Doing justice' : stories of everyday life in disadvantaged schools and neighbourhoods

I worked as a school administrator in 'disadvantaged schools' for many years. In this study I asked colleagues from sixteen schools in the northern and western suburbs of Adelaide to co - theorise about changes in their neighbourhood, school populations and programs, now that their schools are no longer recognised by policy as 'disadvantaged1. I explore the use of narrative method and arts based approaches by constructing a 'literary' research text that uses conventional sociological forms together with images, poetry and personal stories. I use anthropological and geographical theoretical constructs to look at the changing material, economic, cultural and social landscapes and the mosaic of inequalities in the city of Adelaide. I suggest that this is not a simple binary polarisation, although large numbers of people are similarly positioned by de-industrialisation and the diminishing social wage. After examining the literature on poverty in Australia, I am eventually prepared to call this space class, understanding that this is a sociological metaphor. Through a theorisation of each school as a 'place' within a specific neighbourhood, I look at the similarities and differences across sites. I suggest that 'disadvantaged schools' are similarly positioned as sites for the mediation of social inequalities, and that this can be readily seen in the time consuming 'housework' of discipline and welfare. I indicate how each school is differently able to 'do more with less', because of their unique neighbourhood and its narratives, knowledges, histories, teleologies and people. I show that the common coercive regimes of market devolution, new public management and the 'distributive curriculum' frame the work of teachers, students and administrators in ways that are not conducive to 'doing justice', despite the policy rhetoric of equity and community. I provide evidence that the neoliberal imaginary of context free schooling enshrined in effective schools literatures is Utopian and irrational. I argue that the capacity of the school to 'generate context' is always paradoxically dependent on 'context derived'. I discuss the notion of 'doing justice' and the benefits of 'disadvantaged schools' having a local set of principles that guide their decisions and actions and provide evidence that the school administrator's understandings of 'doing justice' are important. I also suggest that, despite being increasingly isolated and hindered by policy directions, the majority of the sixteen schools continue to work for and with principles of justice and equity, drawing on a range of emotional and intellectual resources and deep, longstanding commitments. I conclude by speculating on the kinds of policy and research agendas that might take account of both the commonalities and differences amongst 'disadvantaged schools', and what might be included in a comprehensive and systematic approach to 'doing justice'.

Using everyday experiences in teaching secondary mathematics in Malawi : possibilities and constraints for change

Proponents of socially and culturally oriented mathematics education have argued that teaching approaches which value and connect with the learner's prior knowledge and everyday experience are more likely to promote active, meaningful, relevant and liberatory learning than approaches which rely on transmission and abstract presentation of mathematical content. In Malawi, proposals to reform the outdated secondary mathematics curriculum have been made with the aim of aligning mathematics instruction with the social and political changes in the current Malawian society. Using a case study approach, this study investigated the extent to which everyday experiences could be used as a vehicle for changing the learning and teaching of secondary mathematics in Malawi. The study was collaborative, taking place over a period of five months in severely overcrowded and poorly resourced classes in two schools. It involved three mathematics teachers in a cycle of planning and teaching mathematics lessons based on the use of everyday experiences, and observation of and reflection on these lessons, in order to document the effects of using everyday experiences on student learning and teachers' teaching practices. The data was collected through student questionnaires; classroom observations and fieldnotes; interviews and reflective meetings with teachers; and informal meetings with key education officials in Malawi. Mathematics examination results from students involved in this study and a corresponding group from the previous year were collected. A reflective and critical approach was adopted in the interpretation and discussion of the data. Teachers' participation in this study resulted in heightened awareness of their teaching roles and the value of linking school mathematics with everyday experience. The study also shows that students found mathematics interesting and important to learn despite their lack of success in it. In addition, the study documented a number of constraints to change in mathematics instruction such as teachers' focus on mathematics content and examination requirements, and students' resistance to inquiry learning. It also recorded possibilities and barriers to collaboration both between teachers and researchers, and teachers themselves. The findings of this study are timely since they could serve to inform the reform of the Malawian secondary mathematics curriculum currently being undertaken, which began without a critical examination of the classroom conditions necessary to accommodate a socio-politically relevant mathematics education.

Researching bullying with students : a lens on everyday life in an innovative school.

Bullying is a serious problem in schools. This paper reports on a project in which the authors worked with a group of secondary students in an innovative school in the north of England to research issues of bullying and safety. The student researchers used photographs to stimulate conversations with focus groups of their peers. The data showed that while there was little serious bullying in the school, there was an everyday practice of name-calling, isolation, and physical hassling associated with the formation and maintenance of a hierarchy of sub-cultural groupings in the school. The students’ research not only challenges the notion of bullying as necessarily involving a perpetrator and victim, but also offers a lens through which to examine the imbrication of educational differentiation via setting, testing and choice with youth identification practices. It is suggested that this project also has implications for the ways in which one understands and works for inclusion.

The presentation of gendered selves in everyday friendship

This thesis explores the gender differences in the way men and women conduct themselves in everyday friendship interaction, finding that the informal rules governing friendship interaction allow individuals a level of freedom to enact gender to extremes in the company of friends. Generational changes in men's friendships are also noted.

Framing everyday experience

This practice-based research involved two blogs created within different contexts: one in the small Western Australian town of Kellerberrin, the other in the Sydney suburb of Petersham. Blogging was developed as an artform: to deepen social connection within small geographical areas; to reveal new knowledge about these specific localities; and to extend and critique traditions of socially-engaged and "relational" art practice.

Rediscovering nature in everyday settings : or how to create healthy environments and healthy people

It is estimated that half of the world’s population now live in urban environments. Urban living necessitates a removal from nature, yet evidence indicates that contact with nature is beneficial for human health. In fact, everyday urban places, such as where people live, study, and work, provide opportunities to bring nature back into cities to contribute to positive, healthy environments for people and to foster the human–nature connection. The inclusion of more nature in cities could have additional environmental benefits, such as habitat provision and improving the environmental performance of built environments. In the context of climate change, outcomes such as these assume further importance. This article explores how common urban places can foster links between people and nature, and generate positive health and well-being outcomes. We achieve this by exploring nature in the everyday settings of schools and residential housing.

The illusory everyday : narratives of pleasure in Australian 'reality TV'

This thesis examines the paradox thai the popularity of 'reality TV' lies more in its construction and the pleasure of its reception as entertainment, than ils 'reality'. Through the integration of theoretical perspectives, and industry and viewer interviews, 'reality TV' is explored as an amoebic, amorphous genre, of multiple narratives, interpretations and pleasures.

Everyday risks and professional dilemmas : fieldwork with alcohol-based (sporting) subcultures

This article discusses some of the everyday risks and professional dilemmas encountered when conducting participant-observation based research into the use and meaning of alcohol among fans of Australian Rules football. The key risks and dilemmas were those that emerged from female researchers entering into a predominantly male football subculture in which alcohol is routinely (and often excessively) consumed, the negotiation of key gatekeepers, the potential dangers of conducting research with participants who are inebriated and the duty of care to research participants. The article draws on an eighteen-month period of ethnographic fieldwork to highlight the risks and dilemmas negotiated and re-negotiated throughout the research process. The article argues that a failure to attend to these and other risks and dilemmas can threaten the viability of research among drinking-based communities and subcultures.

Classrooms, creativity and everyday life : a continuing inquiry

The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians, as well as documents published by the Australian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (ACARA) in the lead up to the implementation of the national curriculum, all highlight the importance of students becoming ‘confident and creative individuals’ who are capable of meeting the demands posed by the 21st Century. These texts have prompted us to think again about ‘creativity’ and how the knowledge and experience embodied in the traditions in which we operate as English teachers might provide a context for implementing the national curriculum and for continuing the work that we have always done in encouraging young people’s imagination and creativity. The essay breaks up into four parts, including a reflection on the Ghosts of Curriculums Past contained in an old filing cabinet, a dialogical analysis of ACARA rhetoric about ‘creativity’ and a narrative written by Douglas in which he examines the creativity of his Year 8 students when they explored the potential of the ‘Quest’ story as a literary genre. We wrap up by locating our thinking about creativity within what, in the course of our inquiry, has emerged for us as a salient theoretical framework for understanding the creativity that young people display in classroom settings, namely the work of Raymond Williams. The sections of this essay are more or less self-contained, but we hope that cumulatively they point beyond the circumscribed notion of creativity at the heart of the ACARA documentation. The fact that the publication of The Australian Curriculum: English has motivated us to conduct this inquiry suggests that the professional practice of English teachers will always be richer and more multifaceted than this document’s attempt to contain what happens in English classrooms. The best way for teachers to respond to the new curriculum is to continue to engage in reflective practice, exploring the disjunction that will inevitably emerge between the intended curriculum and the curriculum they enact in their local settings.

Resisting immigrant myths : everyday consumer practices of Asian immigrants in America

Projective, depth interviews with U.S. Asian immigrants revealed their ambivalence toward the U.S. commercial sector’s colonial-era representations of Asian people. These commercial representations provide polarized depictions of Asian immigrants as either threatening aliens or as model citizens. These portrayals reflect “racialized otherness,” or racial stereotyping that represent Asian immigrants as inferior. Our findings indicate that Chinese immigrants strategically use everyday consumption related to foodways to resist the reverberation of American immigrant myths. In some instances, immigrants’ consumption practices instantiate a regional Asian identity. In other instances, however, immigrants’ consumption practices reflect a separation from the past and an acceptance of a new although not exclusively American way of life. Notwithstanding immigrant consumers’ resistance practices, the findings call for future research into immigrant consumers’ reactions to visual representations of race, ethnicity, and gender.

Book review : Everyday life in Central Asia past and present

Review of Everyday life in Central Asia past and present, edited by Jeff Sahadeo and Russell Zanca, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2007, 401 pp., £14.00/$24.99 (paperback), ISBN 978-0-253-21904-6