Gender differences in epistemic access in rural secondary mathematics classrooms

This study examines how epistemic access is organized in rural secondary mathematics classrooms and whether its observable manifestations are differentially distributed by gender. A qualitative–interpretive case study was conducted in six mathematics classrooms from three public rural secondary schools in Yucatán, Mexico, involving over one hundred students and six teachers. Data consisted of video-recorded lessons, structured anecdotal records, and a theory-informed observational coding framework comprising three analytic areas: Discursive Regulation, Epistemic Positioning, and Organization of Participation. Three five-minute segments from each lesson were analyzed using descriptive, comparative, and integrative procedures. Discursive Regulation accounted for the largest proportion of coded manifestations, while all three analytic areas recurred across classrooms and lesson segments. At the aggregate level, female and male students showed broadly similar proportional distributions across the three analytic areas. However, clearer gender differences emerged in direct teacher–student interaction time and in specific observational categories. Female students showed greater proportional presence in Omission, Disauthorization, and Restricted Collaboration, whereas male students showed greater proportional presence in Invitation, Recognition, and Leadership Allocation. Integrating gender differentiation with recurrence across classrooms and lesson segments revealed recurrent configurations of epistemic opportunity that were not visible at the level of the broad analytic areas alone. The study provides evidence of gender-differentiated epistemic access in rural secondary mathematics classrooms. Not applicable.