Making sense of the glass ceiling in schools: an exploration of women teachers’ discourses

Moreau, Marie‐Pierre, Osgood, Jayne ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9424-8602 and Halsall, Anna (2007) Making sense of the glass ceiling in schools: an exploration of women teachers’ discourses. Gender and Education, 19 (2) . pp. 237-253. ISSN 0954-0253 [Article] (doi:10.1080/09540250601166092)

Abstract

There is extensive evidence of a ‘glass ceiling’ for women across the labour market. Though schools have widely been described as ‘feminized’ work environments, the under‐representation of women at school management level is well established. Based on a study of women teachers’ careers and promotion in the English school sector (in early years, primary and secondary schools), this paper draws on a critical discourse analysis of 44 individual interviews conducted with women teachers to explore their views of the ‘glass ceiling’. Despite significant evidence of the barriers to management positions faced by women teachers, interpretative frameworks drawing on discourses of individualization and personal choice are most prominent among these to make sense of the low proportion of women in school management. However, the paper also identifies the existence of alternative discourses recognizing the existence of gender inequalities.

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