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Legal Approaches to Social Control in Australian Schools: Old Ideas and New Trends

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The Palgrave International Handbook of School Discipline, Surveillance, and Social Control

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Abstract

Ensuring education in a safe environment falls inevitably on the school. As societal issues enter Australian schools as those elsewhere, there are many new threats added to the old. While legislation and policy traditionally provide the means to assist schools, questions of safety and security focus increasingly on the parameters of control and responsibility. This chapter considers social control within the frame of safety in Australian schools—from ‘traditional’ school discipline and an investigation of trends towards various forms of surveillance to current initiatives designed to reduce many of the threats to young people. These aim to develop school cultures where respect and responsibility are uppermost and which nurture the human capacity for restitution, resolution, and reconciliation.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, Australia

    Sally Varnham

  2. The University of Notre Dame Australia, Fremantle, WA, Australia

    Joan Squelch

Authors
  1. Sally Varnham
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  2. Joan Squelch
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Law, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom

    Jo Deakin

  2. Department of Sociology, City, University of London, London, United Kingdom

    Emmeline Taylor

  3. Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, University of Delaware, Newark, USA

    Aaron Kupchik

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Varnham, S., Squelch, J. (2018). Legal Approaches to Social Control in Australian Schools: Old Ideas and New Trends. In: Deakin, J., Taylor, E., Kupchik, A. (eds) The Palgrave International Handbook of School Discipline, Surveillance, and Social Control. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71559-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71559-9_6

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-71558-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-71559-9

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