Undemocratic Schooling: Equity and Quality in Mass Secondary Education in Australia

Abstract

This book, based on a social survey of secondary education in Australia, provides information on students' achievements in relation to their attitudes and values, their perspectives on issues ranging from jobs to discrimination, and their destinations in relation to their backgrounds. It is presented in five main parts: the first part, 'The machine of the curriculum', describes the hierarchical nature of the curriculum, likening it to an economic system which produces outcomes in the form of access to jobs, careers and further education; the second part, 'Historical progress', analyses the growth in social access to mathematics and sciences, and the mixed pattern in humanities and social sciences; part three, 'Hierarchical curriculum, stratified school system', looks at the reasons why social inequalities still exist in the curriculum; part four, 'The results of school' looks at the destinations of young people after schooling; and the final part, 'Lines of reform', examines how schools can be made more effective in terms of equity and quality. The chapters are: Economy and school; The hierarchy of the curriculum in historical perspective; Creating a working-class space in the curriculum, 1985-1998; Social progress in access to mathematics; Social progress in access to the sciences; Progress or regression in the social sciences and humanities; What makes the hard options hard, and for whom?; Selective schooling and the curriculum; Early leaving; Finishing school and getting a job; Going on to further study; School effectiveness and structural inequality; Vocational education and training in schools; From mass to democratic secondary education.

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