Teachers’ professional learning to affirm transgender, non-binary, and gender-creative youth: experiences and recommendations from the field

Abstract

This article critically examines the professional learning needs called for by educators working to support transgender, non-binary, and gender-creative (trans) youth and makes recommendations for practice. Interviews were conducted with 26 educators (preschool to secondary) who have worked directly with trans students (any child whose behaviour does not match stereotypes for their sex category assigned at birth, or who identifies with a gender different from their sex category assigned at birth). We examine two new concepts related to professional learning and educator preparation that emerged from theorising the data and related literature: pedagogies of exposure and culture of conversation. The limits and possibilities offered by these approaches are critically examined through the research base on teacher learning. Recommendations are made for teacher preparation, professional development and related practices to better create and sustain learning environments that affirm gender diversity.

Can policies help schools affirm gender diversity? A policy archaeology of transgender-inclusive policies in California schools

“…On the other hand, having these components spelled out in policy may provide some political capital to push for better supports to offer more professional learning opportunities in order to be more fully ready to welcome transgender and non-binary students by sharing publicly some of the ways in which this school culture is shifting in order to be more fully inclusive of gender diversity. Other research in this area indicates that families with transgender students often bear a very large burden when they are the first family in a school or district to advocate for the needs of their child (Meyer, Tilland-Stafford, and Airton 2016;Slesaransky-Poe et al 2013;Meyer and Leonardi 2017). When schools work to disrupt the social regularities that create barriers for transgender youth such as organizing facilities, activities, and rituals based on the gender binary and the heterosexual matrix, it may serve to reduce the number of individual "accommodations" made necessary by a constrictive system, and simultaneously remove barriers for all students, not only those who identify themselves as transgender.…”

Transgender and gender expansive education research, policy and practice: reflecting on epistemological and ontological possibilities of bodily becoming

“…field which addresses how questions of trans informed gender justice are being understood, grappled with and enacted (Bartholomaeus and Riggs 2017;Forhard-Dourlent 2018;Human Rights Campaign and Gender Spectrum 2014;Ingrey 2012;Jones 2016;Martino and Cumming-Potvin 2017;Mayo 2017;Meyer and Leonardi 2018;Robinson et al 2014;Schindel 2008;Sinclair and Gilbert 2018;Smith and Payne 2016;Stiegler 2016;Ullman 2017). However, while acknowledging the necessity of the space that we have opened up for generating trans informed knowledge generation and insights into the enactment of gender democratization at both the policy and practice level, we are conscious of the limits of our efforts.…”

Gender Disrupted During Storytime: Critical Literacy in Early Childhood

“…Schools as sites of gender socialization, particularly through the inclusionary and exclusionary politics of the playground, are explored in this children's book, tracing the social ups and downs experienced by a young nonbinary protagonist who possesses visible differences in childhood gender expression from their peers. While their gender identity and expression are ultimately configured as a gift, Miu Lan still experiences mistreatment and rejection from their peers, a school-based experience that is far from fictional for many gender-nonconforming, nonbinary, gendercreative, and transgender children (Meyer & Leonardi, 2018). On these picture book pages, Miu Lan is rendered unrecognizable by their schoolyard peers on account of their gender-nonconforming performance.…”

“…Through the intimate awareness of her self as a gendered being-even in early childhood-Jazz proves herself to be a child capable of self-promotion (Crawley, 2017;Friddle, 2017;Sciurba, 2017) through her resistance of sociocultural norms limiting her self-expression: "Pretending I was a boy felt like a lie" (Herthel et al, 2014, p. 14).This speaks to the role of the adults in transgender children's lives. When it comes to transgender children's social transitions, Meyer and Leonardi (2018) write, "it's crucial to follow their lead, not encouraging social or public transitions unless/if they are ready/desire to come out" (p. 460). As Jazz's story shows, we must listen to, learn from, and believe children when they speak up about their gender identities.…”