Winter 2007

Careers and transition

Creating a prosperous Australia

Globalisation and ICT are the shaping forces of the new world, and Asia is where the action is booming. Pamela Stewart asks, what new knowledge and skills sets will give our students the best opportunities for career success?

Things were very different when some of today’s teachers were students preparing for a career, forty years ago. For Australian baby boomers, it was largely an Anglo-Celtic, English speaking culture—large scale Asian immigration was yet to happen. It was a period of stability and steady growth and seemingly, jobs for life. Few people considered a career outside Australia and when they did, London was where the action was. Asia was not on the map except for brief holiday destinations in places like Hong Kong and Singapore. Globalisation, computers, email and mobile phones were things for the future. That world has changed forever.

‘The shock of what I deal with is now evident in dealing with an Indian company where the layers of communication are much deeper than the English we use to communicate’. Anil Sagaram is a young Australian IT professional currently working for GBST Pty Ltd, a company seeking to expand into Asia. He goes on to explain this with reference to differences over meeting a particular deadline which ‘required me to be less aggressive and blunt and to focus more on getting to know people in a much more relaxed way’.

Although Anil grew up in a cultural environment of an Asian background and also travels extensively overseas, he feels his actual education did not equip him particularly well for working in Asia and he didn’t learn a language or much about different cultures. This, in his view could have been addressed at school by conveying to him the opportunities that could flow from greater engagement with Asia, access to languages and the development of intercultural skills.

The rise of China and India

The rise of China and India confirms that we are moving towards an Asia-centred world. India has more income millionaires than the whole population of Australia—which would be news to most Australians. And China has even more than that. It is clear where the drift and the momentum in the world is going.

There are now over three billion people living in Asia today. Half of them are under 25. They are contemporaries of students in our classrooms. Hedley Beare in Creating the Future School, says that their world is shrinking and more likely, over time, to become borderless due to the revolutions in information and communication technology. The really prosperous countries are starting to trade in technical skills, problem-solving skills and in strategic brokerage. Their workers are becoming, and will increasingly be, the knowledge workers: working across national borders; working interculturally; speaking more than one language, probably including an Asian language.

Anthony Klein, an international tax partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, currently works in this borderless world. He helps multinational clients structure their businesses and operations in the most tax efficient way, enabling them to reach their business objectives in the global market. He spoke at a recent Asia Education Foundation National Forum.

‘The world is no longer divided into a set of miniature economies.’

‘We have a global marketplace. It is a world that offers a lot of opportunities. Australia, a very open economy, relies on the rest of the world for our prosperity and is absolutely blessed by our location,’ he said. ‘We are effectively a Western culture in an eastern location and this is a very useful perspective in a business sense, a unique opportunity.’

‘China and Asia generally represented a huge untapped market for Australia, a market for our products and services, for our know-how and intellectual property, and a market for our people. There were also partnering opportunities in Asia in terms of innovation, sharing intellectual property, and sharing capital. From an emerging wealth perspective, Asia was no longer the third world, and the rate of growth was astounding,’ he said.

‘Yet, while the opportunities for Australia from an economic perspective were massive and untapped, we have a huge gap in our skill set in terms of being able to tap it. While we are physically located in the Asian region, we don’t have an Asian mindset. The average person on the street does not understand Asia. You only realise that when you try to have a conversation with an Asian business person, and you realise that you are not really getting anywhere because you are taking your own framework, your own mindset, to the negotiating table. Australian students need to learn about Asia in school, they need to understand the need for Australia to develop connections with Asia.’

What does this mean for teachers when planning curriculum for their classroom? What knowledge and skills should be taught to support effective career choices in an increasingly international workforce? Are we taking up this challenge?

Maureen Welch, Director of the Asia Education Foundation, says ‘significant things are happening around the country at policy, curriculum and school levels. The National Statement, Engaging Young Australians with Asia in Australian Schools, has been endorsed by all Ministers. Curriculum writers around Australia are incorporating a studies of Asia focus along with reference to excellent resources into their curriculum renewal work. In Western Australia, Lindy Stirling, Curriculum Officer for the Studies of Asia, says ‘that writers of the new syllabus and curriculum materials have been asked to include content about Asia, especially in the learning areas of Society and the Environment, English and the Arts.’

An internationalised curriculum

In schools, forward looking principals and school leaders are reviewing their curriculum and incorporating studies of Asia examples across the curriculum.

Morley Senior High School, in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, sees internationalised curriculum as a core focus of their educational philosophy. The school principal, Gay Fortune, actively encourages her teachers to participate in the school’s international program, such as hosting Chinese TAFE lecturers and visiting teachers from Japan. Japanese, Chinese (a community program organised by the Chung Wah Association) and Italian languages are taught at the school. Studies of Asia have been integrated into many of the school’s curriculum areas such as Society and Environment, Technology and Enterprise, English, the Arts, upper school History, Geography, Economics and Tourism. Intercultural skills are fostered through sister school exchanges initiated with schools in Japan, China and Italy. Fortune herself, has recently worked with school principals in Cambodia, a mentoring program initiated by her District Directors.

The Essington School in Darwin has embraced a major cross curricula focus on studies of Asia as part of its school philosophy. A team of teachers drives the school’s Studies of Asia program and in 2006, a Studies of Asia Centre was developed to resource the program. The school has established links with schools in Asia through its membership of the Council of International Schools.

Principal David Cannon says, ‘Today’s students need an understanding of Asian cultures. They will increasingly be working and competing with other young people around the world for jobs within Australia and overseas’.

The school invites students to apply to be an ‘Ambassador’ for a year representing an Asian country at the school. Ambassadors are involved in research and working with their classes to increase awareness of their chosen country. Teachers travel to Asia to develop their professional expertise in this area and the school delivers an ‘International Understanding Awards Programme’ for students.

The future

At the Atlas of Ideas Conference recently held in January this year, RA Mashelkar said, ‘I suggest we focus on the future because it is where we will spend the rest of our lives.’

Dane Marley, a 13-year-old year 8 Queensland student, and his teachers obviously agree with this philosophy. Dane began learning Chinese in an accelerated learning program in year 6. He now takes ‘immersion Chinese’ which means up to 60 per cent of his classes—including maths and science—are delivered in the Chinese language.

‘I’m developing a bilingual mind, and with that comes more than language. I understand how the Chinese think: that’s going to be really important to employers in the future,’ said Dane.

Web references

Asia Education Foundation www.asiaeducation.edu.au

The National Statement for Engaging Young Australians with Asia in Australian Schools www.asiaeducation.edu.au/public_html/ aef_statement.htm

The National Statement for Languages Education in Australian Schools www.mceetya.edu.au/mceetya/default.asp?id=11582#Languages%20Education

Incorporating the studies of Asia across the curriculum www.asiaeducation.edu.au/pdf/ engaging_tchstud.pdf

Reference

Beare, H (2000). Creating the Future School, Routledge Falmer, London.

Pamela Stewart is an education consultant working with the Asia Education Foundation.

The author owns the copyright in this article. For information related to the reuse of this work in any form please contact the publisher denise.quinn@curriculum.edu.au