“Taking context seriously”: Exploring the enactment of gender policy mandates in Catalan education

Abstract

Several laws and plans contemplate the incorporation of a gender perspective in education in Catalonia. This article analyzes how the relevant policy mandates are transferred, recontextualized and implemented in Catalan secondary schools. Drawing on 15 focus groups with representatives of teachers, students, management teams and families (N=103) from 12 secondary schools in the region, the paper explores the multiple forms of enactment that take place according to the particularities of each of the contexts. Using the analytical framework established by Braun et al. (2011), the results show how the material, the situational, the external, and particularly, the professional context shape the enactment of gender policies in Catalan education. Likewise, the article highlights how actors at the school level develop gender-sensitive practices based on their values and beliefs. Finally, we discuss how, far from a top-down approach, there is also policymaking at the lowest level of the educational system: the school.