Intersectionality in education

Abstract

EDU/WKP(2023)17  5 Unclassified Table of contents Acknowledgements Abstract 1. Introduction 2. Conceptualising intersectionality 2.1. Defining intersectionality 2.2. Challenges in applying an intersectional approach 2.3. Methods for applying an intersectional approach 2.4. Policy frameworks that operationalise intersectionality 3. Looking at research through an intersectional lens 3.1. Intersections between gender, immigrant and socio-economic background 3.2. Intersections between ethnic groups, national minorities and Indigenous peoples; gender; and socio-economic background 3.3. Intersections with sexual orientation 3.4. Intersections with special education needs 3.5. Intersections with giftedness 4. Mapping policy areas with an intersectional approach 4.1. Applying intersectionality in governance 4.2. Resourcing approaches to support intersectionality 4.3. Developing capacity for managing intersectionality 4.4. Promoting intersectionality through school-level interventions 4.5. Monitoring intersectionality 5. Conclusions Different aspects of individuals' identities are not independent of each other Considering intersectionality can lead to unique and tailored results Despite the added value of intersectionality, challenges in application remain BOXES Box 2.1. Seventh OECD Policy Forum: Responding to Intersecting Diversity to Promote Inclusion and Equity in Education Systems Box 2.2. Anti-categorical, intra-categorical and inter-categorical approaches Box 2.3. Application of the Multi-Strand Approach in Wales (United Kingdom) Box 2.4. Application of the Intersectionality-Based Policy Analysis in foster care and education Box 4.1. Components of culturally responsive pedagogies EDU/WKP(2023)17  7 Unclassified More than 30 years have passed since Kimberlé Crenshaw's (1989[1]) article that drew attention to the term "intersectionality". Intersectionality recognises that people are shaped by membership in multiple and interconnected social categories (Hankivsky and Cormier, 2011[2]). Additionally, these social categories are not only shaped by individual social locations, but also by macro-level systems and structures such as laws, policies and governments (Crenshaw, 1991[3]; Hill Collins and Bilge, 2016[4]). These systems often have an element of power, oppression and discrimination; and a recognition of these is a key element of intersectionality. As a result, individual experiences of inequality are formed by the interactions between social categories, power relations and broader macro contexts (Hill Collins and Bilge, 2016[4]). The experiences can be both long-lasting as well as transitory, but are, most importantly, unique.Intersectionality does not create hierarchies between various dimensions of diversity or forms of oppression. As a result, it is not possible to operationalise intersectionality as an add-on to a primary dimension (e.g., gender) (Hancock, 2007[5]). Neither can intersectionality be understood as a sum of different oppressions (e.g., discrimination + homophobia) (Bowleg, 2008[6]; Hancock, 200...