The paper begins with an overview of some of the main issues
and challenges to be faced in interrogating the discourses
around gender and schooling. These include the debate on gender
and achievement at all levels of the education system, gendered
patterns of curriculum choice, the gendered nature of school
culture and schooling as a site for the reproduction of gender
relations. The particular gendered discourses in teacher education
are examined such as the concept of female ‘caring’
and the shaping of teacher identity in accordance with an
ideology of teaching as an extension of motherhood. Finally
the implications for teacher education are discussed in terms
of a shift away from the discourse of teaching as women’s
work and what this means for policy, curriculum change, and
pedagogy for teacher educators.
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