Sexual and gender diversity in schools: Belonging, in/exclusion and the African child
The school system in South Africa has only in recent years begun to more deeply grapple with issues of power and privilege along a number of axes of oppression including race, gender, class and recently, sexual and gender diversity. As a result, learners who embody sexual and gender diversity exper...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of the Free State
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Perspectives in Education |
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| Online Access: | http://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/pie/article/view/3801 |
| Summary: | The school system in South Africa has only in recent years begun to more deeply grapple with issues of power and privilege along a number of axes of oppression including race, gender, class and recently, sexual and gender diversity. As a result, learners who embody sexual and gender diversity experiences spaces of belonging and exclusion in school settings. As a result, this paper asks: What needs to be done in the school system to reconstruct the “African child” to include sexual and gender diversity? Possibilities include inclusive policy implementation; inclusive learning and teaching resource materials; teacher preparedness to teach about and affirm sexual and gender diversity in the classroom and a clear rejection of homophobic and transphobic violence. The lessons learnt through the process of challenging racism in the school system – such as around essentialising, othering and systemic violence – have yet to be fully applied to sexual and gender diversity in schools.
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| ISSN: | 0258-2236 2519-593X |