This study explores and theorizes around issues of transgender curriculum in teacher education courses. Using a conceptual framework informed by both transgender theory and curriculum theory, I propose a Critical Trans Framework to analyze what trans-related curricular materials are currently used in teacher education courses and what factors influence teacher educators’ curricular choices. Gender-expansive syllabi were identified as those that contained required readings utilizing anti-oppressive, humanizing, intersectional, or justice-oriented characteristics. Data sources for this study include course syllabi, surveys with Likert-scale and open-ended questions, one-on-one interviews, and a group interview with all participants. Findings explore how participants were understanding or conceptualizing gender, queer, and heteronormativity in relation to trans. Participants had a somewhat similar approach to teaching gender as a concept, but had divergent and multiple understandings of queer. Heteronormativity was understood to be the overarching system of oppression targeting all non-heterosexual and non-cisgender people. In describing how they teach trans, the participants described attempts to complicate dominant trans narratives, establish class norms that created an environment ripe for gender exploration, and represent trans people through first-person narratives. Influential contextual elements outside the classroom include institutional and/or programmatic supports or constraints, the instructor’s own understanding and experience with transgender issues, and state or local policies.
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