Repositioning Schooling in Inner Sydney: Urban Renewal, an Education Market and the 'Absent Presence' of the 'Middle Classes'

Abstract

This paper suggests that including urban renewal as a factor in analysis contributes to more nuanced understandings of educational policy change in inner Sydney. The educational policy change investigated is Building the future, with a focus on a newly created school. Urban renewal is positioned as a component of convergent processes and practices that aim to 'revitalise' the inner city and inner-city education. This paper illustrates how educational policy draws, in part, on geographical aspects to argue for the restructuring of state schooling in inner Sydney. The paper also explores how policy practices conflate discourses of urban renewal with the constitution of 'middle class' and 'non-Aboriginal' subjects, a practice that consequently repositions the new school in an education market.