The discourse of public education: an urban campaign for a local public high school in Melbourne, Victoria

Abstract

This paper explores the metonymic slippage surrounding the discourse of public education, through observations and interviews with Lawson High School active campaigners in the state of Victoria, Australia. The notion of campaigning for public education has become an ever-present issue on an international scale, and this article aims to contribute qualitative knowledge regarding the key concepts that lobbyists produce and articulate within their meetings concerning public education. Data have been obtained through direct participatory observation within a contextually specific campaigning site, lobbyists' publications and oneon-one interviews with active campaigners. Findings indicate that campaigners present distinct conceptualisations of public education as a discourse and a welldefined model of their school-of-choice.

Under-supply of schooling in the gentrified and regenerated inner city

“…It is important to note that these figures may be an underestimation as commercial and government demographers calculate projected numbers of families in the inner city on an assumption that most families will seek housing opportunities elsewhere. Firstly, as noted in the introduction, overseas research has demonstrated a growing class of couples who do not quit the inner city with the formation of families (Karsten, 2003;Boterman, et al, 2010;Butler & Hamnett, 2011;Billingham & Kimelberg, 2013;Rowe, 2014;DeSena, 2006;Lilius, 2014), a trend that has also been documented in Sydney (Gulson, 2011). Second, despite developer and government assumptions about household composition in new high rise apartments, research shows that in other areas of Sydney, families are living in these developments, often as a 'second wave' of residents (Easthope & Tice, 2011;Randolph et al, 2007).…”

“…As a consequence, infrastructure that served families, in particular schools, was constructed in suburban, rather than inner urban areas. From the late 20 th century onwards, many cities witnessed the growth in couples eschewing suburbia, and choosing to remain in the inner city to raise families, taking advantage of the city's services, cafes, restaurants, cultural life, and proximity to work (Karsten, 2003;Boterman et al, 2010;Butler & Hamnett, 2011;Billingham & Kimelberg, 2013;Rowe, 2014;DeSena, 2006;Gulson, 2011;Lilius, 2014). As these families are a subset of the gentrifying 'creative class' (Florida, 2005), some cities have implemented policies to entice middle-class families back to the inner city to aid urban revitalisation (Van Den Berg, 2013;Goodsell, 2013).…”

“…Like Hong Kong (Chan, 2001), Lower Manhattan has struggled to physically locate schools in an intensely high density, high land value environment. In Australia, the gentrification of inner Melbourne has led to a long-running campaign for a local, public high school (Rowe, 2014), and in Vancouver, poster-child for compact urbanism, many downtown schools are struggling to meet demand. The phenomenon of under-provision of schools in areas of new urban regeneration is illustrated by this admission from the Chair of the Vancouver School Board's planning and facilities committee:…”