Challenging the System?

A Dramatic Tale of Neoliberal Reform in an Australian High School

By:
Martin Forsey, University of Western Australia

A volume in the series: Education Policy in Practice: Critical Cultural Studies. Editor(s): Rodney Hopson, University of Illinois - Urbana Champaign. Edmund Hamann, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Published 2006

The book is written with great clarity, and a strong awareness of the importance of the school's social milieu. Forsey cuts through the mealy mouthed official rhetoric of "education for all" and shows the massive, continuing influence of social class inequalities in Australian society. Class interests shape not only this school but the whole education system around it, public and private. Ravina High is seen as a "good school" largely because of its comfortable middle-class catchment.

CONTENTS
Foreword. Acknowledgments. Chapter 1: Devolution in Practice. Chapter 2: Neoliberalism and Schools: Global Ideals, Local Realities. Chapter 3: A Good Ship to Sail. Chapter 4: Maintaining the Good Ship. Chapter 5: Disturbing the Millpond. Chapter 6: Conduct Unbecalming. Chapter 7: Challenging the System? Chapter 8: What Shall We Do?. References. Index.

REVIEWS
"This is one of those all too rare ethnographic studies in education which deserves to be widely read, not only because of the intrinsic interest in the narrative which the author relates, but also because it highlights fundamental issues in contemporary Australian education policy and administration." Clive Whitehead