Towards a critical pedagogy of trans-inclusive education in UK secondary schools

Abstract

ABSTRACT School systems within the UK are embedded within cultures of normative gender narratives. Such cultures can create difficult environments for gender diverse young people which in turn contribute to poorer academic attainment and long-term health and wellbeing outcomes. In an attempt to understand how to foster better understanding within schools, we drew upon the lived experience of gender diverse young people. Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this research explored the experience of six transgender and non-binary young people who reflected on their experience of secondary education in the UK. Drawing on critical pedagogy as a theoretical framework, we found that: unsupportive school environments and relationships led to decreased mental health and feelings of Otherness; gender diversity was a contentious topic not found within curriculums; and teachers had the potential to create and foster positive experiences within a pedagogy of gender diverse affirmative partnership. To facilitate this, there is a need for institutional support allowing teachers to critically interrogate the structural embeddedness of cisgenderism in educational spaces, and within cultures of pathologised self-identified gender identities.