Supporting gender-inclusive schools: educators’ beliefs about gender diversity training and implementation plans (original) (raw)
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This report details the findings of an Ontario-wide survey of 1194 school educators' knowledge of and experience with trans-affirming policy and practice. The survey was developed in consultation with trans educators, school board officials, and community members and included a mix of qualitative and quantitative questions. Key findings revealed that there continue to be systemic and structural impediments to supporting trans inclusion and gender diversity in schools, in terms of both the failure to enact policy and to provide adequate support, education, and resourcing for educators. Recommendations are outlined which relate to the need for further development of policies that identify the allocation of resources for both PD and curriculum development as central to the necessary provision of support for trans students and creating gender-affirming schools. The report also stipulates the necessity for sustained accountability measures to be established by governing bodies such as the Ontario Ministry of Education for supporting gender diversity and trans inclusion with the explicit objective of supporting school boards fiscally in the provision of PD and development of resources. Teacher Education faculties also need to be committed to ensuring that teacher candidates are provided with the knowledge and understanding of trans inclusion and what trans affirmative education entails.
Supporting Transgender Inclusion and Gender Diversity in Schools: A Critical Policy Analysis
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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.
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Fordham Urban Law Journal, 2001
I. INTRODUCTION Reports of peer-on-peer harassment against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") students, though profoundly disturbing, come as no surprise at a time when acts of hatred of all kinds are on the rise.' When the perpetrators of bias are adults to whom we entrust our youth, however, the reaction can be no less than astonishment. Most families send their children to school with the supposition that the adult community will protect and nurture their young students. Most schools, in fact, hold up safety and security as their primary goals along with academic achievement. When it comes to the well being of their LGBT students and families, though, too many schools fall short of the mark. According to a recent National School Climate Survey, 84% of LGBT students hear homophobic remarks like "faggot" or "dyke" at school. More than 23% of LGBT students report hearing homophobic comments from faculty or school staff, and 82% say that faculty or staff never or only sometimes intervene when homophobic remarks are made in their presence. Further, 69% of LGB students and 90% of transgender students report feeling unsafe in their schools. In fact, 31% of LGBT students report having missed at least one day of school in the prior month because they felt unsafe. Since only California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Wisconsin address sexual orientation in their education laws-and only California addresses gender identity-LGBT students often have no recourse when they are victims of anti-LGBT harassment. Studies examining the personal attitudes of educators toward homosexuality found that 75% of prospective teachers held negative attitudes toward gay and lesbian people. 5 Seventy-seven percent said they would not encourage a class discussion on homosexuality, and 85% opposed integrating gay and lesbian themes into their
Scaling Gender and Sexual Diversity Policies in K-12 Schools
Educational Policy
As policy debates concerning LGBTQ+ students and staff continue across the American education system, there is not a clear description of the prevalence of local policy protections, even in states with legislative mandates, nor a strong understanding of how to expand reform initiatives. After conducting a document analysis of policies with a statewide, representative sample of districts, this study uses Illinois as a case study to describe several educational policy levers to scale gender and sexual diversity (GSD) reforms across federal, state, intermediary, and local institutions. The results indicate all districts complied with top-down legislative mandates, but few policies referenced gender or sexual diversity if not state-mandated. A minority of districts enacted policies through administrative guidance (27%), often using language from a state intermediary organization. Results from the regression analysis suggest local factors, such as district size, per pupil spending, and r...
Gender Mainstreaming Plan for Gender-Responsive Public Schools
PUPIL: International Journal of Teaching, Education and Learning, 2022
This study sought to develop a gender mainstreaming plan for gender-responsive public schools. Specifically, the extent of gender mainstreaming practices among public schools and their hindering factors were assessed in this research. A descriptive method of research was employed to investigate the posed objectives in this study. Purposive and random sampling techniques were utilized in the selection of the respondents. Guided by the said sampling procedures, 282 school heads participated in the study. Data were collected through survey-questionnaire and computed using the weighted arithmetic mean (WAM). Results indicated that gender perspectives are relatively mainstreamed in the organizational processes of public schools. Specifically, gender perspectives are less mainstreamed into the policies and PPAs but relatively integrated into their support mechanisms and highly evident among people. However, lack of gender analysis and gender mainstreaming plan, as well as insufficient knowledge and training of internal and external clients are highly hindering factors among public schools to implement gender mainstreaming. Based on the results of this study,a gender mainstreaming plan was developed to serve as a framework among public schools in mainstreaming gender perspectives on their policies, PPAs, and enabling mechanisms.