Smart girls traversing assemblages of gender and class in Australian secondary mathematics classrooms

Melissa Joy Wolfe

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

    14 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    I examine experiences of former Australian schoolgirls in relation to mathematics during secondary school. This research scrutinises misunderstandings about success and impact on subject choice that can result in post-schooling trajectories that limit what girls can do in their lives beyond school. I examine ways affective relationality, as a sense of embodied belonging, may influence participation in subjects. I frame the discussion using the Baradian concept of intra-action, a co-production that engages an ethic of non-coincidence. For these participants, a reductive high-stakes testing environment and aspirations to become a master subject evoke a powerful not good enough assemblage. The responsibility to achieve enough success incites a soliciting of a particular self in affective regulation. The dread of not excelling in mathematics was often too much to endure thus participants chose to discontinue studying mathematics. They understood this as a sensible solution to prevent vulnerability, as not good enough.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)205-221
    Number of pages17
    JournalGender and Education
    Volume31
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019

    Keywords

    • affect
    • inequity
    • intra-action
    • mathematics
    • Schoolgirl
    • subject choice

    Cite this