Accommodation, Education, or Systemic Transformation? Preservice Teachers' Approaches to Including Trans*- and Gender-Creative-Identified Students

• In Event: 52.051 - They/She/He/Us: Provocative Teacher Alliances With the Gender Identities of Students

Abstract

Teachers play an important role in protecting trans* and gender-creative identified (TGC) students’ equal access to education, yet the field has just begun to explore how to prepare teachers to understand TGC identified students. This study addresses this essential gap by asking: How do PSTs construct their responsibilities as future teachers to support TGC identified students? Utilizing a queer, social justice teacher education framework, we qualitatively analyzed 549 online posts authored by PSTs in an educational equity course. Three themes emerged: PSTs suggested individualized and community education approaches to supporting TGC identified students, while also voicing discomfort negotiating conflicting values and roles in this advocacy. These patterns suggest the pressing need for innovative teacher education on gender identity and fluidity.

Authors

• Elizabeth E. Blair, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater

• Sherry Lynn Deckman, Lehman College, CUNY