MAKING HOPE PRACTICAL RATHER THAN DESPAIR CONVINCING - FEMINIST POSTSTRUCTURALISM, GENDER REFORM AND EDUCATIONAL-CHANGE

The paper explores the work and effects of gender reform in schools th rough the use of feminist post-structuralist theory. Focusing on the d iscourses designed to enhance girls' post-school options, it examines the ways in which teachers and students, particularly girls, write, re ad and rewrite these discourses and on the basis of this suggests some new directions for researching, theorising and practicing gender refo rm in schools. In particular, it raises questions about the ways in wh ich feminist pedagogies in schools deal with the female body, differen ce, pleasure and pain.