Through empirical studies of project groups at university level, I have identified that there are a number of different forms of inclusion and exclusion processes in activity among the students. First, there are the processes that relate to the other students' skills. Here I found that the students are very observant of each other in programs where a significant part of the learning processes is done through group work. Through non-transparent processes and inexplicit criteria the students evaluated each other on the basis of what each contributed to in the joint lectures and in the groups. The students who for some reason were categorized as stupid, lazy, dominant or antisocial had serious difficulties in finding a group to cooperate and write their project report with. In the worst case, this could mean that they had problems to complete their education.
Even more surprising was the fact that I also found that some of the positive and negative characteristics were linked to the students due to their gender. Through the argument that female students talk too much or are having difficulty in coping with criticism, male students refused to cooperate with the female students. Conversely, the male students, who were few in the educations I studied, were quite in demand. For me it was very surprising to find these stereotypical perceptions and reasoning among young people in contemporary (and quite progressive) Danish educations. And the question is what it means for the students’ possibilities of completing their education.
In my presentation I will unfold and discuss the ways in which the students attributed and disclaimed legitimacy to each other qua gender and thus how gender was linked to the relationship between inclusion and exclusion in the student project groups.