Queer(ing) School Spaces? How Spatiality and Institutional Practices Work to Limit and Enable Agency and Social Belonging Among Queer Students in Danish Upper-Secondary Schools
(2025) SIMZ21 20251Graduate School
- Abstract
- The aim of this thesis is to investigate how queer students in Danish upper-secondary schools expe- rience and navigate their school environments and how this is influenced by institutional practices. As such, this thesis adopts a dual perspective on queer students by investigating experiences of and agency within school environments, in the form of how they choose to respond to situations of dis- comfort, harassment, or injustice, as well as how experiences are shaped by, and choices constrained and enabled by, social, institutional, and physical characteristics of the schools. This is investigated through an analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 queer current or former upper-secondary school students. To do so, the thesis draws... (More)
- The aim of this thesis is to investigate how queer students in Danish upper-secondary schools expe- rience and navigate their school environments and how this is influenced by institutional practices. As such, this thesis adopts a dual perspective on queer students by investigating experiences of and agency within school environments, in the form of how they choose to respond to situations of dis- comfort, harassment, or injustice, as well as how experiences are shaped by, and choices constrained and enabled by, social, institutional, and physical characteristics of the schools. This is investigated through an analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 queer current or former upper-secondary school students. To do so, the thesis draws on Doreen Massey’s theorization of space, Ruth Panelli, Anna Kraack, and Jo Little’s concept of situated agency as well as Michel de Certeau’s conceptual- ization of tactics and strategies. The thesis finds that educational institutions should not be conceived of as one single space but rather a collection of individual spaces, the most influential of these being the classroom, the common area, the digital space, and the space of the party. These spaces are made up of unique institutional practices, social norms, and physical designs that impact queer students’ social belonging, perceived safety, and the risk of queerphobic harassment or comments. In addition, these provide limitations and possibilities for students’ ability to advocate for themselves, stand up against instances of queerphobia, and be open about their identities. In generating agency to navigate their school environments, this thesis finds that queer students both draw on and are limited by their social belonging, experiences or lack of supportive relations to peers and teachers, discursive con- structions of bullies, and discourses on queer people in general. This indicates the importance of schools reviewing institutional procedures that limit queer students’ well-being and offering targeted staff trainings that teach and enable them to recognize and intervene in more or less subtle instances of queerphobia. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Students who identify within the LGBTQ+ umbrella, that is as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, are often understood as particularly vulnerable. They are noted to be exposed to a higher prev- alence of bullying, especially of a gendered and sexualized nature, to be lonelier, and to feel more unsafe both within their school environments and in society overall. At the same time, it’s important to remember that these students are active participants in shaping their school environments. They work to improve the conditions for both them and other queer students at their schools, and they make concrete choices on how and when to do so. However, these experiences and choices do not exist in a vacuum; they are shaped, limited and made... (More)
- Students who identify within the LGBTQ+ umbrella, that is as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer, are often understood as particularly vulnerable. They are noted to be exposed to a higher prev- alence of bullying, especially of a gendered and sexualized nature, to be lonelier, and to feel more unsafe both within their school environments and in society overall. At the same time, it’s important to remember that these students are active participants in shaping their school environments. They work to improve the conditions for both them and other queer students at their schools, and they make concrete choices on how and when to do so. However, these experiences and choices do not exist in a vacuum; they are shaped, limited and made possible by concrete practices and policies in their schools.
This thesis draws on sociological theories on space and agency to show how Danish upper-secondary schools, through individual spaces within them, themselves influence how they are experienced by students whose sexual orientations, gender identities and gender expressions defy societal norms. Through interviews with 11 young queer people, this thesis shows how the physical designs, institu- tional practices, and social norms of the different spaces in schools influence queer students’ social belonging, how safe they feel, whether or not they can be open about their identity, and their risk of being exposed to harassment or negative comments about their sexuality or gender identity. This in turn works to determine whether or not, and how, they respond to instances of harassment and in general react to uncomfortable situations. To decide how, and whether or not, to act and react against uncomfortable situations, queer students can both be limited by and draw on their relations to their classmates, their close friends, their previous experiences of bullying, their family relations, and dis- cursive constructions of bullies as well as queer people in general.
To further inclusion and empowerment of queer students, school are encouraged to review their prac- tices and policies for elements that can hinder this and train their staff to identify and intervene in situations where queer students are victimized or excluded, even when these do not resemble classic understandings of peer-on-peer aggression. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9212027
- author
- Jensen, Helene LU
- supervisor
- organization
- alternative title
- Queer(ing) School Spaces?
- course
- SIMZ21 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- queer youth, educational institution, secondary school, spatiality, situated agency, social belonging, navigation, tactics
- language
- English
- id
- 9212027
- date added to LUP
- 2025-09-19 13:37:51
- date last changed
- 2025-09-19 13:37:51
@misc{9212027,
abstract = {{The aim of this thesis is to investigate how queer students in Danish upper-secondary schools expe- rience and navigate their school environments and how this is influenced by institutional practices. As such, this thesis adopts a dual perspective on queer students by investigating experiences of and agency within school environments, in the form of how they choose to respond to situations of dis- comfort, harassment, or injustice, as well as how experiences are shaped by, and choices constrained and enabled by, social, institutional, and physical characteristics of the schools. This is investigated through an analysis of semi-structured interviews with 11 queer current or former upper-secondary school students. To do so, the thesis draws on Doreen Massey’s theorization of space, Ruth Panelli, Anna Kraack, and Jo Little’s concept of situated agency as well as Michel de Certeau’s conceptual- ization of tactics and strategies. The thesis finds that educational institutions should not be conceived of as one single space but rather a collection of individual spaces, the most influential of these being the classroom, the common area, the digital space, and the space of the party. These spaces are made up of unique institutional practices, social norms, and physical designs that impact queer students’ social belonging, perceived safety, and the risk of queerphobic harassment or comments. In addition, these provide limitations and possibilities for students’ ability to advocate for themselves, stand up against instances of queerphobia, and be open about their identities. In generating agency to navigate their school environments, this thesis finds that queer students both draw on and are limited by their social belonging, experiences or lack of supportive relations to peers and teachers, discursive con- structions of bullies, and discourses on queer people in general. This indicates the importance of schools reviewing institutional procedures that limit queer students’ well-being and offering targeted staff trainings that teach and enable them to recognize and intervene in more or less subtle instances of queerphobia.}},
author = {{Jensen, Helene}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Queer(ing) School Spaces? How Spatiality and Institutional Practices Work to Limit and Enable Agency and Social Belonging Among Queer Students in Danish Upper-Secondary Schools}},
year = {{2025}},
}