ABSTRACT
Jennifer's story foregrounds a pedagogical approach that makes the problematising of gender central in her everyday work. She is concerned about sense of entitlement that many boys display, and how they are committed to particular constructions of masculinity that pose a problem to themselves and to others. Rachel has a very similar pedagogical approach to Jennifer: she wants boys to have a greater range of possibilities in their lives than those allowed by restrictive constructions of masculinity. She encourages this broadening of students' understandings of gender through everyday curriculum, and she uses textual resources to do this. Monica's story draws attention to the importance of working with the local community, and also to the ways in which the local community both shapes and is shaped by gendered relationships. Her story demonstrates how a female principal's practices and authority with students can be undermined if she cannot command the respect within the community that a male principal would in such circumstances.
