The politics and practices of equity, (E)quality and globalisation in science education: Experiences from both sides of the Indian ocean

Abstract

Gender, equity, equality, quality and globalisation are political issues which are interwoven into the discourses and practices of science education and education writ large. In this chapter I firstly review the status of the gender agenda in education, particularly science education, within a global context, and then explore the complicated curriculum conversation that constitutes gender in South African (science) education and the ways in which gender is/is not an educational issue. I then discuss the tensions between equality and quality in educational discourses in South Africa and Australia, and how the resolution of social justice issues such as gender equality are so tightly interwoven into issues of democratic education © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.