Abstract:
This paper reports on the accounts of pedagogic work provided by 35 paraprofessionals who were responsible for forging lines of communication between government funded secondary schools and the Indigenous, migrant, working class and unemployed communities n the local area of an Australian city. A qualitative (interview) methodology was selected for this study to document paraprofessionals' understandings of pedagogic work, particularly the ways in which paraprofessionals talked about forging links between different institutional contexts (i.e., family, community, and schooling). All of the interview participants spoke about differences in the form and content of school and home/community pedagogy. Moreover, all of the participants suggested that the demeanour of respect and obedience/servitude acquired by Samoan children in the local community, differed significantly from the individualist demeanour of student produced in and through the different forms of pedagogy (conservative, liberal progressive, radical) of the classroom. The paper concluded that in order to be successful, radical pedagogues must take account of specific differences in communicative practices between the home/community and school. Moreover, pedagogic work should aim to assist students with border crossing, that is, making the transition between communicative contexts regulated by different principles of power and control. Acquisition of the discursive resources transmitted through schooling necessitates taking up the role of student in a pedagogic relation with the teacher. (Acknowledgements: Funding for this study was provided by the Australian Research Council).