Barry Down

Doctoral

The Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) is a standardised academic rank, that determines upper-secondary-school students’ direct-entry placement into tertiary courses. As a competitive two-year, pathway, the ATAR fosters an environment where academic success is too easily equated with personal worth. Through the prism of a narrowly conceived, instrumentalist sorting process, students face significant pressure as they strive to meet competitive expectations. Juxtaposed against the broader neoliberal meta-narrative of standardised reforms in the Australian education context, this thesis aims to invoke urgency in the need to imagine a more holistic education for young people. This multimethod critical realist case study engages Foucauldian neoliberal critique to examine how the ATAR pathway functions as a mechanism of neoliberal governance. Through a critical realist methodological process of structural and contextual explication, this study traces the causal connections that exist between global education reform and the experiences of 10 ATAR students, in a Western Australian (WA), Independent Public School (IPS) context. By establishing links between IPS policy-enactment and students’ experiences, I sought to discern whether the collective meanings they attributed to the ATAR bore traces of the meritocratic ideological discourse that dominates this setting. My critical analysis of group discussions suggest that these students internalised the self-regulatory, teleological aspirations of meritocracy. Responsibility-taking in particular featured in students’ dialogue, exuding meritocratic worth. A series of one-on-one interviews further revealed that these aspirations not only inhibited students’ imaginable futures they also plagued their narratives, in which cultural and familial expectations were incessant. Concerning levels of stress and other adverse psychological experiences were clearly prolific for these students. These narratives arguably implicate the negligence of this meritocratic system. In order to uphold the interests of students, the inculcation of meritocratic ideals, needs to be replaced by a paradigm capable of acknowledging and honouring the complexities of their lives.

Doctoral

This thesis is a critical policy ethnography (CPE) of school leaders in three low socio-economic indicator (SEI) government schools in Western Australia (WA) that have achieved Independent Public School (IPS) status under the state’s IPS policy. It draws on the stories of school leaders to understand the logics, processes, and tensions they experience in enacting this policy maneuver, and how it is negotiated and resolved at the school level (Ball, 2003). The introduction of WA’s IPS policy occurs in the context of a distinct and well-documented shift in the ideological forces driving education policy in the Western world. Such a shift has resulted in the ascendancy of neoliberalism as the dominant discourse within government education policy formation. Further, this shift is clearly evident in responses provided by the school leaders throughout this thesis. Central to this thesis is the argument that independent or autonomous government schools are part of what Lyotard (1984) terms ‘language games.’ These language games occur within a broader set of neoliberal discourses driven by the idea of ‘homo economicus,’ which governs the ways in which individuals conceive of themselves and society. Such a reconceptualization of homo economicus represents an elemental disruption of democracy as individuals within the neoliberal language game strategize for themselves (Dilts, 2011). The use of CPE provides an opportunity to locate the daily experiences of school leaders in the context of these broader ideological shifts as it relates to the enactment of the IPS policy at three school sites. Ethnography also allows an anthropological approach to the study through seeking to describe participants’ actions, intentions, motives, and reasons. In selecting this particular methodological approach, the voices of participants are given center stage. CPE is a methodology that critically examines the ways in which official policy discourses constitute the lived realities of individuals. In this case, the formal school leadership is comprised of heads of learning areas, deputy principals and principals. The thesis makes a specific contribution to research by examining the broader effects of neoliberal language games through the enactment of the IPS policy in WA via a range of primary and secondary sources. In particular, it examines the effect of the enactment of the IPS policy from the perspective of school leaders in socially disadvantaged WA government high schools.

Doctoral

This critical ethnographic research investigates the experiences of veiled Muslim women (VMW) as they negotiate their identities against the backdrop of Islamophobia in Australia. It draws on the experiences of fourteen Muslim women from six countries to better understand the processes of cultural racism and its implications for subjectivity and identity formation. Drawing on their experiences of Islamophobia, the thesis aims to interrupt and demystify misunderstood and misrepresented identities related to wearing the veil/hijab. The participants spoke about the impact of racism, stereotypes, discrimination and violence, and how social media (mis)represents their culture. Against this backdrop of ‘crisis’, the thesis seeks not only to challenge the way things are but to open up alternative public pedagogies based on the values of justice, compassion and respect. Theoretically, the research draws on critical inquiry by employing Braidotti’s notion of ‘nomadic subjectivity’ to illuminate the lived experiences of the participants. A nomadic philosophical approach seeks to explain how identities are fragmented yet functional and evolving as they are integral and deep rooted in an individual. Methodologically, the thesis draws on the tradition of critical ethnography to explore the experiences of VMW and their ongoing identity formation. Critical ethnography undertakes ethical responsibility of representation of the ‘other’ by addressing unfairness and injustice. This approach involved getting up close to the participants’ lives and experiences through focus groups, semi-structured interviews, participant observation and fieldnotes. Drawing on this data, a number of emergent themes are identified, grouped under two key anchor points – crisis and hope. The notion of crisis offers a way to explain experiences of violence and intimidation, isolation and exclusion, racial profiling and stereotyping. On the other hand, experiences of hope originate from adversity, leadership actions and confidence in a better tomorrow. Hope endeavours to reclaim a sense of optimism, agency and action. The thesis concludes by advocating a public pedagogy grounded in the principles and values of critically compassionate intellectualism. Using these ideas, the thesis advances a set of community, pedagogical and cultural practices needed to create a more inclusive society based on the values of cultural diversity, equality, democracy and social justice. Keywords: Islamophobia, subjectivity, identity, public pedagogy, critical ethnography

Doctoral

On Country Learning (OCL) is a culturally responsive pedagogy which aims to support Aboriginal students, their peers, teachers, schools and families to engage with Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing. The OCL approach is firmly grounded in Country and has as its fundamental principles: Respect for Aboriginal epistemologies, ontologies and spiritualities, Responsibility for Aboriginal student learning, the building of genuine Relationships, and Recognition that Australia is and always will be Aboriginal land. This thesis presents deep learnings from three OCL school-based programmes conducted by the researcher in several regional and remote locations in Western Australia, including on Nyungar Boodjar and the Gascoyne. Collectively, the research demonstrates the benefits of OCL as a place-based, transformative and culturally responsive pedagogy. It builds on the strengths of Aboriginal students, their families and communities and in doing so speaks back to deficit colonialist discourses about Aboriginal people, cultures and histories. Culturally responsive pedagogy (CPR) is illustrated in this thesis through the structure of a Boorn (Tree). The Bworr (Roots), Kwola (Trunk) and Boorn (Canopy) each represent different parts of the pedagogical process. The process begins with the Bworr, the foundations derived from Boodjar (land), where the fundamental Aboriginal protocols of Country lie. The rings of the Kwola represents the interconnected tensions that exist at the Cultural Interface (CI) of the classroom. Within the Boorn are the pedagogical approaches that nurture and are nurtured by the strong Kwola and Bworr. While this process is represented in a linear way in this thesis the parts are necessarily interdependent and complex. Importantly, it is the Bworr, the protocols of Country, that cannot be forgotten, ignored or negated for these privilege Aboriginal knowledge and ways of knowing, being and doing. For you see, this continent always was, always will be Aboriginal land – kura, yeye, boorda (past, present and future).

Doctoral

This thesis critically examines the ordinary, everyday practice of streaming working-class students into vocational education and training pathways in public high schools in Western Australia. The thesis challenges existing social and educational hierarchies in a country that prides itself on the myth of egalitarianism. Schools under the influence of neoliberalism are forced into fierce market competition which impacts on the kinds of knowledge working-class students can access, thus affecting their future career aspirations. Drawing on the tradition of critical ethnography, the reflections of eleven young adults studying in the Tertiary and Further Education (TAFE) system on their post–high school years are examined to better understand the processes of streaming and the factors that influenced their decisions. Analysis of these narratives draws on social class theory to shed light on how students are artificially divided into academic and non-academic streams. Based on the students’ narratives, six emergent themes provide a focus of discussion: “the suicide six” – academic competition; “I really should just do the childcare course” – subject selection; “other kids were the smart ones” – the ideology of meritocracy; “they said I wasn’t fit enough to do it” – low aspirations; “I used to spend most of my time in English classes asleep” – disengagement; and finally, “they label you from the start” – the self-fulfilling prophecy. Finally, the thesis attempts to advance a set of alternative possibilities for a socially just education system based on the ideas of critical hope and optimism. It provides critical insight into providing engaging, relevant and meaningful opportunities for working-class students. It seeks to interrupt stereotypical expectations, experiences and career pathways for working-class students and instead, reimagine the nature, purpose and processes of education in more socially just ways.

Masters

Universities have been increasing their reliance on casualised academics to perform teaching and research tasks. While this represents a significant cost saving to the university, there is a personal-professional cost to the casualised individuals and a broader cost to the university community. While my research started pre-COVID-19, the challenges of this unprecedented world crisis have served to accentuate the fissures of the contemporary Neoliberal University in Australia. The pandemic has provided a catalyst to reform universities around a set of narrowly conceived utilitarian and instrumentalist values that impact the nature of academic labour, particularly how casualised academics are mis/treated. This investigation uses critical autoethnography to explore how casual academic staff understand, process, and respond to the ‘lived experience’ of casualisation within the contemporary Neoliberal University. Drawing on the theoretical ideas of precarity, subjectivity, performativity and resistance/agency, a reflective narrative approach explores the personal-professional experiences and ramifications of casualisation. Casualisation of labour, especially within the Neoliberal University, can alter the personal and professional perception of an individual’s abilities, further influencing their employment opportunities and sense of self-worth. There appears to be a disconnect between university requirements and expectations, employment conditions and remuneration, and professional expertise. Additionally, there is a discrepancy in the treatment and respect provided to casualised academics, enacted through organisational culture, communication, and general regard. The stories and experiences of casualised academics are often unheard, as this marginalised and transient cohort exist outside the formal university structure. This research represents my own autobiographical experience of being a casualised academic through the explanatory lens of power/control, precarity, subjectivity and agency/resistance in the Neoliberal University, and what can be done about it.