Based on a study of one secondary school located in a disadvantaged
community in Australia, this book provides a different perspective on
what it means to 'play the game' of schooling. Drawing on the
perspectives of teachers, parents and students, this book is a window
through which to explore the possibilities of schooling in disadvantaged
communities. The authors contend that teachers, parents and students
themselves are all involved in the game of reproducing disadvantage in
schooling, but similarly, they can play a part in opening up
opportunities for change to enhance learning for marginalised students.
Rather than only attempting to transform students, teachers should be
also be concerned to transform schooling; to provide educational
opportunities that transform the life experiences of and open up
opportunities for all young people, especially those disadvantaged by
poverty and marginalised by difference. The book is also designed to
stimulate understanding of the work of Bourdieu as well as of a
Bourdieuian approach to research. Seeing transformative potential in his
theoretical constructs, it airs the possibility that schools can be more
than mere reproducers of society.