Schooling in Disadvantaged Communities

Playing the Game from the Back of the Field

Based on a study of one secondary school located in a disadvantaged community in Australia, this book provides a different perspective on what it means to ‘play the game’ of schooling. Drawing on the perspectives of teachers, parents and students, this book is a window through which to explore the possibilities of schooling in disadvantaged communities. The authors contend that teachers, parents and students themselves are all involved in the game of reproducing disadvantage in schooling, but similarly, they can play a part in opening up opportunities for change to enhance learning for marginalised students. Rather than only attempting to transform students, teachers should be also be concerned to transform schooling; to provide educational opportunities that transform the life experiences of and open up opportunities for all young people, especially those disadvantaged by poverty and marginalised by difference. The book is also designed to stimulate understanding of the work of Bourdieu as well as of a Bourdieuian approach to research. Seeing transformative potential in his theoretical constructs, it airs the possibility that schools can be more than mere reproducers of society.