TY - JOUR
T1 - Dividing Practices
T2 - Senior English and Social Inequality in New South Wales
AU - Green, Bill
AU - Sawyer, Wayne
AU - Roberts, Philip
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Award (DE200100953), funded by the Australian Government. The support of the NSW Education Standards Authority in facilitating access to the data used in this research is acknowledged. The authors also acknowledge the support of Dr Jenny Dean (University of Canberra) with regard to the data analysis.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The role and significance of schooling in maintaining and renewing social disadvantage is particularly evident in upper secondary education, and especially so in the high-stakes final examination at the end of Year 12. This paper focusses on Senior English in this context, with specific regard to the Australian state of New South Wales. Building on a recent study of the outcomes of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 2017, it analyses what the data reveal about the relationship between Senior English and social inequality in this instance. It does so with reference to a brief account of the history of English teaching and senior secondary curriculum policy in New South Wales and also, comparatively, a now well-established comprehensive study of senior secondary schooling in Victoria. It concludes with some implications of this account for further investigations of Senior English and subject English more generally, as well as of the social meaning of senior secondary education in Australia, in particular with regard to the nexus between curriculum and assessment, knowledge, and power.
AB - The role and significance of schooling in maintaining and renewing social disadvantage is particularly evident in upper secondary education, and especially so in the high-stakes final examination at the end of Year 12. This paper focusses on Senior English in this context, with specific regard to the Australian state of New South Wales. Building on a recent study of the outcomes of the Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 2017, it analyses what the data reveal about the relationship between Senior English and social inequality in this instance. It does so with reference to a brief account of the history of English teaching and senior secondary curriculum policy in New South Wales and also, comparatively, a now well-established comprehensive study of senior secondary schooling in Victoria. It concludes with some implications of this account for further investigations of Senior English and subject English more generally, as well as of the social meaning of senior secondary education in Australia, in particular with regard to the nexus between curriculum and assessment, knowledge, and power.
KW - Curriculum hierarchy
KW - Examinations
KW - Higher School Certificate (HSC)
KW - New South Wales
KW - Senior English
KW - Senior secondary education
KW - Social inequality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85136787719&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s13384-022-00563-y
DO - 10.1007/s13384-022-00563-y
M3 - Article
SN - 0311-6999
VL - 50
SP - 1379
EP - 1400
JO - Australian Educational Researcher
JF - Australian Educational Researcher
IS - 5
ER -