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1 – 10 of 509George Okechukwu Onatu, Wellington Didibhuku Thwala and Clinton Ohis Aigbavboa
Anyone who has recently watched television or movies can tell you that transgender, gender nonbinary or gender expansive people are becoming more visible in these media. This…
Abstract
Anyone who has recently watched television or movies can tell you that transgender, gender nonbinary or gender expansive people are becoming more visible in these media. This trend reflects the reality that younger generations are increasingly identifying with more fluid and nonbinary gender and sexual identities and are progressively expressing those identities in a more flexible and changing manner (Herman et al., 2022; Wilson & Meyer, 2021). Unsurprisingly then, those individuals are also more visible at work, including in workplaces with employer-mandated dress codes. Indeed, in 2020 the US Supreme Court decided a case involving a transgender woman, Aimee Stephens, who was fired because her employer, a funeral home, required her to conform to its gender-binary dress policy and wear clothing mandatory for people assigned male at birth, rather than appropriate for her female gender identity ( Bostock v. Clayton County, 2020).
However, as the description of Aimee Stephens's own experience illustrates, often these employer appearance codes are based on a binary and fixed conception of gender and gender identity and expression at odds with the increasing number of workers who do not identify within those rigid parameters. Moreover, even when an employee, like Aimee Stephens herself, could have fit within her employer's dress code, the improper application of that policy to her, or employer concerns about customer or co-worker discomfort with an employee's appearance under the policy may mean that a worker's identity and expression may still conflict with a workplace appearance code. For gender nonbinary or nonconforming individuals, these complications are magnified.
This chapter explores the practical problems and barriers that employer dress codes have on employees whose gender identity and/or presentation move beyond the traditional male/female binary. Using insights from queer theory, gender expansive employees serve to interrogate fundamental assumptions behind workplace dress policies and the formal and informal ways in which these policies are policed. The chapter will explore that discordance, examine possible employer resolutions, and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of those responses.
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Jennifer A. Kurth and Alison L. Zagona
Values have long guided special education services and supports for students with extensive support needs; over the past four decades, those values have been backed by research…
Abstract
Values have long guided special education services and supports for students with extensive support needs; over the past four decades, those values have been backed by research evidence demonstrating the critical nature of values related to inclusive education, self-determination, and seeking strengths and assets. In this chapter, we investigate these values and their supporting research, documenting strengths and needs in extant research. We emphasize the need to continue to embrace and maintain these values while pursuing research that addresses research gaps while centering the priorities, perspectives, and preferences of people with extensive support needs.
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This chapter is on positive education in primary schools (including pre-schools), and how programmes that use interventions from positive psychology (PPIs) can have positive…
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This chapter is on positive education in primary schools (including pre-schools), and how programmes that use interventions from positive psychology (PPIs) can have positive effects (academic and for well-being), on children in this age group (up to 11 years). It explores some of the key challenges of implementing PPIs at younger ages and why, compared to secondary schools, limited studies of PPIs in pre- and primary schools exist. Based on the author’s personal experience of successfully delivering a multiple PPI (mPPI) in a primary school in the United Kingdom, the chapter also presents a case study. In particular, a mPPI known as Hummingbird Primary, adapted from the Hummingbird Project which has successfully been delivered in high schools; see Chapter 3. The case study presents an overview of the mPPI, the impact it had and some of the lessons learned. The chapter concludes with recommendations for educators wishing to implement PPIs in a whole primary school setting.
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