The Eighth International Literacy & Education Research Network Conference on

SPETSES, GREECE
4-8 July 2001

Abstract

Drawing on my research in the New Zealand context, I will argue that there has been a significant shift in the discursive construction of boys; from their characterisation as 'villains' in the discourses of 'larrikinism' in the late 19th century, to that of 'victims' in contemporary discourses of boys' educational under-achievement. this shift reflects a move away from the overt concerns about the socialisation of boys that underpinned the prevailing discourses of 'larrikinism' situated within the context of an emerging nation-state; to the current concern with educational achievement which cannot be separated from the restructuring of states and education systems in line with the 'demands of globalisation'. Thus, I am arguing that the under-achieving boy is the contemporary variation of the 'larrikin' and neither discursive construction of boys can be understood in isolation from the social, economic and political contexts within which they emerge.

Bionote

I am a PhD student affiliated with the Centre of Cultural and Policy Studies in the School of Education at the University of Auckland. My work is situated within educational sociology and feminist poststructuralism. This paper derives from my PhD research which examines the production and institutionalisation of discourses of boys' educational under-achievement.

Presentation Type
30 min. Paper

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Country
New Zealand