What Does Policy Have to Do With It? Antibullying Legislation and LGBTQQ Youth Participation in Schools

• In Event: Reclaiming the Methodological Grounds of Neoliberal Education Policy Research

Abstract

This paper describes the insights gained from looking beyond traditional policy analysis to examine the effects of the policy on the bodies of those the policy was designed to protect. More specifically, it describes the methodological advantages of understanding the reach and impact of legislative and policy changes on the experiences of the youth named as the beneficiaries of anti-bullying legislation. Based on a study set in New York City focused on assessing the impact of national, state, and local anti-bullying policy guidelines, it examines school protocols for identifying and addressing harassment concerning sexual orientation or gender identity or expression through the experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning (LGBTQQ) youth. This project seeks to understand the conditions and the practices that result in the greatest level of LGBTQQ student participation (Loutzenheiser & MacIntosh, 2004; MacGillavray, 2000) in and sense of safety in and connectedness to school (Almeida, Johnson, Corliss, Molnar & Azrael, 2009). It documents LGBTQQ student experiences of harassment, and examines those experiences through the framework of the policy mandates.
This presentation draws on an epistemological alignment with participatory action research, locates expertise in both the academic researcher and in the youth co-researchers, and complicates research that names communities as victims (Fals Borda, 200;1Tuck, 2009). It also draws on social constructivist understandings of race, class, national origin, religion, sexuality, gender (Foucault, 1978, 1980; Giroux, 1997; Kumashiro, 2000) and acknowledges the role that those structures play in marking bodies for unequal treatment in institutions such as education, and in maintaining hegemonic power (Young, 1990, 2000).
When anti-bullying legislation is rolled out in schools, who experiences more educational and participatory opportunities and who experiences more policing of actions, words and bodies? Using participatory action research and youth participatory input, educators’ understandings of the import and impact of policy mandates is checked through youth experiences and interpretations. A research team of one adult and six high school students analyzed policy reports from non-profit organizations about bullying in schools, as well as proposed legislation, and responded to measures already in place in schools. Youth clarify for adults that the application of policy documents may uphold existing injustices or further disadvantage some students, rather than create opportunities for those who are already marginalized. They ask for more learning opportunities that expand the conversation about privilege and structural inequalities.
New policies may result in the same students being punished for new infractions, rather than creating learning opportunities for those who stealthily, or “jokingly,” create hostile environments that cast some bodies, genders and sexualities as unwelcome and abhorrent in schools. The ripple effect from harassment affects the behaviors, desires, language and allegiances of students well beyond the targets, and foreclosing conversations about acceptance and difference misses a key opportunity to address inequalities through education.

Author

• Darla Linville, Georgia Regents University