In the German-speaking area, different debates can be observed in the past 15-20 years, which can be interpreted as a sign or indicator of the relevance of diversity in the field of school. The different debates are ambivalent and partly contrary to each other. For example, there is a systematic attempt to prohibit female teachers from wearing a hijab in school and thereby counteract diversity, while on the other hand, a demand for more male teachers has been heard for decades, which is apparently intended to contribute to the diversity of masculinities (May & Rose 2014). This demand for 'more men' was also supported by education policy, so that model projects were launched with the aim of attracting male professionals to the field of education.

The origin of the call for 'more men' for the field of education was the observation that boys showed poorer school achievments compared to girls. They had to repeat a class more often or left school more often without a diploma. In this context, it is therefore also mostly spoken of as ' boys crises' (Hurrelmann & Schulz 2012). The idea behind the education policies to increase the male quota was to create male role models for boys and thus to counteract the supposedly negative 'feminisation' of the education system (Fegter 2013). The representation of different embodiments of masculinities was supposed to lead the boys to also identify more with education. In addition, it was hoped that the boys would form alternative ideas of masculinity along the role models, which would contribute to a diversity of masculinity (Cremers & Krabel 2016) and thus show a reflective approach towards gender (Budde 2014).

Even though boys and their achievements symbolise the starting point for the demands for more men, little research has subsequently dealt with boys or young people in general and their ideas of masculinity. Rather, in the German-speaking area, the focus has been on professionals and their constructions of masculinity as well as ideas (Buschmeyer 2013, Breitenbach et al. 2015, Diewald 2018). It also remains unclear whether young people choose teachers as role models. There are contradictory findings and theoretical assumptions on this (Rose 2014). In addition, it is apparent that female, non-binary and non-heteronormative young people have so far been completely left out of this discussion. Therefore, there are no findings for the German-speaking countries that provide information on how masculinity is thought of or lived outside of the male understood body.

In an ongoing research project on 'Transformed masculinities in the mirror of education', I am trying to approach these gaps. I am focusing on young people's ideas and beliefs around masculinity and the extent to which these influence their everyday lives. In addition, the focus is on whether teachers serve as role models for the young people. So far, 11 adolescents have been interviewed using episodic interviews (Flick 2022). Gender diversity was taken into account in the sample of the young people. The interviews were analysed using the documentary method (Nohl 2017).

The analyse so far shows that the young people mostly do not choose role models from the educational context. Rather, the interviews indicate that the young people feel a kind of foreignness towards their teachers. Gender role models for masculinity or other gender concepts are mostly sought outside of school or other educational institutions. With regard to ideas of masculinity, the young people have a partly confused understanding - between modernisation and tradition. Within the lecture, 2 case studies will be presented, in which different approaches of young people to masculinity and role models will be presented.

The research project to be reported on follows a qualitative approach. So far, episodic interviews have been conducted with 11 young people aged 14-16 of different genders. The perspective of the young people was deliberately chosen in order to avoid 'talking about' and to finally let those who are affected have their say. Past discussions in German-speaking countries were mostly characterised by adults talking about and deciding what was the best thing for young people. The project therefore leans on perspectives of critical youth research and tries to avoid adultism. A semi-strutured episodic interview (Flick 2022) served as the data collection instrument. The episodic interview is characterised by the systematic integration of narratives into an interview guideline. Two forms of knowledge are distinguished: Semantic knowledge, 'based on concepts, assumptions and relations, which are abstracted and generalized from concrete events and situations' (Flick 2022: 221) and episodic knowledge which 'is organised closer to experiences and linked to concrete situations' (Flick 2022: 221). The episodic interview thus made it possible to switch between the different forms of knowledge and to ask about concrete definitions and assumptions, but also about the young people's experiences. This was important because it formed the core of the project and was intended to ask about the abstract ideas of masculinity as well as their experiences and ways of dealing with masculinity in everyday life and in the field of school. The interviews are analysed using the documentary method. This method was originally developed by Bohnsack (2010) to analyse group discussions. A change of perspective is achieved through the method: „It is the change from the question what social reality is in the perspective of the actors, to the question how this reality is produced or accomplished in these actors’ everyday practice. By practice, I mean the practice of action as well as of talk, of presentation and of argumentation.“ (Bohnsack 2010: 102). The documentary method thus makes it possible to analyse the different forms of knowledge in the episodic interview. It makes it possible to look at how the young people produce their social reality and how this is shown in their everyday activities. Nohl (2010/2017) further developed the documentary method for interviews. The episodic interview is particularly suitable for analysis with the documentary method because of its alternation between narrative and non-narrative parts.

The analysis of the interviews so far shows that young people are increasingly looking for role models outside of school and teachers are not used in this regard. It turns out that teachers in particular do not serve as role models, as they rather prevent diversity than promote it. In this context, the young people report that they experience discrimination and exclusion because of their embodiment of diversity, due to gender, social origin or migration history. In addition, school is often perceived as a space for 'measuring' or 'asserting' regarding masculinity. School thus reflects an arena in which hegemonic images of masculinity find space instead of promoting the diversity of masculinities. This dilemma is also partly reflected in the young people's ideas of masculinity. In many cases, a heteronormative binary understanding is invoked. It can be observed that there is often a confused understanding between modernisation and tradition among the young people. Thus, an adherence to traditional norms of masculinity with simultaneous differentiation can be identified. The young people point out that school, as a place where knowledge is conveyed, teaches a certain understanding of masculinity that is more oriented towards biological characteristics. They also point out that school does not offer any space to discuss alternative views of masculinity or gender in general. Accordingly, school shows itself to be a hegemonic space of masculinity in the transmission of knowledge about masculinity as well as in its production in social practices. Diversity and the promotion of diversity are accordingly neglected, if not prevented by discrimination and exclusion.

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