Conference Agenda

Educational research on LGBTIQ students and teachers is increasing and has a long tradition at ECER conferences for over a decade. At the same time empirical research is still marginal (De Witte et al. 2021). In this symposium, we spotlight Australia, Germany and Sweden which have all had legal and policy changes concerning gender and sexuality diversity, such as recognition of same-sex marriage or gender diversity (IGLYO 2022). But these legal improvements do not necessarily translate into better conditions for LGBTIQ students and teachers. Educational institutions are shaped by heteronormative traditions and are often structured in binary gendered ways; this is apparent in language, policy, facilities and curriculum taught or omitted at school (Heasley & Crane 2012; McBride & Neary 2021). Teacher training generally omits gender and sexuality diversity, and teachers often feel uncomfortable or incompetent to address gender and sexuality diversity in class (Shepherd 2022). Universities and schools also lack measures to protect LGBTIQ students, teachers, lecturers and staff from bullying and discrimination, and currently violence against gender non-conforming students has increased in the wake of an anti-genderist right wing backlash (EU-FRA 2020; UNESCO 2021).

This symposium brings together researchers who analyze these paradoxes and focus on questions of gender and sexuality diversity in educational settings and practices. Framed within empirical educational research, they study conditions which might help to improve the educational opportunities for trans, intersex, non-binary and gender expansive (TIN) students or support the professionalization of LGBTIQ teachers. The symposium will be composed of presentations from three countries. Lundin will present the narrative of Kim, a trans teacher in a Swedish school. He will present supportive conditions of inclusion and recommendations to educators based on Kim’s narrative. Ferfolja and Ullman will introduce a professional research-informed learning module from Australia with multiple guidance resources, including a short film for teacher education. Fütty and Götschel will discuss challenges and requirements in teachers training at German universities about gender and sexuality diversity at school with a focus on ambivalences, entanglements, and uncertainties in education. The presenters are united in the goal to enable inclusive education systems and the symposium aims to foster synergies between these scholars.

In many ways, Sweden can be considered as an open community with respect to LGBT people. This notion includes the school setting and LGBT teachers’ situation, although research points out that their everyday situations yet not seem to fully reflect legislation and policy documents. However, the knowledge on trans people’s situation is limited in comparison to what we know about homo- and bisexual teachers’ situation. This session will address Kim’s experience of being a trans person in school to elicit the importance, also to acknowledge trans people’s work conditions as those can differ from homo- and bisexual teachers work experiences. The aim with the session is to present Kim’s narrative and to make explicit how Kim forwards education. The aim is also to point out how values are communicated in the narrative, facilitating identification and emotional attachment for all, in the school setting. During the session, a brief overview of what LGBT teachers’ situation can be like in Sweden will be made and Kim’s narrative will be presented. The session will also explain the data collection in which Kim took part. The analysis of Kim’s narrative will touch upon the educational affordances and the impact of the values that are communicated by applying two different theories to identify functions of education (Biesta, 2009) as well as how a sense of belonging (Yuval-Davis, 2006) can be seen as facilitated in Kim’s narrative. The support that the principal gives to Kim is highly important for the positive outcome in Kim’s story. Nevertheless, the session will also address the impact of our different approaches and attitudes. That is, we can learn a lot from Kim’s narrative, but we also need to consider that settings differ as well as people’s expectations. The session will conclude by suggesting a few recommendations to educators based on Kim’s narrative.

Biesta, G. (2009). Good education in an age of measurement: On the need to reconnect with the question of purpose in education. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 33–46. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-008-9064-9 Yuval-Davis, N. (2006): Belonging and the politics of belonging. Patterns of Prejudice, 40(3), 197-214, https://doi.org/10.1080/00313220600769331

While ample evidence positions positive primary/secondary school climates and inclusive curriculum as protective factors for gender and sexuality diverse (GSD) youth (Waling, Bellamy, Ezer, Lucke, & Fisher, 2020), educators are often reluctant to engage with related topics due to pervasive concerns about parental and community backlash (Cumming-Potvin & Martino, 2018). Educators express particular concerns when considering how acknowledgement of diverse genders might be incorporated into their classrooms. This paper will commence with a discussion about the recent political and educational climate in Australia with respect to gender and sexuality diversity (Thompson 2020). This backdrop provides a context for the authors’ research, a large-scale, nationally-representative research project which investigated Australian public school parents’ attitudes towards GSD-inclusivity across Kindergarten through Year 12 education – the final year of education. Their findings demonstrated that over 80% of parents support a GSD-inclusive curriculum, including acknowledgement of gender diversity (Ullman, Ferfolja & Hobby, 2022). This session will focus on the development of a suite of professional learning resources for K-12 educators as a central outcome of this national project, inclusive of an asynchronous micro credential; a professional learning module designed for educator professional development - which includes multiple guidance resources; and a short film. The authors will provide a partial screening of this film resource titled, “What Parents Want: Talking about Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Schools”, developed verbatim from both in-depth interviews and an online forum with parents of GSD students (see Ferfolja & Ullman, 2023). In this film, parents share their experiences of navigating the school system for/with their GSD child and suggest how educators can best support GSD young people.  Parents’ narratives featured in the film were inclusive of three children assigned male at birth who had transitioned/were transitioning while at school; one child assigned female at birth who identified as gender-fluid and who shared this with their teachers/peers; an adolescent boy who identified as bisexual; and a same-sex attracted adolescent girl. Accordingly, a particular feature of this film are the experiences of students and their families navigating the constrictions of a normative, binary framing of gender at their schools and how expanded understandings and provisions can support gender diverse children and young people. The session will conclude by presenting educators’ responses to these professional learning resources and preliminary data on their impact within the school setting.

Cumming-Potvin, W. & W. Martino (2018). The policyscape of transgender equality and gender diversity in the Western Australian education system: A case study. Gender and Education, 30(6), 715–735. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2018.1483491. Ferfolja, T. & Ullman, J. (2023). Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Schools. https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/gsds/educator_resources accessed 25th January 2024. Thompson, J. D. (2020). Your parents will read this: Reading (as) parents in journalistic coverage of the Safe Schools Coalition Australia Controversy. Journalism, 21(12), 1–14. Ullman, J., Ferfolja, T., & Hobby, L. (2022). Parents’ perspectives on the inclusion of gender and sexuality diversity in K-12 schooling: Results from an Australian national study. Sex Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2021.1949975. Waling, A., Bellamy, R., Ezer, P., Kerr, L., Lucke, J. & Fisher, C. (2020). ‘It’s kinda bad, honestly’: Australian students’ experiences of relationships and sexuality education. Health Education Research, 35(6), 538–552. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyaa032.

Legal gender/sex categories refer to a binary understanding of biological sex and gender identity in Western societies. In the last decades though, the acceptance of LGBTIQ+ people has increased in many countries (IGLYO 2022). In Germany, a third civil status ‘divers’ was legally established for intersex persons in 2019. Since 2021, the ‘Law to Strengthen Children and Youth’ mentions the well-being of trans, intersex and non-binary (TIN) youth in the ‘Social Security Statute Book’ (SBG VIII). Furthermore, a debate about a ‘Self-determination Law’ (SBGG) is ongoing. The visibility of TIN students and the thematization of gender:sex-diversity—the diversification of biological sex and gender identity beyond the binary–increases in science, society and at school (IGLYO 2022; Klenk 2022). At the same time, German schools are still structured on binary gender:sex-norms such as language, subjects or facilities (Oldemeier 2021). These developments affect education and teaching (Klocke 2017). They provide the context for an ongoing empirical research project on the consequences for teacher education with an interdisciplinary, intersectional and multi-method research design that incorporates crucial interconnections between theory and practice. It aims (1) to collect and analyze data on the discrimination faced by TIN students, as well as the requirements for their inclusion in school; (2) to review the current literature; (3) to investigate current (non-university) training programs on gender:sex-diversity and education and (4) to include a pilot project to teach future teachers (at universities) about gender:sex-diversity. Specifically, the research project asks how the establishment of a ‘third gender:sex’ option impacts school requirements to promote the education of TIN students and identifies the transformations that schools will need to undergo in connection with the new ‘divers’ civil status. In our presentation we will briefly outline the research project and its qualitative empirical methodology, being rooted in Discourse Analysis and Situational Analysis. We will present first findings of the demands and needs of TINA+ students, reflect upon restrictive binary gender:sex-norms at school and thematize gender:sex-diversity as cross-sectional topics in teacher education. Most of all we will place emphasis on the question how future teachers should be trained to be able to cope with ambivalences, entanglements and uncertainties in school and education. Last but not least, we wish to discuss our findings with other researchers on a trans-national level.

IGLYO (The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer & Intersex Youth and Student Organisation) (2022). LGBTQI Inclusive Education Report 2022. https://www.iglyo.com/resources/ie-2022 accessed 15th January 2024 Klenk, F. C. (2023). Post-Heteronormativität und Schule. Soziale Deutungsmuster von Lehrkräften über vielfältige geschlechtliche und sexuelle Lebensweisen. Opladen & Toronto: Barbara Budrich. Klocke, U. (2017). Homophobie und Transphobie in Schulen und Jugendeinrichtungen: Was können pädagogische Fachkräfte tun? Loccumer Pelikan, 17(1), 11-17. https://www.rpi-loccum.de/material/pelikan/pel1-17/1-17_klocke accessed 24th January 2024 Oldemeier, K. (2021). Geschlechtlicher Neuanfang: Narrative Wirklichkeiten junger divers* und trans*geschlechtlicher Menschen. Opladen & Toronto: Barbara Budrich.