ABSTRACT

In the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) there are different systems for secondary schooling for young people and this paper focuses on public comprehensive secondary schools. These are frequently characterised as the “schools of last resort” by parents with the ability to make a choice about which school sector their children will attend. This paper uses spatial metaphors to situate readers into a constituted identity of the local comprehensive public school as “bog standard” while using narrative limnings to illuminate the professional complexities of English teachers’ work in these kinds of schools. It reports on the particular narratives of four English teachers working in four different “bog standard” public comprehensive secondary schools located across Greater Sydney. It is hoped that the narratives of this paper dispel some of the affective concerns that contribute so strongly to the imaginary of the threatening comprehensive public school while revealing some complexities for teachers of English navigating schooling inequalities in Greater Sydney, Australia.

摘要

澳大利亚新南威尔士州（NSW）有不同的青少年中学教育制度，本文重点关注公立综合中学。这些学校通常被家长称为“最后的学校”，他们有能力选择孩子就读哪个学校。本文利用空间隐喻将读者置于当地综合性公立学校作为“沼泽标准”的建构身份中，同时利用叙事线索来阐明此类学校英语教师工作的专业复杂性。它报道了在大悉尼地区四所不同的“沼泽标准”公立综合中学工作的四位英语教师的具体叙述。