ABSTRACT
Gender representation matters. Gender representation in schools and in the classroom matters a great deal – and gender representation in teaching resources matters just as much. To be able to see oneself represented in books, textbooks, films, stories, assemblies, careers advice posters, well-being posters and other resources in the school environment is incredibly meaningful to young people. Ultimately, the role that school texts, textbooks and other educational resources play in the classroom means they are directly involved in the learning experiences, and thus potentially influencing the discourse related to sexual orientation, gender identity, cultural identity, nationality, legal status, disability and ethnicity. Therefore, the impact of stereotypical in-text representations of gender and other intersectional issues continue to leave a lasting biased legacy within our cultural framework. Central to the critical understanding of gender in texts in the classroom is the development of a robust framework to analyse the representations of gender within textbooks.
