Gender identities and education: the impact of starting school

Starting school is seen as a significant event in childhood not only by parents and teachers, but by children themselves. Although it seems clear that gender identities have been firmly developed in domestic settings, we also know that school has a major influence on further development as evidenced by achievements and choices of subjects in later educational careers. How do children come to negotiate such a social gender identity? Gerard Duveen and Barbara Lloyd examine the beginnings of this process through an investigation of four- and five-year-old children's reconstruction of gender during their first year at school. Their research is informed by the theory of social representations, and their approach combines the psychology of development with that of social gender identities.