Re-imagining Schooling for Education: Socially Just Alternatives

196 Pages·2017·9.905 MB·English

by  Glenda McGregor, Martin Mills, Kitty Te Riele, Aspa Baroutsis, Debra Hayes (auth.)

Palgrave Studies in Alternative
Education
Series Editors
Helen Lees
Education, Newman University
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Michael Reiss
Institute of Education, University of London
London, United Kingdom
This series emerges out of a recent global rise of interest in and actual
educational practices done with voice, choice, freedoms and interpersonal
thoughtfulness. From subversion to introversion,including alternative set-
tingsofthestatetoalternativepathwaysoftheprivate,theseriesembracesa
diverserangeofvoices.
Common to books in the series is a vision of education already in
existence and knowledge of education possible here and now. Theoretical
ideas with potential to be enacted or influential in lived practice are also a
partofwhatweofferwiththebooks.
This series repositions what we deem as valuable educationally by
accepting the power of many different forces such as silence, love, joy,
despair, confusion, curiosity, failure, attachments as all potentially viable,
interesting,usefulelementsineducationalstories.Nothingisrejectedifit
has history or record as being of worth to people educationally, nor does
thisseries doubt ordistrust compellingideas ofdifference asrelevant.
We wish to allow mainstream and marginal practices to meet here
without prejudice as Other but also with a view to ensuring platforms
forthe Otherto find communityandunderstandingwith others.
Thefollowing are theprimary aimsof the series:
(cid:129) Topublish new workon educationwith adistinctivevoice.
(cid:129) Toenable alternativeeducationto find amainstreamprofile.
(cid:129) To publish research that draws with interdisciplinary expertise on
pertinent materials for interpersonal change or adjustments of
approachtowardsgreatervoice.
(cid:129) Toshoweducationaswithoutbordersorboundariesplacedonwhat
ispossible tothink anddo.
If you would like to submit a proposal or discuss a project in more detail
pleasecontact:
[email protected]&[email protected]
[email protected].
The series will include both monographs and edited collections and
Palgrave Pivotformats.
More information aboutthisseries at
http://www.springer.com/series/15489
GlendaMcGregor(cid:129)MartinMills(cid:129)KittyteRiele(cid:129)AspaBaroutsis(cid:129)DebraHayes
Re-imagining
Schooling
for Education
Socially Just Alternatives
GlendaMcGregor MartinMills
SchoolofEducationandProfessional SchoolofEducation
Studies TheUniversityofQueensland
GriffithUniversity Brisbane,Australia
Brisbane,Australia
AspaBaroutsis
KittyteRiele FacultyofEducation
PeterUnderwoodCentre QueenslandUniversityofTechnology
forEducationalAttainment Brisbane,Australia
UniversityofTasmania
Hobart,Australia
DebraHayes
SydneySchoolofEducation
andSocialWork
UniversityofSydney
Sydney,Australia
PalgraveStudiesinAlternativeEducation
ISBN978-1-137-59550-8 ISBN978-1-137-59551-5(eBook)
DOI10.1057/978-1-137-59551-5
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2016963151
©TheEditor(s)(ifapplicable)andTheAuthor(s)2017
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A
CKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge the young people and the workers in the
schoolsthatwevisitedduringthecourseofundertakingthefieldworkfor
this book. The research could not have been completed without their
generosity and support. We are also grateful for the assistance provided
fromtheAustralianResearchCouncil(Grantno.DP120100620).Thank
you also to Karen Rosauer and Helen Nixon for their careful and critical
readingsofthemanuscript.Wehavealsobenefittedfromdiscussionswith
colleagues in our respective institutions. We would also like to acknowl-
edgethesupportthatwehavebeengivenbyourvariouspartners,children
and/orotherimportant family members.
v
C
ONTENTS
1 ThinkingDifferently AboutSchooling 1
2 ContemporarySchoolingContexts 15
3 SchoolingAgainst Education 39
4 Clearingthe Path forLearning 71
5 LearningCommunities andStudent Voice 95
6 Schoolingfor Meaningful Learning 129
7 Re-ImaginingSchooling for Education 161
Index 185
vii
L A
IST OF BBREVIATIONS
ACARA AustralianCurriculumAssessmentandReportingAuthority
ACECQA AustralianChildren’sEducationandCareQualityAuthority
ACOSS AustralianCouncilofSocialServices
AIFS AustralianInstituteofFamilyStudies
ATAR AustralianTertiaryAdmissionRank
CCYPCG CommissionforChildrenandYoungPeopleandChildGuardian
(inQueensland,Australia)
CMEC CouncilofMinistersofEducationCanada
COAG CouncilofAustraliaGovernments
DEEWR DepartmentofEducation,Employment&WorkplaceRelations(Afor-
mer Australian Government Department, which ended 18 September
2013)
DETYA DepartmentofEducation,TrainingandYouthAffairs
DHS DepartmentofHumanServices
EU EuropeanUnion
HREOC HumanRightsandEqualOpportunityCommission
ILP IndividualLearningPlan
LGBTQI Lesbian,Gay,Bisexual,Transgender,Queer/QuestioningorIntersex
NAPLAN NationalAssessmentProgram–LiteracyandNumeracy
NCLB NoChildLeftBehind
NEET NotinEmployment,EducationorTraining
OECD OrganizationforEconomicCooperationandDevelopment
PBL ProblemBasedLearning
PISA ProgrammeforInternationalStudentAssessment
PLP PersonalLearningPlan
ix
x LISTOFABBREVIATIONS
TAFE TechnicalandFurtherEducation
UNCRC UnitedNationsConventionontheRightsoftheChild
YPP YoungParents’Program
CHAPTER1
Thinking Differently About Schooling
An individual’s experiences at school are part of the narrative of their life.
When these experiences are disrupted or incomplete, missed opportunity,
failureandfrustrationcanbecomerecurringstorylines.Unsolvedproblems
can linger into the future if the next threshold cannot be surmounted
(Heidegger et al. 2005). In this book we make a distinction between
‘schooling’and‘education’inordertodrawattentiontothemany‘school-
ing’policyandinstitutionalfailuresthatinhibitand,formanyyoungpeople,
prohibitengagementwiththehigherorderskillsandthedepthandbreadth
ofknowledgesthatunderpinapersonally,civicallyandprofessionally‘mean-
ingful’ education. It has long been recognised that assumptions about the
natureofschoolingareresistanttochange.TyackandTobin(1994)intro-
ducedtheideaofa‘grammar’ofschooling,todescribethestabilityofthese
sociallysanctionedarchetypesofhierarchicalinstitutionsandtosuggestthat,
likethegrammarofspeech,theydonotneedtobe‘consciouslyunderstood
tooperatesmoothly’(p.454).
Morerecently,Hayes(2005)describesthediscursivenatureof‘default
modesofschooling’thatemphasisesurveillanceandcontrolandthattend
to ‘dampen the kind of learning that leads to success at school’ (p. 683).
We contend that even when conventional schools try to change their
practices,theirfundamentalrelationalpatternsandpowerstructures(gov-
ernance, philosophies) remain intact either implicitly or explicitly; the
hidden curriculum (rules, school climate, types of students enrolled) of
schoolingasasystemistoteachyoung peoplethatthey mustconformto
©TheAuthor(s)2017 1
G.McGregoretal.,Re-imaginingSchoolingforEducation,Palgrave
StudiesinAlternativeEducation,DOI10.1057/978-1-137-59551-5_1