Encountering transgender and gender-expansive children in school: Exploring parents’ and teachers’ practices through the lens of cisgenderism and adultism

Transgender and gender-expansive (TGE) children struggle to express their identities freely, particularly within schools, where they face oppression across interconnected levels of gender and age, alongside cisnormativity and adultism. This study examines how parents advocate for the recognition and well-being of TGE children in Italian primary schools (ages 6–11). Seventeen parents of TGE children participated in this research. Employing a comprehensive thematic analysis using a codebook approach, insights are derived from data obtained through two distinct research collections. Findings reveal parental practices spanning from supportive to containment and unaffirming, impacting children’s freedom of expression. Parents’ containment practices aim to protect their children, perceiving the school context as hostile, due to a systemic lack of knowledge and a normative view of TGE experiences. School practices affect TGE students’ well-being and academic progress, suggesting the need for improved regulations in schools and teacher training to effectively address gender diversity, while recognizing and validating TGE children’s experiences. The paper calls for inclusive policies and practices to support TGE children by centering children’s needs and desires while dismantling cisnormative and adultistic approaches.