Colin Symes

Selling futures: A new image for Australian universities?

ABSTRACT In the last decade or so Australias higher education has undergone a period of reform. A significant element of this reform is the degree to which the university has been held to be accountable in terms of the economic needs of the nation. More than ever before the university has been forced into producing the human capital needs of the Australian economy. This policy shift has seen the emergence of a more instrumental university. This shift is particularly reflected in university promotional material and stratagems which are the subject of analysis in this paper. They show the extent to which an instrumental ethos pervades the process by which universities image themselves.

The Genealogy of the School: an iconography of badges and mottoes

This paper reports on an investigation into central features of institutional schooling that, collectively, constitute the ‘symbolic architecture’ of education. In particular, this paper provides an analysis of the practices associated with school uniform, badges and mottoes, drawn from a sample of over 500 schools in the state of Queensland, Australia. The analysis reveals a large degree of uniformity in the meaning content of these school icons, derived from a common core of educational values established during the formative decades of universal school but resting on older heraldic principles. The authors contend that the propagation of these values within the iconic discourse of schooling constitute a significant ideological practice that focuses a pupils consciousness towards social norms and further reifies the institutional character of education. These processes are not ‐straightforward but are often contested in instances where pupils recreate mottoes in ways which mock the values that are conse...

Of Uniform Appearance: a symbol of school discipline and governmentality

The very garments that in some places are given them (children), and their maintenance in all of them by charity, are the constant badges and proofs of their dependence and poverty; and should therefore teach them humility and their parents thankfulness. (Samuel Harmar, 1642, cited in Pinchebeck & Hewitt, 1969) 1The research for this paper was conducted with the assistance of a QUT Meritorious Grant. This enabled us to employ Nicole Matthews whose impeccable research skills made possible the recovery from the more inaccessible lanes of the information highway out‐of‐the‐way clues to the nature of uniform practice in the past. We are grateful to the referees for their useful suggestions.

Keeping Up Appearances: Uniform Policy for School Diversity?

This paper analyses policies pertaining to school dress codes which have been formulated recently by all state education bureaucracies in Australia. It examines these policies and their implementation in the context of devolution, the marketisation of schools, and cognate social legislation. In doing so it seeks to understand the textual hiatus between government policy and schooling practices.

A Post-Fordist Reworking of Australian Education: The Finn, Mayer and Carmichael Reports in the Context of Labour Reprocessing.

Abstract Like its counterparts overseas, Australian education has recently been the subject of scrutiny and review, particularly in respect to its relationship to the economy and work. Concern about an economy in decline and a labour force with limited skills and educational capacity prompted an examination into the direction of its education. To offset Australias alleged poor performance in these areas, a number of policy options have been adopted which would bring schools into a closer relationship with the demands of the workplace. In effect we are witnessing a resurgence of human capital Imperatives in educational policy. But unlike its manifestations in the past, which contained Fordist and Taylorist elements, the new nexus which is now being forged between school and work is post‐Fordist in character.