The Minority Report: Disproportionate Representation in Australia's Largest Education System

Abstract

The overrepresentation of students from minority ethnic groups in separate special education settings has been extensively documented in North America, yet little research exists for Australian school systems. The authors of this study systematically analyzed 13 years of enrollment data from the state of New South Wales and found stark, increasing differences in patterns of enrollment between Indigenous students, students from a language background other than English (LBOTE), and non-Indigenous English-speaking students. Although enrollments of Indigenous students in separate settings increased faster across time than did enrollments of Indigenous students in mainstream, enrollments of LBOTE students in mainstream increased faster than did enrollments of LBOTE students in separate settings.