In this article, we provide theoretically informed empirical insights into administrative and pedagogical approaches to supporting transgender students in schools which rely on a fundamental rationality of individualisation and rights. We draw on trans epistemological frameworks and political theories that address the limits of liberal individualism to provide insights into how transgender inclusion and recognition are conceived and enacted in one particular school in Ontario. Our case study contributes to an emerging body of research that documents the viewpoints of educators in response to the increasing visibility of trans youth in schools and a growing awareness of their experiences which have highlighted the institutional and systemic barriers continuing to impact on the provision of support for transgender students in the education system. Overall, the case study serves as an illustrative exemplification of the problematic of trans inclusion when it is driven by a logics of liberal individualism and rights that fail to address broader forces of cisnormativity and cisgenderism.

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.

In this paper, we reflect on the ethico-political and epistemological implications of a critical trans pedagogy that takes as its focus the generative stance of refusal. Our purpose is to identify and explain the significance of key axiomatic principles at the heart of our conception of such a pedagogical endeavour, which entails an interrogative stance vis-à-vis cisgenderism, antinormativity and trans necropolitics. These principles define a governing logics and rationality for enacting a trans pedagogy of refusal in its potential to create curricular spaces of recognition and intelligibility in educational institutions that are committed to addressing the erasure of trans and non-binary people. They also illuminate a necessary pedagogical commitment to centring desubjugated and submerged knowledges of transness and the blackness of transness that defy the limits of antinormativity and necropolitics.

In this paper, we examine the educative significance of YouTube as a space of self-expression for transgender and non-binary youth without being hindered by pervasive cisnormative and cisgenderist expectations that are institutionalised and sanctioned in the education system. We employ transgender studies informed epistemological frameworks to investigate one specific online project called The Gender Tag Project created by and for youth, which we argue serves as a desubjugating space for self-identification of gender, and specifically, trans self-determination. Case analysis of selected videos posted by trans and non-binary youth is undertaken as a basis for providing critical insight into their relevance for generating knowledge about gender expansiveness and their pedagogical potential in the classroom. We reflect on the implications of The Gender Tag Project for envisaging more broadly a trans expansive educational agenda that is cognisant of addressing the limits of whiteness.

Background/Context: In Ontario, and Canada more broadly, anti-discrimination on the basis of gender identity and gender expression is enshrined in the Ontario Human Rights Code and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which have required schools to address trans inclusion. However, the ways in which educators understand or enact these policies, and whether they are even aware of them, remain largely underexplored. Purpose/Research Question/Focus of Study: Our purpose was to learn more about educators’ awareness and understanding of trans-inclusive policies in schools and the extent to which such policies were informing practice. Participants: While this research is based on survey data comprising 1,194 respondents, this article examines comments provided about trans-affirmative policy from 463 educators. Research Design: This study involves large-scale survey research conducted on 1,194 educators in Ontario K–12 schools; the survey was disseminated via social media and educational affiliates. We draw primarily on the qualitative data component of the survey, where educators provided detailed comments about and insights into trans-inclusive policies. We employed a reflexive approach to coding and thematic analysis to identify key themes. Findings/Results: Although our quantitative data depicted a favorable assessment of support for trans-affirmative policies—94% of respondents found their school’s policy to be very or somewhat relevant—our findings highlight a discrepancy between policy and practice, and a lack of commitment to addressing cisgenderist, cisnormative, and cissexist systems. The themes that emerged from our coding and analysis of the qualitative data were: (1) educators’ understanding of policy as accommodation; (2) individualized approaches to trans inclusion; (3) lack of administrative support and intervention; (4) the gap between policy and practice; (5) transphobic and cissexist resistance to supporting gender diversity; (6) the need for trans-affirming and gender-expansive curriculum, and (7) the problem of generalized approaches to equity and acceptance of diversity. In addition, we discuss several educator comments that raise important questions about race and the need for intersectional approaches to addressing equity and trans inclusion in schools. Conclusions/Recommendations: We advocate for a paradigm shift with respect to the necessity of employing a trans epistemological framework that addresses the need for gender-expansive education which focuses on the harmful effects of cisgenderism, cisnormativity, and cissexism in the education system. Central to addressing gender justice and trans marginalization in schools for all students, we conclude, is the need for policy makers to ensure accountability and budgetary allocation for the provision of resources and professional development for educators in schools.