Advancing a critical trans framework for education

This article introduces a new theoretical framework comprised of three principles for teaching, learning, and researching gender in a way that celebrates gender diversity and centers transgender experiences and knowledge. The first principle describes how gender operates on multiple levels including individual, institutional, and socio-cultural. The second principle explores genderism as a system of oppression and delineates some of the ways genderism operates concurrently with all other systems of oppression, with racism and ableism provided as examples. The third principle asserts that transgender people’s lived experiences, experiential trans knowledge, and counter-narratives must be at the center of transformative efforts in educational spaces. Based on these principles, the article offers suggestions for how people in various educational roles in K-12 and post-secondary education could implement this framework to create educational spaces that affirm and support people of all genders. Keywords: Transgender oppression, teacher education, social justice, epistemology