This paper documents some mechanisms and relationships evident in a multicultural, working-class Brisbane primary school which ensure that ‘children from poor families are, generally speaking, the least successful by conventional methods and the hardest to teach by conventional methods’ (Connell, 1993, p.I). Chief among them are three survival strategies commonly used by teachers in the face of the daily difficulties. Each of these, it is demonstrated, contributes to lack of academic success for many students while enabling teachers to cope in a difficult situation. Implications for teacher education are drawn from the study.
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