Thriving or Surviving? Raising Our Ambition for Trans Children in Primary and Secondary Schools

Abstract

As more trans children find the confidence to make themselves known in our primary and secondary schools, school teachers and administrators look for guidance on how to best support trans pupils. This article synthesises findings from global literature on trans children in primary and secondary education (K1-12 in the US), extracting key themes and conclusions. It then examines the most recent UK school guidance documents on trans inclusion, assessing which lessons and recommendations from global literature are represented. The article highlights existing good practices in visibility and representation and in protection from violence and harassment. Several areas where additional effort is needed are identified, including action on environmental stress and cisnormativity, addressing barriers to school trans-inclusivity and institutional accountability. A number of important shifts are called for: from adaptation on request to pre-emptive change; from accommodation to a rights-based approach; from pathologisation to trans-positivity. Finally, the article raises expectations on what it means to be an ally for trans children in education.

“We Just Think of Her as One of the Girls”: Applying a Trans Inclusion Staged Model to the Experiences of Trans Children and Youth in UK Primary and Secondary Schools

“…Across the UK, a wide range of school guidance materials or policies have been developed to support inclusion of trans children and young people in education (Horton, 2020), but without adequate clear UK-wide national guidance. The UK government’s 2018 “LGBT Action Plan” (Government Equalities Office, 2018) committed to funding an extension of research started in 2014 into homophobic, biphobic, and transphobic bullying at school.…”

“…Existing global literature on trans children’s experience in education raises areas of significant concern, with evidence of bullying and harassment, school dropout, and encounters with discrimination and prejudice (Bower-Brown et al, 2021; Horton, 2020; McBride, 2020). Schools and individual teachers may feel underprepared for trans inclusion, with research highlighting the “panic” that can be experienced when a school is first faced with (knowingly) including a trans pupil (Payne & Smith, 2014).…”

Foundations for Promoting LGBT+ Social Justice through Early Childhood Teacher Education

“…These children benefit from broader laws and local policies that respect their agency to define their gender and ensure that they are safe and protected in school. Children who do not fit the gender binary are vulnerable to verbal harassment and both physical and sexual assault [7]. They benefit from strong teacher-child relationships and supportive learning environments that encourage development of self-awareness, promote acceptance, and push back against developing biases and strict gender norms.…”

“…This contradicts the common misconception that children simply decide to change gender without fully understanding themselves, or have been influenced by others or the media. From preschool on, children who do not fit those stereotypes begin to pay a price for it -social, academic, and mental health issues that children later frequently experience are, for the most part, the result of their identity being suppressed or oppressed [7]. These children are largely ostracized, bullied, shamed, and the challenges to their mental health and safety worsen as they get older.…”

Trans children and the necessity to complicate gender in primary schools

“…Countering claims that children 'are not ready' for such knowledge, Ryan, Patraw, and Bednar (2013) demonstrate how children productively learn to question restrictive social systems and think more inclusively in general. Importantly, Horton (2020) has pointed to the necessity to raise ambitions beyond discussions of gender stereotypes in primary schools. Luecke (2011) explicates the approach of one school in supporting a child's transition in primary school, teasing out how establishing strong networks of support for the child and their peers brought favorable outcomes whilst opportunities were missed in communications with staff and families as well as in establishing stronger messages regarding pronoun use.…”