"Gender, Masculinities and Lifelong Learning" reflects on current debates and discourses around gender and education, in which some academics, practitioners and policy-makers have referred to a crisis of masculinity. This book explores questions such as: Are men under-represented in education? Are women outstripping men in terms of…

In this chapter we explore the phenomenon of "girls fighting like guys" by listening to adolescent girls' justification for physical fighting with other girls. We argue that physical girlfighting is a particular kind of gendered performance--a performance of identity that expresses, at least in part, an answer to the question, "Who am I?"--that…

This book critically evaluates the extent to which current early years policies, provision and practice promote and foster gender equity. It explores the rationale for the drive to employ more men in the early years field and examines the link made between "underachievement" in boys and the "feminine: nature of early years…

Thomas Arnold has been a controversial figure for historians of the English public schools. He has been depicted either as the great reformer of these famous institutions or as an ordinary head master who did not do better than his contemporary colleagues. This article seeks to continue the debate about the assessment of his head master-ship by…

This paper explores the results of an 18-month study at Brunel University that aimed to explain the significant gendered differences in academic performance amongst geography students. Male students are doing considerably less well than their female peers, being awarded far fewer first class and upper second class degrees, a phenomenon that cannot…