Madeleine Arnott gained her MA at the University of Edinburgh and her PhD from the Open University. She began her career as part of the Schooling and Society team at the Open University focusing specifically on social class issues, and she has continued to be interested in the role of education in relation to social inequalities and the promotion of social equality. Since the 1980s she has developed theories of gender codes and schooling focusing on, for example, the history of co-education, the curriculum, family and schooling, youth cultures and identities. She was commissioned by the Equal Opportunities Commission to assess the national impact of Conservative educational reforms on equal opportunities in schools. In 1996–97 she directed an OFSTED commissioned project (with J. Gray, M. James and J. Rudduck) reviewing research on gender and educational performance. Her more recent publications analyse the gender policies of New Labour...
