Exploring positive cross-gender peer relations: Year 10 students' perspectives on cross-gender friendships

Abstract

Much of the current academic and policy literature on gender and inclusive education calls for schools and teachers to move towards understanding gender as a multidimensional process of negotiated social relations that is informed by a range of discursive practices—but how students themselves can conceptualize gender relations in these ways is under researched. This paper reports on an aspect of an exploratory study that had as its focus students' perceptions of cross-cultural and cross-gender friendships. This project, funded by a small Australian Research Council grant from La Trobe University, began with surveys of Year 10 students at two schools who have previously participated in gender reform projects. Those students who indicated they had cross-category friendships were then interviewed to elicit narratives that depict their perspectives on these friendships.