Making ethical deliberations public: Some provisional resources for youth research ethics

The focus of this special edition of Youth Studies Australia is on questions, issues, challenges and (tentative) solutions in relation to ensuring that research with young people is conducted ethically. This introductory paper by the guest editors of this edition draws on ethical principles as outlined in the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans and in the Fairbridge Code of Ethics for youth work. The authors explain how these principles can inform ethical youth research. In the process, they weave through comments to and from the remaining five papers, providing an authentic touchstone for the principles, as well as recommending the papers to you

Challenging the logic behind government policies for school completion

This paper investigates a suite of policies that comprise the National Partnership Agreement between federal, state and territory governments in Australia that are ostensibly aimed at improving the educational attainment levels of young Australians. It specifically explores the policy terrain of educational targets that have been arrived at by Australian governments and associated policies, using a critical policy ethnography approach. It first traces out the historical development of populist policies such as this, demonstrating how attainment targets affect the lives of young people from the most challenging backgrounds. The second, ethnographic component of this paper provides some powerful insights into what is missing from the policy although of central importance to the existential lives of the young Australians targeted by such policy reform initiatives. This paper reveals how both school and societal circumstances create barriers to the capacity of these young people to meet policy demands