The perspectives, experiences and perceived impacts of social and school policies in relation to the inclusion or marginalisation of gender minority s

The proposed project will explore how government and school policies structure the inclusion or
marginalisation of gender minority students in schools, and the subsequent influence on their
mental health. A growing body of literature shows how gender minorities (people whose gender identity differs from the sex assigned to them at birth) report more mental health problems than their cisgender peers (whose identity corresponding to sex assigned at birth). The Welsh government has committed to reducing health inequalities among young people through the Future Generations Act and has released statutory guidance on relevant school practices and regulations regarding appearance, toilets and anti-bullying strategies. Using a mixed-method approach, the project will explore both policy formation as well as implementation and effectiveness drawing on interviews with Welsh Government, the large School Health Research Network survey (134,000 respondents) and in-depth qualitative case study of two secondary schools.