This two year, topic-oriented ethnography documents teacher perceptions of
cultural and institutional practices relating to sexual harassment in 12 co-educational,
government ACT high schools. Participants include over one hundred and forty
teachers, seventy eight of whom have contributed formal interviews.
Through analysis and triangulation of ethnographic interviews, participant
observation data and school and Departmental documents, the study identifies cultural
and institutional practices which, according to teacher perceptions, contribute to:
� encouraging sexual harassment;
� discouraging reports of sexual harassment; and
� discouraging implementation of sexual harassment policy.
Emerging cultural and institutional practices include blame attribution, silencing
and gender construction which contribute to the marginalisation of some female
teachers (in terms of their career); some female students (in terms of their education)
and some male students who are perceived to be "gay" (in terms of their friendship
groups).
The usefulness, limitations and capacity to explain sexual harassment of a range
of theoretical approaches are discussed. These approaches include Attribution, Role,
Reproduction and Feminist theories. It is argued that, although accounting for the
majority of sexual harassment, these theories are limited in their ability to fully account
for:
a) all kinds of sexual harassment practised in ACT high schools;
b) the relationship between sexual harassment and other kinds of harassment
in ACT high schools; and
c) the extent to which some women teachers appear to support the practice of
sexual harassment.
Emerging Poststructuralist Feminism is proposed as a potentially useful
theoretical framework for explaining and responding to sexual harassment in ACT high
schools.
It is hoped that this study will contribute to informing the decision making of
those responsible for developing and/or implementing sexual harassment policy in ACT
high schools, including teachers, school counsellors, principals, and administrators.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219013 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Hinson, Sandy, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Sandy Hinson |
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