Poor children need rich teaching, not deficit labelling
Citation
Wrigley, T. (2018) Poor children need rich teaching, not deficit labelling. In: Gannon, S., Hattam, R. & Sawyer, W. (eds.) Resisting educational inequality: Reframing policy and practice in schools serving vulnerable communities. Melbourne: Routledge.
Abstract
This chapter explores directions of curricular change in the context of neoliberalism and austerity politics in the UK. It examines a succession of flawed explanations for underachievement in schools, which in various ways construct working-class students as intrinsically defective learners. It highlights the failure of managerialist school reform to produce greater opportunity or equality. After a brief history of neoliberal and neoconservative trends in curriculum reform, I outline some key principles for pursuing curricular and pedagogical justice.