Toilet talk: using a students as researchers approach to problematize and co-construct school toilet policy and practice

Nathalie Florence Noret

doi:10.1080/09540253.2024.2389108

Toilet talk: using a students as researchers approach to problematize and co-construct school toilet policy and practice

Nathalie Florence Noret

Education

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

School toilets, globally and historically, have been problematic as places of shame and bullying, often providing pupils with inadequate facilities. This participatory student research project sought to develop political agency with youth researchers, equipping them with research skills to develop a project about school toilets, and to help challenge and shape their school’s policy and practice. By applying Sara Ahmed’s concepts of willful subjects (2014) and complaint (2021) to the data, we begin to question who can use school toilets as expected. Often fear, disgust and restrictions encourage, if not force, disabled, menstruating, transgender and gender diverse students, to contravene toilet norms, and be considered willful. We worked with student researchers to problematize issues and explore the potential for more effective policies. We argue it is imperative to use feminist pedagogy to challenge toilet policy and practice, with children and young people, to achieve wider social justice in education.

Original language	English
Number of pages	16
Journal	Gender and Education
Early online date	13 Aug 2024
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/09540253.2024.2389108
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 13 Aug 2024

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

10.1080/09540253.2024.2389108Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Toilet talk using a students as researchers approach to problematize and co-construct school toilet policy and practice
© 2024 The Author(s).
Final published version, 720 KBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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