How might a school community promote a sense of belonging in gender nonconforming young people? : a narrative exploration with two young people

Abstract

This thesis explored the experiences of gender nonconforming (GNC) children and young people (CYP) in schools. It comprises three chapters: a literature review, a bridging document and a piece of empirical research. The literature review documents a meta-ethnography that explored how school staff could effectively support GNC CYP. The findings suggested that the school community is an important factor in supporting GNC CYP, as opposed to individual school staff. The findings also supported a need for school staff to be provided with additional training and education. This in-turn supported them when managing the responses of other children in the school. At the centre of the findings was the need to have the CYP at the heart of any support provided, and to work with them in designing this support. The bridging document aims to link the meta-ethnography and empirical research. It presents the theoretical underpinnings of the empirical project; outlining my ontology and epistemology, and how these informed the methodology. Ethical considerations are also discussed. The empirical research took a narrative approach to exploring how two GNC CYP construct their stories of being supported within their school settings, particularly in relation to their sense of school belonging (SOSB). The findings are discussed in relation to the existing literature and the relevance for Educational Psychologists (EPs). The study reinforced the need to treat each GNC CYP as an individual rather than as a homogenous group.