Supporting Transgender Inclusion and Gender Diversity in Schools: A Critical Policy Analysis.

Kenan Omercajic,Wayne Martino

doi:10.3389/fsoc.2020.00027

Abstract

In this article, we conduct a policy analysis of transgender affirmative policies in Ontario and examine their implications for addressing gender justice and gender democratization in the school system. By adopting a case study approach, we provide a critical analysis of these policies and of how stakeholders with familiarity and knowledge of trans-affirmative policies from two school boards in Ontario are making sense of their impact with respect to addressing trans inclusion in schools. As such, our study offers insight into two trans-affirmative policies and their implications for both supporting transgender, gender non-conforming and non-binary students and envisioning gender-expansive education in the school system. We draw on interviews with key informants—two teachers and a school board official—as a basis for reflecting on the need to move beyond a discourse of accommodation in trans inclusive policies to one that explicitly articulates a pedagogical commitment to gender justice and gender democratization in schools.

Highlights

In this article we provide a critical analysis of trans-affirmative policies from two school boards in Ontario and examine their implications with respect to supporting transgender and gender diverse students in the education system
As part of our case study we provide a snapshot into how three key informants are making sense of the policy and what the implications are for creating spaces in schools for addressing trans marginalization and gender expansive education (Ullman, 2017; CummingPotvin and Martino, 2018)
We examine how the recognition of transgender personhood and its livability are understood within the limits and possibilities that are circumscribed by transinformed policies in the school system that rely on a fundamental logics of accommodation

Summary

INTRODUCTION

In this article we provide a critical analysis of trans-affirmative policies from two school boards in Ontario and examine their implications with respect to supporting transgender and gender diverse students in the education system. Dean’s insight demonstrates the lack of consideration— both in policy and practice—of how trans and gender diverse students can exist epistemically and need to see themselves reflected within the education system (Nicolazzo, 2017a; Martino and Cumming-Potvin, 2018), nor does the policy account for statistics that indicate that the inclusion of such resources minimizes rates of victimization (Greytak et al, 2009) Despite removing these curricular considerations from their replicated policy text, School Board Policy B includes the same appendix about making schools safer and more gender affirming places, without acknowledging how a trans-inclusive curriculum can contribute to achieving these goals (Taylor et al, 2011). This polemic of relying on a policy discourse of accommodation at the expense of an emphasis on the necessity of creating and resourcing the pedagogical conditions for educating about gender diversity highlights the ethical, epistemic and political considerations at play in addressing the articulation of trans-affirmative policies in the education system (Journell, 2017; Mangin, 2018)

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Findings

ETHICS STATEMENT