Dropping

Out, Dri/ing O,
Being Excluded
Chapter 2

How does the title, Dropping Out, Dri/ing O,

Being Excluded capture some of what you have

read so far in the chapter?
2 minutes

Chapter 2--IntroducEon
Contextualizing Early School Leaving
Young people are exercising agency and
engaging in consciously chosen acEon (Smyth
& HaOam, 2004, p. 39).
They are doing this in the best way possible,
within a context over which they have liOle
control.

The transiEon from birth to adulthood is not

necessarily a straight path or a linear progression
(Smyth & HaOam, 2004).

Government
EducaEon is a funcEon and responsibility of
government (p. 38).
The South Australian CerEcate of EducaEon
(SACE)
More federal government involvement
beginning in the early 1980s
EducaEonal policy is o/en framed within a
neo-liberal discourse (p. 39).

Neo-Liberalism
Government is Eed to capitalism
Idea of democracy and insEtuEons weakened
LiberEes curtailed
(p. 39)

GlobalizaEon is signicantly impacEng the lives of youth.

The world and the job market are constantly changing
and becoming more and more complex. This plays a
major role in the decisions students make on the road to
adulthood (p. 39)

What were some of the ways menEoned in the text

that demonstrate how globalizaEon has aected
South Australian teens?

How is this similar or dierent to the eects of
globalizaEon on American teens?

BeOer technology, higher producEvity

Lower wages
Reduced social benets
Less protecEon regarding working condiEons
DecentralizaEon of producEon (labor/envir.)
Greater reliance on unregulated labor
Weakening of unions
Policies that favor corporaEons over the
individual
(p. 41)

New Work Order

Decline of tradiEonally important industries
(manufacturing/blue collar)
Rapid growth of service sector industries
Changing composiEon of labor force (more
women, less for older men, teens-collapse of
full-Eme employment
High unemployment and underemployment at
low end of market
(p. 42)

What are the implicaEons of schools

and policy-makers not addressing how
this new work order aects the
funcEon and/or purpose of schooling?
(p. 43)

Is the problem being overstated?

Joel says that forty years ago all the economy
was dierent, living was dierent, surviving,
gefng a job. So now were sEll gefng the same
knowledge that they got 40 years ago. The way I
see it, looking back, is how long have they had
the same teaching methods, the same
textbooks, stu like that?....Schools need to
change. Theyre going to need dierent
methods (p. 43-44).

Student Portraits
Lack of
Relevance/Real World Applicability
Engagement
Voice
Control over circumstances (poverty, address)

OpEons
Get a job
Get training
Go to university
These are also being deregulated and access is
being restricted.

Nature of Contemporary Schools

Inuenced by discourse (internaEonal
compeEEveness, outcomes, choice, business model,
etc.,)
Power/Controlpower from above, discursive
coercion. Such ideas limit the range of pracEces and
relaEonships possible in a classroom (p. 57).
Hierarchical structuring (p. 58).
Maintains and reproduces social inequaliEes (p. 60).
Teacher-centered pedagogy (p. 60).
Subject specializaEon (p. 61).
Culture of complacency (p. 62).

Based on what we know about the educaEon system

from this chapter, how can we begin to make and call
for change in secondary schools so that we are beOer
preparing young people for the future in which they
must live?