Haines Lyon, Charlotte ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8341-744X, Little, Alice, Dobson, Elliot, Glover, Oscar, Patterson, Joshua, Telford, Jamie and Noret, Nathalie (2024) Toilet Talk: problematising and co-constructing school toilet policy and practice. Gender and Education, 36 (7). pp. 801-816.

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Abstract

School toilets around the world have been problematic historically, as places of shame, bullying, and inadequate facilities. This participatory pupil research project sought to develop political agency with young researchers, by equipping them with research skills to develop a research project about school toilets, to help challenge and shape their school’s policy and practice.
We apply Sara Ahmed’s concepts of willful subjects and complaint (2014, 2021) to data and question who is able to use school toilets as expected. Often fear, disgust, and restrictions encourage, if not force, pupils who are disabled, menstruating, or transgender, to contravene toilet norms, and thus be considered willful. We worked with pupil researchers problematise the world around them. We argue that it is imperative to use this form of feminist pedagogy to challenge toilet policy and practice, with children and young people, if we are to achieve wider social justice in education.

Item Type:	Article
Status:	Published
DOI:	10.1080/09540253.2024.2389108
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB1603 Secondary Education. High schools
School/Department:	School of Education, Language and Psychology
Institutes:	Institute for Social Justice
URI:	https://ray.yorksj.ac.uk/id/eprint/8862

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