Provisional disclosures: a genealogical reconceptualisation of the shift from differential to equitable provision in Australian educational discourses since the 1970s

Notions of fairness and equality are commonly associated with Australian society and culture. This thesis examines how these notions function in discourses of educational provision. It is argued that despite the shift from differential to equitable provision in educational discourses in the 1970s, markers of difference persist in producing differential outcomes from schooling. Foucault's historical method, known as genealogy, is utilised to make the shift in educational provision in the 1970s as a shift in discourse and, therefore, as a shift in relations of power. This shift is also marked in historical terms and for its place in the story of feminist advocacy. Consequently, the theoretical framing of this thesis is informed by twp juxtapositions: (1) history and genealogy. ; and (2) feminism and genealogy. A number of genealogical approaches to reconceptualising the shift from differential to equitable provision are explored. These genealogies work with the same documents as history but they trace the descent of discourse - reconstituting subjectivities, challenging taken-for-granted categories, and destablising already fractured and fragile effects of discourse that attempt to pass as fixed and fundamental forms. The genealogies in this thesis share some similarities with history. Even so, it is argued that they are uniquely genealogical in character reflecting the potential of genealogy to produce forms of analysis that are always hopeful and at times disturbing. The usefulness of this potential to feminists working in education is one of the projects of agency identified early and treated throughout this thesis as part of the date to be accounted for.