Belonging, Identity, Time and Young People’s Engagement in the Middle Years of School (eBook)

Acknowledgements 6
Contents 7
Chapter 1: Introduction 8
Maranguka (‘caring for others’) 8
The Middle Years of Schooling: Challenges and Opportunities 13
The Whittlesea Youth Commitment and Socio-ecological Models of Young People’s Well-being, Resilience and Enterprise: A Pilot Intervention to Promote Young People’s Engagement in the Middle Years 20
Participants 26
Stories of Identity, Belonging and Time 29
References 30
Chapter 2: Identity 33
Introduction 33
Identity: Becoming Somebody in Whittlesea 35
Place 35
Family 40
Institutionalised Identities 47
Discussion: Embodied, Truly Networked, Posthuman Identities 49
Wild and Tame Zones 51
The Self as Enterprise 54
Nomad Selves 61
References 64
Chapter 3: Belonging 69
Introduction 69
The Challenges for Young People in Belonging in Whittlesea Schools 71
School Culture 71
School Networks 78
Resilience 82
Discussion: From Risk to Resilience and the Trouble with Belonging 85
The Trouble with Belonging 86
From Risk to Resilience 91
Gender, Well-being and Resilience 94
Age, Well-being and Resilience 94
Education/Employment Status, Well-being and Resilience 95
Household Composition, Well-being and Resilience 95
Household Income, Well-being and Resilience 95
Social Support, Well-being and Resilience 96
References 100
Chapter 4: Time 104
Introduction 104
The Character of Time in Whittlesea 106
Institutionalised Time 107
Embodied Time 110
Discussion: Engagement and the Ambiguities of Metaphorical, Material and Institutional Time 114
Quality Time 114
Institutionalised Time 118
Disciplinary Time 121
References 128
Chapter 5: Conclusions 130
Storytelling 131
Scott’s Conclusions 132
Seeing Through Listening 132
Resonances 133
Back to ‘Maranguka’: And Beyond 135
Seth’s Conclusions 136
The Promise of Education 136
The Precariat 137
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 139
Nomad Subjectivity and Affirmative Ethics 141
Peter’s Conclusions 143
Complexities 143
Entanglements 145
Crisis and Disruption 148
References 151
Index 155