Health and Physical Education (H&PE) learning environments as they are typically structured can be sites of discrimination, harassment or other harm for students because of their gender identity and gender expression. For example, in relying upon a simple binary (e.g., separate boys and girls teams, uniforms, or sport opportunities), H&PE has historically upheld ideas about gender that make some ways of identifying or expressing gender invisible and marginalized. Rigid ideas about gender can negatively impact transgender students as well as students who are not transgender but whose gender expression doesn’t match up with local expectations for girls (e.g., that they be typically feminine) or boys (e.g., that they be typically masculine). As many schools in Ontario move away from dividing students into boys and girls for H&PE and toward keeping everyone together, H&PE educators can examine their practices to ensure that they are providing a gender diversity-inclusive learning environment.
Read our statement on gender in H&PE (PDF).
Stop, Start, Consider!: Doing Gender-Inclusive Physical Education & Sport posters support educators in adopting practices that can create affirming PE environments for students of every gender.
Adopting practices that affirm a wider range of gendered experiences expands student access to feelings of belonging,1 which improves learning outcomes and is associated with positive mental health and well-being outcomes.2,3
The Stop, Start, Consider!: Doing Gender-Inclusive Physical Education and Sport poster series was developed in close partnership with gegi.ca and support from additional community partners. The goal of gegi.ca is to equip all Ontario students and educators – whether transgender or cisgender – with the tools to advocate for the right to express and live their gender in their own way without experiencing discrimination, harassment or violence, and without being told they have to change.
Download the Stop, Start, Consider!: Doing Gender-Inclusive Physical Education & Sport poster series.
Download accessible posters (PDF).
References
1 Hernández, L. E., et Darling-Hammond, L., (2022). Creating identity-safe schools and classrooms. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/165.102.
2 Darling-Hammond, L., et Cook-Harvey, C. M. (2018). Educating the whole child: Improving school climate to support student success. Palo Alto, CA: Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/145.655.
3 Farrington, C.A., Roderick, M., Allensworth, E., Nagaoka, J., Keyes, T.S., Johnson, D.W., et Beechum, N.O. (2012). Teaching adolescents to become learners. The role of noncognitive factors in shaping school performance: A critical literature review. Chicago: University of Chicago Consortium on Chicago School Research.