TY - JOUR
T1 - Gendered positionality among Irish male primary teachers
T2 - the staff room as a site of performative masculinity
AU - O'Keeffe, Suzanne
AU - Deegan, Jim
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Educational Studies Association of Ireland.
PY - 2018/7/3
Y1 - 2018/7/3
N2 - The concept of masculinities has traditionally been defined in terms of crises associated with boys’ underachievement, the violence of homophobia, the under-representation of males in caring occupations, the rituals and discourses of laddism, and perceptions of disaffected and unrealised talent. Whereas the topic of masculinities has long been associated with warrants for distinctive and diverse male identities, it has a comparatively more recent history in the research on male Irish primary teachers as a particular social category. Two key findings are discussed in relation to performative masculinities–a form of strategic manoeuvring designed to exploit gender discourses, practices for control, power and privilege. First, the findings show the staffroom as a bellwether or highly developed locus for teacher socialisation through gendered discourses, events and actions. Second, the findings show nonsynchronous performative masculinities not only between male and female teachers but also with male colleagues. Therefore, it is argued that this frequently forgotten and neglected seam in the grand narrative of schools and schooling in Ireland needs to be more fully understood as a variable of quality, social justice and democratic practices across the full scope and sequence of the teacher continuum and as a prerequisite component in all teacher leadership programmes.
AB - The concept of masculinities has traditionally been defined in terms of crises associated with boys’ underachievement, the violence of homophobia, the under-representation of males in caring occupations, the rituals and discourses of laddism, and perceptions of disaffected and unrealised talent. Whereas the topic of masculinities has long been associated with warrants for distinctive and diverse male identities, it has a comparatively more recent history in the research on male Irish primary teachers as a particular social category. Two key findings are discussed in relation to performative masculinities–a form of strategic manoeuvring designed to exploit gender discourses, practices for control, power and privilege. First, the findings show the staffroom as a bellwether or highly developed locus for teacher socialisation through gendered discourses, events and actions. Second, the findings show nonsynchronous performative masculinities not only between male and female teachers but also with male colleagues. Therefore, it is argued that this frequently forgotten and neglected seam in the grand narrative of schools and schooling in Ireland needs to be more fully understood as a variable of quality, social justice and democratic practices across the full scope and sequence of the teacher continuum and as a prerequisite component in all teacher leadership programmes.
KW - feminist research
KW - gender
KW - hegemonic masculinities
KW - primary education
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85048765691&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/03323315.2018.1484301
DO - 10.1080/03323315.2018.1484301
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85048765691
SN - 0332-3315
VL - 37
SP - 373
EP - 389
JO - Irish Educational Studies
JF - Irish Educational Studies
IS - 3
ER -