A Dialogical Inquiry into Practice Frameworks within Jabiru Community College: Re-centering Young People and Community within a Social Constructionist Frame

Abstract

This chapter explores the practice framework guiding the practice of workers at Jabiru Community College, a community-based school in Brisbane, Australia. The chapter articulates the findings from a dialogical inquiry begun by the three authors with input from workers and youth. Seven dimensions of the framework being used by workers are described.

Australian scholar Raewyn Connell stated in a recently published edited collection, Schools, communities and social inclusion, We rely on schools for social progress and mobility, and of course influential people usually have done well at school. But school systems that rely on competitive tests, examinations, selective provision and rationing of advanced education also sort children ruthlessly, steering some towards privilege and some towards exploitation. Schools lift some out of poverty but destroy others’ hopes and without conscious intention, lock out many of the rising generation from advanced education, professions and many riches of our culture. (2011, p. xi)