ABSTRACT
Is the education system merely a reflection of society or does it play a part in shaping patterns of gender relations? Can the school system ‘break out’ of the gender patterns in society, or is it powerless? There is a considerable range of writing about the construction of sex and gender drawn from biology, psychology and sociology (Lloyd and Archer, 1976; Fox et al., 1977; Sayers, 1987). There are tensions between arguments that emphasise biological difference and those that prefer social explanations. I dispute the passive imprinting theory of gender development and I agree with Anyon (1983) who has argued that gender development for girls is an active response to social contradictions because ‘they cope with and resolve contradictory social messages regarding what they should do and be’. Genovese (1983) has called this process ‘accommodation and resistance to gender contradictions’. In the research reported in this chapter I worked with Jo (female), the class-teacher of 2B, to intervene in pupils’ education to influence their adoption of co-educational forms of interaction.
