Home

Research School Network: Intersectionality: Making EDI work for all our students Considering multiple intersecting factors

Blog


Intersectionality: Making EDI work for all our students

Considering multiple intersecting factors

by Bradford Research School
on the

KD

Kathryn Downs

Teacher of Maths at Dixons Unity Academy and Dixons Academies Evidence Lead

Read more aboutKathryn Downs

When considering EDI within education and more specifically within our classrooms, it is important to recognise the term intersectionality’. Intersectionality helps us understand the commonality of lived experiences and promotes inclusivity by acknowledging the perspectives of everyone within a community.

It was a term first described by Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. Crenshaw explained that we do not just experience discrimination or privilege based on one facet of our identity, but on multiple intersecting factors. For example, as a wheelchair user, I may experience one form of discrimination, but because I identify as a woman, I may experience further discrimination compared to that of a male wheelchair user.

These factors can often be complex, but in its most basic form, intersectionality is an important concept which helps our students relate and understand others more successfully. It makes us realise that the struggles we face for equity in the world, are interconnecting, no matter our background. Intersectionality encourages our students to understand that there is often more that unites us, than divides us and to develop critical thinking around these issues.

As educators, it also helps gain a deeper understanding of our students and think more widely about the barriers they may face in education. It allows us to address systemic oppression as interconnected systems, rather than individual boxes of discrimination, in order to create a more inclusive learning environment and a more impactful learning experience for the students.

Simple steps forward

So, what practical steps can we take as educators to ensure making intersectionality a consideration in our schools? The first step is to eradicate any hierarchy of equality (both consciously and unconsciously) and ensure that all protected characteristics are treated with equal importance. For example, ensuring behaviour policies treat incidents of ableism, racism, misogyny, Trans/​BI and Homophobia equally and ensuring all staff are trained on identifying and supporting students with incidents of this nature.

Recognising key cultural events or celebrations from a wide range of groups or protected characteristics (not just the majority) and involving the students from these communities in this, is also important for fostering understanding and ensuring all students feel like their intersectional experiences are validated and understood. Finding ways for all students to explore these celebrations in a safe environment and hold critical discourse around them is also important.

We can also ensure resources we use within our curriculum allow students to explore the way intersectionality changes an individual’s lived experience of discrimination. For example, a black neurodivergent boy, is going to have a very different experience of discrimination and prejudice than a white neurodivergent boy. Being inclusive of these intersectional perspectives, helps us understand the individuality and validity of these experiences, whilst fostering a sense of how to reduce the impact of systemic oppression.

The intersectionality lens

Research in this area shows that considering intersections can reveal important differences within and between different diverse student groups in terms of participation, learning outcomes or students’ attitudes towards the future … adopting an intersectional lens reveals that student outcomes differ and that policy makers can use them to better target policies.”

OECD: Intersectionality in education: Rationale and practices to address the needs of students’ intersecting identities

Finally, there is also a huge opportunity to gain greater understanding of the barriers to students’ progress in our classroom, if we consider them through an intersectional lens. When we look at data for our students, we consider gender, SEND, FSM/PP status and generalities around race. But we still tend to view these as larger groups of singular identity when looking at class data. When we start to think about these groups as a range of identities, such as black SEND girls or Neurodivergent LGBT+ students, we can start to understand more of the barriers they are experiencing so that we can support them with more bespoke strategies in the classroom.

Read more from Kathryn:

What Educators Need to Know about the Social Model of Disability

From Visibility to Authentic Representation


Varsik, S. and J. Gorochovskij (2023), Intersectionality in education: Rationale and practices to address the needs of students’ intersecting identities”, OECD Education Working Papers, No. 302, OECD Publishing, Paris

Crenshaw, Kimberle (1989) Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics,” University of Chicago Legal Forum: Vol. 1989: Iss. 1, Article 8.

This website collects a number of cookies from its users for improving your overall experience of the site.Read more