Supporting transgender and gender diverse students in Ontario schools: Educators’ responses.

Abstract

This report details the findings of an Ontario-wide survey of 1194 school educators which is part of a larger study funded by funded by the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The survey was developed in consultation with trans educators, school board officials, and community members and included a mix of qualitative and quantitative questions. The report is structured according to educators’ responses to questions about trans-inclusive policies, self-rated knowledge, and understanding of trans inclusion and gender diversity, training received, use of resources and the barriers to fostering gender diversity in schools. Educators’ recommendations and advice on improving education about trans inclusivity in schools are also reported. Key findings revealed that there continue to be systemic and structural impediments to supporting trans inclusion and gender diversity in schools, in terms of both the failure to enact policy and to provide adequate support, education, and resourcing for educators. Recommendations are outlined which relate to the need for further development of policies that identify the allocation of resources for both professional development and curriculum development as central to the necessary provision of support for trans students and creating gender-affirming schools. The report also stipulates the necessity for sustained accountability measures to be established by governing bodies, such as the Ontario Ministry of Education, for supporting gender diversity and trans inclusion with the explicit objective of supporting school boards fiscally in the provision of professional development and development of resources. Teacher Education faculties also need to be committed to ensuring that teacher candidates are provided with the knowledge and understanding of trans inclusion and what trans affirmative education entails.

Boys, girls, and everyone else: Ontario public school board responses to gender diversity

“…Although examining how these responses construct and represent the social problem of trans and nonbinary student membership offers important insights into how educational institutions understand their responsibilities to gender diversity and trans‐inclusion, there exist limitations to studying these responses without attention to how they are implemented (Martino, Kassen et al., 2022; Martino, Omercajic et al., 2022). The findings of this study point to the need for more ethnographic research to examine how these responses are implemented and the impacts these policies and guidelines have on students.…”

“…Additionally, the new curriculum requires school boards to provide online modules for parents who prefer to teach their children topics at home and allow parents to withdraw their children from any instructional material (Martino et al., 2019). After Toby's Act in 2012, school boards in Ontario, of their own accord, began incorporating “gender identity” and “gender expression” into the documents they authored (Martino, Kassen et al., 2022). Many school boards extended beyond compliance with The Code, directing these documents not only toward protecting students on the basis of “gender identity” and “gender expression” but also addressing the need to accommodate trans and nonbinary students.…”

“…Meanwhile, 20% of school board documents, representing, 63% of school boards, take a systemic approach to trans and nonbinary inclusion, typically by producing statements affirming diversity or, less often, by challenging cisgender binary‐based practices. This project addresses the broader theoretical question of how public organizations deal with difference, and the limits of an approach that relies on individual accommodation rather than addressing systemic inequities (Martino, Kassen et al., 2022; Wingfield, 2019).…”