School should be a place where everyone can be themselves. How? Seven tips.
Create a place at school where everyone, not just LGBTQ+ students, who feels discriminated against, can come together.
Practical matters at school are often relatively easy to make more gender inclusive. As a teacher or school, ask yourself every time whether it is necessary to mention gender on forms and in communication and do not do this where a legal necessity is lacking.
Write 'Dear student' in the salutation of letters and give more options for gender on forms. For example, add an open entry field next to 'girl' and 'boy' and the options 'don't know' and 'don't want to say'.
Teachers' unconscious assumptions about gender have consequences for how students think about themselves and how they develop. If a teacher has the subconscious expectation that boys are more interested in arithmetic or mathematics than girls, those boys will help with more dedication in those subjects. If teachers become aware of their own assumptions, they can help change existing gender norms and address children more as individuals.
Be aware that your behavior and comments have a huge impact. Bland jokes, for example about a boy's nail polish, are sometimes very harmful to the student and to fellow students. Teachers determine what behavior is acceptable in the classroom, so fellow students adopt their behavior and attitudes with impunity.
Addressing a transcendent common identity helps to make gender less important. Be aware that gender identity is an essential part of their being for many people.
In practice it is not so difficult to avoid 'he' or 'she'. For example, by making the singular plural plural ('Here the voter casts his or her vote' becomes: 'Here voters cast their vote') or by addressing the reader directly ('Here you cast your vote').
Sources used: Researcher Tessa Kaufman of Utrecht University, transgenderinfo.nl en oneworld.nl
Also read it interview with Merlijn and Paula Borsboom, who believe that teachers can respond more alertly to the signal that they may have a transgender person in their class.