ABSTRACT
Identifying system blockage as diametric space recognises the need to change blocked systems of communication to help prevent early school leaving. These blocked systems are interpreted as diametric structures of communication in school that include authoritarian teaching as splits in communication (e.g., fear of asking teachers questions, grading approaches that may lack transparency, access to toilet, perceived snobbery, recognition of differential impact of the same practice upon different students) and power hierarchies that render students passive. In terms of agency, these are not only system choices but also malleable system features of communication, where a shift is possible from diametric to concentric spaces of relation. Concentric states of relation of assumed connection challenge traditional hierarchical relations between pupil and teacher, as hierarchy and ‘otherness’ rest on a diametric mode of assumed separation. Conceptions of voice, including students’ voices in school, as well as voices of parents from marginalised communities, presupposes a background space of assumed connection – a concentric spatial-relational setting for the voice to be expressed to dismantle deficit labels based on mirror image oppositions of diametric space, affecting marginalised groups. These communicative concerns are part of an emotional-relational turn for early school leaving prevention in the past decade.
