work experience. Many report that they are saving this income for their eventual departure to help defray the costs for parents. Many rural businesses such as supermarkets, retail outlets and seasonal horticultural industries are reliant on this casual, cheap and secure workforce. Young people note that critical to their success or failure in accessing this part-time work is their family background, family status and reputation in the town. 'If you have family or relatives who are known for bad things, you are going to be permanently marked.' (young person in small NSW country town)

For those who gain part-time work, their experience gives them a false sense of security about work opportunities and their decision about higher education may in part be based on access to part-time work in high school. Yet many businesses do not have a high number of full-time workers or clear career pathways. Difficulties in relation to work access only really emerge for young people when they are seeking full-time career options. In all the towns surveyed in the two studies, a significant decline in full-time jobs for young people is evident (Alston, 2002). The following table indicates the loss of full-time jobs for 15 to 19-year-olds in eight of the towns in the two studies. What is evident is not only the decline in the number of full-time positions for those in the 15 to 19 years age group but also the much lower number of full-time female positions.

There are also fewer apprenticeships and traineeships because of changes in technical and further education access, a lack of skilled tradespeople and other administrative issues (Alston & Kent, 2001).

   Traineeships and particularly apprenticeships are being scaled down
   ... mostly to do with on-costs and requirements, legal requirements
   ... a lot of problems like not being able to offer work at the end of
   the apprenticeship. (school career adviser in a rural high school)

What employment options that are available for young people are usually part-time, casual, low-paid and insecure. Young people who have turned their backs on higher education hoping for local employment are often disappointed. What emerges for some young people who fail to secure work is a picture of gradual disillusionment, as young people who choose to remain in country towns face the reality of declining job opportunities and few real career options. 'It's shocking--you have to wait for someone to get fired or die!' (young rural person)

Safety of the known--to leave or not to leave?

The decision to leave town is not taken lightly by young people. Although most are brought up with the knowledge that they will leave town and home when they leave school and feel confident about the move, it is nevertheless an emotional hurdle. 'It's like the next step--you leave school you go away.' (young person in small NSW country town)

For many, however, this is not an easy choice. 'I know it's a bit of a bombhole but it's just good!' (young person in small NSW country town) 'This is a sheltered environment. It's pretty safe. (young person in small NSW country town) 'This is my home. I love living here. But you can't be a checkout chick all your life.' (young person in small NSW country town)

Of 134 parents surveyed in the employment study, 87 per cent felt their children would have to leave town when they left school, with only 17 per cent holding any hope that their children would find work in the town. Parents are therefore supportive of young people moving away and, supporting James et al.'s (2000) view of the high value parents place on higher education, over 90 per cent in each study encouraged their children to access higher education. However the experience of small town options is significantly gendered and significantly determined by racial and ethnic background.

Gender

One of the critical findings from both studies is that significantly more rural girls than boys complete high school and more gifts than boys aspire to tertiary education. In a survey of 746 senior high school students in the western Riverina, 95 per cent of girls suggested they would complete high school compared with 87 per cent of boys (Alston et al., 2001). The higher number of girls completing high school is not a rural phenomenon as girls in all areas, urban, rural and remote, are more likely to value education and seek further education opportunities (HREOC, 2000). A similar gender pattern emerged in the employment study where a survey of 273 young people revealed that 85 per cent of girls compared with 71 per cent of boys intend to leave town and significantly more girls (62%) than boys (39%) intend to seek a university education (Alston & Kent, 2001).

In the rural studies discussed in this paper, it was made clear to the researchers that girls' educational aspirations are driven not only by a valuing of higher education but also by a lack of other opportunities in the towns. Whereas boys have options including farm work and apprenticeships, girls are not often considered for these positions; 20 per cent of boys in the western Riverina survey compared with 6 per cent of girls noted that their lack of interest in higher education was due to the availability of apprenticeships/traineeships (Alston et al., 2001). Rural girls also report the macho culture of small towns as being one of the critical factors in their aspirations to finish high school and leave town for higher education.

Race and ethnicity 

Far fewer indigenous rural young people complete high school (HREOC, 2000) and indigenous young people face significant issues in finding work. In our employment study, young indigenous people reported problems in gaining and retaining access to Centrelink benefits often because of literacy issues or failure to keep appointments (Alston & Kent, 2001).

   Noone wants to give you a job. You're wasting their time ... you
   are the one stuck in the middle. A couple of times you come close to
   abusing someone. It plays with your head. That's what it does. It's a
   constant. If you can't get to a [Centrelink] interview they halve
   your money. (young indigenous person)

   There are still lots of people within the Aboriginal communities who
   don't get any benefits at all [because of literacy problems and shame
   about filling out forms] ... It's a hidden issue. (Centrelink
   employee)

Rural young people from non-English-speaking backgrounds also report issues facing them in the transition from school to work, such as the issues facing young women from certain cultural backgrounds whose parents will not allow them to leave home for work or education. With few jobs available, these young people face entrapment in their local communities. Nevertheless a critical constraint on all rural young people is the financial cost of higher education.

Financial constraints

More generally, for many young people and their parents, access to tertiary education is circumscribed by financial constraints. The introduction of allowances based on parental means testing has seriously disadvantaged young people in rural and remote areas. Furthermore this means testing takes no account of the number of young people in the family seeking a higher education allowance. For young people leaving home, the costs of tertiary education include fees and books as well as accommodation and living costs usually in a capital city or large regional centre. The lack of consideration of a geographical isolation factor in determination of the Youth Allowance payment and the lack of assessment of the number of young people in the family facing similar financial burdens makes access to Youth Allowance (still commonly referred to as Austudy) particularly problematic for rural young people and their families.

   They should make it [Youth Allowance] easier to get because if your
   parents are just above the limit you can't get it ... a lot of people
   are saying I can't get Austudy because my parents are earning too
   much and it's not as though they are earning a lot. (young rural
   school girl)

   Austudy is just so bloody hard to get. (parent)

   Cruel and hard to get for some people ... it seems very easy for
   people administering ... to find a glitch in the paperwork--and it is
   a complicated set of paperwork that has to be filled out by the
   parents. It's very easy for Centrelink to say 'Sorry you don't
   [conform to eligibility criteria]' ... makes life very tough
   especially when parents have other children as well. (school careers
   adviser in a rural high school)

There is no doubt that the financial implications of means testing of the Allowance is making education access difficult. In the survey conducted with 273 young people in the employment study, less than a quarter of those intending to leave town expected to get Youth Allowance to assist with studies. The remainder noted that they would have to rely on their parents (35%) or support themselves with some assistance from parents (65%) (Alston & Kent, 2001). It was not surprising that 8 per cent of young people had given up ideas of a university education altogether because of financial constraints (Alston et al., 2001). In a survey with parents of rural young people in the employment study (134 respondents) 48 per cent felt that their children would not be eligible for any Allowance and 52 per cent felt that financial constraints would limit their children's access to tertiary education (Alston & Kent, 2001). The general feeling of parents was summed up by one mother in a focus group in the western Riverina. 'It's really sad if your kids are bright enough to go to university to have to say, "Well Mum and Dad just can't afford it" ... you just want your kids to have the choice.'

Those young people who move away for tertiary education without the security of Youth Allowance report having to work long hours to assist with the financial cost of the exercise. Many of these young people and their families bemoan the fact that this additional burden makes it difficult for rural young people to excel at their studies and to gain honours and scholarships allowing further opportunities.

The decline in the numbers of young people accessing higher education from rural areas suggests that financial barriers are too high. Rural young people are not being facilitated to access higher education, a cause of real concern at a time when (a) workforce skills are often the determinant of life opportunities and (b) rural areas need a strong skills base to assist with much needed rural revitalisation.

Socially excluded

Given the financial constraints together with the emotional factors associated with leaving the known, safe environment, it is not surprising that a minority of young people in each town visited were becoming socially excluded. These young people had for the most part left school, some have part-time work, many have no work, some are receiving unemployment benefits, and others receive no income as a result of parental income means testing or breaching by Centrelink. Key informants reported a growing sense of alienation among these marginalised young people. 'They're angry with society ... a little paranoia on their part that the world hates them. They start to drift around and have no fixed address.' (Centrelink employee) The alienation of these young people was sometimes fostered by the potential employers in the towns who viewed young unemployed people less than favourably. 'I'm not going to throw dickheads in there ... you wouldn't feed half of them for what I want them to do.' (rural employer) 'A lot of them coming out ... they're flat reading and writing.' (rural employer)

These young people who stay behind often do not make a successful transition in their critical teenage years from school to work or higher study. Instead of the supports they need, there are factors mitigating against their success leaving them vulnerable to depression, poverty and long-term unemployment.

   [Suicide occurs] among young people on farms with no future except
   looking down the barrel of banks resuming properties, seeing their
   families disintegrate, lack of training opportunities and no money to
   access whatever else might be out there. (school principal)

In all the towns that formed part of these research studies, underage drinking and drug taking is an issue. Young people reported that this results from lack of things to do and from peer pressure and is indicative of the social exclusion of some rural young people. 'Every Friday night some underage drinker is spewing their guts up in the gutter' (rural young person).

Many are excluded, by declining or restructured employment, financial constraints, reduced opportunities to leave town and gender, ethnic and class issues, from the benefits of globalisation. Although education is but one factor linking people into the benefits of globalisation, it is a major one for young people. Socially excluded rural young people are subject to policies that disempower them and they are in danger of becoming socially excluded adults.

It would appear more appropriate to support rural students and their parents by providing the financial and emotional supports necessary to provide enhanced tertiary education access. Although rural young people may not necessarily return to their former areas, our studies suggest that, given appropriate employment opportunities and infrastructure support, many do return (Alston et al., 2001). By assisting rural young people to gain enhanced higher education access, a stronger skills base for rural areas is facilitated, new ideas and energy are brought back to rural communities, and a commitment to foster rural areas and to deal with the rural-urban divide is demonstrated in a tangible way. The alternative to such support is a continuation of the decline in access for rural students and a growing number of socially excluded young adults. Furthermore a failure to resolve this situation is to continue equating rurality with social disadvantage and exclusion.

Conclusion

Social exclusion has been used in this paper as an explanatory concept to describe the condition of marginalised rural people who are defined by poverty and restricted in their access to the benefits of globalisation. Research has been presented indicating that lack of access to higher education is a critical factor in the increasing social exclusion of many rural young people. Like Shucksmith (2000) and McGrath (2001), the writers note that those with restricted access to education are shut out of the global marketplace and limited to local labour market opportunities at a time when these are becoming precarious and insecure.

It is clear that education is a key to providing the skills and knowledge necessary to engage in a global economic environment. If rural areas are to revitalise, they require a skills base capable of interacting with the opportunities that globalisation creates. Yet, in Australia, we have declining access to tertiary education among rural young people. It is evident that the increased financial costs for parents is at the heart of this decline and that the restructured Youth Allowance has critically disadvantaged rural young people. Research presented here provides a timely reminder that we ignore rural educational access at our peril. It also alerts us to the gendered, racial and ethnic differentials in higher education access. Fewer rural young men are accessing higher education and are therefore more likely to be limited in future opportunities. Indigenous young people are particularly vulnerable and young people from non-English-speaking backgrounds have particular concerns. If we are to deal with social exclusion in a rural context, equitable and affordable access to higher education for young men and women from rural areas should be a priority for Australian governments.

Keywords

access to education

educational equity (finance)

postsecondary education

rural students

social discrimination

student financial aid

Table 1 Full-time employment--15 to 19 years age group
(1986-1996)--in eight small NSW LGAs

    Male full-time employment    Female full-time employment

    1986    1991    1996          1986    1991   1996

A   294     170     145            163    117     64
B    55      46      32              9      5      3
C   122      74      84             65     30     23
D    51      34      24             25     16      8
E   149     118     116             99     46     48
F    77      44      51             46     24     21
G    61      44      30             43     26     18
H    53      38      35             19     11      9

Source: ABS census statistics 1986, 1991, 1996

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Associate Professor Margaret Alston is the Director and Jenny Kent is a member of the Centre for Rural Social Research at Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, New South Wales 2650. E-mail: [e-mail]