ABSTRACT
A key theme throughout this book is that when subject to the discourses and practices of marketisation, school ‘autonomy' is mobilised in ways that generate injustice. The paradox of these injustices is the focus of this chapter. We return to the stakeholder data to highlight four key areas of paradox for social justice currently confronting public schools and school systems. The language of paradox is drawn on to narrate the oppositional politics between the discourses and practices constituting school autonomy and the pursuit of social justice. Such narration raises important questions for Australian public education. It highlights how these discourses are changing what is meant by the public in public education. Engaging with the language of paradox in thinking about school autonomy reform, we argue, is important given the broader landscape where public schooling is being reconstituted and where traditional links to social justice and the common good are under threat.
