Undemocratic Schooling: Equity and Quality in Mass Secondary Education in Australia

By Richard Teese And John Polesel, Carlton: Melbourne University Press, 2003, 260 pages, paperback, $39.95. Reviewed by Julie Ustinoff in the October 2003 issue.

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It goes without saying that the schooling received by an individual is one of the most important and influential determinants of that person's long-term personal, professional, social, and economic success. In this regard, the duration and type of secondary schooling that Australian students receive is of extreme importance. However, as Teese and Polesel point out in their book, Undemocratic Schooling, the influence of secondary education spreads much further a field than the boundaries of the individual; it reaches deep into the economic and social fabric of the nation. As they argue, the curriculum that lies at the core of mass secondary education operates as an economic system, which consumes physical and symbolic resources whilst producing outcomes in the form of access to jobs, careers, and further education. It is disturbing therefore to be confronted with the findings of Teese and Polesel supporting their claim that Australia's system of mass secondary education is far from democratic or equitable.

Undemocratic Schooling is the result of Teese and Polesel's analysis and interpretation of data gathered through a number of largely government-funded research projects. Their aim is to reveal the relationship between secondary schooling and the individual success of students, but, equally importantly, the editors relate the findings to the broader world in terms of student hopes, aspirations, and opinions on the important matters of adult life. Thus, the text is not simply a plethora of statistics about student achievement levels or school retention rates. It is about people----and how young Australians locate themselves within the individual but overlapping spheres of work and marriage, the social and economic hierarchy, and Australia's political system.

Teese and Polesel manage their task extremely well. The book begins with a historical overview of the changing concerns and patterns in the provision of secondary education since the end of the second world war. This section charts the changes in actual curricula design that occurred as a result of economic or ideological influences. It also pays particular attention to the difficulties faced by educators in balancing vocational subjects with the need for some attention to providing a liberal education through the teaching of humanities.

The next chapter, entitled 'Creating a Working-Class Space in the curriculum 1985 -- 1998', is particularly interesting especially in the way it addresses Australia's attempts to reform the secondary curriculum in the face of a changing world. In this section, Teese and Polesel explore the problems educators faced when trying to deal with the issue of labour-market reform and the upheavals which followed large scale organisational and technological change. Transformations such as these were responsible for the loss of thousands of positions that traditionally provided secure employment for the hundreds of thousands of school leavers who did not proceed to tertiary education.

Other sections of the book deal with a range of important questions about our current system of secondary education, such as the gender difference in subject and course selection, the debate and tension surrounding private school education versus public schooling, and the complex problems surrounding the provision of vocational education and preparation for tertiary entrance. In all of these areas, the authors provide sound reasoning and explanations to account for the current situation. They also rely on a generous amount of statistical information presented in graph form to assist with the clarity of their argument.

Overall, Undemocratic Schooling is a valuable resource for educators, teachers, students and their parents. It makes a substantial contribution to the ongoing debates about the future of Australia's education system and alerts us to the fact that equity, quality, and justice in the provision of secondary schooling has long term effects for the nation. Social patterns, welfare provision, and movement in labour market patterns are all closely related to a country's system of education. Consequently, as Teese and Polesel argue, Australians should all be concerned with the issue of equity. Let us hope that their excellent work will be used as a reference point for those concerned with mass secondary education in Australia to help make that happen.

Citation

• Julie Ustinoff. 'Review: Undemocratic Schooling: Equity and Quality in Mass Secondary Education in Australia by Richard Teese and John Polesel' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), October 2003. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 30 July 2010].

Back Cover Blurb

• Half the boys living in working-class suburbs to the west and north of Melbourne fail mathematics. Why?
• Why are so many young people leaving school early, when there are no jobs for them to go to?
• Are boys disadvantaged at school in comparison with girls?
• What makes good schools work?
• Is the best university one that attracts the top students, or one that offers the best chances for lower-achieving students?
  
  This groundbreaking book is based on the largest social survey of secondary education ever undertaken in Australia. It presents a comprehensive picture of who succeeds and who fails at school.
  
  Undemocratic Schooling brings together a unique range of information on who our students are, what they want from school, how well they think their schools work, what subjects they study, how well they succeed, and where they end up. It also reveals their larger views on matters such as jobs, careers, marriage and family, the political system and social justice.
  
  In its imaginative presentation of the findings of this massive survey, this book sheds new light on inequalities in our education system. It reveals significant new information on:
• students' achievements in relation to their attitudes and values
• students' perspectives on issues from jobs to discrimination
• students' destinations in relation to their backgrounds.
  
  The authors offer valuable angles on such topical issues as retention and dropout rates; the relation between poverty and achievement; the gender debate; private versus public schools; and which universities serve which social groups.
  
  

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