Janean Robinson

Neoliberalism, after decades of reform, continues to steer educational policies around the world. As private enterprise encroaches public education, schools are held accountable, tangled up in an internationally competitive culture of achieving benchmarks that meet technically managed standards. Not only is it academic performance that is audited but also codes of behavioral conduct. As behaviour remains one of the most dominant discourses of schooling, it is discipline policies that are critiqued in this book, framed by tracing genealogical, historical, and political patterns of discipline practices in schooling from 16th century Europe through to 21st century Australia. Two in-depth, ethnographic case studies conducted in Western Australia (when the author was both teacher and researcher), are shared as theoretical tools to provide insights into how behavior management and discipline policies are enacted within the field of institutional secondary schooling. As an alternative to the "Neoliberal" School, it is instead the voices, interpretations, and experiences of young people themselves, together with the voice of the author as narrator and theory-maker that speak back to neoliberal behaviour and discipline policies. These voices provide hope and a vision to reimagine educational narratives and pedagogical directions that are more inclusive, democratic and sustainable into the future.

Neoliberalism, after decades of reform, continues to steer educational policies around the world. As private enterprise encroaches public education, schools are held accountable, tangled up in an internationally competitive culture of achieving benchmarks that meet technically managed standards. Not only is it academic performance that is audited but also codes of behavioral conduct. As behaviour remains one of the most dominant discourses of schooling, it is discipline policies that are critiqued in this book, framed by tracing genealogical, historical, and political patterns of discipline practices in schooling from 16th century Europe through to 21st century Australia. Two in-depth, ethnographic case studies conducted in Western Australia (when the author was both teacher and researcher), are shared as theoretical tools to provide insights into how behavior management and discipline policies are enacted within the field of institutional secondary schooling. As an alternative to the "Neoliberal" School, it is instead the voices, interpretations, and experiences of young people themselves, together with the voice of the author as narrator and theory-maker that speak back to neoliberal behaviour and discipline policies. These voices provide hope and a vision to reimagine educational narratives and pedagogical directions that are more inclusive, democratic and sustainable into the future.

This book draws on the stories of thirty-two young Australians to identify the barriers and obstacles they face in ‘getting a job’ in precarious times and from their vantage point. It maps the kinds of educational policies and practices that need to be created and more widely sustained to assist their career aspirations and life chances. It is timely in terms of contributing to an alternative set of possibilities based on a commitment to the principles and values of social justice, respect, trust, care, democracy and citizenship. In constructing an alternative vision and practice for education and training it advocates the right of all young people to have a say in these broader public debates. In pursuing this agenda, it deliberately sets out to listen to what young people themselves have to say with a view to interrupting the way things are. In other words, the book seeks to identify and explain the dreams, desires and aspirations of young people with a view to creating a new imaginary and socially just future.

This book draws on the stories of thirty-two young Australians to identify the barriers and obstacles they face in ‘getting a job’ in precarious times and from their vantage point. It maps the kinds of educational policies and practices that need to be created and more widely sustained to assist their career aspirations and life chances. It is timely in terms of contributing to an alternative set of possibilities based on a commitment to the principles and values of social justice, respect, trust, care, democracy and citizenship. In constructing an alternative vision and practice for education and training it advocates the right of all young people to have a say in these broader public debates. In pursuing this agenda, it deliberately sets out to listen to what young people themselves have to say with a view to interrupting the way things are. In other words, the book seeks to identify and explain the dreams, desires and aspirations of young people with a view to creating a new imaginary and socially just future.