Transforming masculinities: boys making the transition from early childhood education to school

Abstract

This thesis explores the masculinities of boys making the transition from early childhood education settings to primary school. The background to the thesis research is the emerging 'problem of boys' in western educational discourse. Four case study boys were observed, and their teachers and parents interviewed in the weeks leading up to their fifth birthdays. Further observations and interviews took place once the four boys had started school. A feminist post-structural stance was taken to the analysis of the case study data and other ethnographic data collected in the educational settings studied. 'Snapshots' were developed of the gender dynamics within early childhood education centres and schools, suggesting that gender was an active process of construction by children and adults. The transition to school of the four boys was not straightforward. They underwent 'transformations' at the time of their transition to school which had implications for their gender positionings as males. The study found that the nature of new entrant classroom practices and pedagogy meant that the boys were sometimes placed in a problematic position with regard to their masculinities. It is suggested that boys would benefit if the operation of masculinities was brought to the foreground in educational discourse, in both early childhood education and school settings.