Brave Schools: Exploring Student Rights & Inclusive Anti-Bullying School Spaces through Transgender & Queer liberation practices

Format

Workshop

Presenters

Miruna Ouatu-LascarFollow

First Presenter's Institution

Chapman University

First Presenter’s Email Address

ouatulascar@chapman.edu

First Presenter's Brief Biography

I am a Ph.D candidate at Chapman University in the Donna Ford Attallah College of Educational Studies. I have served as a public school educator for the past 15 years in the field of special education both as an in classroom teacher and as a principal of a K-12 school. My research centers on the intersection of race, ethnicity, disability, and gender and how such intersections of identity impact public school systems. My research seeks to inform both the field of special education as well as the field of critical pedagogy by integrating a broader disability studies lens that works to empower all students through advocacy.

Location

Session Four

Strand #1

Heart: Social & Emotional Skills

Strand #2

Hands: Safety & Violence Prevention

Relevance

This workshop directly aligns to the theme of ‘Heart’ and ‘Hands’ as it prompts participants to analyze systems of oppression for students in schools as it relates to gender and identity presentation and the school climate such systems create. Furthermore, this workshop will guide participants through exploring ways in which embracing queer and trans identities in schools can create inclusive spaces, as well as explore the many strategies to combat homophobia in school & create school spaces that are not only inclusive but actively combat bullying through shared community accountability.

Brief Program Description

In today’s climate student rights and the rights of transgender students particularly are constantly under attack creating school community climates that are hostile & dangerous for kids. This workshop will present participants with an overview of transgender and queer theory liberatory practices & outline strategies for creating inclusive school communities that are not only welcoming but actively engage in combating hate and bully culture.

Summary

Participants will receive an overview of queer and transgender theory. Participants will then apply principles of queer and transgender theory to analyze the ‘normalizing’ process of school environments and learn to identify patterns of harmful representation for students as well as be able to identify how harmful systems are created and replicated through unexamined ‘normalization’.

Participants will then explore and apply strategies through scenario exercises that actively address previously identified normalized systems of oppression in school settings and be able to walk away with a tool kit that actively assists them in building anti-harm and inclusive school climates in their own communities.

Evidence

Strategies from this presentation have also been recommended by the Human Rights Campaign

https://welcomingschools.org/resources/framework-for-developing-a-gender-inclusive-school#:~:text=Inclusive%20Messages&text=Group%20students%20in%20ways%20that,your%20own%20manner%20of%20expression.

New York University has also outlined some of the strategies presented in this workshop as positive practices for building inclusive spaces for transgender students

https://www.nyu.edu/life/global-inclusion-and-diversity/learning-and-development/toolkits/trans-inclusive-classrooms.html

USC Lessons for Creating Safe Spaces

https://rossieronline.usc.edu/blog/bullying-prevention-lesson-plans/

Research regarding school environment design contributing to bullying

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9738177/

Learning Objective 1

Understand what transgender and queer theory is and what it is not, as well as be able to identify the way in which both have been weaponized to promote fear as a means to deny students their fundamental rights at school.

Learning Objective 2

Utilize transgender and queer perspectives to identify ‘normalizing’ processes that create systems & practices that actively oppress students as well as strategies to combat these processes and established systems.

Learning Objective 3

Practice through scenario work, the strategies they have identified that assist in creating anti harm school cultures that actively address bullying as well as foster inclusive spaces for all students.

Keyword Descriptors

Transgender, queer theory, anti-bullying, anti-harm, inclusive spaces, school climate

Presentation Year

2024

Start Date

3-5-2024 8:30 AM

Recommended Citation

Ouatu-Lascar, Miruna, "Brave Schools: Exploring Student Rights & Inclusive Anti-Bullying School Spaces through Transgender & Queer liberation practices" (2024). National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference. 38.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nyar_savannah/2024/2024/38