"Contentious Subjects": Parents' Experiences of Navigating Schooling With/for Their Trans/Gender-Diverse Child

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 2
  In Roundtable Session: Measuring LGBTQ Experience: Students, Parents, and the Value of Support

Abstract

This paper presents findings from an Australian investigation of parents of school-aged children attending government schools. The 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, specifically those with gender diverse children, experience the education system for their child. We draw on parental voice to examine how gender diverse students are positioned in discourses of personal and institutional risk by schools and how the discrimination they encounter is depoliticised through bullying and victimization discourses. It is critical for schools (as public institutions) and researchers to work together to critique approaches to such discrimination to develop equitable and celebratory learning environments for all.

Authors

• Tania Ferfolja, University of Western Sydney

• Jacqueline Ullman, Western Sydney University, Sydney (Australia)

• Tara Goldstein, OISE/University of Toronto