Joel Windle

The limits of school choice: some implications for accountability of selective practices and positional competition in Australian education

The application of market principles to educational provision continues to attract governments across the globe, despite an international body of literature suggesting that marketisation can exacerbate inequalities. In light of a renewed policy push in Australia towards accountability via a market model, this paper analyses the impact of existing school choice policies in the state of Victoria, with particular reference to educational provision in an area of social disadvantage in Melbournes north. This analysis challenges the claims of the now normalised market model, but also points to the need to expand research into this theme, which has attracted relatively little critical attention in Australia. I argue that both the operation of existing policies and the direction of new proposals imply an uneven system of accountability which applies different standards to increasingly polarised ‘closed’ and ‘open’ schooling sectors.

The Australian Middle Class and Education: A Small-Scale Study of the School Choice Experience as Framed by "My School" within Inner City Families

With the launch of the ‘My School’ website in 2010, Australia became a relative latecomer to the publication of national school performance comparisons. This paper primarily seeks to explore the school choice experience as framed by ‘My School’ website, for participating middle-class families. We will draw on Bourdieusian theory of cultural capital and relationship networks and Australian-based school choice research in order to contribute to understandings regarding the application of ‘My School’ data within participating families. Data collection consisted of qualitative, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with five families, each based within inner-city suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The findings of this small-scale study indicate that participating middle-class families possessed highly developed strategies for locating and achieving enrolment in school-of-choice and therefore did not seek to apply available data on ‘My School’ to decision-making, despite each participant reviewing the available data.

The Ethnic (Dis)advantage Debate Revisited: Turkish background students in Australia

This paper re‐examines the widely accepted proposition that students of non‐English‐speaking migrant background generally achieve well in Australian schools and are over‐represented in higher education. It argues that the terms of this thesis exclude key factors influencing success and are insensitive to differences between and within migrant groups. Focusing on Turkish migration, I discuss the approaches and explanatory models developed since the presence of large numbers of post‐war migrants in Australian schools was first recognised as an issue in the 1970s. Much of this research based its conclusions on the experiences of first waves of Italian and Greek migrants, neglecting groups such as the Turks. I argue that the ‘ethnic success’ explanation does not adequately account for the range and specificity of student experiences, and present some data suggesting that equity remains an issue into the second generation.

Equity for sale: ethical consumption in a school-choice regime

The promotion of equity in Australian education has come to present itself to parents in ways which are shaped by the marketisation and internationalisation of schooling. This paper argues that, as in other markets, ethical consumption has become a key model for both schools as providers and parents as consumers to engage with issues of equity. We identify how the phenomenon of ethical consumption is reflected in the promotional strategies of elite private schools, and how this framing of equity occludes a clear vision of inequalities in the distribution of resources and access across different educational sites. We reflect on the extent to which outreach and service programmes in elite schools fulfil their stated goals or are self-serving.

‘Anyone can make it, but there can only be one winner’: modelling neoliberal learning and work on reality television

This article investigates how reality television talent-quest formats model the normative neoliberal worker and learner – roles which are increasingly drawn together. In the age of ‘life-long learning’ and shifting employment demands, new models of the supple, adaptable and willing learner are increasingly important both to meeting neoliberal economic demands and to legitimating them. As they appear in reality television, these models stand as ideological exemplars for the management of disappointment, the cultivation of hope and the maintenance of belief in meritocracy. Compliance, effort, just desserts and luck are emphasised in programs that offer viewers self-narratives that allow them to account for both their own circumstances and wider inequalities. As a vehicle of public pedagogy, reality television plays a central role in defining the place of learning in neoliberal self-actualisation. This is tied to well-established narratives of nationalism, which offer a depoliticised and demobilised sense of community.

The social experience of physically disabled Australian university students

Research on the university experience of disabled students has focused on barriers in learning and teaching, while the social world of university has as yet gained little attention as a distinctive object of study. Here we examine social experience and socially imposed restrictions through the lenses of social capital and self-concept. A qualitative study investigated the formation of social capital and changes in self-concept amongst physically disabled Australian university students. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and analysed using a grounded theory approach. The study found weak social attachments at university, but stronger attachments outside. Self-concept did not appear to be structured in any direct way by university-generated social capital, partly as a consequence of its weakness.

The role of internationalisation in the schooling of Brazilian elites: distinctions between two class fractions

This paper analyses tendencies that distinguish the internationalisation of education for two class fractions – owners of medium to large businesses and highly qualified university professors and researchers. We identify the importance of cosmopolitan cultural capital, particularly fluency in English, in strengthening the position of both groups and granting them access to an international field of power from which less privileged groups are excluded. Considering the diverging experiences of the two groups compared with Bourdieu’s own findings of a high level of ruling-class cultural unity, we argue that these differences are reflective of the greater heterogeneity of the Brazilian ruling class.

Schooling, Symbolism and Social Power: The Hijab in Republican France

To fully understand the implications of the global climate of heightened suspicion about Islam we must also be aware of its expression through distinctive national discourses. Media debate leading up to the adoption by the French parliament of a law banning the hijab at school fits into a global discourse, but also presents local strategies of incorporation and silencing. The targets of scrutiny are primarily first and second generation migrants, a large and increasingly visible portion of whom live in rundown public housing and attend ‘problem’ schools associated with violence and failure. It is important therefore to consider the position, and positioning, of Muslims in relation to media representation. This article analyses the forms the dispute over the hijab has taken in France in terms of the role of the school in Republican ideology; the social and economic position of Muslims; and dominant representations of migrants and Islam.

The management and legitimisation of educational inequalities in Australia: some implications for school experience

The challenges for education systems of student disaffection in working‐class schools are well known, but the implications of high levels of student optimism in the absence of the resources needed to support academic success have been less often considered. Through examination of the school experiences post‐compulsory learners in Australia, this paper seeks to identify some of the ways in which disadvantaged schools are able to command confidence and optimism from students. Analysis of the perspectives of students in schools catering to large numbers of second‐generation Turkish‐background students suggests that gender and ethnicity organise, make legible and obscure the production of educational disadvantage in these sites. I discuss the implications of strong confidence and faith in schools amongst students in light of contribution of this investment to a wider system of management and legitimisation of inequalities in schooling.

The involvement of migrant mothers in their children's education: cultural capital and transnational class processes

This paper analyses the kinds of capital, practices and investments that are implicated in the participation of migrant mothers in the educational careers of their children, drawing on a Bourdieusian framework. We present findings of a study of Muslim Iraqi mothers with school-aged children in Australia, based on 47 interviews with 25 participants. The study identifies different modes of involvement in children’s education and connects these to mothers’ cultural and social capital. Involvement, and its effectiveness, is analysed through the analytical categories of (i) high capital-high involvement; (ii) low capital-high involvement; and (iii) low capital-minimal direct involvement. The paper contributes to the theorisation of family–school relations in the context of migration, and develops a more nuanced perspective for studying social class positioning and repositioning.