Berättelser om skolan, berättelser om kön

Abstract

The fact that boys often take more place in school, and therefore get more of the teachers' time, is well documented. This article deals with questions concerning the meaning of physical and verbal space in the classroom situation. What does it mean for the construction of gender? When asked to explain expectations from teachers and other pupils, and when they are to explain why they behave in traditional gender specific ways, pupils tend to use individualistic arguments. In this way they can talk about what's possible and isn't, without talking about oppression. Most pupils say the school treats boys and girls in the same way, but at the same time, quite a lot of them feel they are restricted by the school and (although often unconsciously) they use "school" as a scapegoat problaiming that the school has expectations on how they should behave as boys and girls — expectations they cannot feel comfortable with. Whether or not the pupils intended to talk about gender relations when they talked about school, the stories about school always contained stories about gender; what it is, what it means, and how to enact it.