Challenging the System? a Dramatic Tale of Neoliberal Reform in an Australian High School: A Dramatic Tale of Neoliberal Reform in an Australian High School [Kietas viršelis]

Based on extended, intensive fieldwork in an Australian high school, Challenging the System illuminates issues faced on a daily basis by teachers and educational administrators in many parts of the world.Forsey highlights the tensions arising between neo-liberal emphasis on individual school communities as the engine for competitive excellence in education, and the need for those responsible for running public education to maintain some degree of equity across the whole system. He shows that reforms based purely on market forces are not only undesirable, they are imposible to achieve. Governments do not want to lose control of highly significant cultural and political systems, nor can they stray too far from at least appearing to support the egalitarian ideals purportedly underpinning modern democracies.

This book, critiques the rhetoric of education for all by highlighting the persistent influence of social class inequalities in Australian society. It shows how class interests shape both public and private education systems, with Ravina High considered a good school due to its middle-class catchment.