Challenging The System? A Dramatic Tale Of Neoliberal Reform In An Australian High School Hc

Ravina High is seen as a good school largely because of its comfortable middle-class catchment. This book talks about how class interests shape not only this school, but the whole education system around it, public and private. It shows the massive influence of social class inequalities in Australian society.

Based on extended, intensive fieldwork in an Australian high school, Challenging the System illuminates issues faced on a daily basis by teachers and educational administrators in many parts of the world. Forsey highlights the tensions arising between neo-liberal emphasis on individual school communities as the engine for competitive excellence in education, and the need for those responsible for running public education to maintain some degree of equity across the whole system.

He shows that reforms based purely on market forces are not only undesirable, they are imposible to achieve. Governments do not want to lose control of highly significant cultural and political