Teachers’ perceptions and students’ lived experiences in Vocational–Technical subjects in a rural high school in Zimbabwe.

This paper explores the construction of dominant models of gender among students in the Vocational–Technical. In the backdrop of dominant narratives that structure gender policies and practices in schooling in Zimbabwe, the paper elaborates upon how students’ daily experiences in workrooms perpetuate the feminisation and masculinisation of fields of study such as DT and HESs in ways that inhibit the learning and achievement of boys and girls in these subjects. The argument in this paper is that in order to understand gender inequality in the Voc-Tech curriculum, educators need to understand how sociocultural perceptions of gender are constructed and embodied at the level of classroom interaction among students and teachers. Such insights provide a deeper understanding for addressing gender inequality in Voc-Tech subjects that moves beyond current structural and institutional barriers within a rural African context. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]