Contested Recognition: Schools' Binary‐Gendered Institutional Architecture and the Erasure of Trans, Intersex and Nonbinary Students

ABSTRACT

Although legal recognition and visibility of gender diversity have increased in Germany since 2019, schools still enforce binary gender norms, which excludes or marginalises trans, intersex and non‐binary (TIN) students. This article examines based on Grounded Theory analysis of interview data how gender diversity is simultaneously recognised and negated in everyday school practice in Germany: by (a) linguistic‐discursive practices and norms, (b) epistemic‐discursive content taught or omitted, (c) physical‐symbolic organisation of facilities and PE, alongside (d) teachers' role. These dimensions mutually reinforce non‐recognition, producing invisibility/hypervisibility, safety risks as well as reduced participation in education of TIN students. Finally, the article discusses necessary transformations required in schools to foster the inclusion of TIN students.