Rethinking School-to-Work Transitions in Australia: Young People Have Something to Say

181 Pages·2018·1.937 MB·English

by  Barry Down,John Smyth,Janean Robinson (auth.)

Critical Studies of Education 6
Barry Down
John Smyth
Janean Robinson
Rethinking
School-to-Work
Transitions in
Australia
Young People Have Something to Say
Critical Studies of Education
Volume 6
Series Editor
Shirley R. Steinberg, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Editorial Board
Rochelle Brock, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, USA
Annette Coburn, University of the West of Scotland, UK
Barry Down, Murdoch University, Australia
Henry A. Giroux, McMaster University, Ontario, Canada
Tanya Merriman, University of Southern California, USA
Marta Soler, University of Barcelona, Spain
John Willinsky, Stanford University, USA
We live in an era where forms of education designed to win the consent of students,
teachers, and the public to the inevitability of a neo-liberal, market-driven process
of globalization are being developed around the world. In these hegemonic modes
of pedagogy questions about issues of race, class, gender, sexuality, colonialism,
religion, and other social dynamics are simply not asked. Indeed, questions about
the social spaces where pedagogy takes place—in schools, media, corporate think
tanks, etc.—are not raised. When these concerns are connected with queries such as
the following, we begin to move into a serious study of pedagogy: What knowledge
is of the most worth? Whose knowledge should be taught? What role does power
play in the educational process? How are new media re-shaping as well as
perpetuating what happens in education? How is knowledge produced in a
corporatized politics of knowledge? What socio-political role do schools play in the
twenty-first century? What is an educated person? What is intelligence? How
important are socio-cultural contextual factors in shaping what goes on in education?
Can schools be more than a tool of the new American (and its Western allies’)
twenty-first century empire? How do we educate well-informed, creative teachers?
What roles should schools play in a democratic society? What roles should media
play in a democratic society? Is education in a democratic society different than in
a totalitarian society? What is a democratic society? How is globalization affecting
education? How does our view of mind shape the way we think of education? How
does affect and emotion shape the educational process? What are the forces that
shape educational purpose in different societies? These, of course, are just a few
examples of the questions that need to be asked in relation to our exploration of
educational purpose. This series of books can help establish a renewed interest in
such questions and their centrality in the larger study of education and the preparation
of teachers and other educational professionals.
More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13431
Barry Down • John Smyth • Janean Robinson
Rethinking School-to-Work
Transitions in Australia
Young People Have Something to Say
Barry Down John Smyth
Murdoch University University of Huddersfield
Murdoch, WA, Australia Huddersfield, UK
Janean Robinson
Murdoch University
Perth, WA, Australia
Critical Studies of Education
ISBN 978-3-319-72268-9 ISBN 978-3-319-72269-6 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72269-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017960881
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Acknowledgements
Many individuals, groups and institutions have contributed to the publication of this
book and to the research on which it is based. We want to acknowledge the financial
contribution of the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Western Australian
Department of Education (DoE), Bridging the Gap, Tranby College, Seton College,
the Town of Kwinana and Kwinana Industries Council. In particular, we extend our
appreciation to the City of Rockingham. We also want to thank Challenger Institute
of Technology and South West Group for their commitment and support for this
project. We also extend our gratitude to Murdoch University and Federation
University for providing us with a supportive environment within which to conduct
our research and writing.
We are indebted to the school principals, teachers, officers and staff of all partner
organisations for their high level of cooperation and professionalism. Above all, we
express our deep appreciation to the courageous young people who gave so willingly
and generously their time and knowledge in helping us to better understand how
schools can assist young people in ‘getting a job’. We are also grateful to the school
leaders, teachers and representatives who provided helpful feedback and participated
in a series of workshops throughout the project.
Finally, we would like to express our deep appreciation to Solveiga Smyth and
Dr. Peter McInerney for their extraordinary contribution to the fieldwork, interviews
and transcriptions as well as the crafting of the narrative portraits. We also
acknowledge the contribution of Dr. Kathryn Choules, a postdoctoral fellow who
designed and facilitated a series of engaging community dialogues and a review of
the literature on job insecurity. We are indebted to you all.
The Australian Research Council and partner organisations have supported this
project in the hope that the research will better inform policy and practice at all
levels. The facts and views expressed in this book are, however, those of the authors
and not necessarily of the funding agencies. The research was approved in
accordance with university and institutional ethics committee approval and
requirements.
Parts of Chap. 3 were first published online as ‘Problematising vocational
education and training in schools: Using student narratives to interrupt neoliberal
v
vi Acknowledgements
ideology’, Critical Studies in Education, pp.  1–19, reproduced courtesy of
Routledge, Taylor and Francis (www.tandfonline.com).
Needless to say, this book would not have come into existence without the tireless
enthusiasm of Shirley Steinberg as series editor and the Springer Publishing team.
We are in awe of their professionalism, commitment and energy in making the
world a better place.
Perth, WA, Australia Barry Down
August 2017 John Smyth
Janean Robinson
Contents
1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1 What This Book Is About. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.2 Rethinking School-to-Work Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.3 A Critical Ethnography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.4 The Research Site and Informants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
1.5 Major Themes and Assumptions Informing This Book . . . . . . . . . . . 13
1.6 The Broader Neoliberal Landscape . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
1.7 Organisation of the Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
2 Doing Critical Ethnography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
2.2 Listening to Student Voices, and Why It Matters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
2.3 Gathering Stories and Making Sense . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.1 Background to the Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
2.3.2 Ethnographic Fieldwork: The Interview Process . . . . . . . . . . 31
2.3.3 The Dialogues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
2.4 Representing Students’ Lives Through Portraiture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
2.5 Speaking Back to Policy and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
2.5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
2.5.2 The Complexity and Messiness of Sense Making . . . . . . . . . 39
2.6 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
3 Growing Up in Neoliberal Times . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
3.2 Understanding the Complexity of the Labour Market . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.2.1 Lucas’s Story: ‘Someone Always Just Beats Me’ . . . . . . . . . 50
3.2.2 Paul’s Story: ‘I’m Not Working at the Moment’ . . . . . . . . . . 54
3.3 Going Beyond Menial, Piece-Rate and Poorly Paid Jobs . . . . . . . . . 55
3.3.1 Jackie’s Story: ‘You Need Education or You Finish
Up in the Fish and Chip Shop’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
vii
viii Contents
3.4 Moving Beyond the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of Streaming . . . . . . . 59
3.4.1 Joe’s Story: ‘After Seeing What My Life Would Be Like
in a Trade I Think I Can Do Better Than That’ . . . . . . . . . . . 60
3.5 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
4 Rethinking Class and Deficit Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
4.2 What Do We Mean by Class? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
4.3 How, Then, Does Class Work Educationally? A Dip
into Some History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
4.4 Mark’s Story: Class Stereotypes and the Attempt to Confront
Personal History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
4.5 Anton’s Story: A ‘Likeable Nuisance’ Tamed by the School
for the Military . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
4.6 Richard’s Story: The Cruel Hoax of a Working-Class Student
Who was ‘Dudded’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4.7 What Does It Take to Rethink Class Beyond Deficit Forms
of Thinking in a Context of Young People Getting a Job? . . . . . . . . 78
4.8 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
5 Transitioning to Adulthood . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
5.2 Preparing Students for Life After School . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.2.1 Janet’s Story: ‘We Need More Preparation’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
5.3 Navigating and Reading the World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
5.3.1 Stephanie’s Story: ‘My Course Path Is to University’ . . . . . . 88
5.4 Rethinking Policies and Practices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.4.1 Provide Students with Opportunities to Pursue Their
Passions and Interests in Real-World Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
5.4.2 Broaden Assessment to Include Real-World
Performances and Contexts in Which Students
Demonstrate Their Skills, Understanding
and Knowledge, Like ‘Craftspeople’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.4.3 Develop Integrated Funding and Support Mechanisms
Including Counselling and Career Planning to Assist
Students in the Transition from School to Work
and/or Further Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
5.5 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
6 Reinvigorating Pedagogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
6.2 Creating Hospitable Places for Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
6.2.1 Adrian’s Story: ‘I was Told That Timetable
and Course Issues Don’t Allow Me This Choice’ . . . . . . . . . 100
Contents ix
6.3 Developing Interests and Passions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
6.3.1 Noreen’s Story: ‘I Hope to Be a Singer or Musician’ . . . . . . 102
6.4 Engaging with Big Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.4.1 Janine’s Story: ‘I Want to Make the World a Better
Place’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
6.5 Rethinking Policy and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.5.1 Schools Need to Be Flexible and Responsive
to Student Needs If They Wish to Encourage Learning,
Not Prevent It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
6.5.2 Schools Need to Put Students’ Interests at the Heart
of Curriculum Decisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
6.5.3 Students Need to Have Opportunities to Explore
Big Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
6.6 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
7 Giving All Students a Fair Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
7.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
7.2 Attending to Lost, Confused and Meandering Students . . . . . . . . . . 118
7.2.1 David’s Story: ‘I Can’t Really Think of Anything
I Want to Do’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
7.3 Including Students with Disabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
7.3.1 Paul’s Story: ‘I Don’t Know Why I Got Moved’ . . . . . . . . . . 122
7.4 Rethinking Policy and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
7.4.1 Interrupting the Status Quo Through ‘Community
Accountability’ (Stovall, 2007) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
7.4.2 Developing a ‘Portfolio’ of Schools to Meet the Needs
of All Students (Darling-Hammond, 2010, p. 267) . . . . . . . . 127
7.4.3 Legislating the Idea of ‘Occupational Citizenship’
(Standing, 2009) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
7.4.4 Building Social Networks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
7.4.5 Developing Youth Participation and Agency . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
7.4.6 Providing Inclusive Experiences for All Students . . . . . . . . . 129
7.5 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
8 Understanding Young Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
8.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
8.2 Working with the Complexities of Young Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
8.2.1 Michelle’s Story: ‘It Was the Worst Year’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
8.3 Acknowledging the Wider Context of Young Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
8.3.1 Warren’s Story: ‘I’m Very Lucky When It Comes
to My Family’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
8.3.2 Sue’s Story: ‘Finance Is a Bit of an Issue’ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
8.4 Rethinking Policy and Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
8.4.1 Enabling Young People to Reach Their Full Potential . . . . . . 142