The Swedish educational system states that work in schools should depict and mediate equality. One way of achieving this is through fiction, which according to the syllabus provides students with knowledge about the living conditions of women and men during different epochs and places. The present paper examines gender in a Swedish school,…

This paper refocuses attention on and problematizes girls' experiences of school achievement and the construction of schoolgirl femininities. In particular, it centres on the relatively neglected experiences and identity work of high achieving primary school girls. Drawing upon ethnographic data (observations, interviews, and pupil diaries) from a…