Problematizing neighborhood renewal: community, school effectiveness and disadvantage

Abstract

In this paper I argue that values of democracy and social justice in education would seem to have been displaced in recent decades by managerialist norms that are linked to the presumed needs of business and the economy of the nation. I am concerned that conceptualizations of the nature and purpose of education, and of the roles of teachers, are restricted in this neoliberal climate and policy framework. I argue that there is an urgent need to restore notions of educational and social responsibility to the forefront of educational policy making. In particular, I argue, if educational success for all students is to be a key aim of education (and surely most commentators would claim it should be), then schools will have to ensure that they reach out to all students and their communities, welcome them, and engage them in learning that is relevant and meaningful to their lives within their particular social, cultural and economic circumstances.

Keywords:

• community renewal
• disadvantaged contexts
• educational reform
• school effectiveness

Acknowledgement

Research undertaken in this paper was supported by a Discovery Grant from the Australian Research Council.

Notes

1. While recognizing that the term ‘community’ is extremely problematic and highly contested, and acknowledging the particularly interesting work on the relationship of place and space in contemporary social theory (e.g. Gulson & Symes, 2007), ‘community’ is used here simply to refer to a particular geographic neighborhood of a provincial city.

2. Wirra Wagga is a real locality in a provincial Australian city, but the name ‘Wirra Wagga’, and the names of other places and people mentioned in the report are pseudonyms. The research reported was conducted as a team ethnographic study involving site visits, interviews, participant observation and document analysis (see Smyth, Angus, Down & McInerney, 2008).