‘Sensible girls’ and ‘silly boys’: what do teachers need to know about gender? Jae Major • Ninetta Santoro Received: 24 February 2013 / Accepted: 17 August 2013 / Published online: 28 August 2013 Ó The Australian Association for Research in Education, Inc. 2013 Abstract Much to the consternation of many feminist researchers, teacher edu- cation programs have become largely silent about gender and the influence of gender discourses on teaching and learning. Stereotypical views of males and females can dominate teachers’ views of boys and girls, and they can be seen as essentially different—as binary opposites. This has implications for identity con- struction of children as they take up or resist the identity positions made available to them by the teacher. In this paper, the intersection of gender with culture/ethnicity is examined in the context of identity construction. Classroom-based data are con- sidered in relation to a ‘sensible girls/silly boys’ binary, and the teacher’s posi- tioning of a Chinese heritage boy and Korean heritage girl in a New Zealand primary classroom. We suggest that the teacher’s discursive practices based on unexamined assumptions, limited the identity positions available to the children in relation to gender and culture. We argue that teacher education has an important role to play in preparing teachers with a critical orientation towards dominant gender discourses, and an understanding of the intersection of gender with other discourses, such as culture and ethnicity. Keywords Gender Á Culture Á Primary education Á Teacher education Á Diversity Á Identity J. Major (&) School of Teacher Education, Charles Sturt University, Panorama Ave, Bathurst, NSW 2795, Australia e-mail: jemajor@csu.edu.au N. Santoro School of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 OLT, Scotland, UK 123 Aust. Educ. Res. (2014) 41:59–72 DOI 10.1007/s13384-013-0121-0