The international dividend of Indo-Pacific literacy

A new report recently launched by Assistant Minister for International Education the Hon Julian Hill MP puts new impetus into this task by framing Education as a Tool of Statecraft.

Education contributes across multiple domains. It is a domestic asset that underpins the foundations of national power – in terms of skills, workforce, national resilience and productivity – and is also a tool for influencing the world outside – through development impact, student mobility, diplomatic links, trade relations and security.

Indo-Pacific capability builds human capital, a more understanding and multicultural society, and the ability to engage positively with peers in our region.

A core competency upon completing school must be the ability to engage cross-culturally.

Australia’s interests are inextricably tied to our neighbourhood – economically, diplomatically, and culturally. As the hegemonic decline of the United States becomes increasingly apparent, the shift of global power to the Indo-Pacific makes our engagement with the region all the more vital.

If education’s core purpose is to build informed and active citizens, then being an informed Australian today necessarily includes understanding Australia’s place in the world and recognising where our opportunities and responsibilities lie, particularly in our neighbourhood.

Yet too many Australians leave school with little understanding of this reality. Building Indo-Pacific capability among young Australians requires repeated interventions and opportunities over an extended period of time. Students at all levels of education need to be given opportunities to build the knowledge, skills and attributes required. At present, efforts are fragmented and discontinuous.

To correct this trajectory, we must prioritise Indo-Pacific literacy and language learning as core pillars of national capability – starting in our schools through initiatives such as the BRIDGE School Partnerships Program and reinforced through programs like the New Colombo Plan (NCP).

This demands a holistic pivot in Australia’s education system towards significantly enhancing Australia’s engagement with the Indo-Pacific. At present, language learning in Australia is a weak part of the education system. Many young Australians never learn a language other than English to any degree of proficiency unless they already speak it at home. There is a psychological barrier that many Australians have yet to overcome when it comes to bi- or multilingualism. An arrogant expectation that the global dominance of English and Australia’s isolated geography afford Australians a linguistic free pass is widespread. The assumption that Asian migrants will bring Asian language proficiency to Australia betrays an ignorance of the value of learning another language, both to develop greater cultural understanding and also as a sign of respect for our regional neighbours.

This complacency prevents Australian students from gaining the intimate knowledge of our region that the country requires, ultimately limiting economic and diplomatic engagement. This includes as students specialise during tertiary studies.

Australia’s higher education system is one of our nation’s greatest exports. However, the unique opportunities fostered by the of students from across Asia frequently fails to be harnessed. Campuses are often rife with social segregation rather than the incubators for cross-cultural bridge-building and mutual understanding that they should be.

In parallel, social unrest in Australia – as the recent Bondi attack demonstrated – indicates that significant work is required to bolster understanding and tolerance within Australia’s multicultural society. The need to build cultural empathy across the vibrant mosaic of peoples in Australia has never been more urgent.

As a tool of national influence, the ability to connect with our region is vital to Australia’s defence, diplomacy, development and trade partnerships. Australia's diaspora communities provide the country with a great strategic asset by creating bridges into regional markets and cultures.

But we cannot rely solely on this cohort to do the heavy lifting of regional engagement. What we need is a far broader cohort of Australians, across all fields – from science and engineering to government and business – who possess the linguistic and cultural skills that will enable them to engage positively and with confidence across the Indo-Pacific.

Key to building the social licence for greater Indo-Pacific capability is developing a narrative that explains to the Australian public just how connected Australia is to its neighbourhood. The major markets for Australian exports, the projected growth across the Indo-Pacific and the security conditions that shape our future all point to deep interdependence.

This connection to the region is particularly important for parents to understand, to prevent cultural suspicion putting a handbrake on their children’s future opportunities. Employment prospects are likely to be increasingly dictated by an individual’s ability to build networks across the Indo-Pacific. Yet the vital importance of Indo-Pacific competency for a flourishing future is given scant regard in our communities and schools.

In cities like Melbourne and Sydney, vibrant Asian communities display the benefits of cultural and economic integration on a daily basis. In smaller towns and rural regions, these connections may be less visible – and yet, those same rural economics are no less tied to Asian markets. Indeed, the revitalisation of many regional areas across Australia relies on growing economies in the Indo-Pacific. These communities too need a narrative that aligns their futures with deeper regional engagement.

At the heart of this necessary shift is a national focus on K-12 education as a space for targeted intervention. What K-12 education in Australia should provide is a high baseline for Indo-Pacific literacy: a solid platform of knowledge and cross-cultural capabilities that give all Australians ease and agility when engaging with the region. There is the need for federal and state governments to recognise that these capabilities – particularly language learning – need to be mandated within the curriculum. Today, languages taught in primary schools often do not continue into local secondary schools, creating broken pipelines that undermine sustained learning.

Too many students arrive at university having never developed the proficiency necessary to build on initial language exposure. Universities should be able to focus on refining and enhancing language fluency, not starting from scratch.

Making an Asian language compulsory from primary school through to Year 12 would send a powerful signal to the region that Australia cares, respects, and is invested in its neighbourhood. With this platform of capabilities, those of inclination can move into tertiary studies to pursue greater expertise and intimacy of the region.

While learning an Asian language is of huge importance, direct engagement with peers in Asia is possible even for those with limited linguistic competence. It is here that national programs such as the BRIDGE School Partnerships Program and the reformed New Colombo Plan play a crucial role. Direct contact with peers – whether virtual or face-to-face – can be life-changing for young people. There is nothing like the realisation that contemporaries in other countries watch the same sports, like the same music and play the same computer games to shake students out of their cultural inertia.

For almost 20 years, Building Relationships through Intercultural Dialogue and Growing Engagement (BRIDGE) programs have been connecting Australian educators and students with schools across the Indo-Pacific to share innovative teaching and learning practices, student-led activities and reciprocal visits that promote professional development and cross-cultural learning. Similarly, reforms to the NCP have placed an even greater emphasis on language acquisition as part of building Australia’s Indo-Pacific capabilities.

Importantly, the reformed NCP guidelines now centre a set of priority Asian languages, whereby applicants who are motivated to learn languages like Bahasa Indonesia, Malay, Mandarin, Hindi, Japanese, Korean and Vietnamese will be given priority. By explicitly identifying these languages, the NCP reforms send a clear message: Australia values linguistic capability as core to its ability to engage with important partners in the region.

Despite these positive initiatives, Asian language and cultural studies continue to be at risk in Australia. There have been achievements, but the motivations behind them all too easily waned. The National Asian Languages and Studies in Australian Schools (NALSAS) strategy increased the number of Australian government schools offering a priority Asian language by 44% between 1995 and 1997. Federal Government funding was discontinued in 2002 and then somewhat restored in 2009 through the National Asian Languages and Studies in Schools Program (NALSSP). Since the NALSSP ended in 2012, there has been no equivalent Australia-wide strategy.

It is not enough for Australia to declare the importance of strong relationships with its neighbours; it needs to prove and demonstrate this with multilayered commitment. This starts with education systems that place these relationships at their core. Our neighbours are closely watching to see if Australia follows through on what it says about the importance of the Indo-Pacific.

This article draws upon the AP4D report What does it look like for Australia to see education as a Tool of Statecraft funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. AP4D thanks the more than 100 education experts and practitioners involved in consultations. The views expressed are the authors’ own.

Dr Sarah Richardson is the Executive Director of Asialink Education.

Grant Wyeth and Malika Knapp are former staff of AP4D.