The Reproduction of an Occupational Community: The Curriculum of Journalism Training

Abstract

This paper is based on Fieldwork for a PhD thesis which followed a cohort of forty four post graduates through a one year University based Journalism Diploma Course. Unlike other interactionist accounts of occupational socialisation it locates the Journalism School in the context of the demands of the occupational community which it services. The account focuses on the first term when students sample both Print and Broadcast training on a suck it and see basis before choosing between the two options for the remainder of the course. The paper demonstrates how both print and broadcast students come to evaluate print training as the most fundamental aspect of their course. It argues that the print industry influences the curriculum of the course through a professional accreditation process and shows how the demands and expectations of the occupational community are translated through the curriculum and pedagogy by the teaching staff at the school.