Analysing gender dynamics in sport governance: A new regimes-based approach

This paper explores gender dynamics in sport governance with reference to boards of National Sport Organisations (NSOs) in Australia. It is based on a recent study, underpinned by governance and gender theory. Central is the notion of a gender regime, which is characterised by four interwoven dimensions: production, power, emotional and symbolic relations. When applied to governance dynamics in sport boards, this concept permits identification of how gender works. The study involved an audit of 56 NSOs and in-depth interviews with board directors and chief executive officers (n = 26; 9 women and 17 men) from five NSOs. This paper reports on the results of three NSOs. The data suggest that directors’ participation in sport governance was not uniform in terms of gender dynamics. Three gender regimes were identified: masculine hegemony, masculine hegemony in transition and gender mainstreaming in process. Only the latter provided significant opportunities for gender equality in governance while the former two imposed significant constraints. Central to the regime associated with gender equal governance was a combination of presence of women on the board, the occupation of influential board roles by women, active support of women directors by influential men on the board and a commitment to equality in governance as equal participation by both men and women.     

Managing classroom entry: an ecological analysis of ritual interaction and negotiation in the changing room

The first interactions between teachers and pupils in physical education often take place in the changing rooms, and, as such, the changing rooms are a useful place to begin an exploration of the processes and practices of negotiation in physical education. Pupils are generally required to change their clothing for physical education lessons, an activity consistently identified as negatively experienced by many young people, and particularly girls (Kay, 1995; Flintoff & Scraton, 2001); hence the changing rooms are an important location to consider in determining young people's engagement with physical education. Throughout this paper, I foreground the naturally occurring interaction between teachers and pupils in the changing rooms of one suburban UK secondary school. This is supplemented by interviews with three teachers and pupils in year 7 (aged 11–12 years) throughout the Spring term. The paper examines how the young people attempted to modify participation requirements in a way that allowed them to pursue their own agendas, and yet also comply with the school, department and teacher rules. Throughout the paper, a consideration of the way in which the teachers held the pupils accountable for their attendance and dress in physical education is present. The orderliness of interaction sequences highlights the ritual nature of pupil–teacher talk in the changing room. The analysis of naturally occurring talk is interspersed with a consideration of how the teachers understood the young people's changing room behaviour.     

Factors that influence students' plans to take computing and information technology subjects in senior secondary school

This article explores factors that contribute to low participation rates in computing and information technology (CIT) courses in senior secondary school, particularly for females. Partly drawing on the Values-Expectancy Theory the following variables are explored separately and within a single model: gender, ability and values beliefs, access and use at home and at school. As well as presenting results consistent with current literature, an inclusive and eclectic model is developed. The model indicates that, in addition to gender and the student's beliefs about the value of the subjects, plans to take CIT subjects are also affected by the amount of use of IT at school. These school-related factors are inter-connected either directly or indirectly with students' beliefs about their IT abilities at both schooland home, as well as the amount of use at home. For educators who seek to improve participation rates, particularly for females, theidentification of school-related variables is encouraging, as the school – unlike the home – is a relatively accessible site of intervention.     

Re‐visioning Science “Love and Passion in the Scientific Imagination”: Art and science

The often portrayed media image of the scientist is a rather strange one, grim‐looking scientists, usually male, poised beside incomprehensible instruments. It is little wonder that we encounter the stereotype of the bespectacled scientist; thick black rims, coke bottle lenses, roman sandals, dressed in lab coats, trousers up to their necks. A qualitative study designed to produce a series of visual and oral narratives based on the everyday lived realities of “the contemporary scientist” was undertaken. The study was a participative project in which a research team, including the project leaders Anne Noble and Michelle Lunn, together with research assistants and documentary photography students, worked alongside scientists to produce contemporary and deliberately challenging stories of “the scientist” ¹ 1. Please see acknowledgements for details of the research team and the scientists involved in the project. . In this paper, the most pervasive theme to emerge from the research, the link between art and science, is discussed.