Trans students. Difficulties, needs and educational actions in Spain

ABSTRACT

Due to social changes in Spain in recent years, more and more people feel free to express their trans identity in childhood and adolescence. There are very few studies in Spain about their problems in school settings. For this reason, the purpose of this study is to draw on the experience of experts in the field to understand the difficulties and needs faced by trans people in formal educational settings. The Delphi method was used with 72 experts from four different groups: trans activists, activists who are parents with trans children, health professionals and teachers. The results show that the difficulties faced by trans students and their families are many and diverse, although the opinions manifested by trans activists and professionals differ from those of parents and teachers. However, they reached a consensus on the actions that need to be taken to guarantee the educational inclusion of trans students.

KEYWORDS:

• Trans students
• gender identity
• educational inclusion
• formal education
• Delphi

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Catalan Agency for Management of University and Research Grants [grant number 2017 SGR 97].

Notes on contributors

Jorge-Manuel Dueñas

Jorge-Manuel Dueñas is a postdoctoral researcher in the Psychology Department of Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain). His main areas of expertise and research interests include psychology of education and gender studies. He published several articles in international journals on these issues.

Fabia Morales-Vives

Fabia Morales-Vives is an Associate professor in the Psychology Department of Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain). Her main areas of expertise and research interests include psychology of education, development and individual differences. She published several articles in international journals on these issues.

Elena Castarlenas

Elena Casterlenas is a Tenure-track Lecturer in the Psychology Department of Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain). Her main areas of expertise and research interests include psychology of pain and psychology of education. She led a research project about psychology of pain and she published several articles in international journals.

Gisela Ferre-Rey

Gisela Ferre-Rey is a postdoctoral researcher in the Psychology Department of Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Spain). Her main areas of research interests include psychology of development and gender studies. She published several articles in international journals on these issues.