Taking the bait : minority youth in Australia, creative skills and precarious work

Throughout the Western world, the decline in blue collar work has attenuated the vocational opportunities available to those from working class and socially disadvantaged backgrounds, particularly men. High levels of youth unemployment means tbat those who, in the past, might have left school before matriculation destined for unskilled factmy labour, are now less inclined to do so. Governments encourage young people to remain in formal education for longer, and pressure institutions to itnprove retention rates, to develop strategies to accommodate those with resistant inclinations. Thus, in recent history, pedagogical norms have shifted towards the development of progressive,'child-centred' curricula and away from formal academic skills and conservative educational disciplines (Kalantzis and Cope 1993).