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Social class and streaming in contexts of educational disadvantage: What young people have to say
Journal article   Open access   Peer reviewed

Social class and streaming in contexts of educational disadvantage: What young people have to say

Alison Black and Barry F Down
Ethnography and education, Vol.18(4)
2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17457823.2023.2262069
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Revised_Streaming and social class_with author details_28 August 202383.25 kBDownloadView
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Abstract

social class streaming inequality critical ethnography student narrative neoliberalism
This article critically examines the everyday practices of streaming working-class students into vocational education and training pathways in public high schools in Western Australia. It challenges existing beliefs, assumptions and practices underpinning the ways in which students are artificially divided into academic and non-academic forms of school knowledge at a young age. In a country that prides itself on the myth of egalitarianism, we argue that streaming functions to legitimate existing power relations, social hierarchies, and educational inequalities. Drawing on the tradition of critical ethnography, the article examines the post school reflections of five young adults, now studying at Tertiary and Further Education (TAFE) institutions, as they reflect on their experience of high school and the processes around their decision to enrol in a vocational education and training programme at school and with what effects. The article identifies five emergent key themes organised around the narrative of each student.

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UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#4 Quality Education
#10 Reduced Inequalities

Source: InCites

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