A Tangle of Trouble: boys, masculinity and schooling—future directions

Critical of the contemporary discourses of ‘panic’ that do not address the complexities and diversity of the lives of boys in schools, the authors draw on both the critical scholarship in masculinities, as well as their own experience. In addition to highlighting the heteronormative privilege which many boys have historically been granted, the article makes visible the counter-hegemonic masculine performances of a group of young men in school in order to offer alternative possibilities of masculine practice. Finally, the authors suggest that the debate about boys in schooling may benefit from a focus on the social gendered performances of boys rather than on the claim that girls are receiving too much attention or on educational deficiencies.