O'Keeffe, Suzanne and Deegan, Jim
(2018)
Gendered positionality among Irish male primary
teachers: the staff room as a site of performative
masculinity.
Irish Educational Studies, 37 (3).
pp. 373-389.
ISSN 0332-3315
Abstract
The concept of masculinities has traditionally been defined in terms of crises
associated with boys’ underachievement, the violence of homophobia, the underrepresentation
of males in caring occupations, the rituals and discourses of
laddism, and perceptions of disaffected and unrealised talent. Whereas the topic
of masculinities has long been associated with warrants for distinctive and
diverse male identities, it has a comparatively more recent history in the research
on male Irish primary teachers as a particular social category. Two key findings
are discussed in relation to performative masculinities – a form of strategic
manoeuvring designed to exploit gender discourses, practices for control, power
and privilege. First, the findings show the staffroom as a bellwether or highly
developed locus for teacher socialisation through gendered discourses, events and
actions. Second, the findings show nonsynchronous performative masculinities
not only between male and female teachers but also with male colleagues.
Therefore, it is argued that this frequently forgotten and neglected seam in the
grand narrative of schools and schooling in Ireland needs to be more fully
understood as a variable of quality, social justice and democratic practices across
the full scope and sequence of the teacher continuum and as a prerequisite
component in all teacher leadership programmes.
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