Paradigm: Australia’s Largely Liberal and Conservative Schools

Abstract

This chapter explores the sociology of education theme ‘school paradigms’ and presents the first findings chapter of the book on the core study examined. Two thirds of the 2500 Australians in the Voices of Experience survey reported that they had attended either conservative or liberal schools; whilst these were equally dominant, the two types differed in their approaches to key social themes. Participants who attended a conservative school experienced more verbal abuse from teachers. They were at greater risk of educational disengagement and wellbeing impacts from any abuse they experienced. They associated their schools with strict approaches to time, curricula focus and rules, traditional religious perspectives and the controlled appearance of uniforms. Participants attending liberal schools associated their schools with life skills, academic competitiveness and creativity. Participants at critical schools experienced half the amount of social abuse from students than those at any other school type and were most unaffected by any abuse they did experience. They associated their school with core values of diversity, social justice and equality expressed particularly through whole-school provisions and the subject of English. Just over a tenth of participants applied the post-modern label to their experiences of either selective schools, intellectual teachers or extension programs. Their learning was philosophical and norm-critical, though inaccessible for mainstream students. Tutorial questions in this chapter ask readers to consider which paradigm their own schools appeared influenced by and help them to consider the pros and cons of their own experiences against those of the survey participants.