Does “all students” include girls? Some reflections on recent educational practice and theory

Most people think of the last decade as one where there has been a lot of attention to sexism, gender and equal opportunity. This paper will analyse some recent policy, practice and theory to suggest that much of this apparent attention is illusory and that general policies and discussions of the period are often insensitive to issues of sexism. Examples to be discussed will be drawn from Ministerial and Education Department policy in Victoria; positions taken by teacher unions and “radicals”; and some academic work which attempts to deal with “class, sex and ethnicity” simultaneously.