Diverse classrooms, divided nation: how can schools respond?

An expert panel on culturally responsive schooling. Panel experts: Professor Lester-Irabinna Rigney, Emeritus Professor Robert Hattam, Associate professor Samantha Schulz, Dr. Abigail Diplock, Associate Professor Greg Vass, Associate Professor Nadeem Memon, and Dr Mikayla King. Chair: Dr Margie Appel For tens of thousands of years the land we now know as Australia never was - and never will be - monocultural, and its plurality remains a profound source of social, intellectual and cultural strength. Yet this diversity unfolds alongside intensifying global and local fractures: the emboldening of racialised nationalisms, the violences of unfettered capitalism, rising gender-based harm, escalating climate precarity, and the ongoing devastation of armed conflict and violence. These tensions do not remain in the abstract. They enter classrooms, shape young people’s lives, and challenge the very purposes of schooling. Schools are not neutral sites, but critical spaces that must both respond to and actively shape our world. Bringing together a panel of insightful scholars, this session asks: how might educators engage these complexities in ways that reject the violence of monocultural fictions and instead cultivate more just, responsive, and plural pedagogical futures? Each speaker will give a response, followed by an open question session. The discussion aims to provoke thought and generate innovative ideas for addressing educational challenges in Australia's increasingly diverse social landscape. The event concludes with networking opportunities over drinks and refreshments.