| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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These were pursued through more conventional questions in lengthy interviews with the participants.
Scott’s59 contribution to the theorising of gender in historical research influenced the conceptual framework chosen to underpin the investigation of these key questions. This choice, in turn, generated a series of further questions. These were essentially about the social and historical context in which the participants’ teaching lives were constructed and lived. In particular, the following were posed regarding this period of Western Australian history:
In addressing these questions, I had to be conceptually and methodologically eclectic. Thus, in chapter 2, I explain why and how I focused on particular sources and interpretive frames. Chapter 3 provides detail of the early years of the lives of the participants, their family lives, their siblings, and their parents. These are presented together with an analysis of the prevailing social and cultural constructions of gender and family, highlighting the changes and continuities over the four decades that separate the oldest and the youngest woman in the oral histories. I wanted to describe their experiences of family life and to understand what these early years might have contributed to their construction as ‘teacherly girls’ and their decisions to become teachers.