The Trans Educators Network: a reflection on community organizing and knowledge production

ABSTRACT

This article describes the founding and first three years of a US-based organization for trans, non-binary, and gender non-conforming educators working in PK-12 educational settings. The article begins with a brief exploration of prior organizing work and the political context that combined to set the stage for the group’s formation. The article documents the growth and development of the organization over its first three years, and concludes by looking ahead to its future.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher thinking and knowledge
• teacher socialisation
• teacher education curriculum
• queer pedagogy
• trans pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. ADA stands for the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Harper Benjamin Keenan

Harper Benjamin Keenan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy at the University of British Columbia, where he also serves as the Robert Quartermain Professor of Gender and Sexuality Research in Education. Broadly, Dr. Keenan’s work examines how adults teach young children about how society is organized. His projects examine how complex social issues are constructed in early childhood and elementary education: topics like racism, gender, violence, and colonialism. Dr. Keenan is a former New York City elementary school teacher, and earned his PhD in Curriculum and Teacher Education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. His work has been published in academic journals such as the Harvard Educational Review, Teachers College Record, and Gender and Education.