Interpreting unproblematic high achievement in mathematics: towards theoretical reflexivity

This article contributes to the long-running discussion about the gendering of mathematics learning by exploring the social biographies of six exceptionally high-attaining mathematics students, four women and two men. In contrast to some prior studies, these students appeared to feel no need to downplay being ‘good at maths’ in order to maintain social credibility with their socially privileged peers. I attempt to make sense of their stories from two theoretical standpoints: (1) a post-structuralist approach that emphasises discourses that position mathematics as masculine and (2) an approach, based on Bourdieu, that asks how mathematics is valued in different school and peer group settings. I show how, as I worked with the data, my emphasis moved from the former to the latter, and suggest that research in gender and education has much to gain from theoretical reflexivity alongside personal and methodological reflexivity.