“It makes me feel dysphoric”: transgender and non-binary students’ perspectives of gendered grouping practices and curriculum provision in secondary school physical education in England

This study foregrounds the voices of transgender (trans) and non-binary students in a large-scale mixed-methods investigation of gendered grouping practices and curriculum provision in secondary school physical education (PE) in England. Theoretically, the research brought together an interdisciplinary framework for educational inclusion and the trans inclusion staged model to pursue conceptualisations and expressions of inclusion that disrupt cisnormative policies and structures. A survey of 14 co-educational secondary schools generated data from 36 students who identified as trans (n = 18) or non-binary (n = 18). The findings revealed that most trans (n = 16) and all non-binary students expressed preferences for mixed-sex grouping in PE. They also underscore the many challenges and contradictions faced by trans and non-binary students in PE, including being stigmatised by peers for not conforming to cisnormative gender expectations and/or being forced to accept disaffirmation of their gender identity in order to participate in PE and ‘fit in’.