ABSTRACT
This chapter draws from a three-year research project in Australia which seeks to examine the ways in which gender reform initiatives work in schools, why they work, which fail and why. The project involves four major longitudinal case-studies and eight ‘spot’2 studies in Victoria and Western Australia. The focus of this particular chapter is how teachers and girls ‘read’ and ‘respond’ to gender reform initiatives in two schools. We first provide an overview of gender reform policy in Australia and the theoretical framework informing the research project. Then, through two case-studies, we consider the ways in which teachers and students have ‘read’ and ‘rewritten’ the gender policies available to them in two innovative gender reform schools, and conclude with a discussion about the implications of the studies for policy and practice.
