STUDENTS AS POLICY ACTORS: THE TDSB EQUITY FOUNDATION STATEMENT AND COMMITMENTS TO EQUITY POLICY

Discrimination on the basis of homophobia/transphobia in many schools is an internationally recognised problem. The Toronto District School Board’s (TDSB) Equity Foundation Statement and Commitments to Equity Policy (EFS) provides an explicit mandate to schools in its jurisdiction to address such discrimination and educate about sexual and gendered diversity. This research, which draws on the work of Ball et al. (2012), examines how lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) equity work was being implemented in two TDSB high schools. In particular, it illustrates how some students were more than subjectively produced by policy, but were agentic policy actors who were integral to the enactments of LGBTQ equity work undertaken in the schools

Gender and Sexuality Diversity in a Culture of Limitation

Gender and Sexuality Diversity in a Culture of Limitation provides an outstanding and insightful critique of the ways that contemporary education is impacted by a range of political, social and cultural influences that inform the approaches that schools take in relation to gender and sexuality diversity. By applying feminist poststructural and Foucauldian frameworks, the book examines the ongoing impact of broader socio-cultural discourse on the lives of gender and sexuality diverse students and teachers. Beginning with an overview of the impact of how a culture of limitation is realised in Australia, the focus moves beyond this context to examine state and federal policies from comparable societies in countries including the USA and the UK and their effect on the production of knowledges and what’s permissible to include in educational curriculum. This research-driven book thus provides a comparative, international overview of the current state of gender and sexuality diversity in schools, and convincingly demonstrates that despite some empowerment of gender and sexuality diverse individuals, silencing and marginalization remain powerful forces. This book will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, academics, professionals, and policy makers interested in the field of gender and sexuality in education. It is essential reading for those involved in pre-service and in-service teacher education, diversity education, the sociology of education, as well as education more generally

WORKPLACE EXPERIENCES OF AUSTRALIAN LESBIAN AND GAY TEACHERS: FINDINGS FROM A NATIONAL SURVEY

Historically, lesbian and gay teachers working in schools have experienced silencing, invisibility, and discrimination. This paper reports on research that examined the experiences of self-identified lesbian and gay teachers working in a variety of school types and school systems across Australia. Specifically, it explores these teachers’ experiences of their sexuality in relation to factors associated with enabling or disabling a queer-positive culture and climate in the workplace. Although broader sociol-cultural discourses have increasingly accepted and even celebrated sexual diversity in Australia, especially over the last decade, resulting in a concomitant shift that has improved some employment contexts for some lesbian and gay teachers, this discussion illustrates that many school workplaces continue to produce challenges for staff that are sexuality diverse.

The Elephant in the (Class)Room: Parental Perceptions of LGBTQ-inclusivity in K-12 Educational Contexts

While little is known about parental beliefs and desires regarding LGBTQ-inclusive education, assumptions about these appear to justify teachers’, curriculum writers’ and policy makers’ silences regarding sexuality and gender diversity in the K-12 classroom. Thus, in order to better inform educators’ practices, this paper presents an analysis of interview data from focus groups with parents from across the Australian state of New South Wales. Findings highlight parents’ desires for LGBTQ-inclusivity, not only as a protective factor for sexuality and gender diverse students, but also to engender social cohesion and prepare all students for adult life in the modern social landscape. Parents struggled with the complexities of promoting positive social values through compulsory content while simultaneously respecting diverse sets of values and parents’ rights to frame such topics according to a private set of beliefs. Furthermore, parents advocated for teacher training in this area and were eager for teachers and school leadership staff to feel departmentally-supported to enact LGBTQ-inclusive practices

Gender and Sexuality Diversity in a Culture of Limitation

Gender and Sexuality Diversity in a Culture of Limitation provides an outstanding and insightful critique of the ways that contemporary education is impacted by a range of political, social and cultural influences that inform the approaches that schools take in relation to gender and sexuality diversity. By applying feminist poststructural and Foucauldian frameworks, the book examines the ongoing impact of broader socio-cultural discourse on the lives of gender and sexuality diverse students and teachers. Beginning with an overview of the impact of how a culture of limitation is realised in Australia, the focus moves beyond this context to examine state and federal policies from comparable societies in countries including the USA and the UK and their effect on the production of knowledges and what’s permissible to include in educational curriculum. This research-driven book thus provides a comparative, international overview of the current state of gender and sexuality diversity in schools, and convincingly demonstrates that despite some empowerment of gender and sexuality diverse individuals, silencing and marginalization remain powerful forces. This book will be of great interest to graduate and postgraduate students, academics, professionals, and policy makers interested in the field of gender and sexuality in education. It is essential reading for those involved in pre-service and in-service teacher education, diversity education, the sociology of education, as well as education more generally

What Parents Want: Talking about Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Schools: A Portfolio of Professional Learning Resources for Educators

This output is a portfolio of research-based documents developed from the ARC-funded research "Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Schools: Parental Experiences" (DP18). The portfolio of materials is designed to raise educators' awareness about gender and sexuality diversity, including what Australian public school parents want in terms of inclusion of this topic area in the curriculum and the experiences of parents of gender and sexuality diverse students. The portfolio includes a Facilitator Booklet for in-school training, a Participant Booklet for (teacher/educator) participants; Infographics which visually disseminate the quant/qual findings; and a Playscript which is the basis for the "What Parents Want" 45-min film, a verbatim piece crafted using the words of participating parents

Inclusive pedagogies for transgender and gender diverse children : parents' perspectives on the limits of discourses of bullying and risk in schools

This paper reports on an Australian national investigation of parents of school-aged children attending government schools. The research objective was to ascertain what parents thought in relation to gender and sexuality diversity-related content inclusions in the curriculum, and how a subset of these parents who had a gender and sexuality diverse (GSD) child, experience the public education system for/with their child. Here, we particularly focus on the voices of parents with a transgender or gender-diverse (TGD) child. We examine how these young people are positioned in discourses of risk and safety and how discrimination is depoliticised through bullying discourse. We note how bullying is framed as individualised, leaving broader cisnormative discourses unquestioned. A pedagogy of containment places the burden of gender identity, relationship management and education on the TGD student and family, highlighting a need for more professional development of school personnel

Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Schools: Parental Experiences and Schooling Responses: Victoria Snapshot Report

This Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project (DP180101676) examined parents’ perspectives on the in/exclusion of gender and sexuality diversity (GSD) in public school curriculum. Findings from the GSDS national survey of Australian parents of K-12 government school students were isolated to the 604 (28.9%) parents who resided in the state of Victoria (VIC)

Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Schools: Parental Experiences and Schooling Responses: Australian Capital Territory Snapshot Report

This Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project (DP180101676) examined parents’ perspectives on the in/exclusion of gender and sexuality diversity (GSD) in public school curriculum. Findings from the GSDS national survey of Australian parents of K-12 government school students were isolated to the 40 (1.9%) parents who resided in the Australian Capital Territory (hereafter, ACT)