“Armed Now with Hope …”: The Construction of the Subjectivity of Students within Integration

Students who are integrated into the regular system have traditionally been constructed in a variety of ways that reflect the philosophies and the policies (both stated and implied) of the relevant educational systems. Within these systems though, students have also constructed views of their own subjectivity, yet their perspectives and perceptions students have seldom been considered. Progressive integration policies, such as that in Victoria, Australia, have attempted to change the way students integrated into the regular education system are constructed. Such constructions however, may still be largely incongruent with the ways students construct themselves. This paper explores the integration policy in Victoria over the last decade, and in order to gain greater insight into the way students are constructed, and construct themselves, by and within the policy, draws on the poetry and diaries of a teenager who has been integrated into the regular school system.