Unequal schooling: How the school curriculum keeps students from low socio-economic backgrounds out of university

dc.contributor.authorTranter, Deborah
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-10T23:24:00Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.date.updated2016-02-24T08:46:04Z
dc.description.abstractThe Australian higher education sector has grappled, with little success, to increase the participation of students from lower socioeconomic status (SES) backgrounds. In this article I identify the ways in which the secondary school curriculum contributes to this outcome, and how universities are complicit in this process. Using data collected at three low SES secondary schools, I argue that the hierarchy of subjects and the increase of vocational education options, together with the expectations of schools and teachers, conspire with tertiary selection processes to prevent all but a very few low SES students from gaining entry to university. These students are not well positioned in relation to cultural and social capital to negotiate the educational strategies that facilitate university entrance. When university places are limited and access is based on relative (apparent) merit, the secondary curriculum orders young people into a social hierarchy of postsecondary options where the success of more privileged students comes at the cost of students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The article concludes with an exploration of alternative modes of entry that disrupt the established curriculum hierarchy by valuing a broad range of knowledges for entry to university.
dc.identifier.issn1360-3116
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1885/67053
dc.publisherRoutledge, Taylor & Francis Group
dc.sourceInternational Journal of Inclusive Education
dc.subjectKeywords: education policy; higher education; poverty and education
dc.titleUnequal schooling: How the school curriculum keeps students from low socio-economic backgrounds out of university
dc.typeJournal article
local.bibliographicCitation.issue9
local.bibliographicCitation.lastpage916
local.bibliographicCitation.startpage901
local.contributor.affiliationTranter, Deborah, Administrative Division, ANU
local.contributor.authoremailrepository.admin@anu.edu.au
local.contributor.authoruidTranter, Deborah, u4888754
local.description.embargo2037-12-31
local.description.notesImported from ARIES
local.identifier.absfor130300 - SPECIALIST STUDIES IN EDUCATION
local.identifier.ariespublicationf5625xPUB1389
local.identifier.citationvolume16
local.identifier.doi10.1080/13603116.2010.548102
local.identifier.scopusID2-s2.0-84866883389
local.identifier.thomsonID000305106800014
local.identifier.uidSubmittedByf5625
local.type.statusPublished Version

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