Boys, Literacies and Schooling : The Dangerous Territories of Gender-Based Literacy Reform

by Rowan, Leonie; Knobel, Michele; Bigum, Chris; Lankshear, Colin

• ISBN13: 9780335207565
• ISBN10: 0335207561
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-02-01
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Summary

Current debates about boys and schooling in many Western nations are increasingly characterised by a sense of crisis as government reports, academic research and the day to day experiences of teachers combine to indicate that:* boys are consistently underperforming in literacy* boys are continuing to opt out of English and humanities* boys represent the majority of behaviour problems and counselling referrals* boys receive a disproportionate amount of special education supportThis book responds to the complexity of the current debates associated with boys, gender reform, literacy and schooling by offering a clear map of the current context, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the various competing solutions put forward, and outlining a range of practical classroom interventions designed for dealing with the boys/literacy crisis. The authors consider the ways in which particular views of masculinity, gender reform, literacy, technology and popular culture can either open up or close down new conceptualisations of what it means to be a boy and what it means to be literate.

Author Biography

Chris Bigum is an associate professor in the Faculty of Education and Creative Arts at Central Queensland University.

Table of Contents

Series editors' introduction	p. ix
Acknowledgements	p. xiii
Introduction--Dangerous places: debates about boys, girls, schooling and gender-based literacy reform	p. 1
What about the boys? The rhetoric and realities of the new gender crisis	p. 10
How, who, where, when, why and what way? Mindsets on gender reform in schools	p. 27
Some really useful theoretical company for transforming and transformative literacy education	p. 57
Mindsets matter: an overview of major literacy worldviews	p. 77
Making it not so: transformative literacy practices for girls and boys	p. 99
Exorcizing digital demons: information technology, new literacies and the de/reconstruction of gendered subjectivities	p. 125
From Pacman to Pokemon: cross-generational perspectives on gender and reform in a 'post-feminist' age	p. 162
Conclusion	p. 198
Bibliography	p. 212
Index	p. 231
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