ABSTRACT
This chapter concentrates on the other side of the coin to credentialism's role in mobility, given increasing pressure to invest in and upgrade educational credentials, and how such ongoing projects impinge on family's mobility decisions. A mobius strip is the topological anomaly of a single loop with one twist in it, whereby the loop becomes one continuous surface, not the double-sided shape it appears to be. The mobius strip has come to be associated with non-Euclidean geometry, science fiction, maths-related art, universal spacetime theories and new age symbolism as an icon for endlessness. Early warnings that systemic credentialism and its inflation over time have little impact on intergenerational social mobility have remained pertinent. Australia's history as a federation of states has produced state registration boards for many professional groups, which have at times chosen not to recognise parallel credentials from other Australian states.
