The Feminisation of a School? Women Teachers in a Boys' School

This article analyses the experiences of women teachers in boys' schools by examining a case-study school. It is argued that whilst there had been a large numerical increase in women at the school, partly as the unanticipated consequence of recent government reforms, the degree of 'feminisation' was much smaller. Teaching style and negative pupils' reactions, undermining by colleagues, exclusion from staff meetings and sexual harassment emerged as important dimensions of these women's experience. The women were not a homogeneous group, however, and two ideal type groupings emerged which offered different interpretations of their situation, contrasting conceptions of what a feminised school would look like and different strategies for feminising the school. It is argued that for many of the women the women's group played an important role in enabling them to redefine their situation collectively.