Navigating high school: A systematic review of trans* students’ educational experiences
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.6092/issn.1970-2221/21155Keywords:
trans students, high school, school experience, systematic reviewAbstract
This paper presents the findings of a systematic review of 23 scientific publications published between 2011 and 2024 within the field of Education Science, investigating the experiences of trans* students in high school. Employing a Boolean Search strategy and utilising thematic analysis, four themes emerged: Forms and impacts of cisnormativity at school; Resisting cisnormativity; Schools as transformative agencies; and Multiple trans* identities.
Findings reveal that schools are frequently characterised by a pervasive cisnormativity that can lead to marginalization, invisibility, and discrimination. Despite these challenges, trans* pupils demonstrate significant agency and resistance. While schools can perpetuate systemic discrimination, they also possess the potential to foster gender equitable learning environments. Schools can create more equitable and supportive educational spaces. For instance, they can actively challenge their own cisnormative structures and beliefs, and embrace an affirming educational approach that prioritises gender self-determination and recognition of the diverse needs and experiences of trans* students.
References
Ansara, Y. G., & Hegarty, P. (2012). Cisgenderism in psychology: Pathologising and misgendering children from 1999 to 2008. Psychology and Sexuality, 3(2), 137–160. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2011.576696
Bartholomaeus, C., & Riggs, D. W. (2017). Transgender People and Education. Palgrave Macmillan US. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95309-7
Bartholomaeus, C., Riggs, D. W., & Andrew, Y. (2017). The capacity of South Australian primary school teachers and pre-service teachers to work with trans and gender diverse students. Teaching and Teacher Education, 65, 127–135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.03.006
Bower-Brown, S., Zadeh, S., & Jadva, V. (2021). Binary-trans, non-binary and gender-questioning adolescents’ ex-periences in UK schools. Journal of LGBT Youth, 20(1), 74–92. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2021.1873215
Bragg, S., Renold, E., Ringrose, J., & Jackson, C. (2018). ‘More than boy, girl, male, female’: Exploring young peo-ple’s views on gender diversity within and beyond school contexts. Sex Education, 18(4), 420–434. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2018.1439373
Calderon-Cifuentes, P. A. (2021). Trans Discrimination in Europe. A TGEU analysis of the FRA LGBTI Survey 2019. TGEU.
Cambi, F. (2003). Manuale di storia della pedagogia. Laterza.
Eisenberg, M. E., Gower, A. L., McMorris, B. J., Rider, G. N., Shea, G., & Coleman, E. (2017). Risk and Protective Factors in the Lives of Transgender/Gender Nonconforming Adolescents. Journal of Adolescent Health, 61(4), 521–526. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2017.04.014
Etxebarria-Perez-de-Nanclares, O., Vizcarra Morales, M. T., Gamito Gomez, R., & López-Vélez, A. L. (2023). La realidad trans en el sistema educativo: Una revisión sistemática. Revista de Psicodidáctica, 28(2), 104–114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psicod.2022.12.002
Etxebarria-Perez-de-Nanclares, O., Vizcarra Morales, M. T., López-Vélez, A. L., & Gamito Gómez, R. (2024). Trans narratives on school experiences—This is how we feel. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1373508. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1373508
Evans, I., & Rawlings, V. (2021). “It was Just One Less Thing that I Had to Worry about”: Positive Experiences of Schooling for Gender Diverse and Transgender Students. Journal of Homosexuality, 68(9), 1489–1508. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2019.1698918
FRA. (2020). A long way to go for LGBTI equality. Publications Office of the European Union.
Francis, D. (2023). “Did you just say I was lit ?” Transgender and non-binary youth doing gender; resisting cisnor-mativity in South African schools. Journal of Gender Studies, 33(5), 686–697. https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2023.2172386
Francis, D. (2024). “You gotta pull yourself towards yourself.” A sociological analysis of how Transgender and Gen-der Diverse (TGD) school attending youth, school managers and teachers understand and respond to transphobia in South African schools. Teachers and Teaching, 30(1), 16–31. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2023.2225417
Francis, D., & Monakali, E. (2021). ‘Lose the Act’: Pedagogical implications drawn from transgender and non-binary learners’ experiences of schooling. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(5), 715–731. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1912159
Gill-Peterson, J. (2018). Histories of the Transgender Child. University of Minnesota Press.
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. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2012.718522
Halberstam, J. (2018). Trans*. A Quick and Quirky Account of Gender Variability. University of California Press.
Horton, C. (2020). Thriving or Surviving? Raising Our Ambition for Trans Children in Primary and Secondary Schools. Frontiers in Sociology, 5, 67. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsoc.2020.00067
Ingrey, J. (2018). Problematizing the cisgendering of school washroom space: Interrogating the politics of recogni-tion of transgender and gender non-conforming youth. Gender and Education, 30(6), 774–789. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2018.1483492
Johnson, C. W., Singh, A. A., & Gonzalez, M. (2014). “It’s Complicated”: Collective Memories of Transgender, Queer, and Questioning Youth in High School. Journal of Homosexuality, 61(3), 419–434. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2013.842436
Jones, T., Smith, E., Ward, R., Dixon, J., Hillier, L., & Mitchell, A. (2016). School experiences of transgender and gender diverse students in Australia. Sex Education, 16(2), 156–171. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2015.1080678
Kennedy, N. (2013). Cultural Cisgenderism: Consequences of the imperceptible. Psychology of Women Section Re-view, 15(2), 3–11. https://doi.org/10.53841/bpspow.2013.15.2.3
Mariotto, M. (2020). Varianza di genere nell’infanzia: Un’analisi della letteratura esistente al di fuori della clinica. AG About Gender - Rivista internazionale di studi di genere, 9(18), 244–270. https://doi.org/10.15167/2279-5057/AG2020.9.18.1183
McBride, R.-S. (2021). A literature review of the secondary school experiences of trans youth. Journal of LGBT Youth, 18(2), 103–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361653.2020.1727815
McBride, R.-S., & Neary, A. (2021). Trans and gender diverse youth resisting cisnormativity in school. Gender and Education, 33(8), 1090–1107. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2021.1884201
McBride, R.-S., Neary, A., Gray, B., & Lacey, V. (2020). The post-primary school experiences of transgender and gender diverse youth in Ireland. University of Limerick and the Transgender Equality Network of Ireland.
McBride, R.-S., & Schubotz, D. (2017). Living a fairy tale: The educational experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming youth in Northern Ireland. Child Care in Practice, 23(3), 292–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/13575279.2017.1299112
McGlashan, H., & Fitzpatrick, K. (2018). ‘I use any pronouns, and I’m questioning everything else’: Transgender youth and the issue of gender pronouns. Sex Education, 18(3), 239–252. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2017.1419949
Miller, sj., Mayo, C., & Lugg, C. A. (2018). Sex and Gender in Transition in US Schools: Ways Forward. Sex Edu-cation, 18(4), 345–359. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2017.1415204
Neary, A. (2018). New Trans* Visibilities: Working the Limits and Possibilities of Gender at School. Sex Education, 18(4), 435–448. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2017.1419950
Neary, A. (2021). Trans children and the necessity to complicate gender in primary schools. Gender and Education, 33(8), 1073–1089. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2021.1884200
O’Flynn, S. (2016). ‘Oh yeah – is she a he-she?’ Female to male transgendered pupils in the formal and informal cul-tures of an English secondary school. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 24(3), 431–444. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2016.1194311
Paechter, C., Toft, A., & Carlile, A. (2021). Non-Binary Young People and Schools: Pedagogical Insights from a Small-Scale Interview Study. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 29(5), 695–713. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.1912160
Phipps, C., & Blackall, C. J. (2023). ‘I wasn’t allowed to join the boys’: The ideology of cultural cisgenderism in a UK school. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 31(5), 1097–1114. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2021.2000012
Russell, S. T., Pollitt, A. M., Li, G., & Grossman, A. H. (2018). Chosen Name Use Is Linked to Reduced Depressive Symptoms, Suicidal Ideation, and Suicidal Behavior Among Transgender Youth. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(4), 503–505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.02.003
Saldaña, J. (2021). The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (4th ed.). Sage Publications.
Shelton, S. A., & Lester, A. O. S. (2018). Finding possibilities in the impossible: A celebratory narrative of trans youth experiences in the Southeastern USA. Sex Education, 18(4), 391–405. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2017.1421920
Simmons, H., & White, F. (2014). Our Many Selves. In L. Erickson-Schroth (Ed.), Trans Bodies, Trans Selves. A Re-source for the Transgender Community (pp. 3–23). Oxford University Press.
Sinclair-Palm, J., & Gilbert, J. (2018). Naming new realities: Supporting trans youth in education. Sex Education, 18(4), 321–327. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681811.2018.1452347
Singh, A. A., Meng, S. E., & Hansen, A. W. (2014). “I Am My Own Gender”: Resilience Strategies of Trans Youth. Journal of Counseling & Development, 92(2), 208–218. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1556-6676.2014.00150.x
Steele, K., & Nicholson, J. (2020). Radically Listening to Transgender Children. Creating Epistemic Justice through Critical Reflection and Resistant Imaginations. Lexington Books.
Van Asselt, B. C. (2019). Imagining Otherwise. TSQ: Transgender Studies Quarterly, 6(4), 608–619. https://doi.org/10.1215/23289252-7771765
Vicars, M., & Wolfe, J. (2023). Exploring the Educational Life Histories of Australian Transgender Faith-Based Sec-ondary School Graduates. Youth, 3(1), 217–232. https://doi.org/10.3390/youth3010015
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2025 Alessia Ale* Santambrogio
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
