Gender and management in further education in Scotland: an agenda for research

Abstract

Research on gender and education is somewhat limited in Scotland, and research that explores the further education sector from a gender perspective is particularly lacking. This paper argues for such work, and underlines its importance given the prominence of FE in the Scottish policy context as a key contributor to the knowledge economy and lifelong learning agendas of the Scottish parliament. The argument is also made that research on gender—including masculinities—may have particular salience in Scotland because of specific cultural assumptions and practices that inhibit the recognition of women in management. The paper reports on a small pilot study of senior women managers in the further education sector in Scotland, and draws on their experiences to advocate further research that is attentive to the gendered nature of organizations and the interrelationship of masculinities and managerialism.

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge the contribution to this paper of Ann MacDonald, Ph.D. student in the School of Education, for the quotation from John Knox and for alerting Jenny Ozga to the literature on national and gender identities in Scotland, and Teresa Tinklin, whose work on a research proposal on gender and further education provided considerable inspiration and background information for this paper. We also thank our informants for giving their time so generously.