The grammar of school and the grammar of SACE

The idea of the “grammar of schooling” was coined by Tyak and Cuban to describe the structures and practices of mainstream schooling that have come to define schooling as we know it. In Australia The “grammar “of the secondary school is that young people from year 7 -12 are age graded into a specific year level, they are taught in discreet subject disciplines by specialist teachers who work from curriculum documents that aim at some degree of uniformity. All this within a timetable that sets out the room, the teacher and the students cohort.  The hierarchy of subjects with maths and English at the top are cemented in place through NAPLAN and in the way schools timetable subject.   Schools reinforce this hierarchy some through streaming others by naming prerequisites that must be achieved to “choose” that subject for the following year.

This grammar is slow to change and is very difficult to change within school.  The pull of “tradition” and archetype of the ““good school”" that has pulling power regardless of the location or demographics of their community seek to emulate, puts the brakes on fundamental change. Even when change is imposed from above the pull of the grammar of schooling places that change within the structures and ways of working of the mainstream.  Bringing year 7 into secondary schools meant that students and teachers who had been used to a middle schooling model were now subject to the timetable that split teaching and learning into subject areas. 

Since year 7 moved from primary to secondary   mainstream secondary schools in South Australia cater for young people on the cusp of adolescents to young people on the cusp of adult life.  While senior school students may enjoy some limited freedom the rules and structures that govern the twelve-year-old students also apply to the eighteen-year-olds.  Senior school students may have some freedom to choose (or be selected into) different subjects, they may be able to have “free lessons “and even access to some out of school learning through VET but the day-to-day experience of students in SACE follows the same routine as the rest of the school. Location and the socio – economic status of the school means that within this grammar of schooling there will be differences but by and large for mainstream schooling the structures and ways of working will follow the same pattern.

SACE, in turn, was shaped by this grammar of school. Subjects are still divided and taught by specialist teachers. Subjects are still arranged hierarchically, and achievement of the SACE is through an accumulation of SACE points compulsory subjects predicated on fulltime attendance and engagement.   One of the imposed changes of the grammar of schooling was the expectation (post Karmel) that senior school should cater for all students and just the cohort going on to university. This was reinforced with “raising” of the school leaving age where all students are expected to by “learning or earning “up to the age of seventeen. In response to this the range of subjects was expanded but the essential grammar of the curriculum was not. There is still a strong perception that the main pathway from SACE is to university.  There was some change that disturbed this grammar through the inclusion Vocational Education and Training (VET) in both schools and SACE but for the main the disruption caused by including significant VET in the timetable means that it remains problematic.

There will be variation between schools and schools that are away from the centre may have limited options in the number and scope of subjects they offer.  At the other end of the spectrum some schools will offer a wider range of subjects that stream students by their perceived ability and pathways – offering to different cohorts of students Essential English, English or English Literary Studies with everyone being clear about the hierarchy of the different subject offerings.

The combined grammar of schooling and SACE means that many young people don’t see their lives or aspirations reflected in their experience of the senior years of school.  There are still some 20 – 25% of students who enrolled in year 8 who drop out before the end of year 12. For students who are in low socio-economic or remote and rural areas this is much, much higher.

What I want to turn to now , though, is the students and sites that do not conform to the grammar of mainstream schools and the challenges they face by being outside this grammar.

 Flexible and alternative sites and new and emerging schools work outside of the grammar of a mainstream school. They are working with generalist teachers and a range of adults other than teachers many of whom are youth workers and social workers and other adults working to support student wellbeing.  Well- being and trauma informed pedagogy are the main drivers of their programs and the curriculum follows student interest and passion and is organisationally diverse. In the next post I want to explore why this is a challenge.