ABSTRACT
Introduction This chapter explores theoretical developments in the study of gender in education. Its primary purpose is to examine such developments over the last two decades, with a particular concentration on the most recent trends in the field. As one element of this task, I also consider some of the changes and continuities which have marked feminist thought and its application to the study of gender in education. In so doing, I argue that gender research in education has moved away from its initial concern with gender socialization patterns, the reproduction of gender inequality in schools and gender equity reforms towards an engagement with social and cultural theory and its analysis of the contested nature of gender identities in schools.
