Elite schools, both private and public, consistently top metrics of success around the world. This article mobilises an antistrophon -- turning an argument against itself -- to expose elite schools' rhetorical defences. As part of this device, four provocations are offered -- knowledge, excellence, merit, values -- that coincide with elite…

The corollary of the concept of the "ivory tower", as reflected in the writings of Plato and Newman amongst others, was, paradoxically, the vital importance of the university for wider society. Nevertheless from the mid-twentieth century, the esteem in which a "liberal" university education was held was diminished by rising…

This paper suggests that historical ontology, as one form of reflexive critique, is an instructive research design for making sense of the political and historical constitution of the Academic Language and Learning (ALL) educator in Australian higher education. The ALL educator in this paper refers to those practitioners in the field of ALL, whose…

Across national contexts, in the attempt to develop and buttress "knowledge economies", increasing pressure is placed on the need for flexible lifelong learners capable of constant knowledge and skills renewal. In this paper, I explore the impact of this broader sociopolitical context on the policy approach to poverty and, in particular,…