The Making of Young Lives With/Againstthe School Credential

Abstract

This article provides argument and 'voiced' evidence from an Australian study(Smyth et al., 2000) of 209 young people who had chosen not to complete their secondaryschooling. It reports on how they made these complex decisions, particularly around thecredentialling process. There is support here for Wyn and Dwyer's (2000) thesis that someyoung people are not propelled through schooling by the lure of a credential, and quite to thecontrary, they have a high level of agency in constructing alternative biographies forthemselves that undermine the policy trajectory. Far from being victims who 'drop out',these young people presented in individualistic ways that amounted to accommodation andresistance to the impediments of a policy credential for university entrance which theylabelled as irrelevant, despite its declared intention to be inclusive of all.