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Female physical educators in all boys' schools - opportunities for enhancing social interactions?
conference contribution
posted on 2011-01-01, 00:00 authored by Amanda MooneyAmanda Mooney, Chris HickeyChris HickeyThe significance of physical education (PE) and sport in a boys’ school has long been highlighted as a device for the privileging of hyper-masculine identities (tough, stoic & assertive) at the expense of marginalised masculinities and femininities. The propensity for some “members of male sporting clique’s to engage in practices of bullying, shaming, violating and excluding” (Hickey, 2008, p. 148) raises important questions about how the practice of boys’ PE and sport can sometimes lead to unhealthy and damaging social interactions between different types of boys. In response to this rhetoric, some boys’ schools have acted to employ female PE teachers to disrupt “concern about the codes of unity, entitlement and privilege that can be forged among groups of boys whose identities are strongly aligned with sporting forms of hyper-masculinity” (Hickey, 2008, p. 148). Given this potential, we suggest that there is something unique or different about working in spaces or contexts around boys’ physicality. More specifically this paper raises questions about the particular implications for a PE teacher’s professional work, particularly as a female PE teacher.
In current educational climates the performance of boys in social and educational contexts attracts considerable concern. Better understanding the contributions and capacities of female PE teachers in all boys’ schools, (as localised social and political environments in which gendered identities are formed) is warranted. Professional identities and “the meaning of gender is negotiated in everyday interactions” (Priola, 2007, p. 23) implicating the culture of all boys’ schools as significant in the development of ideas around effective, gender inclusive, pedagogical practices. Drawing on case study data, this paper seeks to explore how notions of effectiveness about boys’ PE are formed, with intent to make visible the extent to which female PE teachers influence dominant gendered practices of social interaction in all boys’ PE settings.
In current educational climates the performance of boys in social and educational contexts attracts considerable concern. Better understanding the contributions and capacities of female PE teachers in all boys’ schools, (as localised social and political environments in which gendered identities are formed) is warranted. Professional identities and “the meaning of gender is negotiated in everyday interactions” (Priola, 2007, p. 23) implicating the culture of all boys’ schools as significant in the development of ideas around effective, gender inclusive, pedagogical practices. Drawing on case study data, this paper seeks to explore how notions of effectiveness about boys’ PE are formed, with intent to make visible the extent to which female PE teachers influence dominant gendered practices of social interaction in all boys’ PE settings.
History
Event
The Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and Recreation International Conference (27th : 2011 : Adelaide, S.A.)Pagination
273 - 281Publisher
Australian Council for Health, Physical Education and RecreationLocation
Adelaide, S. Aust.Place of publication
Hindmarsh, S. Aust.Start date
2011-04-18End date
2011-04-20ISBN-13
9780987110916Language
engNotes
Reproduced with the kind permission of the copyright owner.Publication classification
E1.1 Full written paper - refereed; E Conference publicationCopyright notice
2011, ACHPER National and individual authorsEditor/Contributor(s)
G DoddTitle of proceedings
27th ACHPER International Conference Edited Proceedings - 'Moving, Learning & Achieving'Usage metrics
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