From 2006 to 2008 UK-based primary school teachers in the "No Outsiders" project explored possibilities for addressing sexualities equality in their classrooms. What all teachers had in common was a resource pack that included 27 children's books exploring themes of gender and sexuality diversity either directly or indirectly (i.e. by…

In this paper I offer a queer analysis of several key moments during a Mantle of the Expert (MoE) project that resulted in Year 5 children creating performances and engaging with heightened versions of gendered femininity in their primary school. I will refer to theoretical notions of transvestism as a means of challenging the notions of binarism,…

"Interrogating Heteronormativity in Primary Schools: The No Outsiders Project" is a book that reflects on a research project based in primary schools and funded by The Economic and Social Research Council of the UK. This text is accompanied by another practice-focused work: "Undoing Homophobia in Primary Schools". The project…

This article offers a reading of the 2006 film "The History Boys", which depicts eight male working-class grammar school students preparing for exams to enter Oxford and Cambridge and two teachers who prepare them. I read the film's subjunctive mood, which gestures to possibility and an "otherwise", as connected to an analytic…

This article presents some of the advances in legal support for addressing homophobia and transphobia in school settings and provides a critique of school-based policies that focus on these phenomena as particular incidents involving bullies and victims. Defining heteronormativity as a cultural phenomenon underpinning recognisable acts of…

Based on practitioner interviews and action research, this article explores heteronormativity in U.K. primary schools, providing a performance venue where teachers' voices can be heard. Our particular focus on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality in the primary school makes the voices of minority practitioners and equalities…

Concern for school-based homophobia is increasing, yet there is a tendency to focus on individual incidents of homophobic bullying rather than the cultural and institutional factors supporting them. We analyse ways in which institutional heteronormativity operates in primary schools and report results from our research in UK schools that…

This article examines what happened within one Church of England primary school during an action research project concerning sexualities. "No Outsiders" aimed at exploring how teachers developed classroom practices that promoted greater inclusion of sexual minorities, at the same time as working to eradicate homophobic bullying and…

Two key concepts arising from Butler's work are the heterosexual matrix--the conflation of sex-gender-sexuality which leads to the normalisation of heterosexuality--and performative reinscription--the discursive process by which the marginalised Other brings new meanings to normative identity constructions. While we have found both concepts…

This article provides a critical account of a selection of approaches that were used in the 26-month No Outsiders participatory action research project in education settings. The paper questions what challenges are presented to educators in critically exploring and challenging heteronormative sex-gender discourses. We revisit some of the tensions…

In this paper we describe a UK-based participatory action research project that looks beyond the discourse of tolerance to investigate and challenge heteronormative processes in primary schools through reflective action research. This 28-month ESRC-funded project supports 15 primary teachers working in schools in three regions of the UK to develop…

The present paper interrogates the ways in which school is produced as a particular bounded place (or collection of places) where sexuality, and particularly non-heterosexuality, is carefully policed by these boundaries. Drawing upon data generated in primary schools during a nationwide action research project ("No Outsiders"), we focus…