Equality, Class and Power: a case study

Abstract

Connell et al. (1982) distinguish between ruling class schools which are articulated with their clients through a market and working class schools which are articulated with their clients through a bureaucracy. These distinct kinds of articulations between schools and clients feature in a subsequent explanation of inequitable distributions of educational benefits which explanation suggests certain equalitarian policies. However, the explanatory model is too simple. There is a significant third category of articulation which this paper identifies and describes. Indeed, this third category is the means by which government schools are co‐opted by the professional classes and transformed into the functional equivalent of almost totally subsidised private schools. This paper provides a case study of an instance of this third kind of articulation and exposes the various and subtle processes in which the articulation consists. It is also argued that the existence of this third category of articulation in government schools positively harms pupils in government schools articulated bureaucratically.