Paper short abstract:

The presentation focuses at children's perspectives on schooling and the moral strategies of the school system and the acteurs within on silencing in/equality. The ethnographic approach in two Austrian schools allows a glimpse on the childs perspective on difference and sameness within classrooms.

Paper long abstract:

The presentation focuses at children's perspectives on schooling and the moral strategies of the school system and the acteurs within on silencing in/equality. This approach allows a glimpse on how children’s funds of identity could be used as informants regarding intersectional power relations. The Funds of Identity approach allows moreover a counter-narrative of minoritised groups, by providing a nuanced understanding of lives, skills, knowledge and practices that challenges the Austrian discourse on “problems and deficit” when it comes to minoritised groups.

Based on observations, informal conversations, interviews and group discussions with children in two different Austrian schools (Primary School and Secondary Level 1), it will be elaborated on the childs perspective on difference and sameness within classrooms. For this purpose, significant and participatory cases from the fieldwork will be presented. The examples will be contextualised with the alleged knowledge about diversity and inclusion by teaching staff, and a simultaneous decreasing willingness to address inequality or even further recognise one's own privileges in the everyday school practice. The research thus follows the question of how an intersectional approach in the context of ethnographic work in Austrian schools can illustrate the correlation between the public discourse on problems and deficits with regard to minoritised groups and the mindset of acteurs in school.