“Distressing” Situations and Differentiated Interventions: Preservice Teachers’ Imagined Futures with Trans and Gender-Creative Students

Abstract

Background/Context

Teachers can help ensure trans and gender-creative students’ opportunity for, and equal access to, education, yet the field of educational research has just begun to explore how teachers understand trans and gender-creative students’ experiences and negotiate their responsibilities to protect these students’ rights.

Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study

This article aims to address this essential gap by exploring preservice teachers (PSTs’) understandings of, and preparation for, creating supportive educational contexts for trans and gender-creative students, guided by the following research question: How do PSTs construct their responsibilities as future teachers to support trans and gender-creative students? Ultimately, this study aims to inform the development of effective teacher education curricula and related policy on trans and gender-creative identities.

Participants

Participants were 183 undergraduate preservice teachers enrolled in 10 sections of an educational equity course.

Research Design

We conducted a qualitative, inductive, thematic online discourse analysis. Using a queer, social justice teacher education framework, we qualitatively analyzed 549 online PST-authored posts.

Findings/Results

Three themes emerged: (1) PSTs voiced discomfort negotiating conflicting values and roles in supporting trans and gender-creative students, and PSTs suggested (2) individualized, differentiated interventions, and (3) community education approaches to promote comfort for trans and gender-creative students—strategies that may reinscribe normative, institutionalized views of gender identity.

Conclusions/Recommendations

Findings suggest the pressing need for innovative teacher education on gender identity and fluidity: PSTs need more opportunities to learn about supporting trans and gender-creative students, to critically consider constructs of gender and sexuality, and to explore how systemic gender oppression intersects with other forms of oppression through schooling practices.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Allan

Atkinson

Brace

DePalma

, & Hemingway

(2008). Speaking the unspeakable in forbidden places: Addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in the primary school. Sex Education, 8 3, 315—328.

Allen

(2010). Queer(y)ing the straight researcher: The relationship(?) between researcher identity and anti-normative knowledge. Feminism & Psychology, 20 2, 147—165.

Babay

, & Albert

(2017, February 23). Trump's transgender directive unlikely to reverse policies in Pa., NJ schools. Philly.com. http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/real-time/Trump-transgender-bathroom-decision-Pa-NJ-schools.html

Baines

A. D.

(2014). (Un)Learning disability: Recognizing and changing restrictive views of student ability. Teachers College Press.

Banks

J. A.

(2006). Race, culture, and education: The selected works of James A. Banks. Routledge.

Beasley

(2005). Gender and sexuality: Critical theories, critical thinkers. Sage.

Bishop

C. M.

, & Atlas

J. G.

(2015). School curriculum, policies, and practices regarding lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families. Education and Urban Society, 47 7, 766—784.

Blair

E. E.

, & Deckman

S. L.

(2019). “We cannot imagine”: U.S. preservice teachers’ Othering of trans and gender creative student experiences. Teaching and Teacher Education, 86, 1—13.

Blair

E. E.

Miller

R. B.

Ong

, & Zastavker

Y. V.

(2017). Undergraduate STEM instructors’ teacher identities and discourses on student gender expression and equity. Journal of Engineering Education, 106 1, 14—43.

10.

Boskey

E. R.

(2014). Understanding transgender identity development in childhood and adolescence. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 9, 445—463.

11.

Boyatzis

R. E.

(1998). Transforming qualitative information: Thematic analysis and code development. Sage.

12.

Butler

(1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge.

13.

Case

K. A.

, & Meier

S. C.

(2014). Developing allies to transgender and gender-nonconforming youth: Training for counselors and educators. Journal of LGBT Youth, 11, 62—82.

14.

Chubbuck

S. M.

, & Zembylas

(2008). The emotional ambivalence of socially just teaching: A case study of a novice urban schoolteacher. American Educational Research Journal, 45 2, 274—318.

15.

Clark

C. T.

(2010). Preparing LGBTQ-allies and combating homophobia in a U.S. teacher education program. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 704—713.

16.

Cochran-Smith

(2004). Walking the road: Race, diversity, and social justice in teacher education. Teachers College Press.

17.

Collins

P. H.

(1990). Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment. Unwin Hyman.

18.

Corbin

, & Strauss

(2008). Basics of qualitative research (3rd ed.). Sage.

19.

Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation. (2015). CAEP accreditation standards. http://www.caepnet.org/standards/introduction

20.

D'Augelli

A. R.

Grossman

A. H.

, & Starks

T. S.

(2006). Childhood gender atypicality, victimization, and PTSD among lesbian, gay, and bisexual youth. Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 21 11, 1462—1482.

21.

Davies

(1989). The discursive production of the male/female dualism in school settings. Oxford Review of Education, 15 3, 229—241.

22.

Davies

(2011). Bullies as guardians of the moral order or an ethic of truths? Children & Society, 25, 278—286.

23.

Deckman

S. L.

(2017). Managing race and race-ing management: Teachers’ stories of race and classroom conflict. Teachers College Record, 119 12, 1—40.

24.

Deckman

S. L.

, & Montilla

(2015). Being tall isn't exactly the same thing as being Black. In Martin

(Ed.), Racial battle fatigue: Insights from the front lines of social justice advocacy (pp. 55—65). Praeger.

25.

Dykes

(2010). Transcending rainbow flags and pride parades: Preparing special education preservice educators to work with gay and lesbian youth. SRATE Journal, 19 2, 36—43.

26.

Dykstra

L. A.

(2005). Trans-friendly preschool. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Issues in Education, 3 1, 7—13.

27.

Ehrensaft

(2016). The gender creative child. The Experiment.

28.

Enke

A. F.

(2013). The education of little cis: Cisgender and the discipline of opposing bodies. In Stryker

, & Aizura

A. Z.

(Eds.), Transgender studies reader (2nd ed., pp. 234—247). Taylor & Francis.

29.

Francis

, & Paechter

(2015). The problem of gender categorisation: Addressing dilemmas past and present in gender and education research. Gender and Education, 27 7, 776—790.

30.

Frohard-Dourlent

(2016). “I don't care what's under your clothes”: The discursive positioning of educators working with trans and gender-nonconforming students. Sex Education, 16 1, 63—76.

31.

Gabriel

, & Lester

J. N.

(2013). The romance quest of education reform: A discourse analysis of the Los Angeles Times’ reports on value-added measurement teacher effectiveness. Teachers College Record, 115 12, 1—32.

32.

Gay

(2010). Culturally responsive teaching: Theory, research, and practice (2nd. ed.). Teachers College Press.

33.

Glasser

H. M.

(2012). Hierarchical deficiencies: Constructed differences between adolescent boys and girls in a public school single-sex program in the United States. Journal of Adolescent Research, 27 3, 377—400.

34.

Gorski

P. C.

(2009). What we're teaching teachers: An analysis of multicultural teacher education coursework syllabi. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25 2, 309—318.

35.

Gorski

P. C.

Davis

S. N.

, & Reiter

(2013). An examination of the (in)visibility of sexual orientation, heterosexism, homophobia, and other LGBTQ concerns in U.S. multicultural teacher education coursework. Journal of LGBT Youth, 10 3, 224—248.

36.

Green

E. L.

Benner

, & Pear

(2018, October 21). “Transgender” could be defined out of existence under Trump. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/politics/transgender-trump-administration-sex-definition.html

37.

Greytak

E. A.

Kosciw

J. G.

, & Boesen

M. J.

(2013). Putting the “T” in “resource”: The benefits of LGBT-related school resources for transgender youth. Journal of LGBT Youth, 10 (1-2), 45—63.

38.

Grossman

A. H.

Haney

A. P.

Edwards

Alessi

E. J.

Ardon

, & Jarrett Howell

(2009). Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth talk about experiencing and coping with school violence: A qualitative study. Journal of LGBT Youth, 6, 24—46.

39.

Grzanka

Adler

, & Blazer

(2015). Making up allies: The identity choreography of straight LGBT activism. Sexuality Research & Social Policy, 12 1, 165—181.

40.

Gutierrez

(2004). Resisting fragmentation, living whole. Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services, 16 3–4, 69—79.

41.

Hansen

L. E.

(2015). Encouraging pre-service teachers to address issues of sexual orientation in their classrooms: Walking the walk & talking the talk. Multicultural Education, 22 2, 51—55.

42.

Higa

Hoppe

M. J.

Lindhorst

Mincer

Beadnell

Morrison

D. M.

Wells

E. A.

Todd

, & Mountz

(2014). Negative and positive factors associated with the well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth. Youth & Society, 46(5) 663—687.

43.

Ingersoll

Merrill

, & Stuckery

(2014). Seven trends: The transformation of the teaching force, updated April 2014. CPRE Report No. RR-80). Consortium for Policy Research in Education, University of Pennsylvania.

44.

Ingrey

J. C.

(2014). The limitations and possibilities for teaching transgender issues in education to preservice teachers. In Meyer

E. J.

, & Sansfaçon

A.P

(Eds.), Supporting transgender & gender creative youth: Schools, families, and communities in action (pp. 97—110). Peter Lang.

45.

Jennings

, & Sherwin

(2008). Sexual orientation topics in elementary teacher preparation programs in the USA. Teaching Education, 19 4, 261—278.

46.

Jones

Smith

Ward

Dixon

Hillier

, & Mitchell

(2016). School experiences of transgender and gender diverse students in Australia. Sex Education, 16 2, 156—171.

47.

Katch

, & Katch

(2010). When boys won't be boys: Discussing gender with young children. Harvard Educational Review, 80 3, 379—390.

48.

Kintner-Duffy

V. L.

Vardell

Lower

J. K.

, & Cassidy

D. J.

(2012). “The changers and the changed”: Preparing early childhood teachers to work with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender families. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 33, 208—223.

49.

Kirchner

M. B.

(Producer). (2009). Act two: Tom girls [Radio series episode segment]. Somewhere out there (Episode 374). In I. Glass (Executive Producer), This American Life. Chicago Public Radio.

50.

Kitchen

, & Bellini

(2012). Addressing lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) issues in teacher education: Teacher candidates’ perceptions. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 58 3, 444—460.

51.

Kosciw

J. G.

Greytak

E. A.

Giga

N. M.

Villenas

, & Danischewski

D. J.

(2016). The 2015 national school climate survey: The experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer youth in our nation's schools. GLSEN.

52.

Lee

, & Carpenter

V. M.

(2015). “What would you like me to do? Lie to you?” Teacher education responsibilities to LGBTI students. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 43 2, 169—180.

53.

Loutzenheiser

L. W.

, & MacIntosh

L. B.

(2004). Citizenships, sexualities, and education. Theory Into Practice, 43 2, 151—158.

54.

Luecke

J. C.

(2011). Working with transgender children and their classmates in pre-adolescence: Just be supportive. Journal of LGBT Youth, 8 2, 116—156.

55.

Luttrell

(2010). Introduction: The promise of qualitative research in education. In Luttrell

(Ed.), Qualitative educational research: Readings in reflexive methodology and transformative practice (pp. 1—17). Routledge.

56.

Macgillvray

I. K.

, & Jennings

(2008). A content analysis exploring lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender topics in foundations of education textbooks. Journal of Teacher Education, 59 2, 170—188.

57.

Martino

(2013). An invaluable resource for supporting transgender, transsexual, and gender-nonconforming students in school communities: A review of supporting transgender and transsexual students in K–12 schools. Journal of LGBT Youth, 10 1–2, 169—172.

58.

Martino

, & Cumming-Potvin

(2018). Transgender and gender expansive education research, policy and practice: Reflecting on epistemological and ontological possibilities of bodily becoming. Gender and Education, 30 6, 687—694.

59.

Maxwell

(2005). Qualitative research design: An interactive approach. Sage.

60.

Mayo

J. B.

Jr. (2016). Adults’ complicity in limiting students’ understanding of sex, gender and sexuality at school. Sex Education, 16 1, 105—110.

61.

McGuire

J. K.

Anderson

C. R.

Toomey

R. B.

, & Russell

S. T.

(2010). School climate for transgender youth: A mixed method investigation of student experiences and school responses. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 39, 1175—1188.

62.

McLaren

(1995). White terror and oppositional agency: Towards a critical multiculturalism. In Sleeter

C. E.

, & McLaren

P. L.

(Eds.), Multicultural education, critical pedagogy, and the politics of difference (pp. 33—70). State University of New York Press.

63.

McQueen

K. S.

(2006). Breaking the gender dichotomy: The case for transgender education in school curriculum. Teachers College Record. https://www.tcrecord.org/content.asp?contentid=12663

64.

Meyer

E. J.

(2008). Gendered harassment in secondary schools: Understanding teachers’ (non)interventions. Gender and Education, 20 6, 1—16.

65.

Meyer

E. J.

(2009). Gender, bullying, and harassment: Strategies to end sexism and homophobia in schools. Teachers College Press.

66.

Meyer

E. J.

Tilland-Stafford

, & Airton

(2016). Transgender and gender-creative students in PK–12 schools: What we can learn from their teachers. Teachers College Record, 118 8, 1—50.

67.

Milburn

, & Palladino

(2012). Preservice teachers’ knowledge, skills, and dispositions of LGBTQ bullying intervention. The American Association of Behavioral and Social Sciences Journal, 16, 86—100.

68.

Nealy

E. C.

(2017). Transgender children and youth: Cultivating pride and joy with families in transition. W.W. Norton.

69.

Parsons

L. T.

(2016). Learning from preservice teachers’ responses to trans-themed young adult literature: Improving personal practice in teacher education. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 37 6, 933—947.

70.

Pascoe

C. J.

(2007). Dude, you're a fag: Masculinity and sexuality in high school. University of California Press.

71.

Payne

E. C.

, & Smith

(2010). Reduction of stigma in schools: An evaluation of the first three years. Issues in Teacher Education, 19 2, 11—36.

72.

Payne

E. C.

, & Smith

(2011). The reduction of stigma in schools: A new professional development model for empowering educators to support LGBTQ students. Journal of LGBT Youth, 8 2, 174—200.

73.

Payne

E. C.

, & Smith

M. J.

(2012). Safety, celebration, and risk: Educator responses to LGBTQ professional development. Teaching Education, 23 3, 265—285.

74.

Payne

, & Smith

(2014). The big freak out: Educator fear in response to the presence of transgender elementary school students. Journal of Homosexuality, 61 3, 399—418.

75.

Pollock

Deckman

S. L.

Mira

, & Shalaby

(2010). “But what can I do?”: Three necessary tensions in teaching teachers about race. Journal of Teacher Education, 61 3, 211—222.

76.

Rands

K. E.

(2009). Considering transgender people in education: A gender-complex approach. Journal of Teacher Education, 60 4, 419—431.

77.

Riggs

D. W.

, & Bartholomaeus

(2015). The role of school counsellors and psychologists in supporting transgender people. The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 32 2, 158—170.

78.

Ringrose

, & Renold

(2010). Normative cruelties and gender deviants: The performative effects of bully discourses for girls and boys in school. British Educational Research Journal, 36 4, 573—596.

79.

Robinson

, & Espelage

(2011). Inequities in educational and psychological outcomes between LGBTQ and straight students in middle and high school. Educational Researcher, 40 7, 315—330.

80.

Sansfaçon

A. P.

Dumais-Michaud

, & Robichaud

(2014). Transforming challenges into action: Researching the experiences of parents of gender-created children through social action and self-directed group work. In Meyer

E. J.

, & Sansfaçon

A.P

(Eds.), Supporting transgender & gender creative youth: Schools, families, and communities in action (pp. 159—173). Peter Lang.

81.

Sausa

L. A.

(2005). Translating research into practice: Trans youth recommendations for improving school systems. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Issues in Education, 3 1, 15—28.

82.

Sensoy

, & DiAngelo

R. J.

(2017). Is everyone really equal? An introduction to key concepts in social justice education (2nd ed.). Teachers College Press.

83.

Sherwin

, & Jennings

(2006). Feared, forgotten, or forbidden: Sexual orientation topics in secondary teacher preparation programs in the USA. Teaching Education, 17 3, 207—223.

84.

Shields

S. A.

(2008). Gender: An intersectionality perspective. Sex Roles, 59, 301—311.

85.

Sleeter

C. E.

, & Grant

C. A.

(1991). Race, class, gender, and disability in current textbooks. In Apple

M. W.

, & Christian-Smith

L. K.

(Eds.), The politics of the textbook (pp. 78—110). Routledge.

86.

Smith

, & Payne

(2016). Binaries and biology: Conversations with elementary education professionals after professional development on supporting transgender students. The Educational Forum, 80 1, 34—47.

87.

Thorne

(1993). Gender play: Girls and boys in school. Rutgers University Press.

88.

Travers

(2014). Transformative gender justice as a framework for normalizing gender variance among children and youth. In Meyer

E. J.

, & Sansfaçon

A.P

(Eds.), Supporting transgender & gender creative youth: Schools, families, and communities in action (pp. 54—68). Peter Lang.

89.

Turbin

(2003). Refashioning the concept of public/private: Lessons from dress studies. Journal of Women's History, 15 1, 43—51.

90.

U.S. Department of Justice & U.S. Department of Education. (2016). Dear colleague letter on transgender students, 1—8. http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/letters/colleague-201605-title-ix-transgender.pdf

91.

Vavrus

(2009). Sexuality, schooling, and teacher identity formation: A critical pedagogy for teacher education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25 3, 383—390.

92.

Verbrugee

M. H.

(2012). Active bodies: A history of women's physical education in twentieth-century America. Oxford University Press.

93.

Wimberly

G. L.

(2015). Conclusion and recommendations for further research. In Wimberly

G. L.

(Ed.), LGBTQ issues in education: Advancing a research agenda (pp. 237—251). AERA.

94.

Wyss

S. E.

(2004). “This was my hell”: The violence experienced by gender non-conforming youth in U.S. high schools. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 17 5, 709—730.

95.

Zembylas

(2005). Discursive practices, genealogies, and emotional rules: A poststructuralist view on emotion and identity in teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21 8, 935—948.