Summary

The Handbook of Gender and Education brings together leading scholars on gender and education to provide an up-to-date and broad-ranging guide to the field.

It is a comprehensive overview of different theoretical positions on equity issues in schools. The contributions cover all sectors of education from early years to higher education; curriculum subjects; methodological and theoretical perspectives; and gender identities in education. Each chapter reviews, synthesises and provides a critical interrogation of key contemporary themes in education. This approach ensures that the book will be an indispensable source of reference for a wide range of readers: students, academics and practitioners.

The first section of the Handbook, Gender Theory and Methodology , outlines the various (feminist) perspectives on researching and exploring gender and education. The section critiques the notion of gender as a category in educational research and considers recent trends, evident especially in the gender and underachievement debates, to locate gender difference solely within biology. This section provides the broad background upon which the issues and debates in the other sections can be situated.

Section two, Gender and Education , considers the differing ways in which gender has been shown to impact upon the opportunities and experiences of pupils/students, teachers and other adults in the different sectors of education. It also includes a chapter on single-sex schooling.

Section three, Gender and School Subjects , comprises chapters that cover gender issues within the teaching and learning of particular school subjects (for example, maths, literacy, and science). It also includes topics such as sex education and assessment.

The chapters in section four, Gender, identity and educational sites, address up-to-date issues which have a long history in terms of explorations into gender and educational opportunities. More recent inclusions in the debates, such as disability, sexuality, and masculinities are discussed alongside the more traditional concerns of ′race′, social class and femininities.

The final section, Working in Schools and Colleges , illuminates the working lives of teachers and academics. The chapters cover such topics as school culture, career progression and development, and the gendered identities of professionals within educational institutions.

The contributors to this book have been selected by the editors as authorities in their specific area of gender and education and are drawn from the international scholarly community.

Choice Review

For someone curious about feminist thought in the beginning of the 21st century, this volume offers a compendium of feminist educational theory. Here one can find 35 chapters by 46 authors covering a variety of topics ranging from general discussions of gender and social policy to a rather more specific focus in "Racial and Gendered Realities in the Schooling of Black Children." The common element is that the contributors write primarily from a feminist perspective. The arguments and findings contrast with work such as Getting It Right for Boys ... and Girls (CH, Oct'00, 38-1074), Boys, Girls, and Achievement: Addressing the Classroom Issue (CH, Mar'01, 38-4017), or Boys and Girls Learn Differently: A Guide for Teachers and Parents (CH, Sep'01, 39-0449), all of which are a good deal less strident in their analyses of gender differences and issues in education. However, this book will be a must read in women's studies departments. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty. D. E. Tanner California State University, Fresno