Subverting the hegemony of risk: vulnerability and transformation among Australian show children

Abstract

BackgroundAustralian show people traverse extensive coastal and inland circuits in eastern and northern Australia, bringing the delights of 'sideshow alley' to annual agricultural shows. The show people's mobility for most of the school year makes it difficult for their school-age children to attend 'regular' schools predicated on assumptions of fixed residence. This situation requires innovative approaches to educational provision if show children are not to be rendered vulnerable and at educational risk.

Policy, Practice and the ‘Revolving Classroom Door’: Examining the Relationship between Aboriginal Spatiality and the Mainstream Education System

“…Henderson (2001) has called for an ideological shift away from asking what is wrong with the mover to asking what is wrong with the schooling practice. Danaher, Danaher and Moriarty (2007) concur. While they refrain from romanticising the lifestyles of 'travellers', they contend that: the constant underlying assumption [of educational discourse] has been that mobility is a 'problem' that benign educational policy-makers must 'solve' in order to enhance the learning outcomes and life chances of learners who would otherwise be at risk of 'failure' .…”

“…Apropos Hartman's (2003) analogy of the revolving classroom door, education reforms for highly mobile students may need to focus not on the flow of traffic through the door but on the door itself. This is the essential argument of a small group of studies that has examined student mobility in other social and cultural contexts (Danaher, Wyer & Bartlett, 1998;Danaher, Danaher & Moriarty, 2007;Henderson, 2001). These studies of travelling show children and seasonal fruit-picking families highlight the marginalising nature of mainstream education practices that assume and privilege being sedentary.…”

Social Entrepreneurs and Educational Leadership in Bangladesh

“…National governments, including that of Britain, have called for the support of social entrepreneurs to meet the needs of disadvantaged groups that national budgets or social services have failed to help. Social entrepreneurship is seen by these governments as having the potential to renew interest in community action and non-formal education to solve local problems in increasing complex and rapidly changing societies (Danaher, Moriarity, & Danaher, 2003;Oyanagi, 2003). In many developing countries (defined for the purposes of this article as those having low levels of economic wealth resulting in limited development of educational services), financially strapped governments are struggling to meet their goals of providing socially disadvantaged groups with access to education through publicly funded education systems.…”

Practicing Teachers’ Reflections: Indigenous Australian Student Mobility and Implications for Teacher Education

“…Unlike mobility among other groups, however, mobility among Indigenous Australians has received little attention in the research literature and, as also noted by Hill, et al, there has been a distinct absence of programs to cater specifically for Indigenous Australian students who are mobile. Dispositions around social justice based on developing an understanding of the history and culture of Indigenous Australians help to avoid the problem of placing the blame for the educational failure of students who do not permanently reside in one location on their mobility (Danaher, Danaher, & Moriarty, 2007) and pave the way for designing pedagogical approaches based on the strengths that Indigenous Australian students bring to the classroom. It is difficult to understand how these positive effects can be achieved without schools developing trusting relationships with Indigenous communities and broadening their views around curriculum and pedagogy, as recommended by Levinson and Hooley (2013).…”