Gender, Change and Adventure Education

A central concern of feminist research of schooling is the ways in which schooling transmits and reinforces inequalities between the sexes. Girls in mixed‐sex classrooms where boys dominate are marginalised, their abilities underrated and they may be ‘turned‐off’ certain subjects. Is this girl ‘unfriendliness’ a feature of all aspects of mixed schooling or are there contexts in which girls are brought more fully into the learning process? What might such a situation mean for girls and boys? This paper, based upon an ethnographic case‐study of outdoor/adventure education, a much neglected area for sociological research, asks such questions. Observational data of lessons, collected within the case‐study outdoor/adventure centre, show interesting interaction patterns and forms of communication which contradict those which prevail in mainstream schools. Girls’ and boys’ accounts highlight significant differences in their views concerning themselves, their teachers and their relations with others in comparison with research undertaken in mainstream schools. This paper argues that the material conditions, social relations and ethos prevailing within the case‐study centre affect the form and content of the overt and ‘hidden’ curricula made available to girls and boys, providing for a shift in the construction of gender identities and relations.