“Accountability” or Hyper-Surveillance?: Possibilities and Limitations of a Restorative School Discipline Model to Address Anti-LGBTQ Bullying

Abstract

Purpose

Part of a larger multicase ethnographic research project, this case study examines the experience of transgender youth and their teachers at a school that uses restorative practices as an alternative to school suspension.

Design/methodology/approach

The current study focuses on interviews from one transgender student, her teachers, and her administrators.

Findings

Taken together, these interviews expose complex mechanisms through which transphobia undermines an ostensibly democratic discipline practice intended to promote social justice. The restorative concept of “accountability” framed staff’s efforts to create a more gender-inclusive school, but this frame inadvertently placed the burden of inclusion largely on the transgender student, as staff expected her to educate peers and teachers and enforce gender inclusive practices.

Social implications

Restorative practice trainings should be integrated with trainings on inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) individuals.

Originality/value

Existing research examines the impact of zero tolerance policies on transgender students. This study demonstrates that even when alternatives to zero tolerance policies are in place, teachers and administrators easily slip holding transgender youth accountable for their own safety. A school-wide commitment to “inclusion” does not negate the need for educating staff and students about LGBTQ identities and inclusion.

Citation

Lustick, H. (2016), "“Accountability” or Hyper-Surveillance?: Possibilities and Limitations of a Restorative School Discipline Model to Address Anti-LGBTQ Bullying", Education and Youth Today (Sociological Studies of Children and Youth, Vol. 20), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 145-165. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1537-466120160000020006