Coaching and training: An ethnography of student commuting on Sydney's suburban trains

Public transport systems in Australia receive subsidies from state governments to facilitate the movement of students to and from schools. During the educational peak hours, students on their way to and from school dominate the demographics of buses and trains. Policies of de-zoning plus the drift to non-government schooling have increased the numbers of students commuting each day. As with commuting in general, student commuting is taken for granted and its associated 'travel performances' under-investigated. This paper analyses the 'choreographies' of students as they travel to and from school on Sydney trains. It is argued that students form closed micro-communities for the passage of their journeys, during which they enact a range of cultural and educational activities and performances.