Abstract
In this text, I analyze the role of gender-sex-sexuality in school policies in Sweden, Canada, and Germany. Policies concerning young people’s negotiations of gender-sex-sexuality in schools draw on specific understandings of societal belonging and cohesion. Invariably such policies are part of national discourses regarding values and norms of gender and relationships, informed by concepts of ethnicized belonging. Furthermore, the analysis of school policy texts allows insights into conceptualizations of young people and their societal role in the context of ongoing neo-liberal re-configurations of schools and societies.
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Notes
- 1.
I use the term queered to describe the processes of othering that have little to do with identity and more with discriminatory structures and practises, while queer, in my understanding, implies self-positioning.
- 2.
This choice reflects my shifting points of departure: Originally situated in Germany , I was interested Canada , and then Sweden , as two of the often cited “good practice” examples. As I shifted my geographical location, so did my focus: I now look at the “good example” as a critical insider-outsider.
- 3.
The discourse about underachieving boys is just one example of the role of gender in schools (Connell 1996), with successful girls and the supposedly overpowering presence of female teachers as main culprits. Little is written about the overpowering presence of White teachers on children of color, or the possibly damaging effects of a mainly heteronormative staff on queer/ed students.
- 4.
- 5.
- 6.
The German term Geschlecht invokes both sex and gender.
- 7.
The national plan also covers higher secondary education and adult education, Sameskolan (grades 1–6) for children of Sami families, and special schools.
- 8.
To discuss all the changes and continuities in the new text would be beyond the scope of this chapter. The official statements highlight more clarity with regards to responsibilities and rights (which also implies more control for the private sector), more centralized content in all subjects, assembled syllabi for different school forms; national tests in year 3, 6, and 9, and a more detailed grade scale (Skolverket 2010c; for a more detailed discussion see Schmitt (in press).).
- 9.
From 2006 to 2009, school-specific antidiscrimination legislation existed.
- 10.
Similar references can be found in some German school laws, for example, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria, and the Saarland.
- 11.
The new law limits some of the priviledges for private schools.
- 12.
A study on the Swedish school plans specifies that 1 out of 269 school plans mention sexual identity, 14 take up sexuality/sexual orientation/homophobia (Oscarsson 2005).
- 13.
The Ombudsperson for Children and Students (Barn och elev ombudet), set within the structures of the school inspection, is in charge of controlling all contexts that affect children und students (http://www.skolinspektionen.se/BEO/).
- 14.
To clarify: the Swedish texts mentions kön, a term that conflates “sex” and “gender”; the English translation mentions “gender”.
- 15.
In the field of social sciences, Ontario students study Social Studies grades 1–6, History and Geography grades 7–8, and Social Sciences and the Humanities grades 9–10.
- 16.
Interestingly, the curriculum for grades 1–8 also refers also to “respect for life.”
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Schmitt, I. (2012). School Policies, Gender-Sex-Sexuality and Ethnocultural Re-production in Sweden, Canada, and Germany. In: Bekerman, Z., Geisen, T. (eds) International Handbook of Migration, Minorities and Education. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1466-3_24
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