This paper considers what might 'count' as educational inclusion from the perspectives of six women who are both mothers of and teachers of children with special educational needs (SEN) and/or disabilities. The mother-teachers draw on their own personal and professional experiences to consider meanings of inclusion in relation to 'their' children. Their voices suggest that it is the detail of daily interaction and the commitment to 'good faith and effort' on the part of both parents and educational professionals that matters. For the purposes of this paper I shall consider the discourses of SEN, learning difficulties and disability together, although I am aware of the danger of reductionism in doing so.
This paper examines narrative methodologies as one approach to exploring issues of gender, education and social justice and, particularly, insights into ''undoing gender''. It furthermore examines the possibilities of exploring gender and its multiple intersections in a range of global and policy contexts through the use of personal experience approaches. The ''storying'' of lived experience is examined as a means of challenging dominant discourses which can construct and other individuals and groups in relation to many aspects of gender and education. Drawing on intersectionality, as a complex and developing feminist theory, the paper considers ways in which narrative can illuminate often hidden complexities while seeking to avoid generalisations and essentialisms. The difficulties of using narrative in relation to these aims are explored in the light of the warnings of feminist writers such as Michele Fine and bell hooks. The paper briefly considers narrative as both methodology and phenomenon, and finally, drawing on critical discourse analysis, discusses the potential of intersectionality and narrative in relation to undoing gender.Re´sume´-GENRE, RÉ CITS ET INTERSECTIONNALITÉ : L'EXPÉ RIENCE PERSONNELLE APPLIQUÉ E À LA RECHERCHE PEUT-ELLE CONTRIBUER À « DÉ FAIRE LE GENRE » ? -Cet article examine les me´thodologies narratives en tant qu'approche pour explorer les questions de genre, d'e´ducation et de justice sociale, et en particulier pour aborder la question de «de´faire le genre». L'auteure analyse en outre les possibilite´s d'e´tudier la question du genre et ses nombreuses intersections avec plusieurs contextes mondiaux et strate´giques a`travers les approches de l'expe´rience personnelle. La narration de l'expe´rience ve´cue est examine´e comme moyen de contester les discours dominants, qui peuvent construire et rendre autres les individus et les groupes par rapport a`de nombreux aspects du genre et de l'e´ducation. À partir de l'intersectionnalite´, the´orie fe´ministe e´mergente et complexe, l'auteure e´tudie comment le re´cit peut e´clairer des complexite´s souvent masque´es tout en s'efforc¸ant d'e´viter les ge´ne´rali-sations et essentialismes. Les difficulte´s d'utiliser le re´cit par rapport a`ces objectifs sont analyse´es a`la lumie`re des mises en garde d'e´crivaines fe´ministes telles que Michele Fine et bell hooks. L'auteure aborde brie`vement le re´cit en tant que me´thodologie et phe´nome`ne et examine finalement, a`partir d'une analyse critique du discours, le potentiel de l'intersectionnalite´et du re´cit en vue de de´construire les ine´galite´s sexuelles.
The last twenty years have seen the proliferation of policies calling for the development of home–school relations and home–school partnerships, for it is argued that it is important for the educational success of all children that parents and professionals share aims, values and responsibilities. The dominant discourse around home–school relations refers to ‘parents’ as partners, maintaining that their voices are important and should be heard along with those of professionals. This is also held to be the case where children are categorized as ‘having special educational needs’ and a number of policies require that ‘parents’ are consulted wherever possible. However, this paper maintains that, despite this rhetoric, there is a boundary between home and school; between the professional, public space of school and the private, personal space of home, which reflects the power relations between public professionals and private parents. It maintains that the use of the gender neutral term ‘parent’ masks the gendered reality of ‘parenting’, making it easier for professionals to marginalize the individual voices of personal experience. The paper draws on research that suggests that the term ‘parent’ hides the fact that mothers are the ones generally perceived as having responsibility for their children and their relationship with school. It contends that the use of the term ‘parent’, in de‐gendering the contribution of the mother, negates the voice of personal experience and prioritizes the professional and expert voice. The lack of experiential knowledge is seen as especially important when children and their families are perceived as ‘different’; for example, disabled children and children labelled as having special educational needs (SEN). The corollary to this argument is, of course, that while the term ‘parent’ negates the voices of mothers, it also negates the voices of fathers, despite research that strongly suggests the importance of their different but significant contribution in the lives of their children.
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