Theoretical backgrounds:

Over the years an increasing volume of research in various school subjects has recognised that pedagogical practices reproduce gendered aspects of the cultural heritage of societies. In physical education (PE) pedagogical practices participate in the social construction of gendered bodies and minds through the curriculum. Girls and boys do not benefit from equal opportunities to participate in physical activities (Flintoff & Scraton, 2006). In the case of underprivileged urban schools, this statement is even worse as teachers have to maintain discipline and struggle against sexism in ways that can allow obtaining peace in the class (Larsson et al., 2009; Öhrn, 2009). This presentation focuses, within a didactique research approach (Amade-Escot et al., 2015; Amade-Escot & Verscheure, 2016; Verscheure & Amade-Escot, 2007) on how teacher and students interactions participate in the production of gendered content in a multi-ethnic class located in an economically deprived area. Its purpose is to examine the extent to which gender issues are addressed at the knowledge content level. Our contribution emphases the need of using different scales of analysis to understand how teachers and students struggle with gender issues during didactical transactions. During classroom practices, the teacher gives the students directions that expose what counts as knowledge and appropriate ways of practicing in a specific social practice. But teachers and students may not have the same goals or same agendas. Negotiations and transactions occur, some of them related to the gendered facets of each particular piece of content. Especially in PE where “since the demands of every sport involve a particular balance between force and skill, it can be suggested that the more it is force that is decisive, the more a physically dominating hegemonic masculinity can be publicly celebrated” (Whitson, 1994, p. 363).

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