How teacher educators respond as policy actors from inside spaces where multiple policies and discourses collide provides insights into the ways in which policy plays out in educational contexts. By engaging and working within the uncertain space of our own contextual ‘policy storm’ we provide a narrative of enactment highlighting the roles and actions of policy actors simultaneously constrained and inspired by policy. We use the policy actor framework [Ball, S.J., Maguire, M., Braun, A., & Hoskins, K. (2011a). Policy actors: Doing policy work in schools, Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 32(4), 625‐639] to unpack policy meaning‐making within university and faculty climates, teacher education, and curriculum reform in Health and Physical Education (HPE) in Australia. This paper has three tasks. Firstly, we set‐up the conditions of uncertainty and possibility as a ‘policy storm’ and place where four disparate policies converged. Secondly, we provide an empirical and theoretical account of policy interpretation and enactment from the actors perspective. Finally, we test the policy actor framework to determine if it adequately describes our insider policy work. In moving beyond reductionist policy narratives we provide policy possibilities that illustrate enactment, are innovative, and explore the productive potential inside policy reform.

Past research in Health and Physical Education has repeatedly highlighted that curriculum development is an ongoing, complex and contested process, and that the realisation of progressive intentions embedded in official curriculum texts is far from assured. Drawing on concepts from education policy sociology this paper positions teacher educators as key policy actors in the interpretation and enactment of new official curriculum texts. More specifically, it reports research that has explored four teacher educators' engagement with a specific feature of the new Australian Curriculum in Health and Physical Education (AC HPE); five interrelated propositions or 'key ideas' that underpinned the new curriculum and openly sought to provide direction for progressive pedagogy in Health and Physical Education. The paper provides conceptual and empirical insight into teacher educators consciously positioning themselves as policy actors, motivated to play a role in shaping policy directions and future curriculum practices. As such, the teacher educators in this project are identified as policy entrepreneurs and provocateurs. The paper details a dialogic research process between the researchers that was designed to make curriculum interpretation a more transparent, collaborative and generative process. The data reported illustrates the research process supporting teacher educators to engage in productive debate about the possible meanings and enactment of the five propositions. Analysis reveals differing perspectives on the propositions and a shared investment in efforts to support their progressive intent. Empirically, the paper highlights the critical role that teacher educators will play in the ongoing enactment of a new curriculum that is overtly identified as 'futures oriented'. Conceptually, the paper adds depth and sophistication to understandings of teacher educators as policy actors. Methodologically, we propose that the research process described can be usefully adopted by other teacher educators and teachers engaged in similar processes of curriculum development, interpretation and enactment.

Due to the poor mental health outcomes experienced by transgender young people, there is a greater need for this population to access effective mental health services. This is particularly apparent within the secondary school environment where transgender young people experience a high prevalence of victimization, bullying, and harassment. However, no research to date has investigated the experiences of transgender young people in school counseling. To address this gap in the literature, the current study explored the school counseling experiences of transgender young people in an Australian sample. Eleven transgender participants completed individual semistructured interviews and the data were analyzed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). Four superordinate themes were identified: the transgender young person, the role of the therapeutic relationship, the counseling space, and the school environment. The findings demonstrate the importance of a strong therapeutic relationship, informed and knowledgeable school psychologists and counselors, acts of support and advocacy, and a safe counseling space for the school counseling experiences of transgender young people. Additionally, the findings highlight the impact transgender identities and school environmental factors have on these counseling experiences. The article provides practical implications for school psychologists and counselors working with transgender young people, including the need for transgender-specific training and education and suggestions for ways to advocate and support transgender young people in the school environment. Limitations of the current study and relevant directions for future research are also discussed. Public Significance StatementThe current study demonstrates the impact of transgender identities and queer positioning on the school counseling experiences of transgender young people. The significance of professional transgender knowledge and education for school psychologists and counselors, as well as the role of a strong therapeutic relationship were highlighted as important contributions toward these school counseling experiences. Additionally, professionals providing access to a safe and nonjudgmental school counseling space and a safe, comfortable and inclusive school environment were crucial to transgender young people's school counseling experiences.

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