Transgender, or trans, people typically reject their birth-assigned gender identity and self-determine their gender identity. Across the world, an increasing number of youth are disclosing a trans identity during their adolescence and coming out while attending school. This increase is said to be linked to shifts in public and growing societal acceptance of trans identities. Yet, trans youth continue to experience disproportionately high levels of harassment and polyvictimisation (Coulter et al. 2018; Sterzing et al, 2017).

Underpinning the educational inequalities trans youth experience is institutionalised cisnormativity, which privileges people who identify with their birth-assigned gender as ‘normal’ and stigmatises trans bodies, identities and communities. Cisnormativity is enforced within education settings through forms gender policing, which ranges from everyday microaggressions to overt anti-trans victimisation (Wenrick et al. 2017). The enforcement of cisnormativity through gender policing punishes trans folk for disrupting the prevailing cisgender/heteronormative gender order and intends to curb theirs, and others, transness. Research shows, however, that trans youth are not passive victims of institutionalised cisnormativity. Rather they are active agents who conscientiously resist cis-privilege and seek to transform educational milieus by destigmatising trans identities and normalize gender diversity (Iskander and Shabtay 2018; Jones et al. 2016).

The context in which trans youth live shapes the manifestation and operation of institutionalised cisnormativity as well as their opportunities to become engaged in activism. Trans affirmative contexts, for example, are those recognise trans identities as valid, are open to gender diversity and actively seek to limit the inequalities trans youth are exposed to (Serano 2016). Trans affirmative educational contexts may thus simultaneously weaken institutionalised cisnormativity and also facilitate trans youth activism. Ireland is one context in which there has been a shift towards trans affirmative policy.

In 2013, Ireland’s Department of Education and Skills (2013) stipulated that primary and post-primary schools must mention homophobic and transphobic bullying in their bullying policies and must document prevention as well as education strategies. This was followed by the publication of Gay and Lesbian Equality Network’s (GLEN 2016) some guidance on how this policy development could be implemented. More recently the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (2018) has published ‘the world’s first’ LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy, which sets out goals for creating safe, supportive and inclusive environments for LGBTI+ youth and improving their physical, mental and sexual health. Furthermore, a Houses of the Oireachtas report (2019) has recommended that relationship and sexual education be made inclusive of the experiences and sexual practices of those identifying as LGBTQI+ . the These trans inclusive policy developments have been driven by trans activists and have made Ireland one of the most trans affirmative policy contexts in the world. Ireland therefore provides a rich site for examining the post-primary school experiences and concerns of trans youth within a rapidly changing educational policy context. However, to date, no research has been published that investigates the post-primary educational experiences of trans youth in Ireland.

This paper will present findings from an ongoing qualitative study, which is investigating the post-primary school experiences of trans youth (15-24) in Ireland. It will examine trans youth’s experiences of institutionalised cisnormativity as well as the strategies they adopt to navigate, challenge and actively resist cisnormative attitudes and practices in educational settings. In addition it will consider how the experiences and strategies developed by trans youth are mediated by other institutionalised social hierarchies, including heteronormativity, poverty, racism, sexism, etc. To conclude, the paper will reflect on the transformative potential of trans youth activism to erode cisnormativity in educational settings. 

In order to investigate the educational experiences of trans youth in Ireland a qualitative research project was developed that include data methods that are arts-based and anthropological. The research project received Ethics approval from the University of Limerick’s Education and Health Sciences Research Ethics Committee (ethics approval number: 2018_06_04_EHS). This paper will draw on two arts-based workshops (due to be conducted in February and March 2019) held with trans youth (n=20). In the workshops participants will explore gender norms in educational settings creatively and produce visual data that will be photographed for analysis. Additionally the paper will draw on semi-structured interviews conducted with trans youth (n=20) (planned to take place March – June 2019), which explore their personal experiences of post-primary schooling in Ireland. This project has been planned and conducted in partnership with Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI), the preeminent trans rights organisation in Ireland. Staff at TENI are providing assistance in the sourcing and identification of participants. In recognition of limitations involved with accessing participants solely through TENI, participants will also be sourced via other LGBT+ support groups. The use of multiple access points will help ensure the aim of getting a heterogeneous sample is fulfilled. Data analysis will be interpretative and managed using a qualitative data analysis programme (NVIVO). Data will be subject to multiple rounds of thematic coding, which will identify emerging themes. Findings from the thematic analysis will be interpreted using critical gender theory (Butler 2001, 2004) and intersectionality (Crenshaw 1991; McCall 2005) with the aim of developing novel theoretical insights into the relationship between cissexist schooling, trans affirmative policy, and trans youth’s educational experiences.

This paper will, for the first time, offer empirical evidence of the post-primary experiences and concerns of trans youth living in Ireland. This will provide novel insights into the specific operation of institutionalised cisnormativity in Ireland and the degree to which trans youth are exposed to gender policing in post-primary school settings. Furthermore, it will provide understanding of the intersectional differences of trans youth in Ireland and the manner in which cisnormativity is compounded by, or alleviated, by other social statuses. It will therefore provide insight into cultural specifics of institutionalised cisnormativity, and its interaction with other institutionalised social hierarchies, within the Irish context. This will enable international comparison and enable reflection on how cisnormativity manifests differently, in different educational contexts. The paper will also provide insight into different strategies trans youth adopt in their daily lives to navigate hostile and dangerous school climates. As such it will consider how gender policing may compel some trans youth to develop a social justice conscious and undertake direct actions that disrupt cis-privilege in school settings. As such it will provide novel insights into the motivations and tactics used by trans youth activists. Furthermore, the paper will offer novel insight into how trans youth perceive the implementation of trans affirmative educational policies; and, whether they consider affirmative educational policies to contribute, or not, to the cultivation of stigma-free educational environments, the acceptance of trans identities and/or facilitate trans youth participation in activism. These findings will therefore contribute to ongoing international debates regarding the strengths and limitations of trans affirmative policies.

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