Launch of “Trans-Affirming Education in Schools: An Educator Toolkit"

Join Western Education for the community launch of Trans-Affirming Education in Schools: An Educator Toolkit.

This toolkit is the culmination of a SSHRC-funded study on supporting trans and gender diverse youth in schools. It translates research conducted with more than 1,000 educators in Ontario who called for more knowledge and resources to support trans-affirming and diversity in schools.

In this free presentation, audiences will hear a short overview of the research followed by a launch and introduction of the toolkit in the form of an interactive workshop.

ABOUT THE HOSTS:

Jenny Kassen is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Education at the Western University in Ontario, Canada. Their research focuses on the provision of, and access to, school-based mental health supports in Ontario for trans and gender-diverse youth. They are a sessional instructor at the Faculty of Education, a secondary school teacher, an educational consultant, and a research team member with the SSHRC-funded study, Supporting Transgender and Gender Minority Youth in Schools.

Wayne Martino, PhD, is Professor of Equity and Social Justice Education in the Faculty of Education and an affiliate faculty member of Western's Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies. For the past decade, his research has focused on trans and gender diversity in schools and has been funded by SSHRC (Social Sciences, Humanities Research Council) including: Supporting trans and gender minority youth: Supporting transgender and gender minority youth in the school system: Investigating policy and practice (435-2015-0077) and Supporting transgender students and transgender affirmative education in a context of resurgent anti-trans backlash and far-right extremism (435-2023-0138). He is editor of the Routledge Critical studies in Gender and Sexuality in Education book series and recently published a special issue in Teachers College Record entitled: Supporting Transgender Students and Gender Expansive Education in Schools: https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/tcza/124/8

Kenan Omercajic, PhD, is the Strategic Business Analyst at the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB). He has also held the position of Policy Analyst for the OCDSB following the completion of his PhD at Western University. The research focus of his dissertation was examining the extent to which trans-affirmative policies impact the experiences of transgender and gender non-conforming students who utilize and access the all-gender bathroom in their schools.