Abstract
In chapter 6 the impact of the new school-leaving age (NSLA) on teachers and schools was explored, and in this chapter their voices are again considered, but this time in relation to the external factors that they see as contributing to what we have called “scales of opportunities.” Teachers questioned the wisdom of the decision in the face of a range of structural deficiencies related to the underfunding of technical education colleges, a shortage of labor market experience placements due to increased demand with more students staying on, and lack of “duty of care” provided by external agencies in the provision of alternative pathways. It is in the voices of teachers that processes of ethnicization and de-ethnicization emerge most strongly. Some of the teachers use racialized discourses when there are problems, while others draw on their own backgrounds as children of immigrants to explain their perspectives. These intersect with class, location, and gender to provide a complex view of teaching today in the most dynamic region of Sydney.
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Notes
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© 2016 Carol Reid and Katherine Watson
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Reid, C., Watson, K. (2016). Schools and Scales of Opportunities. In: Compulsory Schooling in Australia. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137518132_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137518132_7
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