Policy Debates Through Religious Lenses: Contesting the Accommodation of Transgender Students

• In Event: 18.034 - Beyond Interpretation: A Sociocultural Approach to Educational Policy Studies

Abstract

Objectives
Although the U.S. is a highly, and distinctively, religious nation (Gao, 2015; Pew Research Center, 2015), with a long history of religious controversies in its public schools (DelFattore, 2004; Fraser, 2000), studies of education policy rarely have paid attention to the role that religion can play in policy formation and implementation. This paper begins to address that gap by examining the role that religion played in one semi-rural Midwestern town in motivating and shaping community members’ engagement with a local controversy over the accommodation of transgender students.

Theoretical Framework
This paper is grounded in a sociocultural approach to policy analysis that draws attention to both the local contexts in which policy is enacted and the meanings and practices that shape it ( Levinson, Sutton, & Winstead, 2009; Rosen, 2009). In particular, it draws on the power of sociocultural approaches for conceptualizing schools as sites of community definition that serve both as symbols of community values and as transmitters of those values to future generations (Luker, 2006; Mayo, 2007; Rosen, 2009). Through this sociocultural lens to policy debates, this study uncovers human dimensions of educational policy controversy, debate, and enactment that may otherwise remain hidden, including the role of religious belief.

Methods and Data
The data for this paper is drawn from a qualitative case study of one local controversy over the accommodation of transgender students at the primary school level. This study employed ethnographic methods, relying primarily on 13 semi-structured interviews with community members who were involved in or knowledgeable about the controversy and also incorporated participant observation and document gathering. Data analysis combined two approaches: constructivist grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) and interpretive policy analysis (Yanow, 2000).

Findings
Religious belief was a central component of the controversy for many community members. Popular conceptions of debates surrounding transgender accommodation often emphasize the role of conservative religious belief in motivating opposition to such policies. In this case, religion was an important factor for both supporters and opponents of the district’s accommodation policy. Religious beliefs and attitudes, for religious leaders and laypeople alike, shaped people’s understanding of gender and the role schools may legitimately play in endorsing different visions of gender, as well as their participation in the controversy itself. For example, some community members cited religious texts to justify their understanding of gender, while others referenced religious beliefs about their role in the world to explain their active involvement in the debate. Although the school’s policy was often framed as a secular issue, it nevertheless took on religious dimensions in the ensuing debate.

Significance
First, this paper begins to fill a gap in the literature by demonstrating that religion can play an important role in education policy controversies, sometimes in unexpected ways. More broadly, it illustrates how a sociocultural approach to understanding education policy can reveal underlying factors and dynamics that could otherwise remain hidden.

Author

• Caitlin Ione Brecklin, University of Wisconsin - Madison