The Crisis in Traditional Schooling from the Voice and Perspective of Students who have been Excluded

Australian traditional schooling is coming under increasing pressure as the National test outcomes often do not compare favourably between communities and across nations. Of more concern is the growing number of disengaged and excluded young people. The increased focus on the outcome of common testing is causing increased levels of pressure on schools and young people. This is particularly debilitating when there is a decrease in the number of low–skill or unskilled jobs at the same time causing an increase in youth unemployment figures. Control of traditional schooling remains the domain of the hegemonic class who support and stimulate the processes that create an exclusionary situation for those that are not proficient at academic learning and/or testing. Ranking against academic ability for university studies is a pathway for only one-third of the young people emerging from schools. Society is failing a large proportion of young people when there are not inclusive, rather than exclusive, processes in schools. Every young person is required to attend school by law, yet for many, there is not the multiplicity of learning pathways to meet the diversity of ways in which they learn. A hierarchical class-based society is creating an under-class of young people without meaningful pathways into productive participation in society. This study has engaged with young people who have been excluded through these processes and have decided to attempt to recover their lives through attendance at alternative learning environments. Here the focus is on building relationships, engaging the young people in what they want to learn through what they can achieve and allowing the young people real negotiation in how they move forward. The contrast in this experience to their past school experience is staggering. A Future Studies approach is taken to the rapid evolution of society with the nature of work and participation in society changing in ways that are difficult to predict. Schooling needs to adapt to new skills of relationships, caring and community building, as other basic skills are developed. This calls for an inclusive approach to curriculum and teaching that assists the globalisation of the world community as it integrates the diversity of people and cultures into each community.Submitted in the partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, University of the Sunshine Coast, 2016