Queering the Curriculum: Geographies of Sexuality, Young People and the Negotiation of Relationships and Sex Education in English Secondary Schools

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The proposed research will explore how children and young people (CYP) negotiate current Relationship and Sex Education (RSE) policy and its focus on LGBTQ+ equalities. Approaching school as a multi-layered site the study extendscurrent research on CYP's sexual identities. The project has three objectives. Firstly, it will engage with recent legislative change in RSE (2019) to document how teachers respond to changes in sex education by way of pedagogy. Second, it will investigate how CYP navigate the new remit of RSE and importantly how they might practice, resist or support aspects of government policy. Third, the study will develop a multi-spatial lens to understand CYP's experiences of sexuality through the micro-spaces of school, their wider spatial networks, and the digital spaces of social media. The research will be conducted using a repertoire of participatory methods including - photomapping activities and focus groups with CYP; interviews with students and teachers; and classroom observation of RSE and CYP's everyday school practices. Using participatory co-production methods CYP will be offered opportunities to 'Queer' the RSE curriculum and design ways through which policy is made meaningful in practice. These activities seek to empower students by enabling them to exercise knowledge, agency and understanding on LGBTQ+ equalities and RSE. The study advances research in children's geographies, which to date reveals limited engagement with CYP's sexualities. The findings will directly assist key stakeholders including teachers, health practitioners and youth workers in understanding the relationship between RSE policy and the multiple spaces of childhood.