You have been asked by a campaigning group ‘Equity in Education’ to conduct a critical and analytical review of the literature on one of the topics listed below in support of their national campaign to address the issue of (your chosen topic) in Australian schools. The hypothetical aim of the literature review is to use it to inform state parliament to make changes to schools in order to ensure equality for all.

Topic:
Student and family poverty in schools

Your review of the literature should aim to:
Identify research that is relevant to the chosen topic published in the last ten years (2006 onwards). Your literature review MUST include at least 10 research or scholarly journal articles, books or book chapters. At least four (4) but no more than six (6) of these readings should be taken from the readings for 102071. The remainder are for you to locate. Note: Websites, blogs, tweets etc are not considered scholarly for this assignment. Educational policies may be referred to in order to support your review of the area but they are not counted as one of the ten readings.
Identify the issues and/or concepts raised in the literature that illustrate why your topic is an area of equity that needs attention in schools. This should be done in concepts or themes. Use (but don’t overuse) headings to help structure your review.
Evaluate and critically analyse the concepts /themes arising in the literature. Consider the strengths / weaknesses. Does the literature provide conflicting information? Does one author support the findings of another? Are there any gaps that haven’t been addressed that require further work? Are there links between ideas and practice? Does it provide a new perspective? How do these points relate to what other scholars have said about the topic?
Your assignment must reach an appropriate standard of academic writing and reflect engagement with the content of the unit.