Learning Conditions Through Performative Possibilities: Reimagining Gender, Inclusion, and Equality in Upper Secondary Music Education

Gender norms, inclusion, and equal learning opportunities are persistent concerns in music education. Focusing on upper secondary music education, this article reconceptualizes these concerns as questions of learning conditions. Grounded in Butler’s account of performativity and Barad’s theory of agential realism, the article develops a macro–meso–micro framework for examining how learning conditions are produced across interconnected levels of educational policy and curriculum, institutional structures and practices, and situated music-making. The framework is developed through theoretical synthesis informed by research on gender, inclusion, and learning across music education contexts, with previous empirical research providing illustrative examples. Focusing primarily on popular music education and collaborative music-making, the analysis examines how learning conditions shape participation and recognition and configure students’ performative possibilities across learning contexts. The framework supports analysis of inclusion challenges across interconnected educational levels and helps identify where change and responsibility may be needed.