Gender and equality in education. Key themes, changes and the contemporary focus on achievement

Abstract

ABSTRACT - The field of gender and education historically and currently addresses a range of issues of equality in education. Key themes include power relations, curriculum and school practices, achievement patterns, and femininities and masculinities produced with/in education. This article briefly reviews key themes and changes in the field of gender of education, and then explores the prominent contemporary issues concerning gender and achievement, many of which focus on boys’ said underachivement. It draws on Nordic and international research, and especially a recent Swedish research project on achievement and gender. This project, and others before it, showed a dissociation between dominant youth masculinities and study patterns, but also a widespread celebration of talent that has significant implications for the understanding of everyone’s achievements. The presentation also highlights the problems of homogenising gender groups and the need to explore variation between social groups and contexts. Keywords: Gender research, debate, achievement, celebration of talent