"This book has been brewing for a long time. That is because it is about behavior and discipline in schools, a topic that is always of concern to anyone connected to education (and beyond). At the macro level, this book maps the impact of neoliberalism which continues after four decades to steer educational structures and policies throughout the world. As private enterprise encroaches on public education, schools are held accountable, tangled up in an internationally competitive culture of matching benchmarks on technically managed standards. Nothing can be more complicated in these times than measuring the standards and performance of the behavior of young people and how they are disciplined within their schools. As with literacy and numeracy, codes of conduct return into the arena as a problem that must be tackled. As behavior is one of the most dominant discourses of schooling, it is discipline policies that are critiqued in this book; framed by tracing the genealogical, historical, and political patterns of discipline practices in schooling from sixteenth-century Europe through to twenty-first 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. The neoliberal school is most preoccupied with managing behavior, as the image of the school is on public display in a time of marketing and choice. Those schools who do not fare well are easily blamed if they are failing and the needs and interests of the young people who must attend them abandoned. It is the voices, interpretations, and experiences of the young people, together with the insights from the teachers interviewed that are shared from the ethnographic fields throughout this book. Woven throughout is also the voice of author as narrator and theory maker to speak back to neoliberal behavior and discipline policies and to think, rethink and vision otherwise about how educational reform travels into the future. What must be at the core of this vision is the relational, the democratic and the socially just"--
By inquiring and critiquing, this book explored the broader policy landscape to investigate the trace evolutionary patterns, beliefs, and values underpinning school discipline discourses over time, highlighting the political, historical, and social contexts.
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.
