Working‐class parents' views of secondary education

Abstract

Parents of upper‐secondary students in public schools in New South Wales, Australia, gave accounts of their experience of education and their wider thinking about educational issues. Working‐class families are bearers of educational histories which are often difficult or truncated, leaving parents with little familiarity with upper‐secondary or post‐school pathways. General views of education are strongly positive, sometimes diffuse and sometimes articulated, and are by no means narrowly instrumental. A mixture of criticism and praise for teachers responds to current family experiences with schools, parents' views often following the outlines of teachers' own perceptions. A fund of working‐class support for public education has thus survived recent educational upheavals; at the same time, working‐class families very much depend on the service and guidance provided by the schools.

Acknowledgements

The paper was based on information from the ‘Vocational Education and Equity in Senior Secondary Schooling’ project. The author acknowledges the essential help of co‐chief investigator Stephen Crump; partner investigator Gordon Stanley; research associate and project manager David Saltmarsh, Gill Yates and Deborah Youdell; APA holder and fieldworker Megan Lugg and Camilla Couch. The author is grateful to school principals and many other staff of the NSW Department of Education and Training and the NSW Board of Studies who made this project possible. He is grateful above all to the students and parents who joined the project and gave their experiences. The project was funded by the Australian Research Council (under the national SPIRT, now Linkage Grant, scheme), by the Department of Education and the NSW Board of Studies, and was supported by the resources of the University of Sydney. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department or the Board.

Notes

R. W. Connell is currently Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Australia. Research interests include social justice in education, gender equity, globalization and intellectual labour. Books include Gender (2002), The Men and the Boys (2000), Masculinities (1995) and Schools and Social Justice (1993). Correspondence should be addressed to: R. W Connell, Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; e‐mail: [email protected]

Additional information

Notes on contributors

R. W. Connell

R. W. Connell is currently Professor in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney, Australia. Research interests include social justice in education, gender equity, globalization and intellectual labour. Books include Gender (2002), The Men and the Boys (2000), Masculinities (1995) and Schools and Social Justice (1993). Correspondence should be addressed to: R. W Connell, Faculty of Education, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia; e‐mail: [email protected]