Crossing the Threshold: Masculinities and the Transition to School

Abstract

Starting school is a significant cultural and social milestone in the lives of children (Ramey & Ramey, 1994; Renwick, 1984). However, the experiences of boys making the transition has not been a particular focus for research. My master's thesis, 'Transforming Masculinities: Boys making the transition from early childhood to school' (Norris, 1999) explored the transition of four boys from early childhood education centres to schools, in relation to masculinities. My interest in researching issues for boys stemmed from my experience as a feminist mother of sons. In educational terms, I was interested to explore whether frequently cited and perplexing problems with boys in education (e.g., Arnot, 1984; Askew & Ross, 1988; Campbell & Brooker, 1991; Kelly, 1986; Mahoney, 1985; Spender, 1980) might be related to anecdotal reports of 'rocky' transitions to compulsory education made by many boys. Studies pointed to clear patterns of gender disadvantage suffered by girls in relation to boys' behaviour at school (Bird, 1992; Newton, 1992) and perhaps furthered the idea that girls were the 'victims' while boys were the 'perpetrators' in educational research (Arnot, 1991), cited in Mac an Ghaill, 1994, p. 8). However, questions had also been raised about the adequacy of previous work on the subject of boys, and the need to develop more sympathetic understandings of masculinities (McLean, 1997; Yates, 1997). Despite a burgeoning literature, the subject was often cast in relation to the 'big picture' (Segal, 1997). It seemed worthy and important to focus on real life experiences. I was interested to discover how masculine identities were affected by the transition, as well as how masculine identities operated in the two settings of early childhood education and school. The essence of the research became the notion of boys as 'transformers', undergoing changes as they made this highly significant cultural transition or 'status passage' (Glaser & Strauss, 1971).