Towards Equity in the Futures Market: curriculum as a condition of access

(Neo)Liberal Doses of Inequality: Advance Australia Where?

In Proceedings, 2007 Philosophy in Education Society of Australasia (PESA) Annual Conference, Wellington December, available at: www.pesa.org.au

The relationship between social background and achievement has preoccupied educational researchers since the mid-20th century with major studies in the area reaching prominence in the late 60s. Despite five decades of research and innovation since, recent studies using OECD data have shown that the relationship is strengthening rather than weakening. In this paper, the systematic destabilisation of public education in Australia is examined as a philosophical problem stemming from a fundamental shift in political orientation, where “choice” and “aspiration” work to promote and disguise survivalism. The problem for education however extends far deeper than the inequity in Federal government funding. Whilst this is a major problem, critical scrutiny must also focus on what states can do to turn back aspects of their own education policy that work to exacerbate and entrench social disadvantage.

The Product of Text and 'Other' Statements: discourse analysis and the critical use of Foucault

In Proceedings 2008 Philosophy in Education Society of Australasia (PESA) annual conference, QUT Brisbane, December 4-7

Much has been written on Michel Foucault’s reluctance to clearly delineate a research method, particularly with respect to genealogy (Harwood 2000; Meadmore et al. 2000; Tamboukou 1999). Foucault (1994, p. 288) himself disliked prescription stating, “I take care not to dictate how things should be” and wrote provocatively to disrupt equilibrium and certainty, so that “all those who speak for others or to others” no longer know what to do. It is doubtful, however, that Foucault ever intended for researchers to be stricken by that malaise to the point of being unwilling to make an intellectual commitment as to me thodological possibilities. Taking criticism of “Foucauldian” discourse analysis as a convenient point of departure to discuss the objectives of postructural analysis, this paper develops what might be called a discursive analytic; a methodological plan to approach the analysis of discourses through the location of statements
that function with constitutive effects.

The Cost of Opportunity

Refereed paper presented at The Philosophy in Education Society of Australasia (PESA) 2009 Annual Conference, Hawaii

The contemporary philosopher Judith Butler has been instrumental in extending Foucault’s work in the constitution of the subject.  In this chapter, I use Butlerian notions to theorise the cost of opportunity, namely the idea that to become an acceptable subject one must be recognisable as such. In order to become a recognisably acceptable subject then, one must submit to the normative (re)shaping of self; thus, the subject who seeks recognisability in order to be eligible for opportunity must risk “death” in the hope for a successful rebirth. As a catalyst to think about this as a potential cost of opportunity, I use events filmed during one series of “Jamie’s Kitchen” which took place in the city of Melbourne, Australia - paying particular attention to the roads travelled by two students, Erin and Amos. In pondering this question, I ask another: that is, what of the cost of opportunity?  Can the price of taking up the opportunity on offer be too much for some to bear?